Here is where you can be heard. ANA has all the emails set up and you just fill out the form and it gets sent to your representatives. It's a start.
You can edit your message. I added that nurses need to be protected from administration for expressing concerns about patient safety. I think that is very important. Nurses also need to be protected if they feel it is unsafe.
Hi - I'm new to the forum and very excited about the opportunity to post my opinion on the ANA site. I am a nursing student working as an extern/aid. Saturday Night I had 16 patients - 1 was dying (elderly with no family present), 2 were suicidal EDO's with sitters (untrained) and many were incontinent. I disappointed in the facility stating that they are continuing the ministry of Jesus Christ when in reality it all boils down to money. One of the aids was actually pulled off the shift for the evening - had they allowed him to come in each of us would have only had 10 patients and each patient would have been better cared for. I was unable to spend the quality time that I needed to with each patient - especially the dying and suicial ones. Yes, the dying one was "unconscious" however we are taught continually that they can possibly still hear everything going on. Would I want my family member to die alone in a sterile, cold hospital room? Obviously his family didn't care but the hospital "projects" that we do care. I was able to speak to him briefly and pray over him but my other patients needed me. The suicidal ones did not get enough TLC either. AND one of my confused patients fell (fortunately did not break anything!). Yes I had nurses on the shift - sorry but they did their 5 minute assessments and then were back to the nurse's station for the most part. I am certain that yes they care but they are overloaded with PAPERWORK. I am not even in the field as a RN and I'm already discouraged. ANA will definitely hear from me. Thank you for the information.
Hi - I'm new to the forum and very excited about the opportunity to post my opinion on the ANA site. I am a nursing student working as an extern/aid. Saturday Night I had 16 patients - 1 was dying (elderly with no family present), 2 were suicidal EDO's with sitters (untrained) and many were incontinent. I disappointed in the facility stating that they are continuing the ministry of Jesus Christ when in reality it all boils down to money. One of the aids was actually pulled off the shift for the evening - had they allowed him to come in each of us would have only had 10 patients and each patient would have been better cared for. I was unable to spend the quality time that I needed to with each patient - especially the dying and suicial ones. Yes, the dying one was "unconscious" however we are taught continually that they can possibly still hear everything going on. Would I want my family member to die alone in a sterile, cold hospital room? Obviously his family didn't care but the hospital "projects" that we do care. I was able to speak to him briefly and pray over him but my other patients needed me. The suicidal ones did not get enough TLC either. AND one of my confused patients fell (fortunately did not break anything!). Yes I had nurses on the shift - sorry but they did their 5 minute assessments and then were back to the nurse's station for the most part. I am certain that yes they care but they are overloaded with PAPERWORK. I am not even in the field as a RN and I'm already discouraged. ANA will definitely hear from me. Thank you for the information.
I want to encourage you not to give up. The patients need our voice and if those of us that find the current circumstances deplorable then no one will speak out. Keep making your voice heard and maybe we can change things for the better.
Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
SIXTEEN PATIENTS on Saturday Night...etc... I am not even in the field as a RN and I'm already discouraged. ANA will definitely hear from me. Thank you for the information.
I am so sorry you are experiencing so much disenchantment already! It's just not right!!!
I hope this will happen. I'm a new nurse, not even a year as a nurse yet. I am all burned out, scared/stressed in everydays work, after I go home I still carry the stress and thinks about what happend in the day, what i've forgot to do and am I gna get malpractice. I'm rethinking if this is a healthy job for me.
A lot of the issues here are that nurses are taught to be honest and have good morals and lots of integrity and then we get coerced into saying things to patients that we feel are out-and-out lies.
integrity will get u screwed most of the time, but i still practice it...i answer to a higher authority that expects me 2 act that way.
don't snow them it isn't right n the PTB will find some way 2 get u if they really want 2.
"I sent that email on March 16th and finally got a response back from my rep. Here's what she thinks about safe staffing...
'While I appreciate the goal of H.R. 4138, I think we should first focus on assuring that we have enough nurses to fill all of the open and available positions before we start mandating staffing levels and fining hospitals that cannot find nurses to fill available positions'"
they really don't get it do they, if the staffing was safe a lot of nurses who have left the profession would come back just like they apparently did in CA. I see those claims, and I haven't seen anyone refute them so far...if u r from CA can u verify if it helped 2 have ratios?
i would think it would help...for the above reasons. roght now im not able 2 nurse on the units but hope this illness won't last 4ever...if i get well i would love to work nite telemetry or med surg in a ratio-mandated environment.
I have wondered where a company like Jacho JAACHO or arrrgggghhh what ever their name is today, gets off with making my NURSING job harder, longer and more difficult via increased PAPERWORK? How about streamlining some of their requirements,( oh yeah,,that would make sense, we can't do that.) Each and every year I spend more time writing for the Lawyers and demands of Jacho, and less time doing patient care.
unfortunately true; sad tale but it's 2 things. 1st w/o some regs few orgs or even ppl will do the right thing. after all they had to pass a fed law about safe lifting. 2nd is they tend 2 go overboard b/c they know this.
but u can go on their site n c what they have for pt safety goals which is the biggest charting h/a 4 most nurses, comment on what they want 2 add. did that n encouraged others to a couple yr ago when NPSGs looked 2 b a bit much, they did trim them a lot.
believe it or not they r really trying 2 help, they have been looking at staffing, but i think maybe we should try n enlist them 2 up the staffing ante, be allies with nurses 4 pt safety, they may not, but i think in most states u have 2 be accredited by them so they get pd n e way...it's not like they have 2 butter up the hospital admin. '
I just signed the petition and there are only 100 signatures??!! Why!
I just made i 119...pathetic...but i do have 2 ask how many of us are afraid 2 even ask r colleagues 2 do this in case they rat us out to admin? nurses do eat their young n they bite n claw 1 another all too often...
there r other boards, u can usually post on them anonymously, maybe u know some1 at another facility that u can tell where u won't get into trouble b/c u are not working there? ppl u can email? if u know of blogs out there, put in ur 2 cents' worth n add the link? n b sure 2 tell them why u r doing it anonymously...if hiring mgrs r looking at facebook n myspace n googling blogs 2 c what their employees or potential hires r up , n they do it make no mistake, then ppl need 2 b careful that their identity remains anonymous until we have a movement 4 change that is so overwhelming that admin can't fire ppl 4 signing it n admitting it. :typing
i intend 2 do some of those things now that i have the url 2 send. pls do the same. we need 2 move on this it is so sad that we have 2 b scared 2 use r real names or have them show b/c we risk loss of job in some cases.
"I sent that email on March 16th and finally got a response back from my rep. Here's what she thinks about safe staffing...
'While I appreciate the goal of H.R. 4138, I think we should first focus on assuring that we have enough nurses to fill all of the open and available positions before we start mandating staffing levels and fining hospitals that cannot find nurses to fill available positions'"
they really don't get it do they, if the staffing was safe a lot of nurses who have left the profession would come back just like they apparently did in CA. I see those claims, and I haven't seen anyone refute them so far...if u r from CA can u verify if it helped 2 have ratios?
i would think it would help...for the above reasons. roght now im not able 2 nurse on the units but hope this illness won't last 4ever...if i get well i would love to work nite telemetry or med surg in a ratio-mandated environment.
There are nop easy solutions and it frustrates me, every day. But I would advise that you not give up and write your Rep back and let her know that health care and safe staffing ratios are important to you and that if she wants your vote in the future she should look at the issue closer. This is not a threat but it is time that we as nurses begin voting on whats important to us.
Contact organizatons like the NNOC and see what types of actions they are taking in your area related to safe staffing. Contact health care for america now and get involved in their campaign. Politicians will soon see that we are a voice to be listened to. Let your family, friends and anyone who will listen know how unsafe at times the hospital can be and ask them to write their senator and congressman. I have written the letter for them and they send it via their email. We have to keep the presure up and remind or Reps that they work for us and not the corporate health care system.
I feel ANA does not go far enough (actually, not very far at all) to provide real strategies that staff nurses can use to face the challenges of their practice as it is today. As I read the experiences of nurses in this thread, their need for support is overwhelming.
For what it's worth, ANA is asking for public comment on a position paper:
Patient Safety: The Rights of Registered Nurses When Considering a Patient Assignment. This will replace a previous position paper which was called: The Right to Accept or Reject an Assignment. (the title change is notable in and of itself IMO)
Let them know they need to do better by us as well- maybe someone over there will see the light!
Once again the ANA is leading a charge....unarmed.
Safe staffing is an illusion. Set ratios are the way to go.
The problem is that there are too many organizations fighting for their own cause. Each of them have the same goal - safe staffing or set ratios. One of the reasons that we can't get any where is because there are too many "little" groups trying to do something and each of them has something different that others don't agree with.
Now, if we could get all the "little" groups together as one big group just to address how unsafe it is, we might be heard.
When I posted this, it was just to fire up the topic. Many of you do not agree with ANA. Many of you have posted your own links. We all want the same thing. I hope that everyone fired up about this topic will consider signing all the petitions to just get ourselves heard. We can actually create a bunch of much larger groups fighting for this cause if we would all consider taking a few minutes a week to sign each and every petition that has anything to do with it. All these little separated groups are just not being heard.
if the staffing was safe a lot of nurses who have left the profession would come back just like they apparently did in CA. I see those claims, and I haven't seen anyone refute them so far...if u r from CA can u verify if it helped 2 have ratios?
Why!
Ihoplover
61 Posts
SIXTEEN PATIENTS on Saturday Night
Hi - I'm new to the forum and very excited about the opportunity to post my opinion on the ANA site. I am a nursing student working as an extern/aid. Saturday Night I had 16 patients - 1 was dying (elderly with no family present), 2 were suicidal EDO's with sitters (untrained) and many were incontinent. I disappointed in the facility stating that they are continuing the ministry of Jesus Christ when in reality it all boils down to money. One of the aids was actually pulled off the shift for the evening - had they allowed him to come in each of us would have only had 10 patients and each patient would have been better cared for. I was unable to spend the quality time that I needed to with each patient - especially the dying and suicial ones. Yes, the dying one was "unconscious" however we are taught continually that they can possibly still hear everything going on. Would I want my family member to die alone in a sterile, cold hospital room? Obviously his family didn't care but the hospital "projects" that we do care. I was able to speak to him briefly and pray over him but my other patients needed me. The suicidal ones did not get enough TLC either. AND one of my confused patients fell (fortunately did not break anything!). Yes I had nurses on the shift - sorry but they did their 5 minute assessments and then were back to the nurse's station for the most part. I am certain that yes they care but they are overloaded with PAPERWORK. I am not even in the field as a RN and I'm already discouraged. ANA will definitely hear from me. Thank you for the information.