Scary situation in Ed on travel assignment-need suggestions

[alwayslearnin]

Greetings,

I am a ED nurse on travel assignment and having a bad go of it. One large area of concern is pt handoff. The other day I was iin pt room getting pt ready to go to ICU-pt had self dc'd IV etc. While this was going on staff put not one, but two CP's in my rooms with no report, heads up or anything. I went into rooms later and neither was on monitors, gowned or anything.This is not the first time this has happened. The first few times I thought maybe it was me not understanding their system-now I know it is not me and it is bad practice. When I have mentioned it a few times to regular staff and I get this" ya, that happens here" and then usually they follow it up with their horror stories. So if you review the charts-they have a quick reg/triage and then a long lag before being seen by RN (me) I'm tired of looking like the bad guy/poor care because I didn't even know they were there.I did talk with the charge nurse the other day and got a "I'll talk to the medics" I don't think the medics brought the one gal in. It just felt more like a brush off. I dread going to work there. They just care about get the guy in and out-we don't care how much your drowing cause we all are cause we just want to get them in and out. There is no concern about what your pt load is like-just that your rooms are full. they just went to electronic charting so everthing now is evan more chaotic and it is harder toget help as everyone else is needing it also. I can't wait to leave here.I have worked in other ED's. Yes it is get them in, treated, and dispo'd, but not like this. In the meantime, I need to protect myself and my license in this place. Does anyone have suggestions/information on what i can do? I thank you in advance for your replies

alwayslearnin

[Guest219794]

"Assuming care of pt."

when I find one of these little surprises, I document that as soon as I am able to care for the pt. I don't buy into the idea that the pt is my responsibility just because somebody put them in my room.

As far as your license: Have a look at BON's and what really causes loss of license. Act reasonably, document well, and you will be all set. Let's say that a pt you had no idea even existed infarcted while you were caring for a critical pt. How could you be held responsible?

You are there temporarily and are not going to change the system. You either need to learn to live with it, or leave. If this really is standard practice there, that sucks, but you aren't going to fix the problem.

Good luck.