Seriously overworked

On 11/20/2015 at 1:41 PM, pbmaxx said:

I would like some advice from other nurses. I work in LTC and have 30 to 32 patients daily. The patients are on a lot of meds and it takes the whole 12 hour shift to do the medications. There are also a lot of treatments, and all but 3 patients have treatments. I can not do it in the 12 hours. Before I am done giving 9 am meds, I'm taking lunch blood sugars. I finish the AM and turn around back around the hall to do 11 and noon meds. I do not get a break at all until after 1 pm and start at 7 a.m. -- and that is if I get a break at all. I tell every supervisor that comes on the floor that it is too much. The last 3 nurses assigned to this hall have quit and the one before that died of a brain anurism and heart attack. I can't get charting done at all and administration keeps yelling at me and all the other nurses on that floor that we don't get it done because we are insufficient. I was on a different hall, but had the ignorance to stand up for myself once and this is my punishment. I spoke to the administrator and was straight up told it wasn't going to change. Tuesday I was eating lunch in the staff lounge when a pt's wife came in and had a fit because his tube feed was empty.

I am at my wit's end.

What would any of you do in my situation? I am talking specifically about what to leave undone and how to cover my ***.

I know it’s been a long time since this was posted but would love to hear a follow up on how things are going.

The administrator already stated it would not change. Sounds like a hostile and unappreciative working environment. This just spells poor administration. Being yelled at for not wanting to take short cuts is a red flag. If the people are shady, I would not go back. It only takes one day of that for something to go wrong. They're all nice to you when you start and then the tables turn.