So Frustrated....

[BethyGirlie]

I am a PCT in the hospital and I work nights. Our census is usually 31-33 for our floor, and it is a BUSY cardiac stepdown unit. It's constantly full of alzhemers/dementia people because it's usually older people (some but few self assist people). I loved it in the beginning but lately it's been horrible because one of the girls on nights quit and now I am working by myself every night. It's horrible. 33 people to myself, a lot of incontinent people, people climbing out of bed, transferring people out and getting admissions. Plus doing 5 or 6 EKG's a night along with straight caths and bladder scans. The one night i was the only aide on the floor and we had 11 admissions after 11pm. It was horrific, and I am so frustrated. Not only this, I get "nasty-grams" from my bosses saying that I missed stuff. I am so tired and emotionally exhausted, and it feels like they don't want to hear it. It's been 3 months that I have been working by myself, and they are so short staffed through the hospital that they never pull anyone to work on our floor. I don't know what answers I want from this, but I had to vent. I am so frustrated and I feel like I am not appreciated at all by management, all I ever get is yelled at and demeaned. Grrr I wish I didn't have to work. They are so short staffed that they had only one aide on DAYLIGHT today for 33 patients. :-( It is unsafe.

[KimberlyRN89, BSN, RN]

No real advice here..just I'm sorry you're going through this :( Is there a way you could transfer to another floor? This really does not sound like a safe working environment.

[yousoldtheworld]

Ugh. I'm sorry you're going through this.

I am not normally an advocate for leaving a facility because of its problems (because generally it makes the existing problems worse) but in THIS case, I would honestly be searching for another job by now.

I find it incredibly hard to believe that they couldn't find some help for you. Look around this board - aides and techs all over the place are dying to work in a hospital. It sounds like they have learned that they can get away with this and are taking advantage of the fact that the workers are putting up with it. There is no reason that a hospital should be regularly short staffed at such horrific levels. Are they trying to save money by not hiring?

If you can't transfer to another unit, have you considered applying at other facilities in your area? Working short is one thing, and can rarely be completely avoided. But working that short EVERY NIGHT is dangerous to you, your certification, and your patients, not to mention the toll that the stress can take on you.