Drinks at the nursing station is most definitely a heated topic. Has anyone found a solution to this issue that both nurses and management are happy with?
At the hospital i'm at, we have kind of a decent sized backroom at the nursing stations; a lot like this picture
For closed drinks; what about putting the drinks in a stackable sealed container like this?
Stackable so they can be kept neatly on the side or corner of the back room and this way the drinking bottles themselves will never come in direct contact with anything "contaminated." If management is worried about the inside of the containers becoming contaminated through communal/repeated use, the solution for that could be using the disinfection wipes before a nurse puts her/his drink in there at the start of their shift.
the infection control nurse walked up to me and a coworker as we were sitting in the nurses station each with a closed bottle of water and started on us (we are dialysis nurses and are contract employees, not employees of the hospital). My counterpart started pointing at no less than 5 other unit nurses with cups of coffee, bottles of water etc at their stations. She had to walk away...I've never understood how a nurses station is considered "patient care areas"
I used to have a 3 drawer desk at my last job. Top drawer was for pens, sticky notes, pen lights and rubber bands etc. 2nd drawer was notebooks and papers with protocols and PA information. Bottom one was a filer. I kept my cup of coffee in that second drawer. Everyday for 2 years I sipped happily away. No one ever said boo about it and joint commission never opened that drawer once!
We have designated "drink cabinets" on every floor of my hospital. While it works for management and keeps TPTB happy, the cabinets generally turn into cesspools because staff do not realize that their mom dosent ever follow them to work on a daily basis.
I wish we could have a discrete covered drink at our work station because let's face it, management will never know how easy it is to dehydrate in a twelve hour shift with all of the crap they can keep inside their offices (or just carry around with them from meeting to meeting).
This along with scripting and other customer service expectations will be what pushes me away from the bedside. Sad but true.
one hospital I worked it was especially strict about the no food and no drink rule. So people would just hide their drinks in the cabinet above the printer. In any way, one day management came around and opened the cabinet doors - guess what - it was big trouble.
At my hospital, one unit has a drink cabinet behind the nurses station - only drinks with lids are allowed. Somehow the cabinet provides magical germ protection.
Another unit at the hospital simply has a designated space on the counter that is the official area to put your drinks. Oddly enough, it is located right next to the bottle warmer for the patients baby bottles, and below the counter are the fridges for patient food. So....I dont see how that isnt a patient care area and is safe for my drink, but the rest of the nurses station apparently IS a patient care area that will contaminate my drink.
We're allowed a covered drink at our work station. On nights we could have a buffet in plain sight and no one will say anything. I put my drink out of sight if an NPO patient is walking in the hall.
Have you ever set a lab spec on the desk? there in lies the reason you are not allowed to have food and drink at the nurses' station. and its OSHA not JCH
Have you ever set a lab spec on the desk? there in lies the reason you are not allowed to have food and drink at the nurses' station. and its OSHA not JCH
Specializes in Cardiac, Ortho, Med/Surg, ICU, Quality.
Being in Quality......I am one of the dreaded "enforcers" of the beverage rule. With that said, I allow drinks out only if they have a lid. Nurses need to drink and potty to prevent UTI's. At my hospital we give our associates logo cups that they can use at their stations.
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Twinmom06, ASN, APN
1,171 Posts
the infection control nurse walked up to me and a coworker as we were sitting in the nurses station each with a closed bottle of water and started on us (we are dialysis nurses and are contract employees, not employees of the hospital). My counterpart started pointing at no less than 5 other unit nurses with cups of coffee, bottles of water etc at their stations. She had to walk away...I've never understood how a nurses station is considered "patient care areas"