Staffing issues and Regulations?? HELP!!!

So what you need help with?

I need to know whether or not staffing an ICU with ONE nurse with a pt on a vent is legal in PA? And also where do I find this information?

Beg to differ. You have a right to refuse that assignment weather the state of Pennsylvainia has staffing guidelines or not. That is extremely unsafe. When your patient is flipping out all of a sudden and trying to climb out of bed & injures you, who is there to protect the patient? When he goes into vfib, hmm?? guess you have to delay defibrillation for the operator to answer you call for the code. Who's going to order your stat abg's while your bagging the patient who's sats are suddenly dropping? All these things are common occurrances in ICU. While I don't know the staffing regulations in Pennsylvania, I do know that you can be held accountable for the assignment you accept, and that if harm comes to a patient due to acceptting an unsafe assignment, you can be held accountable for acceppting said assignment. Nursing sucks.

Right now, there's nothing I can do about it. But I WILL be looking into things a bit further. And if ER calls with an admission, I AM calling the second RN in.

Thankfully, this pt is stable and calm. I can give ativan q 15min if needed. There's a code blue button on the back of the wall that alerts the operator of a code blue.

Nursing DOES suck sometimes and this hospital is all about the almighty dollar, pt safety be damned!

I worked as supervisor in a small hospital like this. The ICU had a cordless phone that the RN could carry around in her pocket, plus they were encouraged to hit the code button if they needed help and couldn't leave the room. The OB unit also had a panic button that rang in the ER and the Sherriff's office to get a different kind of help in a hurry.

Not ideal, but made things a little easier.

I need to know whether or not staffing an ICU with ONE nurse with a pt on a vent is legal in PA? And also where do I find this information?

What do you do if you have to go to the bathroom? I guess you have to hold it for 12 hours until you get home, so no lunch break either. I personally would not feel comfortable calling even my nursing supervisor to relieve me for a minute while I went to the bathroom or heated up my lunch. One, that's not their job, two, if you're not a unit nurse that patient could be showing signs of trending down hill and supervisor may not recognize it in a timely manner. No offense to my supervisors, but if you haven't done bedside nursing in some years, it's not safe to leave the patient on a vent in the ICU with a supervisor in my oppinion.

I am at work right now all alone with ONE pt who is a full code and on a vent via tracheostomy? I work in PA. Is this legal? Apparently the facility where I work does this ALL the time! I don't even have a aide to help out. The other RN went home on call from 7-11pm. There's a nurse supposedly coming in at 11pm and she's supposed to float but refuses to do so. And I am Not gonna float since I've been here since 7pm and am the full time staff where as this other girl is PRN staff.

Where can I find out if this is legal or not? Would it be a Dept of Health reg or a Board of Nursing regulation? Thanks!

Maybe this will be the unpopular opinion - but if you're so concerned about your one patient in the ICU by yourself - how do you have time to mess around online? Although, i believe that one nurse should never be left alone on a unit, for emergency reasons, you probably shouldn't be in an online forum while it's happening.

I did leave a job once due to unsafe staffing conditions, and recommend anyone else do the same. It's not worth your license.

But if something did happen, and someone found out you were online while it did, youd be so amazingly liable, regardless of staffing conditions.