Staffing Question

Nurses General Nursing

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I am curious as how others feel about this subject. Last night there were two patients on our medical floor (our census has been very low). One patient was a middle aged, large man that needed some assistance and the other was a pediatric with an abcess. When I arrived to work I found that I was assigned to that unit without a cna or anyone else, I asked them to at least call in a tech but the supervisor said that he was never told that an RN could not work alone on a unit if there were only a small number of patients. It ended up after everything was said and done that the unit was combined with another one. I would like to know what some of you may think about that situation. Are there regulations about this sort of thing (a unit with only one employee assigned to it). I would think that a nurse should never work alone on a unit. What do you guys think?:confused:

Specializes in Medical Surgical.

You should have had at least an aide, and you would have had at our hospital. It's not just if something happens with the patient. What if something happens to the nurse? I fainted once on the job, and have been incapacitated with vomiting more than once. Other nurses have had a patient go berserk and attack them, criminal elements try to trick them into opening the locked door at night, their knee go out, one even had a heart attack. If nobody else had been there it might have been a front-page news event the next day. Not worth the risk for the price of an aide or the inconvenience of combining units.

Specializes in ER.

I've worked the ER and OB alone, I am SURE there is no law that says you must have two people. I agree it would be better with two. In a pinch I have asked the maintenance man to answer phones and direct traffic. I also planned on being very free with the code button if I needed help immediately (my manager knew and was OK with that plan).

Specializes in LDRP, Medical, Surgical, Pediatrics.

Ummmm, no Capecod apparently your are missing something. Didn't say I couldn't handle it just wondering how others feel about safety issues. Get it now?

Specializes in LDRP, Medical, Surgical, Pediatrics.

@ canoehead, maybe we should ask for a code button to be installed, all of us would probably feel better if we had access to that. thanks for info.

Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.
Ummmm, no Capecod apparently your are missing something. Didn't say I couldn't handle it just wondering how others feel about safety issues. Get it now?

I was only commenting. No need to be rude.

Specializes in CICU.

I believe our policy is at least to RNs (with ACLS) on my unit (tele/cardiac stepdown). Of course, our census has been high since I've worked there, so I've never run into the problem...

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