Staying late

[penny186, ADN, BSN, CNA, RN]

I work in tele/ med surg. We have no aides ever. We have patients who require a lot of care. Some are q 4 vs. Some are on etoh protocol. Some are surgical. Some are very confused. And every single thing we do requires a specific note. Even calling the doctor. Being a former aide, I am happy to help my patients get washed or at least give the ones supplies who can do it on their own. Patients ring for drinks, pain meds, etc. And I do a head to toe assessment on all of my patients.  We have tons of charting plus we have to chart for the lpns. I rarely have time to even go to the bathroom. And they keep adding more stuff for us to chart daily. They scrutinize every single thing we write. I feel like im constantly being made fun of for washing the patients and doing a head to toe assessment. And I do a really quick one. Our charting asks questions about head to toe so how else am I supposed to answer it? It makes me happy to help people get washed up and ready for bed so if they need it I do it. I never have patients complain about meds being late. My charting is always backtimed and the management would rather you chart then help the patient. The manager acts like theres something wrong with me because I dony leave  on time daily but the one time you don't chart something they are on your ***. I am one to protect my license and provide adequate care and if that means staying 45 min extra I have no problem. I never ask to get paid so I don't understand what the issue. Im not staying and doing meds. Im literally sitting there charting. People say im crazy to do assessment. But I believe that thats what I was trained to do. Im.so frustrated. 

[Susie2310]

I think you sound like a very conscientious, caring, nurse, who puts the needs of their patients first and does their best to provide excellent care.  Doing a good assessment is very important.  

I will try to write more tomorrow, but I wanted to let you know that you may find some suggestions on time management/prioritization that might be helpful to you if you try the search function at the top of the page.