So we now have "special " trays, cardboard instead of plastic, and everything in Styrofoam containers.
Its very environmentally friendly, of course the world needs another used Styrofoam mountain!
NOT!
And we can no longer give out water pitchers as apparently the lids have sharp edges and can be used as weapons, we can only distribute Styrofoam cups of water.
Apart from the shocking amount of waste, I went to nursing school and not waitress school, so is it really appropriate for us to spend all day running around with cups of water, instead of refilling a pitcher at the start of the shift?
Most of our alleged SI patients are regulars, from the local homeless and former jail inmate community, who come in weekly for the bed and the waitress service.
I don't want to deprive anyone of water, but at the same time, spending a lot of time on waitress duties doesn't seem a good use of my time. I have to leave the unit each time, and that is now a dozen times an hour, instead of once per shift for the pitcher.
I'm not "ignoring" anything, I just answered as best I could.
Yes there are sitters, and no they are not allowed pitchers.
We have to leave the area several times an hour to go fill styrofoam cups with water. The regular patients know this, and see it as a game, to keep sending us away for refills.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
don't get me wrong I feel for you as a psych nurse for 20 years I know how manipulative these patients are but you have to set some limits. They get 1 cup of water per hou or however long it takes you to round on your patient. I have told patients this is your cup of water, Sip and savor you can have another one in an hour. Maybe get an ordor for ativan to settle them down or for Adolescents Vistaril.
I am confused! Don't your ER patients on suicide precautions have a sitter/security personnel on hand. In that case a pitcher could be left within reach of that person who could fill the styro-foam cup as needed.
I am confused about your waitress duty comments as there is nothing you describe in your post that is outside the normal scope of practice for an RN.
Remember Henderson's famous description of the nurse:
“the unique function of the nurse is to assist the individual, sick or well, in the performance of those activities contributing to health or its recovery (or to peaceful death) that he would perform unaided if he had the necessary strength, will, or knowledge”.
She further enumerated 14 things included in this:
eat and drink
breathe
move
sleep
dress
work to gain a sense of accomplishment
maintain normal body temperature
eliminate wastes
keep clean
communicate
participate in recreation
worship
avoid dangers or hurting others
learn and discover
Nothing personal to you OP but I do get a bit tired of nurses who call basic care "Waitress duties/CNA" work!
Hppy
When is the last time Henderson pulled a 12 hour shift?
Pretty sure she also didn't have to fill out various flowsheets, double document her double documentations, etc...
I recently had a really tough restrained pt that took all of my time. I was literally face with the choice of documenting every 15 minutes in a flow sheet, or caring for the pt. I chose to do range of motion rather than chart it- doing both was not an option.
The next day I had to add 32 columns and fill nearly identical information into each.
Where the heck is Virginia Henderson when you need her? If she had managed the actual patient needs, I could have documented in real time.
The reality is you sometimes do not have the time to do what is required. One either omits stuff, or lies.
skylark, BSN, RN
636 Posts
I'm not "ignoring" anything, I just answered as best I could.
Yes there are sitters, and no they are not allowed pitchers.
We have to leave the area several times an hour to go fill styrofoam cups with water. The regular patients know this, and see it as a game, to keep sending us away for refills.