Taking out the trash

nursepenny · Mar 18, 2004

In my facility, we do not have housekeeping/environmental services after 4 PM. The nurses, aides, ward clerks/secretaries, monitor techs, etc., have to empty trash, clean rooms, etc. I do not think it is beneath me to do this, but I also don't think it should be considered a task under the nurses job description. I guess you just do what you have to do.

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 18, 2004

I empty trash as needed, but if something more pressing is going on, it waits. Seems to me common sense should prevail here......but NO it is NOT a nursing task to me. I don't want it added to my every shift list of responsibilies as EXPECTED. I do it out of courtesy for my patients/families, that is it.

shirley SA · Mar 18, 2004

no nurses are not gabage collectors!!! please try to maintain professional standards of hygiene for your patient, but your housekeeping is seriously poorly mamaged or understaffed you need to get more House keeping support so you can be a NURSE.

shirley SA · Mar 18, 2004

no nurses are not gabage collectors!!! please try to maintain professional standards of hygiene for your patient, but your housekeeping is seriously poorly managed or understaffed you need to get more House keeping support so you can be a NURSE.

nurse dolly · Mar 18, 2004

Are any of you expected to take out the trash at work? I'm not talking about picking up after yourself in general, but taking the bag of trash to the soiled utility room.
I got offended when a nurse that followed me felt the need to point out that the trash can in a paitent's room was full and the room a little untidy when I'd left the morning before. I asked if housekeeping wasn't around all day to do it. We are expected to put away soiled linen bags, and pick up after ourselves, but I draw the line at taking out the trash. Housekeeping seems to be stretched a little too thin.. For the record, the patient insisted he wanted to sleep, as he had just recovered from an episode of shortness of breath, so I chose not to make extra noise in the room making it pretty. My other patients room was left spotless however.
What would you think if you went to a dentist, lawyer or gynecologist and you saw them taking out the garbage at their place of business. Aren't we also professionals? Let me know if my thinking is off the wall before I fire off an E-mail to my manager. And thanks for letting me rant :angryfire

I work in dialysis and we dump all trash between each patient and also at the end of the day we have to take out the biohazard trash which is almost all of ( you know the huge red boxes) anyway usually 5 or 6 of these a day, the PCT's usually do this but if I'm not completely overwhelmed in paper work or charting I make it a point to help out because it is the responsibility of all of us !! That is how I feel:rotfl:

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 19, 2004

I make it a point to help out because it is the responsibility of all of us !!

I do it out of courtesy for my patients/families, that is it.

That sums it all up for me.

Alnamvet · Mar 19, 2004

We should all take some responsibility for the mess we make, and I would clean, change linens, disinfect beds and rails, but I won't until I see the md's pick up after themselves after a procedure, and when the hordes of house keepers and UAP's exit the nursing lounge after an hour's worth of rifling through the bag lunches in the refridgerators...as far as I'm concerned, if it ain't within reach for my disposables, it goes on the floor...I ain't got time to look or care for the jerks who were originally hired to pick up the trash.

Alnamvet · Mar 19, 2004

We should all take some responsibility for the mess we make, and I would clean, change linens, disinfect beds and rails, but I won't until I see the md's pick up after themselves after a procedure, and when the hordes of house keepers and UAP's exit the nursing lounge after an hour's worth of rifling through the bag lunches in the refridgerators...as far as I'm concerned, if it ain't within reach for my disposables, it goes on the floor...I ain't got time to look or care for the jerks who were originally hired to pick up the trash.

CEO · Mar 22, 2004

As a NUM, I will now add "how do you feel about removing the trash" next time I am interviewing to fill a position in my department. It worries me to think that I might mistakenly employ a nurse who would turn a blind eye to a full trash bin in the room of an ill patient. I empty trash, my boss empties trash and his boss empties trash. Who do you think you are?

Tweety, BSN, RN · Mar 22, 2004

....you need to get more House keeping support so you can be a NURSE.

Silly me, I didn't realize that was within my power to get more housekeeping support. Do I also have the power to get more nursing support so I can be a NURSE?

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Mar 22, 2004

When it comes to healthcare cuts, housekeeping is usually the first to get it because they are considered not necessary for pt. care. It was the original reason why i had gone for my CNA. Evening housekeeping where i'd worked had gotten cut from an 8 hour shift to 30 MINUTES, and local places had done the same.

Signed, Former Housekeeping Jerk

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Mar 22, 2004

Silly me, I didn't realize that was within my power to get more housekeeping support. Do I also have the power to get more nursing support so I can be a NURSE?

:rotfl: Perhaps you didn't snap your fingers just right Tweety.

Try again. :chuckle