That Stupid Door!!!!

[Mystery5]

I'm so sick of regulatory oversite by out of touch idiots!!!

We have a 2 doors to our med room. They used to let us prop the main one open but a year or two ago they put those stupid code button thingies on the doors. The side door has a simple 1,3,5 code that opens easily. But the main one that attaches to the nurse's station has a 1,3,5 code, then push a button. I've been told it's because it has a different type of door jam, who knows.

Well, it's a constant source of frustration for us all because it doesn't work very well and you often have to repeat the code often. We used to get away with propping it open at night, but had to be sure to close it by 4 AM before that nazi housekeeping tattletale lady came. The supervisors tolerated that, except for Vickie, who is more anal. (this is a small rural hospital, BTW)

Yesterday evening I stuffed a glove covered by tape into the door jam. It worked well, but Janet, the annoying CNA started complaining, saying it was illegal, and I think she was the one who quietly removed it. Boy, does she get on her high horse, which is especially irritating because, well, she's not the sharpest tool in the shed, to tell you the honest truth. Anyways, I put the glove back in. We were extremely busy, of course.

The way I see it, the chances of an outsider marching into that med room and breaking into the narc drawer is highly remote. I think that door harms patient care by imperding the flow of care and annoying the staff. To me that door is a symbol of all that's wrong with healthcare today. Now I hear they will be doing QA on the stupid malfuntioning door at night. But, do they bother to fix the darned thing to work properly? NO, of course not, that would be too logical.

[unknown99, BSN, RN]

We have the same system. Myself and all the other nurses never prop it open. Nor do we complain about it. It is a locked narcotic room for just that reason--- there are narcotics in there. If someone were to go in while you had the door propped open, take narcotics, overdose,and/or die, you could be held liable because you left a personnel only area open to non-personnel.

Also, you could lose you job and possibly license.

[ktwlpn, LPN]

I'm so sick of regulatory oversite by out of touch idiots!!!

We have a 2 doors to our med room. They used to let us prop the main one open but a year or two ago they put those stupid code button thingies on the doors. The side door has a simple 1,3,5 code that opens easily. But the main one that attaches to the nurse's station has a 1,3,5 code, then push a button. I've been told it's because it has a different type of door jam, who knows.

Well, it's a constant source of frustration for us all because it doesn't work very well and you often have to repeat the code often. We used to get away with propping it open at night, but had to be sure to close it by 4 AM before that nazi housekeeping tattletale lady came. The supervisors tolerated that, except for Vickie, who is more anal. (this is a small rural hospital, BTW)

Yesterday evening I stuffed a glove covered by tape into the door jam. It worked well, but Janet, the annoying CNA started complaining, saying it was illegal, and I think she was the one who quietly removed it. Boy, does she get on her high horse, which is especially irritating because, well, she's not the sharpest tool in the shed, to tell you the honest truth. Anyways, I put the glove back in. We were extremely busy, of course.

The way I see it, the chances of an outsider marching into that med room and breaking into the narc drawer is highly remote. I think that door harms patient care by imperding the flow of care and annoying the staff. To me that door is a symbol of all that's wrong with healthcare today. Now I hear they will be doing QA on the stupid malfuntioning door at night. But, do they bother to fix the darned thing to work properly? NO, of course not, that would be too logical.

The door should certainly function properly-has your nurse manager or supervisor gone through the proper channels to get it repaired? God Forbid you have an impending code and can't get in there to get meds....Why not fill out an incident report with that scenario? If you have improperly functiong equipment and document it properly then your quality assurance dept HAS to follow through and get the problem fixed....I would not be surprised to find out that the maintenance dept. is not aware of the problem-why not call them yourself? The cna may not be the "sharpest tool in the shed "but she knows the regs and the consequences of not following them and CARES....JAACHO can pop in at ANY time (and do show up during noc shift) and anyone COULD get into that room during a busy shift....These regs are for the protection of all...not to inconvenience you....

[Alicia18]

Omigosh, Mystery5, are you sure you don't work at the nursing home I do?

We have the same problem with stupid codes; we could stand there for five minutes just trying to get the alarm to go on or off so we can get back to work. In our case, it is unfortunately neccessary since we have wanderers on the premises, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating -- especially since the higher ups are unusually fond of changing the codes! It's frustrating, it's annoying, it takes forever, but there's probably a good reason for the code, so the most we can do is laugh, do our job, and -- of course -- COMPLAIN! :roll

[Lawnurse]

doesn't the law require the narc to be doubled locked? for example, a lock on the door and a lock on the actual cabinet. That is the law in my state. Conversely, I don't think there's any law that dictates how accessible the meds have to be! :angryfire That's some GREAT policy-making!

[boulergirl, CNA]

We used to leave the med door propped open at night. No more. I have learned from hard experience that you can't trust everyone you work with. So now I'm double-checking that med cart and med room door to make sure they're locked.

[Mystery5]

I just sent an email to my manager. Everyone knows about that dumb door, though, it's no secret! I even heard Judy, an older and very respectable nurse, use a profanity the other day regarding the dumb door.

My letter to my manager:

Dear Peggy,

We have had an ongoing problem with the med room door that leads to the nurse's station. It doesn't work properly. The one on the side works fine because you don't have to push the extra button. Everyone is sick of it, and it is an impediment to accomplishing our work.

This needs to be fixed. Otherwise, people will keep gerryrigging it to avoid having to deal with it, esp on a busy shift. I hear that the supervisors are now doing QA on it. This would be totally unneccessary if it were fixed to work like the one on the side. Then, no one would mind the door at all. The problem is with the extra button, it often doesn't work.

So, if it gets fixed, all the med-surg nurses and CNA's will be much happier and very thankful.

Sincerely, Jan

[begalli]

I :redpinkhe pixis.

[injuredrn]

Maybe you need to work on that letter, or maybe I'm just confused. You state there is a "side" door that works just fine, but in your letter that is the door you address. Also, don't come off in anger in the letter. Make it look you are the first to address this faulty equipment. Also, do not put into writing the fact that the door is being "jerryrigged" by you or others. I hate to have that document surface during a litigation. Just document/report to the management and keep a record for yourself.

Cover thyself, but leave no negative sounding trail.

[Cop's Wife]

I worked in Security at a hospital to get my foot in the door and get the educational benefits. I can tell you the med rooms are a constant problem for the hospital. This was a childrens hospital and we had nurse propping open the door because of the same problem. Former employees, children, parents and other hospital staff has been caught in Med rooms. A investigation is conducted everytime the med room door is found propped open and all the nurses names on that shift is kept on file. That list is checked when a narc issue comes up. Please protect yourself and do not prop the door. I solved this problem for the nurses in two ways. I sent a maintenence request everyday until it was repaired and the other time, I asked the nurses which door they used the least and had maintenence take the code portion of the lock and switch it with the more commonly used door. The different door jambs shouldn't be a issue as you are only changing the code mechanism portion. I hope this helps. Please don't defeat the door lock mechanisms they are there in part for your safety and security. I won't bore you with details of investigations of nurses that I have had to do in the past, but suffice it to say no ones background can stand up to intense scrutiny. I have personally seen whole shifts of nurses and other staff fired over things like this. Protect your self.

[Nurseboy1]

I :redpinkhe pixis.

Amen to that:rotfl:

[jeepgirl, LPN, NP]

i would cut out the names and the code in your posts if i were you. just a heads up!