You may have read this post in the "JC/Ligature Points" thread, but for purposes of laziness... er.... a .. I mean "continuity", I'm repeating it here:
"I jumped for joy like some jerk excited over new phone books as I came onto the geriatric psych unit on Friday for my MN shift. Everything was going to be okay now- no more sitting for two hours being a door.
However, new problems have arisen.
Only one of the double doors open, which means some things cannot pass through the single door, like wheelchairs, meal carts, or crash carts.
The doors are to stay locked 24/7, so the staff member assigned to the community room during the patients' waking hours, are locked in there with them. The staff member assigned to work the floor and make rounds use to be able to sit in the community room and walk the hall. Now, an extra staff member is required to just walk the hall in order to make rounds.
The video monitors are down, so staff at the nurses station have no idea of what's going on in the community room. And, like deep space, with the doors closed, 'no one can hear you scream'.
Scary!"
On Friday night, we had four staff members, sufficient enough to cover the desk, meds, the hall, and the community room. However, on Saturday night there were only three of us. I did meds, Eleanor was doing an admission, and Fridgett was to cover the community room AND hall.
"It has been noted that neither doors on the men's and the women's psych units have the community room door locked during the day- only from 2200 to 0700.
So, seeings how this 24/7 locked door thing does not jive with the other psych units, this shift, due to a lack of staffing to cover both the hall and the community room, the door was propped open with a chair."
Fridgett did this of her own accord and I supported her decision:
"We'll see how administration responds to this when and if they review the video monitors that may or may work outside of the geriatric psych unit.
Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
On 7/26/2019 at 4:40 PM, TriciaJ said:
I feel for you, Davey
management will shake their heads with disbelief. "Why didn't anyone tell us about this?" they'll wail. "How can we fix anything when no one tells us about it?"
Thank you TriciaJ. I feel the love.
See the next installment of "The Weekend Of..." for the postscript of an email to RoofElmo, my supervisor pointing out patient safety being compromised!
Specializes in Psych (25 years), Medical (15 years).
On 7/26/2019 at 5:12 PM, Crash_Cart said:
You can't lock people in during an emergency.
Actually, Crash_Cart, no one is locked in, as one of the doors to the community room is always unlocked from the inside and anybody can exit the community room at any time.
Patients should not be able to get into the room, which is the JC ruling.
Say, if a fire broke out, all would be able to exit the community room into the hallway where the exit doors unlock when a fire alarm is pulled.
Davey Do
10,666 Posts
Thank you TriciaJ. I feel the love.
See the next installment of "The Weekend Of..." for the postscript of an email to RoofElmo, my supervisor pointing out patient safety being compromised!