Thoughts on this blog article

[AceOfHearts<3]

I've been seeing a blogger's article making its way around Facebook. It has popped up on my newsfeed multiple times. I need to vent about it and want other's opinion.

Here is the link: Why I Choose To Take A Stand For Safe Staffing and The Nursing Profession #NursesTakeDC

I agree with some of the stuff the blogger states, however there is a section that just gets my blood boiling! The part that really gets to me is bolder below.

We no longer have the time to Assess, Diagnose, Plan, Implement, and Evaluate. Instead, we spend that time charting things that half the time we didn't do. I think it's really sad a nurse can document "dressing changed" in the computer, but I can come behind them and see that my patient's dressing was dated from the day before.

No, no, NO!! No matter how busy we are we DO NOT chart something we didn't do!!!

If you don't get to the dressing change you tell the on-coming nurse in report! Whatever it is that you did not complete and needed to you tell the on-coming nurse or with extenuating circumstances you stay and finish it yourself.

If you find a dressing change was documented as done but evidence shows otherwise, you then do it yourself and you have a talk with the person who did the false documentation. You also speak with your manager if it is an ongoing issue.

Nursing is a 24/7 job- sometimes things don't get done when we want them to and we have to pass it on to the next nurse. That is okay! I hate doing passing stuff on and I get that nobody wants to be "that" nurse that has to pass stuff on. What is not okay is a patient getting substandard care because of false documentation!

[spotangel, DNP, RN, NP]

"What is not okay is a patient getting substandard care because of false documentation!"

Totally agree! Document what you did not what you didn't. Be honest with the oncoming shift. If you are not a chronic "passer" most staff will step up and do it.

[CCU BSN RN]

I've seen this floating around, and I get where this writer is coming from, I really do, but since she's sharing it PUBLICLY and without ANONYMITY, that are DEFINITELY parts that needed more consideration before posting.

1. When you post publicly that people are documenting falsely (which is like, nursing rule #1, never document stuff you didn't do) it damages our view of you personally, because you didn't talk to them or report them about it. It damages the public perception of the entire profession when you identify these things because you happened to see them a few times.

2. 'We don't actively care anymore'. Same reasons above and you're making assumptions about the entire state of healthcare with relatively little experience to be relying solely on your own anecdotal evidence.

3. You say we've ran off all the good experienced nurses because they can't hack it. Speak for yourself, snowflake. Some of us are still here, and we love it here, and we don't want to flee the bedside at the first sign of discomfort.

Alright, that's enough issues

[Emergent, RN]

Nurse blogging seems an inherently risky business. How can it be done by a working nurse without enraging ones employer and risking ones job?

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

Nurse blogging seems an inherently risky business. How can it be done by a working nurse without enraging ones employer and risking ones job?

Don't state your name nor put a picture of you up.

[Flatline, BSN, RN]

4 jobs in 4 years?

Some of the things she is talking about are real issues but I have a feeling that her personal issues are hampering her ability to work efficiently.

It is easy to whine about the issues and point fingers, it is hard to sit down and critically think about the issues to find solutions.

Instead of looking at the hospital/employer like the enemy look at them like another patient/client/customer and try to understand what it is they want and how you can best work with them to mutually achieve your goals.