To let it go or not let it go,that is the question.

[stawman53]

I was floated to a floor I requested not to work on,I went anyway,to do my part,as I was to help with paper work. The HN that day was a TA,temp. assignment. The shift began with her concerns about not enough PMAs,nurse aids,no ward clerk and her load of RAI assessments,quarterlies,yearlies,etc. and how she had so much "on her plate",and she couldnt stay OT that day.

I said I would be her ward clerk,she got her aides and she got someone to help her with her RAI's.

What did she do that day? She spent virtually no time on her RAI work,she generally flitted around,doing tasks that were un necessary and unrelated to her TA HN position,I know because I have been TA,she took long breaks and basically cruised all day.

Anyway I feel she manipulated NSO and ended up cruising the day. The girl that did her RAIs had other things to do.I feel manipulated also.

Should I report this so NSO knows what is going on? Also can I request again not to go to this unit based on what is going on? Should I just drop it and get over it?

[tommycher]

Did you get paid for the day? Did you learn a lesson? I would again put in the request you originally put in, but with fact only details. What floor was it? Is this a hospital you are talking about? And, did you do your job well, regardless of how others did theirs in your perspective? Every experience we have, good or bad, can be made positive by what we learn from it.

[Jolie, BSN]

Do you have a good relationship with the nursing administrator? Will s/he take your input seriously? If so, then I would make an appointment to discuss this.

I once managed a specialty unit which experienced explosive growth over a very short period of time. Despite our best efforts to recruit and staff our unit internally, we were forced to rely on agency staffing for a period of time. We found 2 agencies to be reputable, consistently providing us with qualified and professional staff. Another local agency was not. They misrepresented their staff members to us, and misrepresented our assignments to their own staff. Had the staff nurses on my unit not approached me with their concerns about the nurses sent out by that particular agency, I might never have known about their lack of experience and inability to care for our patients. I tried my best to meet each agency nurse, but it just so happened that I was not working on the occasions that this agency sent out staff. 2 strikes and they were out. We refused to pay for the services of their unqualified nurses, and never called them again.

Of course, patient safety is the most important issue, but cost is another factor worth considering. Agency nurses cost a fortune, roughly 2-3 times the cost of a regular staff member. For that kind of money, your facility has the right to expect top-notch performance. If they are not getting it, then the agency nurse ought to be booted, and the staff offered big-time incentive pay to take up the slack, which it sounds like they are doing anyway. Keeping this temp will only lead to decreased morale on the unit. My guess is that it isn't that good to begin with, given that the unit is being led by a temp with a poor work ethic.

Good luck.