Imagine my suprise this weekend when I get to work and find out that new policy is that the RN's will make toast for the pt trays!!!!
Yes, that's right, dietary will only send bread up and we are expected to toast it in the toasters provided to the unit. So now, I have to pick up the tray when it is dropped at the desk, take it to the pts room, take the bread all the way back to the convienetly located toaster (NOT) and bring it back.
I work in AICU, anyone think I really have the time for this malarkey??? I was really frustrated over this one and I told the charge nurse they better get some techs up here if this is what they expect. I can only hear the complaints now..."The nurse didnt make my toast right!"
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Such a policy would be an unmitigated disaster with most of my co-workers who do things like punch 20 minutes into the microwave when they want to warm up a chocolate chip cookie for 20 seconds (true story) and wonder why their homecare patient doesn't want the quesadilla they made while looking down at a plate containing a charred black Frisbee looking thing. (I'm not making this up!) I have to agree that most toast comes up from dietary cold and rubbery but some toast-practice or a dietary worker up on the floor to make good toast beats the alternative hands down. It wouldn't take too long for the burnt toast complaints to begin - saying their toast looks like this :flamesonb without arms and legs, of course.
"Nurse! Nurse! There's something wrong with my toast!" :flamesonb
I have to say, this is one of the most entertaining threads I have ever read on this site, esp. iNurseUK's poetry and The Toast Song. Who knew nurses could get so worked up over toast?
I make toast from time to time for my pts, but I do NOT have to leave my unit to make it. And I would refuse to make toast for every breakfast - I'm just too darn busy in the morning. I start at 7, our trays come at 0745. Not enough time to get report, get everyone assessed, 0730/0800 meds passed, get pts OOB, etc., before breakfast comes as it is. Toast wouldn't even be on my priorty list at that time. Too bad for dietary, but my license is more important than the kitchen's five-star Michelin rating.
You should page dietary to the next code blue. Be sure risk management is near. Tell the dietary aide they will need to run the code since apparently a dietary aide and a nurse are now interchangeable. If they complain, tell them you are busy and need to make toast.
Alternatively, things would quickly change if you called your nurse manager to the bedside and told him/her you are ready to give report so they can watch your patients while you make toast.
Sure, just about anything we do that isn't skilled nursing seems erroneous and irritating. I'm not saying it doesn't. My question I suppose is that if you are working in ICU aren't you responsible for the care of 1 or 2 patients at a time... and if so... does making toast for the 1 or 2 people under your care really take so long that you can't be bothered? Most ridiculously busy days that I have worked in ICU have still left me with time to burn. Is your nursing-patient ratio higher in your hospital?
I see the point that it's another thing pawned off on Nursing that shouldn't be. I just don't get the time constraint especially when several people in ICU are more than likely not eating.
I'm glad you came back, Bridey; your point is much clearer in this post.
I work NICU, and like you, I DO often have a bit of a breather during the shift so that I can do things that are nice (for the patient or the unit) but not essential. For example, I might make a cute card with the baby's name, tidy up the supply shelves, or even cuddle an older baby while I do my charting. However, there are three important conditions to doing these nice things:
1. I do them on the shifts where I have a breather, not on the crazy busy shifts.
2. I do them at a time that works for me, not whenever some external factor demands it from me.
3. Typically, a "time that works for me" is in the wee hours of the night, not at the very beginning or very end of of my shift.
Making fresh toast is a nice thing that takes a few minutes, and sometimes nurses have a few minutes to spare. But it's not reasonable to expect it to happen every single shift, or for it to happen whenever the trays arrive (rather than when the nurse has a minute), or for it to happen close to shift change (which I'm guessing breakfast time would be for most units). The toast situation that the OP describes fails all three of my conditions for a non-essential task.
We have a perfect solution for this. We have a hard helper who makes toast for those who want it. Actually, we don't offer toast. We offer cereal, they get toast if they ask for it. Our helper also helps to feed patients. stock up and chase supplies. I wish this service was 24 hours!
There is no way in hell I would be able to make toast for 5-6 patients every morning on M/S. It just isn't happening on my floor. Techs don't have the time either. If dietary can't do it then the patients won't be getting toast in the morning. Patient care and little things like meds, etc. take precedence. Imagine that.
Sure, just about anything we do that isn't skilled nursing seems erroneous and irritating. I'm not saying it doesn't. My question I suppose is that if you are working in ICU aren't you responsible for the care of 1 or 2 patients at a time... and if so... does making toast for the 1 or 2 people under your care really take so long that you can't be bothered? Most ridiculously busy days that I have worked in ICU have still left me with time to burn. Is your nursing-patient ratio higher in your hospital?
I see the point that it's another thing pawned off on Nursing that shouldn't be. I just don't get the time constraint especially when several people in ICU are more than likely not eating.
I'm not sure how often you have lurked at this site, but there have been many, many threads about nurses supporting other nurses to eat lunch and even to go to the bathroom. You are very fortunate if you work at a place where you routinely have downtime - most bedside nurses do not. So maybe instead of management trying to add one more "1 minute" task onto nurses, they can look at where they can take away a task, and call it the 'bathroom' initiative, or the 'lunch' initiative.
Here's a 26 page thread about it, for example - its a very common problem; be grateful it doesn't plague your floor yet.
Dietary will have to hire "toast aides" to send to the floors in the morning. I bet they cost less than nurses and I bet they would be able to handle the toast. Perfect job for a high school kid and would look lovely on a college application and resume- "Toast Maker". Maybe it could be a volunteer job for high school kids. Maybe they could hire all of the unemployed New Grads to make toast? (j/k new grad here, there was a point where I would have taken Toast Maker RN if it had been offered) If they tried to make us do the toast on my floor there would be no toast we just dont have the time with our 7+ patients.
Could the toasters get "stolen" ? Call security, file a report. The toasters keep getting stolen.
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nursel56
7,122 Posts
Such a policy would be an unmitigated disaster with most of my co-workers who do things like punch 20 minutes into the microwave when they want to warm up a chocolate chip cookie for 20 seconds (true story) and wonder why their homecare patient doesn't want the quesadilla they made while looking down at a plate containing a charred black Frisbee looking thing. (I'm not making this up!) I have to agree that most toast comes up from dietary cold and rubbery but some toast-practice or a dietary worker up on the floor to make good toast beats the alternative hands down. It wouldn't take too long for the burnt toast complaints to begin - saying their toast looks like this :flamesonb without arms and legs, of course.
"Nurse! Nurse! There's something wrong with my toast!" :flamesonb