What a night!

[workingspaz]

:mad:Jeers- to the charge nurse that made my assignment. To the other charge nurse that stared at me like I had grown a second head when I stated "This is unsafe", refused to take any of my patients, and offered the only alternative to the situation as "You can give one of your patients to another nurse, but you'll have to take the first admission."

Hello?!?! What part of 'unsafe' sailed past cranial nerve eight?

:jester:CHEERS- to the unit sup acting as house sup that night, that acknowledged my concerns; assured me it was okay; offered SEVERAL potental solutions. For getting another nurse to relieve our floor (The RN's had 7, LVN 6). And for reinforcing that once staff start throwing around legitimate "unsafe" concerns, that admissions don't keep coming! You shut the floor down!! I am forever grateful for your excellent leadership skills!! :redbeathe

[Crux1024]

Im happy you had the Nursing Supe on your side. Usually for us it was the other way around. Keep on speaking up for yourself and others.

[beckster_01, BSN, RN]

Ours is usually the opposite situation as well. Glad you have some good leadership! It is a good night when you, and your patients, survive.

[AgentBeast, MSN, RN]

Late December back in 63?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wD7LNDLKfWY

:dncgbby::rckn::dncgbby:

[netglow, ASN, RN]

You are such a dork ScottE.

I SAY THAT IN A LOVING WAY.

[AgentBeast, MSN, RN]

You are such a dork ScottE.

I SAY THAT IN A LOVING WAY.

[Munch]

You are so lucky. The nursing supervisors at the hospital I work at now are pretty much ghosts. They only come out to reprimand you. This is also New York City..so I guess that isn't a surprise...the hospital is SO huge(13 floors) and extremely busy(I am glad I don't work in the ED...patients wait in chairs before they can get a stretcher to lay on). I used to work at a small hospital in the suburbs of New York City and the hospital supervisors were great. The hospital was only two floors. I know you must think I am crazy for leaving that hospital but it was too heartbreaking because it was a heart hospital(they also have every other service besides labor and delivery, but heart problems were their specialty). They did a lot heart surgeries and cancer treatments and a lot of patients expired and I couldn't handle the constant deaths. Of course patients die at the hospital I work at now but it's not constantly in my face. While the supervisors bent over backwards at the smaller, suburban hospital, It was just too heartbreaking(literally). It would be nice if the supervisors at the smaller hospital could be at the city hospital I work at, but we can't have it all can we?

[JDougRN, BSN, RN]

How bad were the pt.s, that 7 was unsafe?

[BunnySan27]

We get 7 patients every night...I guess we need to protest at our hospital..I don't see it doing any good though...nothing won't change, our census has been down so they're gonna accept anybody that comes through those doors.

[workingspaz]

3 total cares, turn 2 (1 that had RRT'd the prev night) 2 AMS, actively crawling OOB (1 that had fallen during stay) 2 DVT (1 with tach HR 150+ just hanging in bed & active SOB- can we say poss PE?)

And I came from a facility that routinely assigned 8 or 9, but these guys were VERY sick. I'd had most of them the night before and barely held it together safely with 5.

There are nights that 7 is safely doable; not that night, in my opinion.

[TriciaJ, RN]

Congratulations for speaking up. Only when we are vocal can we advocate for ourselves and our patients. And don't be deterred by those who tell you how well they could have handled the same load. They are either comparing apples to oranges or they're not telling the whole story.