Unsafe nursing/High nurse:patient ratios

Posts: 10 · Joined: 02 Feb 2008 Posts: 10 Location: indiana

Hey Born to Run RN, I had a similar event. Difference is I was able to get a sitter. However, the sitter was making out checks for her personal bills, cutting coupons,and on the internet etc. The pt pulled out the IV ofcourse. So aggrivating!

Posts: 56 · Posted: Sun Feb 24, 2008 10:33 am

Yeah, unfortunately that does happen with some of the sitters...not saying all, so don'tanyone jump on me because of that generalization! LOL! That was not intended for you Indiana nurse, just some of the others defensive on this site.

Those situations are so frustrating. I was so nervous writing that in the chart, both in the progress notes and on the orders and was expecting severe repercussions for that, but at that point, which I made my last nite, I never heard from them. It was comforting because before I left that morning, that doc showed up and took the chart after making his note and headed off to administration and calling social service to get her transferred to another hospital.

I did learn after that experience that I am most definitely there for the safety and health of my patients and would not hesiate to chart like that again. If we don't stand up for our patients, then who will?

Have a great weekend!

Denise

Posts: 10 · Joined: 02 Feb 2008 Posts: 10 Location: indiana

As long as people are tring thier best I never get upset with them. I know I'm not perfect either. I just get so frustrated when people don't do thier work. The ones that act like they have done the hospital a favor by showing up, and work at not working get on my nerves!

Posts: 5 · Joined: 09 Mar 2008 Posts: 5 Location: Louisville, KY

If you are in a situation where you judge it to be unsafe and I would say 7 patients with the acuity level you described is unsafe. I know a nurse that was in a similiar situation, she called the house manager and told her that she did not feel it was a safe environment for the patients. The house manager said "that's nursing". This nurse late that day after she was off called the Board of Nursing for the state and related the situation without giving the her name and the hospital. They told her the next time this situation occurred to tell the house manager she was going to call the state and report an unsafe practing situation. Well the situation came up again the nurse call the house manager and ask for more personel, the house manager said there was nothing she could do. The nurse proceed to tell her that she was going to call the state board of nursing an report the unsafe situation. Within 5 minutes there was another nurse on the floor. The autocratic/hierarchical rule of nursing management is a throw back to the dark ages. We live in a different time where we do not have to put up with this kind of idiot thinking.
David

Posts: 19 · Joined: 14 Mar 2008 Posts: 19 Location: Phoenix AZ USA

Hey all, new to this forum. Just read your orig post and I must say I agree with you about the pt with a Hgb of 2 needing to get off the Tele floor! I am an ER nurse (8 years in Detroit, now in Phoenix) and if that had been my patient, I would've REFUSED to even send him to a Tele bed with that kind of value! It's insane - and yet, the ONLY group of healthcare workers out there that DOESN'T have any kind of protections from "pt abandonment" and "refusal of care" issues for staffing is...... you guessed it. NURSING.
It's why they passed the law in CA - 1:4-5 max. It needs to be that way EVERYWHERE. In the Level I trauma center I used to work in (Detroit), you would START the shift with about 10 patients and try to keep it under 20 all the way thru the shift! Lunch breaks? What lunch breaks? Safety? No such thing. You just try to get thru the shift without anyone on your team coding. If you're lucky you get a tech. The agency nurses come to work early, walk thru the ER, go back to their car and call in. In Phoenix now, my hospital has a 1:5 ratio in the ER. On tele & MS it's 1:7 too. Of course, this particular place doesn't do trauma, but that doesn't mean patients are in any better shape. The drunks looking for detox all go to tele here (god forbid, they drink too much and might have a cardiac issue! LOL) which is a waste of a good cardiac bed. We have snowbird season here too -- lots of elderly, LOTS of cardiac.
I personally hate JCAHO (evil empire akin to Walmart), they make it so much harder for nurses especially. If you feel a situation is unsafe and your boss tells you to suck it up - call JCAHO and your STATE
BOARD. Get em shut down, they'll think 2x about screwing with us again!

I for one will NEVER work ANY FLOOR EVER AGAIN. That's why I got into ER - treat em and street em - whether it be to the floor or the door.
Angela