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Re: nursing Posted by: Greg L********, RN, another ICU nurse on November 23, 1998 at 19:08:12: In Response to: nursing posted by Andrea Kubsch, RN on November 21, 1998 at 19:05:22: This is always a tough call and is so common. Many Nurses quit in disgust for many of these reasons. Nurses seem to have this communal guilt, ofter we hate what our boss,the hospital corp., asks us to do but we have this subserviant role some nurses try to fill. We are torn between just getting through the day, trying to do the best job for the patient, and doing the job the corp. wants us to do. If your hospital is a union be sure to file a notice every time the staff to patient load goes above the set level. If each patient needs to be assessed for what level of care is needed be sure to routinely over assess this level. Unsafe equipment and work areas are well dealt with by OSHA. An anonomous letter works wonders. Hospitals are very regulated, and OSHA returns again and again to ensure compliance. Write complaints for areas of the hospital you float to that you hear comlaints about. Unfortunately I have never heard of a state board of nursing that is as agressive about unsafe staffing situations. With families that are too demanding, I try to recruit them to do things, " Your father keeps asking for 7-up but we only have Sprite here at the hospital. He would really appreciate it if you went and found him a can." As a nurse you can delegate work, so delegate it to the family. "Your mother's feet are so dry will you put some lotion on them" Get them to give your patient a bath or a daily manicure. I have had demanding families totally stop asking for things because they quickly found out I would find a way for them to do it. I think it makes the family members feel good to do these things. For those families that are very persistant I always ask them to leave the patient room while I do assessments and proceedures; be sure to tell them it may take some time. While in the room I draw the curtain, and make sure I finish all the work and the charting while I'm alone with the patient. Its not nessesary to tell the family when you are finished Sometimes the b... (truncated) Follow Ups Back to Kickin Brass WWWBoard created by Matt Wright and can be found at Matt's Script Archive WWWBoard 2.0a2b updated by James Kent 05/08/98. |