Friday 2 October 2009

Glad I stayed on my ward. The other ones are worse.

Yes. Really. I sure as hell wouldn't want to work on any other ward in this hell hole.

Let me tell you why. The ward below us has 30 medical beds. But we still never have enough medical beds at this hospital.

Management will often take 8 beds from the day unit next to this large medical ward and admit medical patients. That gives the ward below mine 38 medical patients rather than 30.

They are staffing this large medical ward with one Registered Nurse and a few kids on fucking day shifts. They are slamming that ward with admissions even when there is only one RN down there. Holy. Shit.

Any more than 4 patients to one RN is officially dangerous and sets even the best nurse up to fail.

The patients see the kids running around and think that there are " several nurses".

"Why isn't anything getting done when there are 4 bloody nurses on duty?" they say.

There are not 4 fucking nurses on duty. There is one nurse and 3 kids. The 3 kids cannot do shit. That is why you are waiting for hours for pain medicine and that is why no one has the time to speak to your relative about your care. The kids cannot help the nurse with any of that. The lone nurse cannot leave the drugs, the medically unstable and the dying to answer questions for relatives. Not without harming someone anyway.

Our letters to management about the lack of actual nurses have finally been answered. "You will be getting 3 new kids who have no experience and are barely literate that will start at the end of the month".

Oh great. As if that is going to help. Management can dress these people in nurses' uniforms (even though they are nothing like a nurse) and pay them less then minimum wage if they are 16. This is the only reason they are getting hired. These managers should be set on fire I swear to god.

My ward has 20 something beds and we are getting 2 RN's most days. It is hell on earth and the relatives get more ridiculous with their expectations with each passing day. The patients are getting sicker and mistakes are happening and we are no where near having a safe ratio. But my god; At least I am not downstairs.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

OMG! That's all I can say! OMG!

Nurse Anne said...

I know. I cannot believe they gave that ward additional beds with those kinds of staffing levels. The sick bastards.

Anonymous said...

Does the lone RN not refuse to take responsibility for this amount of patients?

I would (and have) done many times.
The RN on duty has a responsibility to REFUSE to work in a dangerous environment.
They need to put their concerns in writing to their senior nurse (and send a copy to the hospital managers).

It is now enshrined in the code of professional conduct that RNs in unsafe environments highlight concerns in writing.

EVERY RN that comes onto a shift as a lone RN with this level of patients should do this (and if its happening a lot - type up a template letter - and each staff member just add the appropriate date.

The management B's only do this because they GET AWAY WITH IT!!!

SO STOP LETTING THEM!

I really feel for people in this situation - but they aren't helping themselves by putting up with it! - and they aren't covering their arses legally!
First thing they would be asked in court (after an incident) would be - "did you highlight your concerns in writing to your senior nurse or to management? - answer no and you are fecked!).

Nurse Anne said...

They are filling in incident reports everyday. So the concerns are being put into writing everytime it happens.

A certain union that shall remain nameless called an emergency meeting because of all the complaints from senior nurses. And they still are not hiring nurses. And still nothing changes. You cannot blame the individual nurses for this crap.

Nurse Anne said...

They sent one of our nurses down there kicking and screaming to staff that unit. I am freaking out at the prospect of being ordered to go. Shit. I'll refuse and they can sack me.

Anonymous said...

not blaming individual nurses - but they should stand their ground and refuse to accept the responsibility on safety grounds.

As long as they do this (and back it up with incident reports stating WHY they refused to accept responsibility - management will have to pull their fingers out.

Also reporting the nursing director to the NMC for failure to act to prevent serious safety risks might help get things moving!


I feel for them all - been there!

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