So Where is Anne?

I am job hunting.

And working a lot.  I was hoping that working double shifts would get me some extra cash but they are back to not paying overtime and we are getting extra time off instead.  Which, of course, leaves the wards even more short staffed.

I had the fright of my life yesterday.  Have to change details to protect confidentiality and all that.

I was on duty with one other RN and an an inexperienced auxilliary who did not know how to make a bed.  For the whole floor.

One of my patients was having a procedure downstairs and the department demanded, DEMANDED that the patient get transported back to my ward with an RN escort.  That means I had to go down there and bring him back. They are, of course, better staffed with less patients but for whatever reason the department staff always refuses to bring patients back.  We went back and forth for some time.  I told them that there was no way I could leave the ward to dick around down there waiting for porters and such.  But I got sick of them ringing me constantly and accusing me of messing up their list thus delaying patient procedures in their department.  I knew I wasn't going to win.  I know they don't understand nor do they want to hear about the short staffing on the wards.

Against my better judgement I went. And I got stuck down there waiting for them to get it together and then waiting for the porter.  I harassed them and reminded them that I really really needed to get back to the ward.

When I got upstairs I was wheeling this patient who immediately needed post procedure observations taken into his bay.  I peered into the bay across from his to see a young patient of mine looking very funny.  I ran to this person and it was obvious that this patient was in respiratory arrest. Was not breathing.  Still had a pulse though.  I dumped the post procedure patient (distressed that I was leaving him on a trolley in the middle of the bay--he didn't understand what was happening) and put the resus call out.

Holy shit.  This person has a history and was probably in the throes of a seizure while I was getting dicked about by recovery who couldn't be bothered to bring the patient back to the ward.  Following the fit, he stopped breathing.  And a I suppose it was several minutes later that I saw him.  I have no doubt if I had been on the ward, or if there was 1 RN per bay it would have been dealt with immediately.  The auxilliary didn't even understand that the patient wasn't breathing.

We have more patients going for diagnostics and procedures every hour that require nurse escorts than we have nurses to escort them.  The ward is almost always increasingly short staffed as a result.  So basically if we have 2 nurses and 2 auxillaries on shifts we are often left with two staff on the ward because of escorting.

I really fucking hate the people I work for.

I went to this study day/ meeting where we had our (old fashioned trained not been on a ward in 30 years) leaders telling us to read the reports on Staffordshire and cry for the suffering that was dished out by our colleagues.   They wanted suggestions about how to "improve" care and efficiency.  They want more with less but patient care will not be harmed and we will not be a staffordshire. They told us over and over that 20 billion is getting cut out of the NHS budget and that the current system is unsustainable.  They shut down and refused to discuss RN staffing when we mentioned it.  The even chortled. Sadly, they don't understand that it is cost effective to have more RN's at the bedside. 

Other head managers were at this thing saying things like "we are listening to our nurses".  He shocked me when he said it. Then I saw a journo and a photographer from our local paper  at the back of the room.   As soon as the journos split so did the chiefs. But they had a nice little photo in the paper with a "We are listening to our Nurses" headline.

Dicks.