Woke up cranky.
Got to work and floated to the inpatient surgery and oncology floor. Where we have (checks notes in disbelief) 6 nurses for 42 patients (and 4 open/ready beds.) Each nurse is at 7+patients… with the potential to go up to 8.
Not the best time to be a patient, people.
Not the best time to be #healthcareworkers, for that matter.
Woof.
To break it down further, we have only 3 CNAs and they are at 14 with a potential for 15. (For those of you who may not know, those are the folks giving you or your loved one dignity and care when you need to poo, make sure your booty isn’t hanging out from your gown, clean up your bodily fluids, bring you water, listen to your pain/dementia/delirium fueled rants, and is on the receiving end of most of the violence in the hospital. They’re underpaid/underappreciated AF.)
Nope. Not done ranting.
August is already 1/3 gone and all the people that have been hired all summer long have been PRN and travelers. And they’re all about to ghost us for back to school season. So the only times we’ll be fully staffed are the times we don’t actually need them (the holidays—when everyone is required to work their holiday shift or get extra attendance points/corrective action that limits your merit raises, ability to transfer, etc)
@MotherDucker How do you feel about family members accompanying patients in hospital? I feel strongly they should, based on my experiences as a patient. But I can see downsides.
@b4cks4w it’s a double-edged sword. 🗡️ Full of liability re: patient falls. And if a Medicare patient falls in the hospital, Medicare won’t pay. The hospital eats that. And the trickle down economics surely work when it’s money lost.
@b4cks4w that being said, during my last two hospitalizations, my mom and husband took me to the toilet so I didn’t pee on myself and helped me out of bed so I didn’t chomp off the head of a poor CNA in a pain-fueled rage.
@MotherDucker That's what I mean, free labor. Of course they need to co-operate with hospital staff as far as possible.
@MotherDucker You don’t even want to know what they are doing in the labs, since most states don’t require licensure and CLIA says you can on-the-job-train anyone with a BS.
@MotherDucker
Been there done that, to some degree. Although it seems to be obviously so much worse. Thinking of you today as you are trying to care for others with a skeleton crew. In case no one else does, let me say thank you.