So, I was supposed to report to work on Jan. 1, 2011 and work from 3p to 3a. I called the ER at 14:00 and they said not to come in until 7p unless contacted otherwise because we were slow. At 17:30 they called me in b/c apparantly shit had officially hit the fan. I get to work and they float me to our "admit unit" (take ER pts and do the admission assessment on them then send them to appropriate floor). But since our hospital has a maximum capacity of 196 pts and we have a census of about 220 pts, the ER is holding. So, that means the admit unit becomes its own little island of med-surg fun! AND to my luck, I get to float down there...Can you hear the sarcasm in my voice?
Well, I wasn't the only one not pleased with the situation. The RN in the admit unit tonight is an ER nurse that agreed to work in the admit unit to pick up some extra shifts. She was trained on how to do the admission assessment, not be a floor nurse. Well, what do ya know? She's one tonight. With no training on our company's eMAR (ER uses different eMAR) AND she gets to have a 6:1 ratio of patients, with only one of her. All night I have literally been waiting for her to pop a gasket...
Then on my end, the person that was "unit secretary" for our "unit" didn't do the work they were supposed to and failed to tell me. So around 1 am I realized a butt-load of orders weren't entered and the chart will have my name on it, not theirs...Oh, and there's not tech/secretary to cover the unit from 3am to 7am, so I will be working until 7am. Hence the reason I am still here. But luckily not all is lost as I have access to my blog. However, the one night of the year I forget to bring my charger I can use my phone. So, now I have a $500.00 paper weight shaped like an iPhone 4...hmmm.
I'm just curious as to whether anyone else's hospital does this? with the holds? Is this being done here because I work for the one of the world's largest hospital companies in the world and they are so focused on the numbers/times/metrics of it all and have forfeited patient safety for their numbers to look good on paper? I mean this nurse hasn't worked a med-surg floor for 3o years. She's been in the ER since the mid 80's. And in our ER, the RN's have no more than 4 pts at a time, and here she has six.
And did I mention that I'm still HERE?!?! At the fricken' hospital. I'm gonna sound lovely to sing with my worship team in the morning at church...
That is all, for now.
youre not alone. over the past few weeks we not only have to hold in the ER while people scramble up on the floors to make dirty beds clean and find rooms where they can cohort the noro virus/cdiff/mrsa patients who are taking up a double room as a single.... but we've also started diverting incoming ambulances to other hospitals. im not a nurse (im a RT) but i can see how it affects everyone and i do what i can to help. our ER is constantly complaining, and the "getting called in to float" is not making anyone happy. hang in there!
ReplyDeleteNo, you're not alone.
ReplyDeleteLast month we had 26 (yes, 26) "holds" in the ER for a stretch of about 7 days (this is besides the 4 that were crammed into Cath Lab and 4 adult patients that were crammed into Peds). My Fast Track waiting room was converted to a "hold unit" with 4 beds...
We are a 50 bed ER (including hallway beds)- so effectively more than 50% of ER space was occupied by admitted patients.
And throughout the night my charge nurse was begging management to be put on "divert" status - management's response? "It doesn't make a difference anyway". I wonder if these idiots realize that while ambulances may not (and that's a BIG "may not") come in while we are on "divert" - walk in patients still do come in!!
Oh and did I mention that management was still looking for "volunteers" to 'go home early' so as to 'meet budget'?