You may have seen the video above. While Senator Walsh is talking specifically about Critical access hospitals in Rural areas her words were said with such an attitude that it infuriated nurses around the country. She has no idea what nurses do or how their shifts unfold each day.
I personally as a nurse currently work in Rehab but I was started off as a hospital RN on a busy Medical unit. I’ve also worked in a jail doing corrections health care Nurses work long shifts and have a lot of responsibilities during that day: Usually with 5-6 patients daily to care for. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot but thats 5-6 patients to:
pass meds on
To Carefully assess each day.
to answer questions for, and to talk to family’s of those patient
To keep out of pain
To coordinate care with ancillary departments
To call the doctors when patients need something.
To field calls from family and friends on the phone,
To Analyze lab values and looking for high low or critical lab values
To ADVOCATE FOR.
To Educate
To monitor vitals
To Administer Blood and watch for adverse blood reactions.
CHARTING
getting snacks and drinks for the patients (that infamous Turkey Sandwich)
Dealing with irate or u reasonable patients or family members of this patients
…and more
We work weekends and holidays twenty four hours a day 7 days a week. The hospital or care facility never closes. What is supposed to be a 12 hour day often turns into 14 or 15 hours or perhaps an 8 hour shift turns into a 16 hours shift because someone didn’t show up for their shift.
We sacrifice our time, our bodies, our time with family and friend to take care of people. STRANGERS.And believe me we are working – HARD. and it’s not just physical power we also use a huge amount of brain power critically thinking about what’s going on with our patients. We calculate drug doses and iv rates. Watch for adverse drug reactions and allergic reactions. We gather useful information to give the doctor when we call them and give recommendations for what might be useful for the patient or a plan of action. We as nurses are the last line of defense between the doctor, pharmacy and YOU, the patient. We sometimes LITERALLY keep the doctors from killing you . It know that sounds crazy but it’s true. We are responsible to question doctors orders that don’t seem right to us.
Not only that nurses gut other health care workers suffer daily abuse, mentally or physically from said patients and families. Sometimes we get hit or spit at or grabbed inappropriately. Nurses and other health care workers are hurt maimed or killed all the time. A few examples:
Baton Rouge nurse is killed after an attack by a mental health patient
Stanford psych nurses – OSHA PROBES
Nurse’s Ear Lobe Bitten Off and Another Choked In Latest Patient Assaults
Patient attacked 3 Western State Hospital nurses in 6 months
We rarely get lunch breaks that by law we are entitled to. And god knows we need them. (If we are lucky on any given work day ,we get 30 minutes in an 8 or twelve hour shift- just enough time to wolf down some food and get back. Not nearly enough time to decompress, really. Rarely do we have time to take the two 15 minute breaks our facilities allot us. Why? Because our patients come FIRST. We don’t pee or eat until everyone is taken care of or we can find a Lull in the action to do either one of those things. At some long term care facilities if your replacement doesn’t show up, guess what? You stay and do another 8 hour shift. That’s called unplanned overtime and it’s dangerous. The more hours work or the more patients a nurse has, the higher the rate of an adverse occurrence, medication error or patient death. The Longer The Shifts For Hospital Nurses, The Higher The Levels Of Burnout And Patient Dissatisfaction
Nurse burn out ( a constellation of symptoms that include exhaustion, cynicism, and decreased productivity) or as it is now called Moral injury is REAL. As is PTSD in nurses. We see and deal with a lot. More and more bedside nurses are leaving the field due to abuse, mandatory overtime, patient overload, moral injury, or bodily injury. This is not good for the future of nursing or future patients.
