quote:

Originally posted by Tim L:
I would advise that you contact your local Kidney foundation or the National Kidney foundation. You may also want to contact your local network. Mine is the Network 9 http://www.therenalnetwork.org/INDEX.HTM

This is unacceptable

quote:

Moneka, who is csha?? Do you know if you can do this anonameously???
Originally posted by Moneka Bowers:

quote:

Originally posted by Tim L:
[b]I would advise that you contact your local Kidney foundation or the National Kidney foundation. You may also want to contact your local network. Mine is the Network 9 http://www.therenalnetwork.org/INDEX.HTM

This is unacceptable

If you atre an employee call your local csha it should be in your eating area they regulate staff comlaints

[/B]

quote:

Originally posted by Kris:
I also work in an understaffed chronic care clinic. The other day I was in charge of a bay with 7 patients for the second shift (from 10:30am to 3:30pm). The tech who I was working with had hit her head on a piece of equipment and was sent at 12:30 to an outside emergency facility where she received several stitches to the cut on her forehead, while I went to lunch. The clinic charge nurse (who had her own bay) monitored my bay while I was gone. When I returned, she instructed me that I would receive help when she returned from lunch.
The problem is, she did not go to lunch until 2pm. 5 of my 8 patients were scheduled to come off the machines between 2:00 to 3:00, while the remaining 2 patients (1 being a perm cath) comes off at 3:20. This delay, and the lack of a replacement tech, could have led to a dangerous situation.
There were 3 other techs working the floor, and 1 other nurse for the remaining 3 bays, which held a total of 16 other patients. This charge nurse has been telling the administrator that we are insufficiently staffed if unexpected incidents were to occur. Unexpected incidents include cramping, symptomatic hypotensive incidents, chest pains, or bleeding from pulled sticks. Unfortunately, this is exactly what had happened while I was scrambling around to care for my patients.
The first two patients had to wait who came off were stable, but had to wait up to 15 minutes after their sticks stopped bleeding before I could get around to taping up their sites. My 3rd patient came off an hour early because she was not feeling well, and while her verbal symptoms resembled a cross between hypotension and an anxiety attack, although her blood pressure was stable at 160's over 90's. This was very unlike her, but I had to spend time assessing her to be sure that she was not having cardiac symptoms (which she did not) or a recurrent GI bleed (which I found no evidence supporting this).
The 4th patient, who also needed an attentive assessment, had to wait 30 minutes before she could have her needles pulled and held from her thigh graft (her arthritis and neurological condition is so bad that she is unable to hold her own sticks at this time). A 5th patient had to be taken off at her scheduled time (without delay)because of cramping and a dropping blood pressure. By this time, it was 3pm and the 6th patient was scheduled to come off... and she is not the patient type.
All this happened between 2pm and 3pm. I received the assistance of 2 techs (at individual times) to take my 30-minute blood pressures for me while I was caring for the 3rd and 4th patients described. I paged my charge nurse twice; the first time she let me know that she would be out as soon as she was free from lunch, while the second time she was tied up in her own bay (when she came back from lunch) and could not join me The RN in the other bay had troubles that were nearly as time-consuming as mine.
I finally got the assistance of another tech. Her responsibility that day was to work on our inventory and upcoming labs, but she had to be taken away from that position while she worked the floor. Unfortunately, she is also way behind in ordering supplies because, more and more, she is being used as the "extra" in staffing. She cannot do the inventory and be "extra" without having a lot of unaccounted overtime, which is not only forbidden in our clinic, but also puts her at a great inconvenience since she is the single mother of three children.
I later approached our administrator, who essentially said that it was not her fault that I got into a bind, since I did not call her, and it was the responsibility of the charge nurse to provide the appropriate staffing. I also approached the charge nurse, who said it was not her fault, since there was no staff available; that she was trying to let the inventory coordinater (the "extra" tech) do her job so that we could have supplies later that week; that she had been trying to tell the administrator of these staffing problems, but is told that "the numbers indicate staffing is adequate" and to make do with what we have.
All I know is that I feel used and abused. There is not even enough nurses for a nurse to call in sick (for caring for her children, of course... Heaven forbid that nurses ever call in sick for themselves!).
I have been working in this clinic for a number of years, but am frustrated with the compromises of care that I have seen. While we all pitch in to help each other, there are numerous times when others cannot help because they have similar crises occurring. My question is: am I right to feel angry and abused? How can I avoid being caught in the middle again?

quote:

Originally posted by Kris:
I also work in an understaffed chronic care clinic. The other day I was in charge of a bay with 7 patients for the second shift (from 10:30am to 3:30pm). The tech who I was working with had hit her head on a piece of equipment and was sent at 12:30 to an outside emergency facility where she received several stitches to the cut on her forehead, while I went to lunch. The clinic charge nurse (who had her own bay) monitored my bay while I was gone. When I returned, she instructed me that I would receive help when she returned from lunch.
The problem is, she did not go to lunch until 2pm. 5 of my 8 patients were scheduled to come off the machines between 2:00 to 3:00, while the remaining 2 patients (1 being a perm cath) comes off at 3:20. This delay, and the lack of a replacement tech, could have led to a dangerous situation.
There were 3 other techs working the floor, and 1 other nurse for the remaining 3 bays, which held a total of 16 other patients. This charge nurse has been telling the administrator that we are insufficiently staffed if unexpected incidents were to occur. Unexpected incidents include cramping, symptomatic hypotensive incidents, chest pains, or bleeding from pulled sticks. Unfortunately, this is exactly what had happened while I was scrambling around to care for my patients.
The first two patients had to wait who came off were stable, but had to wait up to 15 minutes after their sticks stopped bleeding before I could get around to taping up their sites. My 3rd patient came off an hour early because she was not feeling well, and while her verbal symptoms resembled a cross between hypotension and an anxiety attack, although her blood pressure was stable at 160's over 90's. This was very unlike her, but I had to spend time assessing her to be sure that she was not having cardiac symptoms (which she did not) or a recurrent GI bleed (which I found no evidence supporting this).
The 4th patient, who also needed an attentive assessment, had to wait 30 minutes before she could have her needles pulled and held from her thigh graft (her arthritis and neurological condition is so bad that she is unable to hold her own sticks at this time). A 5th patient had to be taken off at her scheduled time (without delay)because of cramping and a dropping blood pressure. By this time, it was 3pm and the 6th patient was scheduled to come off... and she is not the patient type.
All this happened between 2pm and 3pm. I received the assistance of 2 techs (at individual times) to take my 30-minute blood pressures for me while I was caring for the 3rd and 4th patients described. I paged my charge nurse twice; the first time she let me know that she would be out as soon as she was free from lunch, while the second time she was tied up in her own bay (when she came back from lunch) and could not join me The RN in the other bay had troubles that were nearly as time-consuming as mine.
I finally got the assistance of another tech. Her responsibility that day was to work on our inventory and upcoming labs, but she had to be taken away from that position while she worked the floor. Unfortunately, she is also way behind in ordering supplies because, more and more, she is being used as the "extra" in staffing. She cannot do the inventory and be "extra" without having a lot of unaccounted overtime, which is not only forbidden in our clinic, but also puts her at a great inconvenience since she is the single mother of three children.
I later approached our administrator, who essentially said that it was not her fault that I got into a bind, since I did not call her, and it was the responsibility of the charge nurse to provide the appropriate staffing. I also approached the charge nurse, who said it was not her fault, since there was no staff available; that she was trying to let the inventory coordinater (the "extra" tech) do her job so that we could have supplies later that week; that she had been trying to tell the administrator of these staffing problems, but is told that "the numbers indicate staffing is adequate" and to make do with what we have.
All I know is that I feel used and abused. There is not even enough nurses for a nurse to call in sick (for caring for her children, of course... Heaven forbid that nurses ever call in sick for themselves!).
I have been working in this clinic for a number of years, but am frustrated with the compromises of care that I have seen. While we all pitch in to help each other, there are numerous times when others cannot help because they have similar crises occurring. My question is: am I right to feel angry and abused? How can I avoid being caught in the middle again?

quote:

Originally posted by Rick:

My unit is understaffed. There are only 2 workers per 8 patients and when either one is on break its one wrker to 8 patients. It is obvious to every patient that a ratio of this number is very unsafe. Patients cramp and they are given no first aid as there are not enough hands to go around especially when another patient is getting off the machine or is having problems at the same time. Also, we can never get on or off our machines at the proper time for the same reson. We average waiting anywhere from 20 min -60 min. getting on our machines past our scheduled apoint. times. And then when we are very weary at tx's end we must hold our sites as much as tiwce as long or more as it should take. It is awful service and the techs are irate all the time as they are tired and overworked. Please don't say to call our ESRD network, because I've tried and they will not protect my anonymity. My unit is the only dialysis unit in our city. I can not risk any reprucussions, because my life is on the line and there are no other options other than this unit. What would you advise?