Unbelievably crappy week!

[brandtrn]

THIS week has been the absolute s***s! Not only were we heavily scheduled for surgeries, but we've had next to NO staff! My usual partner-in-crime, Melissa, took a fall from a boat and injured her shoulder badly enough to call in sick for two nights in a row. Those of us remaining have been running our asses off, non-stop, all freaking week long. To make matters worse, we had a serious blow to staff morale when one of our patients (a reasonably "young" man of only 43), following spinal surgery, apparently threw a clot and coded on us, and we were NOT able to save him! His death has cast a pall over us which still hasn't lifted, three days after the fact. While it's true that there are is NO such thing as a surgery without risk, the fact that this guy had NO significant health history prior to his surgery made his death that much more jarring to all of us. Let this be a warning to all "surgery addicts" out there (and yes, in my three short years at this little "boutique" hospital which does "elective" surgeries only, I've seen more of such people than I care to count!) that your next surgery might very well be your last one! Surgery is NO FREAKING JOKE, people, no matter how the surgeons might try to minimize its risks in order that they might be able to rake in the $$$$! Let surgery be your LAST resort when it comes to resolving any health issues you might be having. It's painful, debilitating and downright DANGEROUS! Unless traumatic injury, health emergency or malignant disease renders it necessary (in which case, it can be life-saving, which MAKES it worth the risk!) or intractable pain is SEVERELY compromising one's quality of life, it should be avoided like the plague, and alternative methods of healing should be explored *stepping down from soapbox*.

The final *insult* to my week came when my "relief" charge nurse was significantly late for work this morning, and it wasn't the first time...GRRRRRRRR!!! This particular nurse has pulled this particular trick on AT LEAST SIX DIFFERENT OCCASIONS IN THE PAST YEAR that I'm personally aware of, and, for all I know, it could be more. It's always the same freaking story with him...he's almost ALWAYS between 10-15 minutes late on a regular basis but, on occasion, it happens that 15 minutes go by, and he's still not there (I ALWAYS give staff members at least 15 minutes past the start of their shift before I call them -- things can happen, like car trouble, kids being sick, accidents, etc. to make folks late), and, when one calls him, the call goes straight to his voicemail, just like it did this morning. Called him several times this morning with no response. Finally, in desperation, I started calling management staff, because I was wondering how the eff they were going to expect me to come in to work tonight (or should I say, last night since it's past midnight already?) if I couldn't go home and get SOME kind of sleep in between shifts! The manager on call told me that she'd be on her way in as soon as she could get herself ready (STILL frustrating, considering that she wasn't ready to leave and she lives a good hour away from the job!) While I was waiting for her to arrive, I continued to care for patients, got a.m. assessments done and medications passed, all the while cursing the so-called "nurse" responsible for my misery. FINALLY, he showed up...TWO AND ONE-HALF HOURS LATE! Not a phone call did I receive before he arrived to let me know that he'd gotten my multiple messages and was on his way, and not ONE SINGLE APOLOGY OR EXPLANATION did I receive from him once he arrived to finally begin his shift! As I said previously, this has happened at least six previous times that I know of, personally. Today makes the SEVENTH time, to my knowledge, that he was in excess of an hour late for the beginning of his shift, and for all I know, it could be more than that! What kills me about this is that if I or any OTHER nurse I know (besides him!) tried such stunts, we'd have been kicked to the curb by now! The ONLY thing which has managed to "save" what was left of my attitude tonight (this morning) is the fact that, since there was such a mass "exodus" of patients from the building, they had one nurse more on tonight's schedule than was needed, and, in consideration of the fact that I worked 14 and one-half hours the previous night, they offered me an unexpected "low-census" night off! I'm STILL steaming, though...again, GRRRRRRR!

The nurse I've bitched about in the previous paragraph has been complained about to management by other nursing staff members for many reasons: his unprofessionalism, his exploitation of our CNA staff, his poor patient care, his undependability, etc. I, too, have voiced my concerns (although I'm loath to throw ANY of my co-workers under the bus!), but to no avail. Because he also appears to be "friends" with two of the major nursing supervisors in the building (The Chief Nursing Officer and our Director of Patient Outcomes), our concerns have been blown off...and, when I mentioned to him this morning that he needed to be more careful regarding his attendance issues (you may be sure that I wasn't going to be stuck working fourteen and one-half hours when I should have worked twelve without commenting on that fact!), his only reply to me was: "I'm not worried about it because I'm untouchable." REALLY??!!?? "Untouchable??!!??" I suppose, in our hospital, not all nurses are created equal but, it appears, some nurses are MORE "equal" than others! I had honestly hoped that my previous job change would be my LAST one. I've been more than 30 years in the health professions, 21 of which have been as an RN, and I had hoped to retire from this facility, where working conditions are USUALLY excellent (there are ALWAYS exceptions to ANY job!), but I honestly don't believe that I can continue to work in a place where nursing management shows such blatant "favoritism" to someone so completely undeserving. Time for me (at the old age of 53) to start job-shopping again, it appears...*sigh*

[tomsk]

53? so young...keep up the good work ,
It's been ok here...very hot though..

[Icey]

Being under-staffed and over-worked's no good in any environment, but definitely not when it's in a medical/caring facility. Unfortunately, we have stories like yours all the time in the UK Cindy, and I can appreciate your grumbles about it, but I'm afraid that the nurse you're moaning about appears not to be taking his job seriously, and, it would seem, not acting in the sort of professional manner you'd expect. However, being so late for shifts and displaying poor patient care should be tackled by the Chief Nursing Officer if staff make appropriate complaints. If they don't act on these, and the complaints're valid, then surely there's a Complaints Officer or Deputy Nursing Officer who has to take staff concerns on board?

Does this man have a genuine excuse for turning up late, which the rest of you don't know about? For example, could his shift hours be flexible due to some personal reason/s, and this's why he's allowed to "get away with it"?

When the rest of you work your backsides off and're trying to do everything at once, it can breed ill-feeling towards your colleague if he appears not to be pulling his weight, but has anyone tried talking to him in a pleasant and friendly manner, to try and find out if there's a legit reason for his sloppy attitude?

When he said: ""I'm not worried about it because I'm untouchable", it struck me as either being a facetious reply, or a defensive one. The Chief Nursing Officer's obviously aware of what's going on and permits it, which seems to indicate that there's possibly more to this man's behaviour than anyone else knows about, but it DOESN'T excuse any poor patient care. You don't say if he's negligent in some manner, or if he's unaware of the procedures expected, but it needs to be addressed in as calm a manner as possible if you all have to work together. Would a staff meeting iron out any gripes?

[tomsk]

I'm off for a week ....bye..
x

[Icey]

Bye sausage!

Icey mutters ... part-timer ..... : )

[brandtrn]

If his shift hours were "flexible," surely that should have been indicated on the schedule, I would think. Also, they should be scheduling someone to fill the interim hours or, at the very least, *asking* those of us stuck picking up the slack if we'd mind working the extra hours. It's been done that way for every other nurse who's had to have flexibility in their schedules for personal or health reasons, so I don't think that particular justification will fly. And, as I indicated, several staff have gone to nursing management with their concerns about him, and we're blown off. I've come to the conclusion that the only thing remaining to do is to go over their heads and to speak directly to the hospital CEO, which I'm planning to do this week, as I'm still feeling burned by this nurse's blatant disregard for his patients and his co-workers.

[Icey]

Go for it, C. I don't blame you.

It's obvious that something needs looking at, but it was just a thought. "Having the pleasure" of managing quite a few folk myself, I've come across all sorts of situations, many needing a lot of diplomacy and, frankly, me making allowances for a few - but certainly not at the expense of other employees, as seems to be happening in your case.

By all means I'd speak to the CEO, and I hope you all get this matter sorted out as amicably and as quickly as possible. Favouritism or nepotism shouldn't be tolerated. x