tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-921166331527108669.post6177140803767545805..comments2023-08-25T10:48:15.798+01:00Comments on Obesity and the Salt Connection and Other Stuff: Would you rather live to be old or die before you become old?Willowhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05678669831391750854noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-921166331527108669.post-57564819627271345582007-06-10T12:24:00.000+01:002007-06-10T12:24:00.000+01:00You are spot on.I am a registered nurse who works ...You are spot on.<br><br>I am a registered nurse who works on a 30 bed acute medical ward. <br><br>Around 10-15 of those patients are very acutely ill and need nearly one to one support by a qualified nurse due to IV meds/labs/ and the fact that they require constant depth nursing assesments and monitering to survive. <br><br>They rest of our patient population out of 30 are usually very elderly and although they are not acutely ill they are unable to feed themselves and go to the toilet. <br><br>We currently have 19 patients on the ward who require feeding. These people are unable to feed themselves diet or take oral fluids independently usually due to advanced dementia.<br><br>Guess how many staff we are currently allowed to have on the ward per shift: 1-2 nurses and 1-2 auxillaries for a total of 4 members of staff maximum. Management has refused to pay for any more. The managers make these decisions yet never seem to be on the receiving end of the public's anger. <br><br>Frontline staff nurses who are at hour 14 of 15 hour shift without a drink or a break are verbally attacked and accused of being lazy or too stupid too understand that it is cruel to not feed people.<br><br>Think about the logistics of 4 members of staff feeding 19 people if each feed takes about 20 minutes. <br><br>That is assuming that the RN's are able to leave their critical patients to help feed. It is usually more like 2 members of staff trying to feed 19 people and answer call bells at the same time. <br><br>There is no way to avoid situations such as trays being left to go cold in front of people who cannot feed themselves, or people who have accidents at mealtime being left to sit in it because the staff are trying to feed. There is no way to avoid this from happening. <br><br>We are often running our arses off for 15 hours without a break trying to care for critical patients and providing basic nursing care to others. <br><br> We are frequently on the receiving end of the rage of irate relatives of our patients. They accuse us of leaving trays in front of patients who cannot feed themselves because the nurses these days "don't care, can't be bothered etc etc". If I have a patient who starts bleeding to death I am accousted by angry relatives of other patients whilst I am trying to hang a blood transfusion or get an airway into someone else. They think I am intentionally neglecting their loved one.<br><br>When will safe staffing levels become the primary focus rather than attacking the nursing profession for not being able to be 10 places at once.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com