So heres the thing. When someone is sick and unable to care for themselves and needs help brushing their teeth and bathing and maybe turned every two hours to preserve skin integrity and changed maybe two or three times an hour due to incontinence, thru no fault of their own, and someone to help feed them or clean their teeth, glasses, hearing aids, or clean the spills off their bedside table or rub their back or replace a battery in their monitor, or just listen to them because they dont understand why their body is breaking down or their organs arent functioning the way they should and theyre afraid. Maybe they need bathed every day because thats what theyre used to, to be comfortable. Maybe they need their bed changed 2 or 3 times in one day because it got soiled. Maybe youve got 11 patients going through the same thing. Maybe you only have 5 like that but 11 sick people depending on you to help make their stay more comfortable. Maybe youve got 1 or 2 out of those 11 that need you psychologically more than they do physiologically. Maybe 7 or 8 need their glucose monitored 4 times a day. Maybe every hour due to an insulin drip. Maybe you feel like these people should be treated with dignity and respect even if they are cognitively impaired, as you would care for one of your family members. Maybe they are on a tele monitor or something that should really be checked because you hear a monitor beeping somewhere. Maybe at the same time 2 or 3 people need to be toileted at the same time because you have 3 call lights going off while someone is crying because theyve been told they dont have long to live. Maybe your 3 nurses are busy giving meds or changing one of those incontinent people or doing another one hour admission so someone can call a half person in to help care for some of these people. Maybe someones taking their last breath or trying to breathe and thats why one if those 3 lights are going off but you dont know because youre in another room with someone whos ill enough to be admitted. Maybe you cant get to that person that cant breathe because youre only one person and you have 10 other patients to rush in and out of their rooms so you can get the charting done accurately. Maybe you didnt get to have a hot lunch or take a break but you dont mind because these people need you. Maybe none of these things matter to ADMINISTRATION. Maybe the bottom dollar and matching uniforms are among the most important things on the agenda so that these ill people who need cared for as if they were your family member will know whether youre a nurse or a patient care tech. Maybe the board getting written on should be done so you dont get a conference because the squares werent all marked because you thought patient care was a little more important. Maybe its not about patient care anymore. Maybe its about the bottom dollar. Maybe its time to move on where you can do what you love doing. Caring for people who need you rather than making a new building for someone to lay in for hours and be ignored. Maybe Im wrong but I just dont happen to think I am this time.
Posted on: Tue, 11 Mar 2014 01:17:56 +0000
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