Comments on: These Nursing Shoes Are Made For Walking

By: PEL

PEL — Tue, 16 Nov 2010 00:20:36 +0000

I’ve been in Nursing over 30yrs and am also wondering what the heck has happened to nursing. Looking back I do remember a lot of waste, ie: extended stays in hospital for routine test , but what has happened to nursing care it’s self is a shame. I also remember making rounds, and hey! remember HS care, back rubs, actually giving or assisting with bathing, unheard of today. I’m proud to be a nurse ,but have to say I don’t believe nurses today are given anywhere near the amount of time & experience to care for patients to gain enough experience to practice good patient care.I guess maybe all will come to there senses and figure out that doing things the old way may be the Best way! I guess I must be getting old.. : )

By: SuzieQRN

SuzieQRN — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 21:14:14 +0000

Hourly rounding is the “new” thing at my hospital too. Some of the younger nurses I have worked with are having a very hard time with this, and not b/c they are necessarily too busy. The ones who have complained the loudest are appalled that they have to spend time with those patients (read the word “patients” with loads of scorn and a touch of superiority). Being a psych nurse myself, I find it difficult to envision any kind of nursing where compassion and a touch of humility (as in therefore but the grace of god go I) are not as important as the evidence based and best practice components of the work. I learned nursing as an ART and a SCIENCE. But then, having practiced for 28 years now, guess I am an outdated fossil, hmmmm?

By: bayousweethrt

bayousweethrt — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 01:50:04 +0000

Our hospital just implemented hourly rounds also. They even play this stupid chiming sound to remind us and a sign in log is posted in each room the nurse must initial. I think it’s ludacris! When I floor nursed, I was in my rooms every 1-2 hours and all my documentation was up to date without anyone reminding me to do my job.

By: nurseshark

nurseshark — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:53:02 +0000

I agree good patient care involves actually taking the time to care for your patients. I miss working on a floor where the nurse to patient ratio was actually manageable, so more time can be spent with my patients.
Now working as a [mainly ortho] rehab nurse, I’m supposed to get our patients to do as much as they can on their own (ideally, as close to their level of ability before their hospital stay), teach them skills (eg: putting on pants and shoes while on hip precautions) and make them practice, so they can go home. I have to admit that, with the amount of patients we have to take on (5-8/nurse) and the fact that we are an 8hr shift unit, hourly rounds might be a bit extreme, but checking in on them in a timely manner is always a good idea.
If anything, I’m sure many bedside nurses can relate to the after meal bathroom rounds!

By: naughty

naughty — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 17:28:32 +0000

MJ,
I totally get your lament. But here is the flipside. What we “know” as nurses and caregivers to be true, isn’t always backed up by “evidence”. Yes, I hate that word sometimes, too. But if we are all going to join Obama’s bandwagon of “evidence based practice”, then I guess I will be (a wee bit) grateful for the poor wretches who choose to do that kind of research work. The “art” of nursing is the he”art” of where we begin our daily tasks, and it takes time, thought, and care. It is also very tough to validate, and therefore justify, and maybe it will help us earn more respect, and better staffing.

By: Hallie

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By: Sean

Sean — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 22:28:05 +0000

Ahhh yes. The epiphany of ‘time at the bedside’. I remember this from a former hospital where I was working PRN. I loved how it was promoted as ‘new’.
Makes you think a little bit about the state of nursing today with our shortage of staff and over-flowing patient work load.
Who has time to be in every patient’s room, every hour?
Hmm.

By: Liz

Liz — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:08:22 +0000

I always meant to be a hospice nurse, but first I did my 3 years hospital nursing. There will never be enough time in the day to do all the tasks that need doing and all the documenting and still have much time to talk to patients. Hourly rounds are a great idea, but then who’s going to document it? Or, who’s going to hang the IVF, chemo, blood, antibiotics and document all of that, too? Never mind med rounds and vital signs.

Hospice nursing is truly one on one. I can spend as much or as little time with the patient and family as I need to. Some days I may have more visits than others, but overall it’s exactly what I hoped nursing would be. The only fly in the ointment is the EMR….it takes 3 times longer to document in the laptop than it did on paper.

By: Lil' Sue

Lil' Sue — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 16:50:04 +0000

Yes, I’m with you, Mother Jones–how many Ph.Ds did it take to figure that one out? I too learned this decades ago at diploma school. At my last beside nursing job, about 7 years ago on a busy telemetry unit, I was informed by management that I “spent too much time with patients”. Yeah, well, that’ll happen when you try to give good patient care!

By: Mother Jones, RN

Mother Jones, RN — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 11:45:06 +0000

Reality Rounds, I’m not tearing everyone down. Just some of those pie the sky people out there who have their heads up their butts. You know what I mean. Not every person in academia is an educated idiot. But why are nurses compelled to prove the obvious to hospital administrators? A resounding “hell no, we aren’t going to take this anymore” in a loud, collective voice is more effective than another research study that eventually is forgotten.