Mariane

Thursday, March 11, 2010 5:26:48 PM

It seems union, non-union, what is actually getting done about this?  I think we are at the point where the union needs to get out there, get on the media - FOX,CNN, etc. and talk and talk to the audience about how they are NOT getting the care they need and deserve due to short-staffing.  They do not know.  Its up to US to let them know and we must get with it!   I am an ER nurse - the norm is no lunch except for a minute to throw down a sandwich, breaks? You have got to be kidding.  Short staffed, yet the administration breathing down your neck if anyone goes home cuz they are tired of waiting.  You can only do so much with excellence when you do not have enough help.  I feel like my profession is going down the drain.  No wonder most of the sharp men and women who would be RNs are now choosing Physician Asst. careers!  The docs stand up for them and they don't get treated like sweat shop workers...

Kimber

Sunday, August 02, 2009 8:52:40 AM

I was an agency nurse for 10 years.  I filled in for short staffing situations.  It was always hit or miss.  I'd show up for work, and often times I'd be sent home because the facility met their staffing quota.  When I did work, it was often in a short staff situation where I had to double as both a charge nurse and cover for nursing or aide shortages.  The problems you mention are everywhere in union as well as non union facilities.  I think the main problem is that budgets are mismanaged and the ones who make those decision don't feel that nursing is important enough to fully staff.

Karen

Sunday, April 26, 2009 2:34:30 PM

My Story?  I am looking for a new job...due to extremely poor staffing. 

Molly Employee

Saturday, December 20, 2008 11:58:19 AM

Whay are YOU going to do about our frozen wages.  Are you going to freeze our dues?  We paid you a lot to get our raises.  Say yes to a Right to Work State.  This union is in cahoots with Gregoire and WE both of them take from us.

Michelle

Wednesday, December 17, 2008 9:00:37 PM

I work on a psychiatric admission ward that will be closing on 12/31/2008. We stopped taking admissions on 10/01/2008 and since then we're being treated like the "ugly stepchild." Immediately after stopping admissions, Staffing started floating most of our staff.  Currently, we're down to two staff per shift.  We only have 6 patients now, but the two staff per shift, started when we had 10 - 12 patients. There's a hospital policy that states we're supposed to have 2 licensed staff on all shifts - doesn't always happen on evenings. For example, last night there was 1 RN (me) and 1 MHT. We had to have staff from other wards relieve us in order to have breaks, dinners, to go off ward. We don't have enough staff to escort patients to the off-ward dining room!  We have to send those patients w/ another ward.  And, if all this isn't bad enough, of the six patients we currently have on this ward, 4 have extensive histories of violence and 1 patient frequently has to be placed in seclusion d/t aggressive/assaultive behavior.

James L. Chaney

Saturday, May 10, 2008 6:37:07 AM

My employer scheduled me for 48 hours one week and then 56hours the next week because of staff shortages. The employer comes out with a letter that sleeping on the job is unacceptable.
I tell the employer get me back on a 36hour week because I am getting
very tired. so I fall asleep. snore so loud I wake the whole family. I am setting up when I fell asleep, and the family did not want me to self report because they knew how much I was working. I am now on 36 hours a week
I am a pediatric vent nurse.

naz

Tuesday, April 29, 2008 12:06:11 AM

Hi
I'm an1199 member presently on strike at khrcc.We have some members that chose not stay on the picket line,they
chose to be in the van.

Melinda

Friday, February 15, 2008 7:46:34 PM

As an NAC, I know how it is to work under staffed 90% of the time. Not only is it physically draining but mentally as well. Our patients deserve our 110% and when we are under staffed we are only able to give them 50%. I believe this is an injustice to their trust and a huge liability for the facility. But of course it is easier to lay off 130 people (not jobs) than it is to budget wisely. This city is already poverty stricken so why don't we just add to it!

Beulah

Friday, January 18, 2008 1:45:46 AM

I just got off an evening shift on med-surg. 7 patients - can you believe it? My colleagues and I are so burned out we just don't know what to do!