A Nursing Rant

The last month has been hectic around here. My younger sister, as I have already ranted, is pregnant and has begun having complications. She was put on complete bed rest for a while and is now on modified bed rest. While the complete bed rest was going on, Alo ended up in the hospital in respiratory distress from RSV. So, it's been insane. (Alo is home now and things are slowly going back to normal.)

Now, the week before Alo ended up in the hospital, I took over his care when he didn't have nursing and noticed that his day nurse wasn't doing her job. He's supposed to be cathed every two hours because his bladder doesn't empty on its own. He's also supposed to get respiratory treatments every six hours.

Most nurses are expected to do laundry, clean the patient's room, clean all of the medical equipment, etc. We don't expect that. We do those things on our own. Anyway, as little as we expect of the nurses, one would think this nurse would be able to, in her 10 hour shift, give him a bath, do his feeds, his caths and his respiratory treatments.

But no. That last week, sis and I decided we'd had enough. We'd told her multiple times before that she needs to do his treatments on time and that she has to cath him. She got better for a while and then I guess she figured since sis was on bed rest and I was there, she could get away with doing nothing.

Yeah. No! So, anyway, sis and I made the decision to tell the agency we didn't want her back. Since I'm now working from home, we don't really need a day nurse so it's not going to be a big deal if they can't find someone to replace her. We'll simply go with night nursing and will know that Alo is being taken care of and having his care done when it's supposed to be done.

So, that call took place this morning since Alo went in the hospital the day before we made the decision. The nursing supervisor is less than pleased. Apparently, because my sister is only 22, she isn't capable of making an informed decision and is being influenced by people outside the home. Now granted, my mom and Jerry have also complained about this particular nurse because they've come in and had to change Alo's diaper because he was soaking wet and the nurse was talking on the phone to friends about Jerry Springer. But, aside from those two (who do, to an extent, have a say as family members if for no other reason) sis did not speak to anyone about her decision and it really pisses me off that this woman seems to think that because one of her nurses is a piss poor nurse and doesn't need to work in nursing, someone must obviously be out to get her.

Sis couldn't possibly have made this decision based on the performance of the nurse, so it must have been someone else making the decision?

What really pisses me off about the entire thing is that the supervisor has already put sis on her shitlist. Sis and another of the nurses dated for several months and she got pregnant. Not the wisest or most responsible of moments, but it's a little too late for that now.

He no longer works with Alo and he and she are now just friends. Maybe not an ideal situation, but it's far better than a few others I can think of. Anyway as I said, he no longer works with Alo and this woman still seems to think their relationship is her business, even going so far as to hint that Alo's insurance will be stopped if sis doesn't end the relationship. Now, sis just smiled and nodded over that one. It was rather amusing. This woman is clueless about their current relationship but apparently thinks sis is open to being threatened and intimidated and will therefore divulge all the details this woman is dying to have because she still seems to think it's her business. I wanted to tell her where exactly she could stick those particular threats.

It stopped being her business the moment he stopped working here a while back. He even spoke to the director of the nursing organization and was told that their dating wasn't against the rules, they just preferred to move him to another home if that were the case. He made the decision to leave the organization anyway after that, partially because of the supervisor. But, even though he no longer works here or with them, sis is getting hell over it. And now that there is a problem with another nurse, she refuses to even entertain the notion that there really is a problem with the nurse in question?

What a load of crap. I just love how people ignore reality when they choose to do so and instead make assumptions that better suit them.

It irritates me to no end. Granted, I think sis is irresponsible for getting pregnant again because of medical history but that doesn't negate that she is making a decision that is best for Alo. It is not in any way shape nor form in his best interest to continue having a nurse who doesn't do his care when she is supposed to and sleeps in the chair while he plays (and sis got pictures of that one). The woman didn't do her job; to automatically assume that sis is making a decision because someone else told her too (which if the woman actually knew anything about sis she would know at least that sis has always made her own decisions regardless) is ridiculous. Sis might not always make brilliant decisions where she is concerned, but when it comes to the boys, she's amazing. To ignore that even though you have continually commented on how good a mom she is because you're pissed about a relationship that is no longer your business is beyond absurd. And it makes me sick that this woman who obviously doesn't want to put the patient first is a supervisor. As a supervisor, she at least has a duty to listen to the complaints, review the evidence and do what's best. To dismiss that out of hand and try to force us to keep a nurse that is crap is disgusting and it's not going to work.

She can get over it. Do her job. And get a freaking clue. The nurse was not good. She needs to be fired and as her supervisor, she need to be responsible enough to do the firing. If she can't do that, she might as well go on and quit because the world does not need yet another nurse who doesn't do the job as the job should be done. We have enough of those, thank you.

And we really do. Until the end of 2007, I worked in health care and I know how crappy some nurses are. Don't get me wrong, there are many that are absolutely phenomenal, but then you have those that don't care and never really did. That type is everywhere and part of the responsibility for that lies with supervisors who don't do their jobs when they need to be done. Health care is a hellish field to work in and not because of the patients and everything that one must deal with, but because of the childishness and general immaturity of so many others in the field. It's ridiculous and costs the nation more good nurses than we can afford, so it really pisses me off when people like this woman are given authority and don't have the first clue how to go about using it for what's best. Bad supervisors help make for bad nurses which makes for piss poor care and too many mistakes.

Which leads me to question... why in the world do we let people have any job they want so long as they go to school for it (when they do)? Freedom is nice and all, but really. Just because someone has an education does not make him or her qualified for a job. And we tend to assume it does. It might not be a big deal in some fields, but when the job is caring for other people... that education should play a role in conjunction with common sense, compassion and maturity amongst a laundry list of other qualities. Basing one's fitness to care for another off of nothing more than education is insane and, I would hazard to guess, part of the reason we have so many problems with nursing care in the nation.

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