Ideas I've had which no one thought anything of because when I mentioned them, I was and still am a nobody. It's just frustrating to see that they're being implemented now.
Idea number:
1. Hospitals employing own cleaning staff. Just read the BBC news and Scotland is employing over 600 new hospital employed cleaners, not contractors, to clean out their hospitals. I'm sick of cleaning equipment being locked away from me. I had a cleaner who said she doesn't clean up body fluids (vomit in this case) but wouldn't give me her mop or give me access to the locked cleaning cupboard. I wasn't trained enough.
2. Employing some male staff to work in the Psych ward every shift (I once worked in a place where often I was the only male on shift). I was called sexist. A year after I left they employed a couple of huge men to work as the muscle in the place. This only happened after a female member of staff was placed in a headlock and dragged down the corridor while none of the female staff, all of whom had been trained in restraint, could not stop him.
3. We always had difficulty finding out which patients could do what in the psych ward. ie which patients could leave the ward with supervision, which could not leave at all, and which patients were sectioned under the law. My suggestion was to have on the office whiteboard, next to each patients name, their legal status, their leave status, plus any special requirements if they can leave the ward. I was told this was not very confidential. One year after I left, this was in place and it made life much easier when trying to find out which, especially at short notice, who could leave the ward, especially for excursions for the patients.
I've had more great ideas, the above list is just off the top of my head. One big idea which I feel is critical to saving the NHS is this:
Making it a legal requirement to have at least one registered nurse per 6 patients, with the exception being night shift of course. I've regularly had up to twelve, sometimes 16 patients with a healthcare assistant, all in a busy surgical ward. Patients die because of this, it can't be helped.
Friday, April 17, 2009
Common sense is just catching up with me
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3 comments:
I used to live in England, and I was wondering what the nurse/patient ratio was there. How could any RN manage 16 patients?
You're right Edward, you can't manage that many patients. A common ratio when I worked outside of london was twelve patients with one healthcare assistant. I worked at this place for four months but walked out when I turned up to work for the afternoon shift to find a RN had called in sick, meaning the 36 bed unit was divided between two RN's. I was to have a healthcare assistant, but she called in sick, and was left with 15 patients and an empty bed.
I refused to work, but they found me a student nurse and so I stayed on for another four hours. I eventually walked out when they took another admission, never told me about it, then found out the patient needed an urgent blood transfusion before going to theatre.
There's more to the story, but I won't into detail just yet.
I wonder if that's what we have to look forward to in socialized medicine.
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