howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
all good headline grabbing stuff what are the odds that complaints will be lodged against nurses for filling in enough forms?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jan/06/nurses-hourly-rounds-cameron-hospitalsFar be it from me to rain on anyones parade but the major initiative to ensure nurses spend more time with patients , resulted in approximatly 1.19 hrs extra time per nurse per YEAR , hardly earth shattering was it . ( based on 500,000 hours extra per year and NHS nurses employed at just under 420,000 )
( edited because of bad mental arithmatic by poster ! ) Thats with 60% of acute trusts taking up the initiative , even with a rough estimate of all trusts rolling out to all nurses its only going to be about 4 hours extra per year in total
And apart from the idiocy of that, why do people with the word "care" in their job description have to be told to talk to their patients?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
in summing up it all sounds like another wind up from politicians.
bad enough when andrew lansley came down here as shadow health minister and promised us a proper hospital if his party was elected.
Bless him . he must have forgotten
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
probably right sarah, me being somewhat cynical thought he might have been going round the country promising hospitals for everybody.
Howard ! I am shocked that you could even think that politicians would promise one thing before an election and then not follow through after they are elected . I thought I was the cynical one around here
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
sarah,join the club,and your wellcome.
Paul Watkins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 9 Nov 2011
- Posts: 2,226
Sarah. I'm one and I'm one of the biggest unbelievers.
Like your post. When I was involved in active professional nursing the message was pretty straighforward " if it is not written down if did not happen" i.e. would not stand up in court.
Litigation avoidance became the name of the game.
Sadly many of our colleagues left the nursing floor to others to follow the message & pretend they were Doctors or specialists with diminishing general nursing skills which my organisation the RCN promoted.
Nurse education sames to have missed general principles about fluids, nuitrition,skin care, observations etc.
Watty
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
interesting post paul but could not the nurses take notes and fill in forms while they are attending the patient?
the impression i am getting from the article is that the nurses are in a back office somewhere doing admin while patients are being ignored.
Paul , In my opinion you have really hit the nail on the head , accurate and appropriate records are absolutly of prime importance but paperwork seems to have expanded to fill all avaliable space or has been used to hide inaction and general lazyness. I feel that Nursing has somehow lost its soul and Im not sure how it gets it back ..
Post 10 , thats how we should do it Howard , with the person not whilst hiding from them or in a way that gives greater value to the ability to tick the right boxes rather than care
Paul Watkins- Location: Dover
- Registered: 9 Nov 2011
- Posts: 2,226
Howard, it is extremely difficult to do both effectively.
As someone who has been long gone & listens to his daughters it gets worse rather than better.
My two were both grounded in the fundamentals before colleges/universities got to them.
Watty
I come from a diferent speciality than you Paul , but its how we functioned on a daily basis , It must be more dificult in an acute or general setting though
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
just going by my own experiences the docs and nurses(daytime) have been very good at talking, listening and taking notes.
thought i would redress the balance a little, don't ask me about after hours "care" though.
Keith Sansum1
- Location: london
- Registered: 25 Aug 2010
- Posts: 23,942
paulw;
a family was also in the RCN and a nurse for many years
but gave up for 2 reasons
1; family came along
2;frustration that the changes that were coming in were not in the interests of
patient care.
a lot of dedicated nurses were lost thosde years ago
the days when the matron ran the wards.and was respected by all
ALL POSTS ARE MY OWN PERSONAL VIEWS
Jan Higgins
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 5 Jul 2010
- Posts: 13,894
Speaking as an outsider I get the impression that 'nursing' changed (for some) for the worse when it became a profession rather than a vocation.
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I try to be neutral and polite but it is hard and getting even more difficult at times.
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DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
I'm not sure why the the two are mutually exclusive Jan?
Guest 698- Registered: 28 May 2010
- Posts: 8,664
A change of ethos, Darren. Teaching used to be both a profession and a vocation to most teachers, but to many it's just a job nowadays. No room for individualism and an over-prescriptive curriculum within which it is very difficult to inspire pupils with a thirst for learning.
I'm an optimist. But I'm an optimist who takes my raincoat - Harold Wilson
DT1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 15 Apr 2008
- Posts: 1,116
True Peter.
What you list there forms part of the teaching unions' issue with the government's regime which also includes reform to pensions. Not that this ever gets reported.