Responses to Peers

Respond to Jennifer’s post below:
This past year, state and federal changes have been made to opioid prescribing. We had no choice in these changes, but patients were not happy. In the clinic I work at nurses were the ones to call the patients to inform them of these changes and that they would have to come in to discuss these changes and would not get narcotics prescriptions as they had been. Needless to say, the messengers got the brunt of the displeasure. We were called names and yelled at. It did not matter that this was not our idea. All they could think of was they would not be getting their pain meds like they were used to. At our monthly all nurse meeting, it was brought up that we were getting swore at and yelled at and our nurse manager permitted us to attempt to deescalate the patient and give them a warning that we needed them to speak appropriately to us and stop swearing so we could help them or we would hang up. He gave us permission to not let ourselves be verbally abused and we could hang up on patients who could not calm down let us help them. This improved staff morale as we did not have to prepare ourselves daily to be called names. This was also approved for in person. Some of these patients showed up at the clinic wanting their prescriptions and would not leave without them. Our security members supported us and said we could call them anytime we felt threatened. Nurses are at a higher risk of physical assault and verbal abuse compared to physicians. This can come from patients, patients’ relatives, and colleagues. We should not have to take this abuse and I felt supported by my manager and security. We should not be afraid to report this kind of behavior. It is a fact that medical staff must be vigilant about their safety while caring for patients. It is also unfortunate that, according to research, many violent incidents are not reported because they are deemed to be indicative of professional failure, or simply ‘part of the job.’

References
Cheung, T., ⨯ Paul, H. L., & Yip, P. S. F. (2018). The association between workplace violence and physicians’ and nurses’ job satisfaction in Macau. PLoS One, 13(12) doi:http://dx.doi.org.americansentinel.idm.oclc.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0207577
Madine, K., & Smith, B. (2005). WorkForce and your workforce. Emergency Nurse (through 2013), 13(5), 10-1. Retrieved from http://americansentinel.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://search-proquest-com.americansentinel.idm.oclc.org/docview/218278656?accountid=169658

Respond to Danielle’s post below:
An issue managers deal with on a daily basis is patient staff ratio. They try to make ratios safe along with trying to meet their guidelines. Accurately predicting staffing needs is a crucial management skill because it enables the manager to avoid staffing crises (Marquis & Huston, pg 376, 2017). I can’t even tell you how many times I’ve been drowning on the floor without enough hands but yet we couldn’t call anyone else in due to budgeting. There was this one time I remember being charge nurse with patients and playing receptionist because the receptionist had called off. I was told I needed to give up the few patients i had to max out the other nurses on the floor and the manager would come and help answer phone calls. I questioned her move about sending me home because it was busy and we needed extra hands on the floor considering we were already short staff. With her pushing me to leave I gave report and went home only to be called back not even an hour later! At that time I was annoyed and lived 30min away I didn’t go back in. I understand cutting cost but this becomes a safety issue. “With salaries making up nearly half of U.S. hospitals’ expenses and nursing comprising about 30% of salaries, effective management of nursing resources, including staffing, is imperative for meeting financial outcomes. Likewise, managing the safety and quality of patient care is paramount, and failure to do so is expensive. The average cost of a single central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) is over $45,000, and a patient fall with injury costs $14,000 on average.” This was a negative outcome and a bad call on my managers part. Now that the nurses were maxed out without someone at the front desk just made everything harder for the employees working on the floor that day. The manager had to do her own part on top of answering the phones which just puts more stress on her part as well all just to save a dollar. Blows my mind sometimes on how money can trump safety.

Marquis, B. L., & Huston, C. J. (2017). Leadership roles and management functions in nursing theory and application. Philadelphia: Wolters Kluwer.
Paulsen, R. A. (2018, July). Taking nurse staffing research to the unit level. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6039374/.
399 words

Respond to each separately.
1 reference each.
References no older than 5 years.
Each response about 120 words.