A UK Nursing Times
headline caught my eye today: “Nurses
left to fill gaps in cleaning.” Just seeing it even now makes my blood boil
and brings an early clinical nursing experience back to mind. After graduating,
I worked the 3-11 shift as a GN and then as an RN, on the telemetry unit of
a community hospital. Staffing was sparse, then as now, and we nurses cared for
about 12 patients an evening, with the charge nurse doling out meds to all the
patients on the floor. But not only nursing was short-staffed, so was
housekeeping. And one of the duties I was told I had to do on my shift was
empty the patient room garbage bins, because there was not enough housekeeping
staff to do so on every floor.
Thus, only a few weeks into my new career, I launched my
first rebellion: I told the nursing supervisor that I had not gone to college for a BS, RN, to empty garbage cans. That it was a waste of my education
and talent. That she should put her foot down with administration and
stand up for the nursing staff. That if they needed more housekeeping staff,
then the hospital should hire more, but nurses
should not be doing garbage detail on any shift; we should be taking care of patients.
My colleagues were surprised, if not shocked, by my audacity
in bucking the system. And keep in mind that baccalaureate education was not,
in the early 1970s, viewed as particularly valuable regarding “real-life”
nursing experience; the diploma RNs had much more in-depth clinical experience
than we did at the time. But to their credit, those other nurses did see my
point, they knew I was right, and they didn’t like emptying the garbage much
either.
Also to her credit, the nursing supervisor agreed as well.
It took several weeks—of leaving those garbage pails out in the halls for the morning
housekeeping staff—for our point to be heard, and several weeks of the nursing
supervisor saying to administration, “What can I do? They won’t empty the
garbage!” The hospital simply couldn’t afford to fire all of us.
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| Chicago skyline from Michigan City, IN Photo by Gail M. Pfeifer, RN, MA |
So to my colleagues in the UK, I say: Doesn’t this make your
blood boil? State your case calmly but firmly and put a stop to this nonsense. Rescuing other departments from their responsibilities does no one any good in the long run.
