More Paperwork, yes; but more staff, not yet.

No nurse has yet responded that her hospital has responded by improving staffing.  Instead, a typical reply from Wisconsin . . .   "We already spend so much time charting that we really cannot see our patients except to do quick assessments.  I know for myself, I am going to starting keeping a time log to show my bosses how much time I spend with the patients vs doing everything else.  Maybe if we do that, we can show that we are more paper-pushers than nurses and that's not right. "

Listen to nurses, or punish nurses?

"In speaking with my co-workers, most of them do not even know of the new Medicare rule because nurses are not kept up to date on the financial workings of the hospitals or the additional cost of the HACs." (Wisconsin) " My hospital has responded by flyers and increased charting and punishment for nurses that are involved with a patient that has 1 of these HACs. they have not addressed any staffing issues and if anything they have actually increased our workload with fear of punishment looming over our head." (Nevada)

It takes a team to care for patients.

"...Hospital administrators need to be more in touch with what their employees including housekeeping. They are equally as important in fighting against infection and injury". (New Jersey)

"...Even the techs are spread too thin. Patients get up who shouldn't and try to make it to the bathroom because their call lights go unanswered or take too long because techs are overworked... Patients are not turned regularly even when they are supposed to be. Little things that add up to possible disasters on the part of both the nurses and the techs." (Missouri)

 
Unintended consequences

"There has been an increase in C-Diff since this has been occurring. Some of the nurses in the hospital state if they suspect C-Diff they are suppose to discharge the patient. Often we are unaware of the DX of C-Diff until they come to the facility and are placed in a room with a patient without C-Diff. I think Medicare's plan has already backfired. We are infecting more people instead of trying to contain the diseases."

While the jury on how hospitals are implementing the new CMS rules may still be out, so far the verdict from frontline caregivers is not good.  Instead of addressing the root causes, such as short-staffing, of patient care quality problems, hospitals appear to be focusing on charting and documentation - thus adding even more paperwork burdens that drain even more of nurses' time away from caring for their patients.

What's going on at your hospital?  Stay tuned, and we will continue to report back as we hear from the frontlines of patient care.

Comments

There are no comments for this entry yet. Get the discussion started and post below.

Post a comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Not a member yet? Registration is easy and takes just a minute.

Can’t remember your password? Have a password reminder emailed to you.