Does this sound crazy?

One of our patients was recently diagnosed with VRE. There is a sign on the door that says Contact Precautions, you must wear a gown and gloves upon entering, blah, blah, blah. Well, the CNA went in to the patient's room to provide care and noticed there were no gowns. So, the nurse manager was told because she's been keeping the gowns locked up where no one has access to them. Her response back was "do you think you'll get urine on yourself? Other than that, you don't need it".

I know that if someone is diagnosed with something that requires PPE, it has to be made available to the employees. Obviously, they are trying extremely hard to penny-pinch. But, at the expense of the employees? It's just horrible! Last edit by Hotnurse06 on Nov 25, '11 : Reason: Grammar error
that's just plain irresponsible of the nm.someone may want to consult with the DON on this.heck, if that's the case, if we're all very careful, we won't even need gloves.leslie

Quote from leslie :-Dthat's just plain irresponsible of the nm.someone may want to consult with the DON on this.heck, if that's the case, if we're all very careful, we won't even need gloves.leslie

http://www.osha.gov/SLTC/healthcaref...ies/index.htmlhttp://www.osha.gov/dep/index.html

The NM can contribute the pittance she saves to the much larger amount the facility will be fined if they are caught doing this.

I, personally, would like them to be caught in the act. This is ridiculous.

We had a patient come in VRE+. He was already known for it as it was charted i his medical record before he was admitted to a bed in the hospital. Well he got lost going up to the ward (don't know how the hosp was very small), and had been EVERYWHERE, coughing & sneezing from a bad cold, then was told to sit in an old, disused waiting room spreading VRE everywhere to the med/surg ward when he came in. I remember one of the RNs just threw up her hands and said 'Why do we bother with precautions? May as well just let everyone come in with anything & not wear masks or anything else'. She was so frustrated that day. This guy at LEAST should have had a mask on.I've also caught students & carers too lazy to gown & glove up, just to run in & help a lol with something. Not good enough!I despair sometimes.

Quote from carolmaccas66We had a patient come in VRE+. He was already known for it as it was charted i his medical record before he was admitted to a bed in the hospital. Well he got lost going up to the ward (don't know how the hosp was very small), and had been EVERYWHERE, coughing & sneezing from a bad cold, then was told to sit in an old, disused waiting room spreading VRE everywhere to the med/surg ward when he came in. I remember one of the RNs just threw up her hands and said 'Why do we bother with precautions? May as well just let everyone come in with anything & not wear masks or anything else'. She was so frustrated that day. This guy at LEAST should have had a mask on.I've also caught students & carers too lazy to gown & glove up, just to run in & help a lol with something. Not good enough!I despair sometimes.

hotnurse, this is indeed, a reportable event.admin needs to know about this.this nm's 'critical thinking' judgment is downright scary.leslie

Maybe the signs are there to alert folks that reportable violations are about to occur.

I would report her if she didn't make them available to me.

WOW! That is Scary!

Ah, just call OSHA and report. That way they might get a little surprise visit. I like surprises