Health

xchrom

(108,903 posts) Sun Jul 8, 2012, 06:57 AM Jul 2012

When It’s the Nurse Who Needs Looking After

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/07/05/when-its-the-nurse-who-needs-looking-after/?ref=health

Tall, in her 50s and sporting a perfectly coiffed salt-and-pepper pixie cut, the woman was one of the most respected nurses in the hospital. She had nearly three decades of clinical experience, so older nurses and doctors valued her insight, younger ones sought her approval, and those of us in between tried to stand a little straighter in her presence.

One morning, however, she arrived at work to find that the hospital was full and her unit understaffed. It wasn’t the first time she had to cover for more patients because of staffing issues, but by the end of this 12-hour shift, she noticed a slight twinge in her lower back — a minor muscle sprain, she thought, from helping one of the other nurses lift a patient.

A week later, the slight twinge turned into debilitating back pain.

But she continued to work through the pain. “What else could I do?” she said one afternoon, pointing out all the patients who would suffer without the additional nurse. “I thought I was going to be lucky and make it to retirement without getting hurt, but now I just want to be able to put in a few more years so I can retire.”

When she rubbed the heel of her palm against her back, I saw her lower lip begin to quiver slightly.

“How terrible is it that we do everything to care for the health of others,” she whispered, “but we cannot care for ourselves.”

6 replies

= new reply since forum marked as read

Highlight:

When It’s the Nurse Who Needs Looking After (Original Post) xchrom Jul 2012 OP

And the GOP desk-jockeys would have her extend her career to age Ilsa Jul 2012 #1

thanks for posting this. NC_Nurse Jul 2012 #2

the comments are fascinating riverwalker Jul 2012 #3

The stats on back injuries in nursing are eye-opening Patiod Jul 2012 #4

Understaffing and over working result in poor patient care and stressed out nurses. uppityperson Jul 2012 #5

The other issue that's not being addressed is that SheilaT Jul 2012 #6

Ilsa

(61,695 posts)

1. And the GOP desk-jockeys would have her extend her career to age

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Sun Jul 8, 2012, 07:51 AM

Jul 2012

67 or beyond before qualifying for Medicare. Bastards. I wonder how they'd feel if it was a 67 year old nurse trying to keep up CPR on one of their loved ones?

NC_Nurse

(11,646 posts)

2. thanks for posting this.

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Sun Jul 8, 2012, 09:14 AM

Jul 2012

riverwalker

(8,694 posts)

3. the comments are fascinating

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Sun Jul 8, 2012, 09:54 AM

Jul 2012

thanks.

Patiod

(11,816 posts)

4. The stats on back injuries in nursing are eye-opening

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Sun Jul 8, 2012, 09:54 AM

Jul 2012

According to national statistics, six of the top 10 professions at greatest risk for back injury are: nurse's aides, licensed practical nurses, registered nurses, health aides, radiology technicians, and physical therapists. Greater than one third of back injuries among nurses are attributed to handling patients and the frequency with which they are required to manually move patients.

From a worldwide perspective, back injuries to nurses have point prevalence of approximately 17 percent, an annual prevalence of 40-50 percent and a lifetime prevalence of 35-80 percent. (See A Business Case for Patient Care Ergonomic Interventions, 2005). As staggering as these statistics are, they still do not tell the whole story. According to Bernice Owen, RN, Ph.D., former professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Nursing, as many as one-third of nurses who sustain work-related back injuries do not even report them. (See Caring for Ourselves, by Bernice Owen.)

From https://www.premierinc.com/safety/topics/back_injury/

uppityperson

(115,677 posts)

5. Understaffing and over working result in poor patient care and stressed out nurses.

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Thu Jul 12, 2012, 10:12 PM

Jul 2012

"If the nurses are grappling at work with all these injuries, what is happening to patients?"

Too many get hurt working, continue to work when hurt. Too many suffer job burnout due to intolerable conditions. When it is life and death, or even life and health, and you don't get the support you need and more and more and more work piled on, it can be really bad.

" Over the course of a 12-hour shift, nurses can find themselves in the potentially devastating situation of caring for more patients than is comfortable."

It goes wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy beyond "than is comfortable", try "than is safe".

Thanks for this article.

SheilaT

(23,156 posts)

6. The other issue that's not being addressed is that

Reply to xchrom (Original post)

Sat Jul 14, 2012, 09:24 PM

Jul 2012

these days most nursing shifts are twelve hours long. That is not good, to understate the case.

Reply to this discussion