Med-surg. Five patients plus one in active alcohol withdrawal, already pulled his IV once and tried to climb out over the rails. Sitter got pulled to cover a suicide watch on another floor. I get why. But now it's me running back and forth every ten minutes while my other five get whatever's left.
I called the house sup and got the "do the best you can." I wrote it up. I don't know if that does anything.
What actually works when you escalate this stuff? Is there a magic phrase that makes them take it seriously or do we all just pray nobody falls
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Post replyThe praying part is the real policy. We've filed so many safety reports on sitter coverage that the response is now a canned email thanking us for our commitment to patient safety.
Had almost this exact night last year. Called the sup twice, and the second time I asked her to note in the log that I'd said I could not keep the patient safe with the current assignment. She showed up 20 minutes later with a tech from ortho. Not sure if it was the wording or she just happened to free someone up, but I've used that sentence ever since.
Not to be that person, but the sup probably had nobody. If the choice was this guy or an active SI patient, I'd have pulled the sitter too. The write-up still matters, though. That's how they build the case for a bigger float pool.
Fill out an ADO form if your facility or union has one, and name the patient risk specifically, like 'pt in active withdrawal, pulled IV, attempted to climb rails, no sitter.' A vague 'unsafe staffing' complaint gets filed and forgotten. A named fall risk with a timestamp of who you notified is what gets read. And if the sup says do your best, ask them to come assess the patient themselves.