Monday, February 13, 2006

Nurse, Nurse, who's got the Nurse. 2/25


Another shell game is in play, one might think. Balancing what nurses can be pulled from ER to the floor before the ER disolves into pandamonium. Neat trick: pull nurses from ER to cover floor vacancies, so you don't have to close beds. However, you just shifted the bottleneck to the ER. Patients certainly notice when they have waited hours to be put in a room, and they are taken past empty rooms that they don't have nurses to cover!

The agency nurses that they procure might be fine--or not. They are certainly being paid more than the staff (some of which got a nickel raise this last evaluation. Supposedly the rate is determined by the director, not HR.) But it takes time to find anything in a new environment.

So now we will have temp nurses, respiratory techs, radiology techs, and radiologists--all being paid more than the regular staff which was capped. Is there any doubt as to why the other hospitals (Bonham, Clarksville, as well as Dallas) are being flooded with applications from PRMC staff?

If you have the email address and websites of recruiters and HRs that have been helpful to you, post them as a comment, which it certainly will be. The hospital might need some new recruiters, but we definitely do.

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

http://www.afscme.org/una/index.html

has anyone considered a union? fac_p seems to have his head straight and his heart pointing in the right direction. thank you for this site.

fac_p said...

For the most part, I am not in favor of a union. It has its purposes, and might, in this situation be a good thing.

However, once established, it doesn't just go away. It creates its own hierarchy and the potential for abuses of its own. In a worst case, it limits all to the lowest common denominator, and is based more on tenure than ability.

That being said, if that which is currently being endured doesn't change, my feelings might.

Anonymous said...

Online applications at Baylor (all campuses):
http://www.baylorhealth.com/careers/applyonline.htm

fac_p said...

The other aspect that doesn't generally come up about unions: In a buying situation, which would a potential buyer choose, a non-union hospital, or a unionized one?

A best solution would be Essent selling the hospital, but we still have all the excess property and we would be unionized? The price would have to be extremely special.

Anonymous said...

Mesquite hospital:
http://www.mchtx.com/show_job_category.php?category=Nursing

Anonymous said...

Methodist Hospital job search
https://www.methodisthealthsystem.org/body_secure.cfm?id=55

Anonymous said...

Has anyone looked at the current job postings for PRMC?!!!!!!! Nurses and other staff are flying out of this place like water flowing down the drain. I agree that unions are definitely a double edged sword. But, they were created because of the evil that is currently being represented here by Essent. The phrase "The sum of the parts is worth more than the whole" comes to mind here. Is that the next step? Will they start selling off that excess property one at a time as another way of rapping this hospital and this area before they file bankruptcy and leave EVERYONE out in th cold? There are companies that do just that. Go in and take things appart and sell off the individual pieces for more than they would get if they sell business as a whole. These actions are not accidental. They are very deliberate. It's the only thing that makes any sense. The entire administration and the corporate office obviously know what they are doing. At this point, it is totally unrealistic to believe that all of the people who have left are "the bad ones". There are just too many for that to even be considered to be the case.

fac_p said...

Seriously, I think that crisis management is the mantra here. Essent seemed overawed when they were originally examining the hospital.

I think that the idea of doubling the number of beds in their system was overshadowing what it would take to bring it up to par, and the poor maintenance that was in place.

Reality has set in, and Band-Aids are being dragged out. Keeping the elevators running seems to be a problem that the hospital and the city share. Beds that don't work, or don't stop, and ripped furniture abounds.

As to breaking up the system, they really can't do it effectively. The only buyers are essentially the competition, and Essent is all for being the only hospital.

A dose of competition (or salts) would do them a world of good.

Anonymous said...

what is not getting out thanks to the closed mouth of the Paris News and others is just how many people in this area are going to other hospitals. I had back surgery back in May and chose a doctor in Garland that was affiliated with Baylor Garland. That was the best decision ever and while there, several people from this area were being treated. Now we know why but John and Jane Doe citizen do not. It is obvious that Essent made promises that will not be kept and it will be very hard for this company to find any loyality from employees or patients.

Anonymous said...

Well - seems there is plenty of competition inclose proximity to lure away a huge portion of the staff. And, when it comes to medical attention, those that can will & do go to the same places the nurses and other staff have gone off to. Also, they don't seem to be noticing things past broken beds, elevators that don't work and take FOREVER when they do, and let's not forget about the color of the nurses uniforms. THAT was a huge priority! Who needs uniforms for a staff that doesn't exist?! For someone who wants to be the ONLY hospital in the area, they are doing a pathetic job of showing the staff (those that are left) and the community of their "good" intentions. As to the reality???? The reality is that without maitenance, housekeeping, secretaries, nurses.........how do they expect to have a hospital?...much less one with patients? Also, just ONE dissatisfied patient can turn hundreds of prospective patients away. Just think about dissapointed staff on top of many, many patients who have been treated with less than respect or good health care. How far does this go to stabilizing their position as "THE" hospital in the area. I don't think there is enough salt in all this world to make them open their eyes and SEE what's going on.

As for breaking up the system. As I said previously, the sum of the parts is greater than the whole. Properties can be sold to others besides hospital competition. The equipment - such that is is can reap a nice sum for the scrappers or other hospitals that may have a need. The stuff that doesn't work can always go to recycle. The dose of (salt) needed here is a huge slice of humble pie.

Anonymous said...

Too bad the site can't be sent to all the folks on the hospital board, medical staff, lenders, and those investment pundants dealing with healthcare corporations. Joint Commission as well.

Anonymous said...

Heh, heh.............yep,things are heating up and would imagine that the dialogue has yet to get really interesting as yet. Don't know who fac_p is, but my hat's off to him/her/them! Think the subscription rate is better for the blogsite than the Paris News. You would hope that Andrew and his gang of misfits are reading this, and know that there is no love lost in this community for them. And when the non-medical residents get to clamoring on the site as well, well it's a downhill trip from here, no matter what the assurances or who they come from. Guess Andrew better start earning his pay, don't ya think?

.........it's better than ANY TV program. Cracks me right up!

Anonymous said...

I think your site is wonderful. It bothers me that in every meeting we have ever had ''explaining'' why there are changes, it has turned out to be the same. If it was all nurses at the meeting, then the doctors were blamed. If it was a unit meeting for only one floor, then the other floors are blamed.

I am a nurse, and I can assure you that the direct patient care did not start declining until ESSENT showed up. Maybe we should stop blaming the nurses, doctors, and the need for policy changes. The blame for the problems our hospital is having points directly at ESSENT.

I don't want to know about the finances. I do not want to wonder what it takes to get the raise I deserve. All I want is to be a nurse. It’s the hospital’s policy that staffing changes in nursing can only be made every 2 years. Our matrix has changed 3 times in the last 6 months. Once again-THANK YOU FAC_P!!

Anonymous said...

"Anonymous said...
Too bad the site can't be sent to all the folks on the hospital board, medical staff, lenders, and those investment pundants dealing with healthcare corporations. Joint Commission as well."

Trust me people...They know it's here......

Anonymous said...

Reguarding the comment that seasoned staff members or those who "stick it out" will be rewarded, my question is with WHAT exactly? A five cent (if that) raise for 6,7, and 8 years experience? Or perhaps the joy of being consistently 2 or 3 nurses short and being told to "do the best you can".
It is a fact that "new" help is cheaper and that seems to be the bottom line with this company. Articles in The Paris News all contain quotes from administrators about how much they value patient care, but if that were the case perhaps the emphasis would be on compensating staff and realistic nurse to patient ratios. At present the focus is preventing overtime and recruiting new grads (cheaper payroll), and by all means keeping up with patient charges!!
Not to mention having administrative employees with NO medical experience or comprehension of how a nursing unit operates come up with a new MATRIX that cuts staff to the absolute bone. God forbid a patient that needs acute attention or requires anything but the bare minimum of care! Even seasoned employees struggle on a daily basis
simply due to the acuity and amount of patients we are expected to accept. And let's not forget the 3 day suspension without pay threat if we acknowledge a question or comment by a patient regarding the fact that we are "short staffed."
Nice employee retention incentive Essent!
Almost as good as paying agency nurses three to four times the salary of your PREVIOUSLY dedicated employees...when all that was necessary in the beginning was to give us the raises we deserve.
But instead, let's focus on firing anyone who makes a derogatory (yet TRUTHFUL) comment about our LOVELY parent company. Then we'll be really short staffed and bring in strangers at more than double the salaries we could have been paying regular, experienced staff members who were already familiar with the units!!!
Yea, doesn't THAT sound like a GREAT idea!!!???

I couldn't say it better, so I copied it from an archive. You go, girl!

Anonymous said...

You have charge nurses in ER who don't take patients. Nurses out smoking when ER is full. I wonder why ER has a bottleneck situation.

Anonymous said...

http://www.legal-database.com/lunch-break-policy.htm

If taken, a 'smoke break' is considered part of an allocated break period in most companies.

So, if a person takes a 10min smoke break, they've used their break time.

There is an awful lot of people that owe back an awful lot of time.

Anonymous said...

I been there more than once I was born in St Joseph Hosp Paris some 60 years ago in all these years i have personally been in st. Jo and all my family also when Monty took the reins shortly aterwards I quit patronizing the joint 2004 my mother was admitted in March 2004 with severe diabetes and chs I walked in her room at 2:30 pm to discover her blood glucose level was 40 at 12:00 noon as written on a chalk board in her room the lunch tray was sitting on the bed tray untouched and she was in a full blown grandmal seizure could not find a nurse anywhere on her wing after going to another wing and finding a RN he hastily went to mothers room and at first site knew the problem and the protocol mother would have expired in this nurse had not broke protocol which saved her life the Nurse assigned to Mother was in an empty room studying to be a nurse practioner unaware my mother was dying further more had not a clue what was going on with her she was rubbing mothers forehead with a damp cloth screaming ms xxx can you hear me while the male nurse administered medicine to save mothers life. then less than 30 days later the female nurse studying for her NP liscense was awarded Employee of the month I have many stories like this i Can speak of first hand.