Well, remember: what the Daily Mail here is saying is "EVIL LIBERALS KILL PEOPLE WITH EVIL SOCIALIST HEALTHCARE SYSTEM."
So, uh...
Well yes, the whole article reeks of manure. It's just that between my friends, my family, and me, there are about half a dozen trained or active members of nursing teams. Having seen those situations from the
inside, I feel that nurses are chronically under-appreciated. These are very hard-working people in very demanding circumstances, and things can go badly quickly if they don't get it perfect every time. To put them in a position where they simply do not have the manpower to do their jobs effectively, and then cast them as villains for the results, is appalling. It happens for real on a regular basis.
I want people to understand that even if any of this article is true, it's not necessarily a case of a bunch of assholes killing helpless people because they can't be bothered to get off their lazy asses and do something about it. It's a difficult job, and in some cases it's pushed over the edge into impossible because of shortfalls in staff, equipment or time. "Hire more nurses" sounds like an easy solution, but it's not that simple. Even if you completely ignore the money side of the problem, a lot of people just
can't do it, they're missing the brains, body, or background for it.
My CNA training involved an
850-page textbook, a couple dozen lectures, and 50+ tests... in 3 weeks. Not everyone passes. Then we also had a mandatory basic life-saving training course where one of the smaller trainees washed out because she wasn't strong enough to break a sternum in chest compression.
Then we did 3 weeks of clinicals, which means performing all the duties of a real CNA in a real assisted living facility, under supervision. Stuff like bathing old men with dementia while being punched in the face repeatedly by the same old men, helping a 700 lb woman in the bariatric unit into and out of a heavily reinforced bed, monitoring and recording every ounce of what a fragile diabetic did and did not eat for lunch, taking a woman with an infectious disease to the toilet and doing her wiping for her while in what amounts to hazmat gear, dressing and undressing a woman with contractures so bad she's permanently locked in the fetal position and can't be unfolded, taking vital signs for everybody multiple times per day, and trying to feed someone who's lost the ability to swallow effectively without choking them. Oh, and because two terminal cases passed during the time we were on clinicals, we got to clean and groom the corpses so they'd be more presentable and pleasant for their families.
After that was a final round of background checks. Not everyone gets through that, I didn't. One incident of shooting my mouth off 10 years ago, and a little bureaucratic foul-up by a couple of paper pushers, and I'm disqualified. Sorry guy, you've got the brains and the brawn and a strong stomach, but the state board of nursing says no, there's nothing we can do.
And that's just for nursing assistant, not nurse. There aren't a lot of people that can pass all the hurdles, and want to deal with open wounds, shit, piss, vomit, and illness both physical and mental all day. How do you solve an understaffing problem when there aren't enough potential employees out there to draft? Do you just reduce the number of people you're willing to take care of, and adamantly turn away any that turn up when you've already met your limit?
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Topic: Feeding patients. Armok's adepts live. (Read 2203 times)