Very cliquish. Many nurses were from the Old St Joe in Kirkwood. Found that many of our coworkers were the bosses friends. After the economy tanked, nurses were delegated to cleaning rooms and taking trash and laundry from patients rooms. (Yes, degreed nurses)
Cost cutting also affected dietary. They may drop off a lunch tray, but often, it was still there after dinner, because nurses and the occasional aide were too busy to get them removed from rooms. Nurses making over $28/hour were obviously phased out- new nurses through the Futures Program were filling positions. ($20-$21 an hour). Nurse A was out of school 6 months, when she began training Nurse B, a new grad. I had 7 years as a CSN, and Charge RN, and carefully, (sweetly, encouragingly) asked why A was training B, when I was seasoned. I got the answer that Nurse A had "excellent organizational skills." This meant that Nurse A got all of her computer charting done on time, and never stayed later than 7:30 catching up on charting. Yes, the younger ones DO have that computer thing down- but so do I. I just nursed my patients better. I asked Nurse A to watch my patients while I took a restroom break. I came back to report by Nurse A that Patient 2A had needed to use the BR. She unhooked his IV antibiotics, and he was probably ready to be hooked back up. I went in to find an open line, and the patients IV backed up. No flush, no clamp-off, no cap on the IV line. I sweetly explained to her that she needed to cap, etc. She said, Why? I do that all of the time!" I taught her, (patiently) that she was opening the patient up to infection, and another IV stick due to the improper handling of that line, and that the tubing, antibiotics, and fluids would all need to be replaced. I have no idea if she learned anything- but I'm guessing that she taught her new grads the wrong way too. I left not long after for surgery, and I saw on Facebook that that new nurse is now traveling. I relinquished my job so my floor wouldn't suffer staffing number issues, but its been over a year now, and I cant get back into SSM to save my life. I'm not young, but I'm not old either. I'm not even top of the pay scale, having only been a nurse for 7 years.
