First, I’d like to apologize for being away from this NACLI Nursing Forum for so long. Can’t believe that the last time I posted was in March. However, being the sole caretaker for my handicapped husband has been more than a full time job. He has been in and out of the hospital so many times that I’ve lost count. I have seen how hard the nurses and other hospital staff are working with the shortages that they are dealing with.

COVID keeps mutating and coming back to haunt us in various variants. We’re all exhausted by it. Seeing how my husbands care has deteriorated over the past years, I have done everything in my power these past few months to keep him out of the ER and hospital. Many nurses say the quality of care they are able to provide has diminished over the past three years, and many have recently considered leaving their current jobs. One night in the ER, the nurses had 7 patients each! God forbid even one begins to deteriorate.

Nurses are being asked to care for too many patients in a 12 hour shift, as well as being required to do multiple administrative tasks. No wonder much of the “therapeutic nursing communication” has fallen by the wayside.

Please join in this important conversation, especially if you are presently a practicing RN. What problems have you encountered?