As you were witness to, there are many days where I, myself, never stop running. It is becoming more frequent that I find myself not getting breaks or even time to sit down. With the staffing we currently have, I work with the infusions in the back, mainly by myself. There are days that I have had a dozen or more chemotherapy infusions on top of injection appointments and those needing IV fluids because they are sick. I am not only responsible for safely administering the chemo, but all the other infusion and injections, and triaging phone calls as they come in. There have been many times that I have not had time to answer any of the phone inquiries until the end of the day. I find myself staying late, getting overtime hours that cost the company more and taking away time from my family. The patients are often understandable, but also many require action that may be put on hold all due to the fact that I have to take care of the infusions first. I have found myself doing the work that 2-3 nurses are doing at other clinics with this company. I am a very hard and dedicated worker who is passionate about the care I give to the patients, as you saw. The line is being pushed, however, on patient safety and effective …show more content…
Patient’s care can then become compromised. All it takes is legal action by one patient and the company could be hit with a financial burden as well as the community labeling the company as a risk that they do not want to subject themselves to. Especially in our field, cancer specialists, our patients are already faced with what could be the worst news and battle they will be faced with in their lives. Throw in the factor of worrying if they are getting the best care or not and the stress and depression levels could skyrocket even more for them. The last thing that I would want to worry about for myself or a family member is the confidence I had in the doctor and staff that is supposed to be taking care of me in my time of need. Our patients are often very emotional and stressed, for good reason. I see their emotion change as they walk in our door, knowing that they are in the right place and we will do all we can for them. I never want to be faced with the day that our patient’s loose that quality because of something we could have