Nursing staff caught napping on night duty at trauma centre
DEFENCE Nurses blame it on staff crunch, long duty hours; management assures strict action
BHARATPUR:Nursing staff on night shifts at the trauma centre of Raj Bahadur Memorial Hospital (RBM) are often caught napping. While the management has assured strict action, the nurses blame it on staff crunch and long hours.
RBM Hospital, which is Bharatpur division’s largest healthcare provider, caters to thousands of villages and towns. Nearly, 500 patients visit the hospital every day.
Two to three nurses with a doctor are deployed for the night shift — from 8 pm to 8 am — at the trauma centre, where at least 150 patients are admitted every day. A trauma centre at a hospital is equipped and staffed to provide care for patients suffering from major traumatic injuries and serious patients.
At a time when the number of road accidents is rising in the state, any delay in attending to emergency patients can have a disastrous result. According to police data, 338 people died in road accidents in the state in 2016. “We will set up an inquiry to find the truth. Legal action will be taken against the nursing staff if they are found sleeping during duty,” said principal medical officer Gopal Ram Verma.
A compounder at the hospital, Pradeep Sharma, said that they have a 12-hour shift and feel tired. “We have complained to our seniors about the long hours and also asked for more nurses. We get tired and sleep when there are no patients. But whenever a patient is brought to the centre we immediately attend to them,” said Sharma.
The Raj Bahadur Memorial Hospital has 278 beds with 35 first grade and 55 second grade nursing staff along with 37 doctors.
Also, there are complaints the nursing staff and doctors don’t wear uniforms and patients find it difficult to identify them.
Verma said that the hospital has been facing a shortage of nursing staff and doctors, but the nursing staff needs to be on duty for 12 hours. “Every employee gets an allowance to buy uniform and should wear them while on duty.” Another allegation is that the nursing staff transfer injured patients to other wards without providing first-aid or stitching wounds.
Lakhan Hingoli, the relative of a patient, said that when they rushed the patient with head injuries to the hospital’s trauma centre on September 11, the nursing staff didn’t stitch his wounds and shifted the patient to the surgical ward. “I have forwarded complaints of irregularities to senior officials for legal action,” said principal medical officer Gopal Ram Verma.
Additional chief medical and health officer Manish Chaudhary said that proper management depends on the PMO, adding that all staff should follow norms.