After meeting with the famous Nurseonality, Katie Duke, in New York City recently, our eyes have totally been opened to everything you nurses deal with on the daily.  As a retailer of scrub wear, we realize that nurses are real people, with real feelings, and have to put every ounce of heart into this career.  We want you know, we get it!  We’re real people too who take your online orders, fulfill shipments, goof off between calls, and work beyond your call to make sure you receive exactly what you want and maybe even a little extra.  Cherokee4Less isn’t some huge, glass window, 6 story call center full of agents that don’t care.  We are a small, family owned company with customer service reps willing to listen to your crappy day, concerns about brand and size, or to enter your order because you simply don’t have time or a computer in front of you.  We’re your partner.  Don’t forget that!

While chowing down with Katie, she elaborated in great detail about hospitals being so understaffed and full of staff that feel underappreciated.  We’ve heard of several hospital layoffs and nurses caring for more patients on shift than typical, but holy cow, we had NO IDEA the severity or WHY!   Katie Duke says that average nurse-patient ratio should be 1 nurse to every 4 patients.  Right now, she averages 6-9 patients per shift.  Not only does this cause delays in patient care if a call light is pressed, but that delay could mean a life or death situation.  Not to mention the stress on that one nurse to pretty much act as Superwoman!  Here’s a scenario…you’re a nurse with a patient in cardiac arrest and you’re assisting that patient for 30 minutes.  Down the hall, another patient needs assistance getting to the restroom and has just waited 30 minutes and has an accident.  That patient is yelling and beyond frustrated when you get there, but you have to apologize, ease the situation, care for the patient, choke back your own tears from the stress, and move along to the next room thus, starting this pattern all over again.  What a hectic 12+ hours.

Then, here’s why the understaffed scheduling happens.  It’s not the fault of the head nurse like we assumed, or even the hospital for that matter.  Get this!  Hospitals send out a survey, just like a hotel, to ask about your stay and your care.  Hospitals certified to participate in government programs really get affected by these surveys because that patient that waited 30 minutes with their call light on leaves a bad review, and the next patient complains the nurse wasn’t quick enough or attentive enough.  Well, guess what?  That government program just lessened their budget for your hospital based on these reviews, which results in scheduling less staff, all to stay within a given budget.

Cherokee4Less understands the stress and we applaud you for the burdens you carry every day while walking in with a smile on your face and ready to face the next challenge.  We want you to be comfortable in your scrubs, outfit you in apparel that works for you in every way that you move, scrubs that don’t require ironing and protect you with scrubs such as Certainty Scrubs that have antimicrobial fluid barrier to keep the “yuck” aka bodily fluids, from staining.  We want to make your life just a little easier in any way we can.  We are here for you!