Q: I'm a patient care technician in a prestigious hospital. PCTs work on patient floors and are to help nurses in whatever ways they can. Just as nurses are assigned patients to care for each shift, we are assigned nurses to assist. And we also have our own duties, which include taking vitals (blood pressure, temperature and oxygen levels).

In terms of skill level, the nurses are great. But problems arise when they move from working with patients to the position of "charge nurse," where they manage and schedule other nurses and PCTs. Charge nurses seem to lack management skills, common sense and fairness. To each nurse, they assign specific patients, and we are assigned to the nurses. Every shift, we have different assignments.

It should be a simple task: Review the patients' records and divide them fairly among the nurses on each shift; then, assign the PCTs fairly among the nurses. But this is not the case. As an example, some PCTs are assigned to three nurses with 15 patients, while other PCTs have two nurses with only seven patients. They don't always know which patients will demand more care, so the assigning of nurses is arbitrary and doesn't make sense.

The problem is that I am always assigned the three nurses with the most patients, and patients' rooms are spread throughout the floor. Because assignments are not by location, PCTs have to run around, room to room, to help if patients have pushed their call buttons at similar times. No matter how minor a request may be, the last patient being helped is not going to be happy. Rarely do we have a moment of rest.

My other complaint is that while I am rushing to help my nurse's patients, another PCT sits, waiting for a call button to ring, not offering to help because we are not required to. There is no teamwork at our level, and we are not allowed to make those kinds of decisions. Nurses ask each other for help when in need, but normally, assignment lines aren't crossed. This is nonsense to me, and PCTs are angry about it.

I complained to the nurses, the charge nurse and the floor nurse, who is the top manager. No one responded to my complaint, nor did they attempt to correct the situation. They just ignored it. Where do we go from here? We don't want to quit, but it's hard to work when angry.

A: Unless the nurses have come from the business world and changed careers, it is understandable why none would have management experience. Their work is to monitor the many medical conditions with which patients are admitted. Aside from the extreme change in job responsibilities and the lack of management skills, common sense alone should tell your managers not to ignore employee complaints. Doing so only leads to increased employee dissatisfaction and anger. Since both the charge nurse and the floor nurse have chosen this "no-communication" management style, you have no choice but to go over their heads to register a complaint. Just be sure to present your complaint as accurately and clearly as possible.

To be taken seriously by upper management, never criticize without offering a possible solution. Write a proposal that describes the current system — the uneven distribution of work on the floor — and document the outcome of that system: slower and uneven response times for patients with nurses who are certainly overloaded and PCTs. Suggest changes that will create a fair and more positive work environment for employees, as well as more satisfied patients.

Email all your questions to workplace expert Lindsey Novak at [email protected]. She answers all emails. To find out more about Lindsey Novak and to read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Website at www.creators.com. COPYRIGHT 2013 CREATORS.COM