Am I stepping on senior nurses toes?

Specialties Emergency

Published

Hi. Have a question for you. I work in an ER which is staffed with one nurse and one doc for each shift. Small hospital. Anyway, I have noticed that when I am with a critical patient and cannot leave them, I have had to have nurses fromt he floor come back to help with getting transport papers ready for transfers, either by ambulance or helicopter, call other facilities for the doc, and/or find admission orders for the doc. well, because they were having problems finding all the correct papers, I took it upon myself to make transfer packets for ambulance and helicopter, and admission packets for med surg and ICU. I also tok it upon myself to clean out the file cabinet as there were forms in there which were 12 years old and never used. Well, the problem came when one of the nurses came on and I asked her what she thought of what I had done and she completely tore me apart. :angryfire

She said that She is tired of conforming to people that walk in here. She said that if people do not know where things are, they are not oriented, and that she does not like it. she said there is no reason to make packets. all the forms are in the drawers. And she is right, but they were not put together. Now they are all safety clipped together in seperate packets. Then she replied with don't ask me my opinion I obviously don't have any say back here. Ask the other nurses who have been here longer than me. Mind you, she has been there 15 years and the others have been there longer. I have been in the ER 1 year. I am trying to help our ER run smoother for everybody. Do you think that I am stepping on toes by doing this without asking them what they thought first? :deadhorse

b eyes

Specializes in OB/peds (after gen surgery for 3 yrs).

OK, now it's time to go back to school...you are already for your paper on "change theory". I guess I'll never forget that I had to do a change theory paper for my first semester of BSN program. You have great material here to start with.

(I think you did a great thing, and it happens to me frequently that newer nurses have new ideas!)

Specializes in LTC/SNF.

I did the same thing in the facility I work in, however I stashed all of the admission, transfer, etc packets I had created in the back of a neglected file cabinet telling no one as I knew the reception it would get.

You stepped on toes when yu assumed that no one had done anything with the forms in that cabinet for the past 12 years ...

We have unit meetings and a unit director. New ideas, like form packets, are presented to one or the other. As any good marketing person can tell you, 95% of the sale is presentation and 5% is the product.

Presented differently, I bet most of your co-workers would have jumped on board with the form packet idea, as it is a good idea.

Better luck with your next good idea!

Specializes in Day Surgery/Infusion/ED.
She sounds just like our oldtimers in ER. They are the crustiest, most hardened nurses around. We call them silverbacks, because they are like mean old gorillas. She probably wants to keep the whole paperwork thing a mystery so keep some of her own power, just like a cranky old silverback doesn't want any newcomers eating from his favorite tree.

This was totally unnecessary, disrespectful and inappropriate to the experienced nurses here.

Specializes in Day Surgery/Infusion/ED.
You stepped on toes when yu assumed that no one had done anything with the forms in that cabinet for the past 12 years ...

We have unit meetings and a unit director. New ideas, like form packets, are presented to one or the other. As any good marketing person can tell you, 95% of the sale is presentation and 5% is the product.

Presented differently, I bet most of your co-workers would have jumped on board with the form packet idea, as it is a good idea.

Better luck with your next good idea!

Exactly. We work as a team, so there should be input from everyone if there is going to be a change in forms/procedure.

Specializes in ER, Med-surg, ICU.

No one HAD done anything with the forms in twelve years!! I left them for people to go through and people did not know what they were used for. Presented differently, Like how, I asked them what they thought. Presentation would not have mattered. The only thing that would have mattered is if one of them had thought of it. They do not have to use them. Blank ones are available as well. But thank you anyway

Specializes in Day Surgery/Infusion/ED.

Well, at least you're open to another POV. Whatever. That told me enough.

I'm a "silverback" and I would have loved it-save this old bird some time now she's slowing up!However-how long would it take to run it by others first?-Respect and consideration to your colleagues-good communication is vital in our work.Just a thought.

Christabel

Specializes in Utilization Management.

Is it possible that she was upset on the belief that making up the packets constituted "more work" for someone, possibly herself, down the road?

What would happen if everyone loved the idea of packets but no one took responsibility for making the packets?

At our hospital, the Unit Secretary on night shift makes up our admission packets. They've been doing it that way since before the dinosaurs, too. ;) Good system, helps the newbies out tremendously.

Specializes in ER, Med-surg, ICU.
Is it possible that she was upset on the belief that making up the packets constituted "more work" for someone, possibly herself, down the road?

What would happen if everyone loved the idea of packets but no one took responsibility for making the packets?

At our hospital, the Unit Secretary on night shift makes up our admission packets. They've been doing it that way since before the dinosaurs, too. ;) Good system, helps the newbies out tremendously.

making up the packets does require some work, however, nobody has taken the initiative to keep the packets made up besides me. one nurse is mad because the management position was taken away from him for poor managemnet skills and not being a team leader/role model, one is off on leave, and the other one is the one who feels I have stepped on her toes. so they do not want to give anything extra. we do not have a unit secretary.

b eyes

GREAT idea, just maybe you could have gone about it in a better way? Team work, remember is hardest for the assertive ones -like me too! I've learned the hard way that when you want to change anything it is best to let others in on it before you make the change. NOT ask their opinions really but, just tell them that you want to organize things a bit better for you- all. Unfortunantely, Sometimes when asking for an opinion we get just that.. too bad it had to be so discouraging. Keep your chin up! :wink2:

12-year old forms in a cabinet are not current regarding patient information and safety. JAHCO wants hospitals to develop standards for continuity of care. Since each hospital has mandated procedures, it sounds like the nurse may be resentful and feeling insecure about her role. You got caught in the crossfire, but if it helps, I believe that your idea has merit.

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