Best & Worst Excuses for Not Taking Report?

Specialties Emergency

Published

After having a day where I have never heard so many excuses from the floor for avoiding report, I was curious to hear others' top list of the best and worst.

The worst [& most frequent] excuse: The bed isn't ready,

Funny, when I offer to come upstairs and personally clean and make the bed, the excuse will change immediately to something else

Best: "Sorry, the nurse is in the bathroom again [after my 5th call]...she has a UTI..." :yeah:

Still can't figure how she did any patient care if her day was spent in the bathroom :chuckle. On the 6th call, I told the clerk to tell the nurse to either bring the phone into the bathroom or have her come down to the ER to have her UTI treated while I gave her report & after some Azo, she could bring the pt back up with her

As a floor nurse in a small hospital we are told of possible reports before the actual decision of admit is made. This helps because we can get ready for the possible patient. Once the decision is made to admit we get a preliminary fax of diagnosis and any setups needed (IV's, O2, seizure, etc.). This can be at 0200. We wait and wait for report. They call at 0620 :nono: We give report at 0630 to the next shift, pass meds doctor's are starting rounds, etc.:no: They hate giving us overtime here so sometimes I have to tell them no unless I want to work for free for and hour. I actually been told by ER nurses here that they will hold a patient so that the other nurses in ER will get more pts. (don't jump on me I know that does not happen everywhere)

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Of course there are twelve sides to every story...especially the report story...however I believe this thread-posted in emergency forum-was to be about best and worst excuses. I believe it is way off topic now.

BUT really...it's not about the length of time needed to give/take report. It's about the impending transfer of the patient.

I gave report yesterday to a floor nurse who said...can you give me about ten minutes before you send the patient up...and I said no problem. Then when we get to the floor...the nurse is receiving a back rub at the desk.

Funny thing is...I had just told the patient that we waited to move him even though he'd been in ER on very uncomfortable cart for 8+ hours---b/c the floor was very busy.

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as a floor nurse in a small hospital we are told of possible reports before the actual decision of admit is made. this helps because we can get ready for the possible patient. once the decision is made to admit we get a preliminary fax of diagnosis and any setups needed (iv's, o2, seizure, etc.). this can be at 0200. we wait and wait for report. they call at 0620 :nono: we give report at 0630 to the next shift, pass meds doctor's are starting rounds, etc.:no: they hate giving us overtime here so sometimes i have to tell them no unless i want to work for free for and hour. i actually been told by er nurses here that they will hold a patient so that the other nurses in er will get more pts. (don't jump on me i know that does not happen everywhere)

my hospital does not have the luxury of knowing which floor a regular admit goes to let alone the room number to give report. as an er nurse we can gage who is going to be admitted and who isn't most of the time. (needless to say, that does not help us either) my er docs do not have admissions priveledges so the pcp has to be called, ect.

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Specializes in Trauma/ED.

My favorite was just the other day. I start giving report but the nurse has me stop and says "hold on a sec" then gets back on a little out of breath and notably stressed. Then again a "hold on a sec" this time for longer, she comes back on the line and is tearful states, "I just threw up". The charge nurse gets on the line and says she has to send this ill nurse home and they would have to call me back.

Poor thing...and she didn't give us an excuse, she tried to muscle through the report so she could go to the BR and puke for the third time that shift.

Unfortunate because I guess she made quite a mess in the nurses station. I felt so bad for her.

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It's a game that we all play

First attempt to call report: I'm sorry, that nurse is hanging blood

Second attempt: She's in an isolation room

Third attempt: She's at lunch

Fourth attempt: she's in report.

Fifth attempt: She's hanging blood in an isolation room while eating her lunch and giving report.

Once a clerk forgot to put the phone on hold and I heard her tell the nurse that I wanted to call report, The nurse told her to tell me that she was off the floor. I told the clerk that next time to make sure she had me on hold before lying to me. Report was taken.

:banghead:

Seriously, I know that floor nurses are busy. The Er nurses just feel that we don't have the option of choosing when we get our patients. We certainly can't tell an ambulance to call back in 20 minutes with the code coming in, even if it is time for lunch. :nurse:

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.
My favorite was just the other day. I start giving report but the nurse has me stop and says "hold on a sec" then gets back on a little out of breath and notably stressed. Then again a "hold on a sec" this time for longer, she comes back on the line and is tearful states, "I just threw up". The charge nurse gets on the line and says she has to send this ill nurse home and they would have to call me back.

Poor thing...and she didn't give us an excuse, she tried to muscle through the report so she could go to the BR and puke for the third time that shift.

Unfortunate because I guess she made quite a mess in the nurses station. I felt so bad for her.

Now this is certainly a justifiable excuse. Such a pity that she was even made to get on the phone with you the first time & that she would only be sent home after messing up the nurse's station.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ER.

I give a lot of leeway to med-surg nurses as they do have 5+ pts and I know it can be hectic. BUT, as a long time ICU RN, I have no patience for the ICU nurses at my facility. They don't take stepdowns so when I'm about to take my pt up, they only have one other pt. THEN, they get 30 minutes from the time I faxed an SBAR and the orders AND an EMSTAT. Which has everything that's been done in the ER double documented. WELL...

I just luuuuuuuv it when I wait the whole 1/2 hour then get blown off with even dumber excuses...."she's helping with a sick patient" well duh, you're the ICU, all your patients are sick! And I take the patient up and then they ask me questions about stuff that was straight up on the SBAR and the EMSTAT_ so of course they didn't read them....which is the whole excuse for the 30 minutes in the first place!

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR.

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Specializes in ER.

Where I work I can depend on medsurg to take patients, and come to the ER to help unless they are totally slammed. It's a small facility so that has something to do with it- we go to MS for codes or if they have a critical care situation that requires extra hands.

For admits during shift report, they are smoother than during the shift. Normally MS comes down to pick up patients and get report. If they are at shift change I (ER nurse) take the patient down and help the night staff settle him/her in the room, and then go to the report room, and tell the day staff about the new patient. Nights loves an easy admission, and days loves that the patient is already settled and fits into their workflow. Day shift then has 12 hours to get the paperwork done.

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