I am a nurse on a med surg floor. Ive griped many times on here about lazy workers. But there is this one nurse who takes the cake. She had a patient who had messed on himself and needed cleaned up. The assistants were busy doing 3admissions (they go get the patients from ER and put them in bed, do vitals, weight, lock up valuables, etc). So I ask the patient's nurse to help ME clean him up. It wasnt my patient but I was willing to help. I cant STAND for a patient to be left in stool. She says "in a minute, 'jane' is telling me something about a patient" then goes off the floor to smoke....leaving the patient in poop. GRRRRRRRRR. I know it was HER patient, but he was pitiful. Every admission we got, she couldnt take any...she let family members sleep in the other bed which made it "dirty" or she had a drug-withdrawal who couldnt take any room-mate. She would say "I dont feel like cleaning a bed tonight." First of all, visiting hours are over, family members need to leave, not sleep in the next bed. We can get recliners for family members who have to stay or they can stay in the waiting room. She was either on the phone or reading or downstairs smoking. Callbells going off, she wouldnt go. Patients complaining of pain, she rolled her eyes and kept reading. I smoke too, but I do so only when my patients are taken care of and I have the spare time. I NEVER have time to read a novel! I had applied for a job in the next town for a Baylor job. It had just been filled. I live in a very small town with not much job opportunities unless I want to drive hours to a job. All our good workers, includign assistants and nurses, have quit because of having to work with lazy people. By the time I go home at the end of a shift, Im so exhausted and angry. When its time to pass 7 am meds, no one's water pitcher has been filled. No F/C has been emptied. Sometimes I feel like Im doing the work of the entire floor and it SUCKS. I cant ignore a callbell and if I smell poop and no one will clean it, I cant and wont leave a patient lying in it. Does anyone else experience this? Am I going overboard, should I just do my job and leave everyone elses patients to them? And if so, how do I deal with the guilt of knowing they are needing something and being ignored. Help and advice please. Im going nuts.
