Cant believe the nurse did.....

Nurses General Nursing

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A few threads latley have had tittles that got me all excited to read the juicy "gossip", only to be very disappointed or think the OP was a little on the the nutty side. So I thought we could share our juicy "I can't believe the nurse did...."? I can think of one time responding to a code white in mental health, where the pts nurse was egging him on "oh, your going to kill me, well I'd like you to try. Come on, let's have it. You wanted a problem, well now you have one" and other very unhelpful things. I can see why the pt got so angry. Someone had to make leave. Can't believe she works in mental health.

Well my question is, if the incontinence is able to be "cleaned up right away," why can't the patient go to the bathroom "right away?" All signs point to a resident sitting in their incontinence until med pass is over, or until the aide figures out the resident has soiled themselves.

No, I don't work in long term care, so can't judge too much. Just an observation that when we're too busy to toilet, we're too busy to clean up too. Happens in the hospital as well.

I think it is more of an issue of needing assist of two to the commode or toilet versus being able to clean the resident up by yourself.

Things are not perfect in LTC. The majority of the time we do okay, but sometimes if a person needs AX2 to the bathroom and the aides aren't available, I'll say "I can get you on the bedpan myself or I can get someone to help me get you to the commode but it might be a few minutes."

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I don't have any funny stories to add, but I just wanted to comment that I have appreciated many of BrandonLPN's posts over time, and he strikes me as a conscientious nurse that I would be happy to have taking care of my loved ones. One LPN and 3 aides to 49 residents is so inadequate that it is not humanly possible to give those residents the care they deserve, and I can only express my sincere admiration for those that try anyway. Thank you for what you do, BrandonLPN.

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Well, thanks to everyone who understood where I'm coming from. I appreciate it. Everyone who doesn't, well, Im sorry if you were offended by my candor.

I want to say, that's it's not as bad where I work as it perhaps sounded. The fact is the vast majority of my residents either can't or won't tell if they need to go. Most simply go in their briefs and are changed during rounds. There's

only a few residents who can tell when they need to go but are time consuming to get up. Usually we get them up in time. We know what we're doing (mostly). The aides have a toileting schedule for these residents. But sometimes no one is available and the resident has to be told "your aide is busy, but I'll let her know. If you don't make it, we will clean you up ASAP." that has to be said sometimes in LTC. Not all the time, but sometimes. Usually things go more smoothly.

As for people who think I should stop my med pass and hunt down staff to help with a lift.... well, no, I don't let myself be interrupted unless it's emergent. It's not about the inconvenience (my entire job is inconvenient) it's about safety. If a nurse stops the med pass between every resident errors happen. I don't care how organized you are, with a med pass that size, constant interruptions WILL lead to errors. And I have a "no interruptions" policy that is stricter than most. A CNA reports a change in condition? A call with lab or x Ray results? Yes

I'll stop and address it. But most everything else will wait. I've been at loggerheads with management because I refuse to talk to Resident's family when they call

during my med pass. You need to know how Mom is doing or have a question about her care? Ok, take a message and I'll call back later. It can and will wait. Oh, unit coordinator, you have some new

policy I need to read and sign or some pharmacy audit or something? Ok, but I'm not gonna even look at it till med pass is done. I do NOT stop med pass for anything non emergent and I don't apologize for that. Too many potential errors.

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Specializes in LTC and School Health.
Well my question is, if the incontinence is able to be "cleaned up right away," why can't the patient go to the bathroom "right away?" All signs point to a resident sitting in their incontinence until med pass is over, or until the aide figures out the resident has soiled themselves.

No, I don't work in long term care, so can't judge too much. Just an observation that when we're too busy to toilet, we're too busy to clean up too. Happens in the hospital as well.

Because the patient is 350lbs and it will take less time, people and resources to hoyer them to the toilet.

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I'm a CNA in LTC and this happens. There are more people than you would imagine that claim that they cannot use a bedpan but can in a bed. Sounds crazy but it's true.

Our facility has 2 hoyers for appx. 90-110 residents. It can take up to 10 minutes alone just to find and get a hoyer if both of them are being used. Aside from that if it happens to be the CNA's break time there is only one CNA on the hall and one nurse. The CNA is not allowed leave the hall so the nurse has to go in search of the hoyer. A bsc is not used because these residents that I am referring to will not use a sliding board at all and cannot sit up properly without assistance.

Real life a resident will have to wait at minimum 20 minutes. I have to find the lift, find a lift sling - different pt needs a different clean sling, finding an available employee, putting the sling under pt. and hooking them up. It takes a lot longer than people realize and what if a 1 assist person calls needing to go to the bathroom at the same time?

There is no solution really except for better staffing and management is fully aware of this but if the company does not allow for it then that's the way it is. It's not that anyone is being a bad nurse or CNA it's more like being able to do what you can and prioritizing what you can do.

I tell patients that if you can wait I will be happy to help you but if you cannot I will clean you up promptly and apologize that a better option does not exist.

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Well said, lillymom.

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice, Case Management.

Brandon - I certainly didn't mean to beat up on you either. As others have said, I've read many of your posts and always find you to be a upstanding nurse that shows genuine care/compassion for your residents. I agree with your posts more than 90% of the time (which is a better % than I agree with my own husband :roflmao:). I do get where you were going with the comment and I agree with you when you said maybe you just didn't use the right wording.

Thought of sending you a PM to say all of this but wanted it to be a public display of support. Peace my friend.

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yes, looking back, maybe my early posts here gave the impression I was defending the nurse who said "just *** in the bed". Not what I meant. If I had said what I meant as clearly as lillymom there, this thread probably wouldn't be at 8 pages. :)

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Specializes in Adult/Ped Emergency and Trauma.

I knew better, you get to know posters here:)

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Probably the one of the worst things I seen was when I was an STNA in LTC. Had an agency new grad LPN come in for a call off. She was supposed to remove some staples from a patients leg but could not find the stuff to do it with. She sent me on my break and when I come back her and the other aid on the hall where using a suture removal kit to dig out the staples in this patients leg. It was an absolute mess and the only reason the guy wasnt screaming was he was out in la la land on pain meds.

That was not a pleasent phone call to the DON, which I had to make becasue the nurse refused to.

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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
I think it is more of an issue of needing assist of two to the commode or toilet versus being able to clean the resident up by yourself.

Things are not perfect in LTC. The majority of the time we do okay, but sometimes if a person needs AX2 to the bathroom and the aides aren't available, I'll say "I can get you on the bedpan myself or I can get someone to help me get you to the commode but it might be a few minutes."

Good to know. I can rarely clean someone up by myself, to be honest. They don't roll far enough to be helpful, or too weak to roll.

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Specializes in vascular, med surg, home health , rehab,.

A fellow nurse approached by a family member at the nurses station looking for his wife, she got the name and then said "oh I'm very sorry, she passed away". The guy went chalk white, then she grins and in her usual chirpy voice said "i was only messing with you, shes in bed two". I stood by speechless.

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