What is your biggest nursing pet peeve?

Nurses General Nursing

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Nurses that are brilliant but do not know the difference between contraindication and contradiction! :rotfl:

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Recently hired, spent 3 hours reading the "Employee Handbook" in the breakroom. I can honestly say I was not lonely, EVERY nurse was in there with me to smoke or chat or best of all feel me out as to whether I'm gonna "telll any of this". Patients cursed at, doors slammed in their faces, med carts left OPEN in the hall...I could go on...I went to the Administrator the next morning and explained to her exactly WHY I would not work in her facility.

:angryfireNote...all "nurses" included 4 MTs that will not begin there first class for 2 months and 1 CNA there were no other supervisors, RNs LPNs etc.. They were reprimanded. GIve me a Break!

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Seeing regular full time staff bumped to evening or night shift and bringing in contingent staff to work day shift because "The contingent will only work days.".

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Nurses who take their time dispensing Rx for pain and who have an attitude

about it....eg.."He can wait".... :angryfire

Oh oh - pet peeve - well, I hate to sound like Pollyanna, but at the moment I can't think of anything! I am very fortunate right now to work with an incredible group of nurses
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Oh - one more... I work in OB, and I just love it when a pt asks for pain med, and when I am about to give it they ask "WILL THIS HURT THE BABY?"

???????????????????

Yes, it's going to kill your baby, that's why we give it to you!!!

Or maybe I should say...

WHAT??!! Your're PREGNANT?? For God's sake why didn't you tell me????? I can't give this to you, it's poison!!!QUOTE]

OMG!! :rotfl: :roll: :chuckle

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

The families that come and find you because "Mothers thirsty and needs a drink" even though you have explained to the patient and family 1,000 times that day she is NPO...

Family members who throw a fit because they haven't spoken to the Dr, they don't know what is being done, etc. etc...demanding I call the Dr....the Dr. comes up 20 minutes later and the family is down in the cafeteria getting snacks...

I have actually had a patient's family member COME INTO another patient's room while I was cleaning a bedridden pt. up and poke their head in and tell me their family member wanted something (and it wasn't urgent)...

Family members who take up the entire room and when I need to get in there to provide care for a pt., will not even move out of my way so I can get to the pt...

Oh, I could go on and on all day long! I used to work night shift and the only thing I miss about it since being on day shift for a year is the lack of families on nights!!!

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My pet peeve: Nurses who will be in a pts room hanging an IV, giving meds, etc. The pt will ask to be put on the bedpan, or something simple like that (& the pan is in the BR or in the bedside table). The nurse will leave the room, & search all over the floor to find the aide, & call back to the other nurses' station to find you, just to say "Can you come up & put so & so on the bedpan?" GRRRRRRRRR..... One of the nurses' did this to me one night. I was going to another room to help a nurse with a code brown, & this nurse came out of the room next to us, & asked me to do it. I just stopped & looked @ her & asked her what she was doing. She responded with a stutter "I'm busy" . Me= "Well, so am I". The sad thing is, if I or other nurses didn't do these things, they wouldn't get done.

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Originally posted by KacyLynnLPN

[The families that come and find you because "Mothers thirsty and needs a drink" even though you have explained to the patient and family 1,000 times that day she is NPO...

Family members who throw a fit because they haven't spoken to the Dr, they don't know what is being done, etc. etc...demanding I call the Dr....the Dr. comes up 20 minutes later and the family is down in the cafeteria getting snacks...

I have actually had a patient's family member COME INTO another patient's room while I was cleaning a bedridden pt. up and poke their head in and tell me their family member wanted something (and it wasn't urgent)...

Family members who take up the entire room and when I need to get in there to provide care for a pt., will not even move out of my way so I can get to the pt...

Oh, I could go on and on all day long! I used to work night shift and the only thing I miss about it since being on day shift for a year is the lack of families on nights!!!

/QUOTE]

I completely agree with you. I work in CVICU where the families aren't there all the time !! I would go crazy if they were!! I too have had a family member come into another pts room to tell me that their loved one wanted something nonurgent :angryfire .

Another peeve is when a nurse gets an admit & gets no help admitting the pt because the others are too busy chatting at the desk! :angryfire

I guess the families keep our job a little more interesting!

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*When the phone rings and the caller asks, "How's me dad?"

Mmmmmm, well. "Name? Or have you forgotten?"

*The smack head who has no pain threashold because he's pumped his non-existant veins full of s**te for so long, given himself a painful abcess from injecting himself in the wrong place and screams his "rights" for DF118 and is generally a nasty abusive person.

"If you want some painkillers, you can start by talking to me to me nicely instead of being nasty and abusive"

"Ooeerr......sorry nurse."

Of course I NEVER say that to a patient who has just said, "Get me some f*****g painkillers! Where's me f*****g temezepam?"

*Lazy nurses who sit around whilst everyone is busy and ignore buzzes and actually seem to not enjoy "hands on" nursing care and will do everything humanly possible to get out of it.

*OMG just thought of one of my WORST: Visitors who let their children run around/lay on the floor/get in the way/interupt/scream/cry/mess about/shout. Teach your child MANNERS please. People who bring baby to see grandad, even if he has a particularly nasty infection. People who bring baby then let it scream loudly for ages, despite the fact it irritates ME, never mind the poor patients who had just had neurosurgery.

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Oh yes, and those visitors who think that visiting hours or the "no more than 2 people at each bed space" rules doesn't appply to them.

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Finding the foley cath collection bag laying on the floor.

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The poor night shift charge nurse last night, had 7 pts. on top of being charge:

2 "intractable n/v" who are FF that were back for the Demerol.

1 post op with an epidural, that wound up going bad

1 pt. that had a jug and a half of Go-Lytely, and was going every 10 minutes. Also bowel incontinent.

1 with q2h vitals and q1 blood sugars, that would up going bad

2 septoplasties

1 post op that was combative and kept trying to rip off her dressing

Hmmmmmmmmmmmm...I wonder why 2 of the 8 pts (as I count) wound up going down hill? Sounds like the nurse screwed herself.

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now back to the topic at hand...

in no order

1) when there is a hole in the staffing on the same day (thursday afternoon)for as long as time can tell, and when you have to remind the sup in the afternoon that there is no nurse coming in to pass meds (as has been the case every thursday for said amount of time), and when the sup (who, btw, makes up the schedule) responds with "why have you waited until now to tell me this". And to top it off, when we work 48 hrs in a week and don't want to stay late to pass meds said sup gets pissed. Although watching her get on her knees and beg in front of the DON was rather satisfying, I must say.

2) "MDs" who don't medicate; eg...a pt comes in manic, no meds are ordered, and a few days later the pt is sent back from whence he came--only to return, because guess why???? AND ON MORE THAN ONE OCCASION!!!

3) when "MDs" won't allow us to use our nursing judgement, because they won't write PRN meds, then(refer to no. 2); I guess it's a good thing to allow a pt to howl at the moon in the middle of the day. At this point, I'm being paid to be a babysitter.

I could sooooooooo go on...

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