What is your biggest nursing pet peeve?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

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

[video=youtube_share;23NI4OuxB9A]

Specializes in Oncology/BMT.

I might just be a bit irritable... But I have been on nights this week with some very high maintenance patients. My co-worker and I were joking about some things that patients and their families do that just drive you up a wall... Here are some of my "favorites"... Please, share your interesting pet peeves...

-the call bell is pushed (the room is right across from the nurses station) and within 5 seconds (literally) you hear one family member tell another... "You better just go out to the desk and get them!" I just really hate that they won't give me the 15 seconds it takes to actually walk in the room to see what the patient or family needs... Man, they'd get a kick out of the nurses that let the call bells go off for 15 minutes...

-when family members take it upon themselves to spaz out and create nonreal emergencies... my mother's monitor has been beeping for an hour and no one has come in to check on her... well the heart rate is 58 and someone didn't lower the alarm limits... if i'm not getting excited about the situation then neither should you...

-trip # 1 to the kitchen - water w/ 1/4 cup of ice, trip #2 to the kitchen - a coupel packs of crackers, trip #3 to the kitchen - grey poupon mustard (oops we don't have it)... when will they learn, this is not the Ritz Carlton nor am I your waitress... If we could only teach patients to multitask their demands : )

-and finally... I am 23 and have been a nurse for a few years... I love when patients or families ask if I am old enough to be a nurse... I'd like to say... "Well aren't you old enough to be in a coffin..."

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I work in the emergency department, and the one that was bothering me tonight was the "if it's going to be much longer, then I'm just gonna leave". I'm pretty sure that if impatience and leaving is an option, IT WASNT MUCH OF AN EMERGENCY to begin with, now was it??

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Oncology/BMT.

Good one! I did work in an ER while in nursing school... one of my favorites from there was... "I have 8/10 abd pain... can I have something to eat?"

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

I hate when they expect us to bend over backwards to "fix" them, but aren't willing to do anything to help themselves.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in L&D, postpartum, nursery, antepartum CLC.

I love it when we have 34 week pregnant teens come in saying "i'm sick of being pregnant" and "(laughing and texting just before you walk in the room)i'm in soooo much pain, I need to have the baby now, i'm in labor" and "my cousin had a baby at 34 weeks and he was just fine, you need to induce me". Then when you tell them no we are not going to induce you in any way, shape, or form without a medical reason, they yell "i want a new doctor!" - ummm yeah the other doctors aren't gonna induce you either, maybe you should have thought about this a few months ago when you were trying to concieve this child :uhoh3:

Also hate the ones that come in saying "i'm in labor" and you put them on the monitor and they ask "am i contracting?" um if you think you are in labor, shouldn't you know that?

I also love the ones that, when asked if they are going to breast or bottle feed, say "well i think i might try breastfeeding" um if you are that ambivilent about it maybe you shouldn't "try"

oooo I love when we have frequent fliers come in literally every 2 days complaining of rupture of membranes "i had a wet spot on my panties". then we don't see them for 5 days and they come in for whatever reason and as you are leaving the room say "oh btw i had a big gush of fluid 4 days ago and i have been having this green fluid running down my legs since then and i have been contracting since then, but that's nothing right?" :eek: :uhoh3: and of course they have been ruptured that whole time and now have an infection and mec staining and they don't equate the sick baby with the fact that the only time they actually should have come in they didn't and that's now our fault

Up Vote Up Vote ×
:nurse::nuke::nurse::nuke::nurse::nuke:
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

Threads merged.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

My pet peeve is this... we are not allowed overtime; I work really hard for 8 hours and finish on time, but because the relief PM RN shows up just on time, won't take report on time and then demands a super detailed report (also starts assessing pts during report) and doesn't even listen (hence questions about the pt that I've already said)... I am late.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in med-surg 5 years geriatrics 12 years.

Bariatric patients who weigh more than 500 pounds who get mad at me because I cannot pull them up in bed alone. Let's see... you weigh 500 lbs and I weigh 138 lbs...sure I can do it. No problem.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Hmmm... my pet peeve is nurses that are just NOT interested in getting report. I'll be giving my report and the other nurse will say hi to other nurses here and there, look at a text. I think it's great that some nurses are so comfortable with their jobs that they need a very quick and minimal report. But at least act like youre interested in the 1 min and 30 seconds I'm speaking to you for. Me, personally, I go blank when I'm giving report. So if I don't have it written down then it's probably not going to get mentioned.

On the OPPOSITE side of the spectrum are the nurses (we have one infamous one) that expect a long, detail ridden report. If they ask you a question and you don't have the answer, there will be hell to pay! I've finally grown some balls in the last 2 years and now I say "if you want an answer to that, then you'll need to look it up yourself. Sorry."

Also, this is just between me and this board. I hate Jasmine, the CNA. There, I said it. I HATE YOU. I hate when I have to work with you. I hate that you never answer your phone. I hate that when I call you, which is very rare because I hate you so much, that you say something like "Nope, sorry, I can't do it. I just started my lunch". Oh really? You JUST started your lunch? How come I haven't seen you on the floor in the last 2 hours? I HATE when you call me numerous times through our shift and say "COME QUICK! THE PATIENT IN 123 IS BEING COMBATIVE!" I hate that when I show up the patient is barely moving in bed. I hate that the first thing that comes out of your mouth are "Can he get something to knock him out??" I hate that when I say "No, he's fine" you desperately (and quite aimlessly - huh?) look for a scratch some place on your body to show me.

Anyway, I can't sleep right now and this has been therapeutic for me. Thanks.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Neuroscience/Neuro-surgery/Med-Surgical/.

The RN being the complaint and customer service department.

Seriously, I do not need to be taught how to treat a patient/family members with respect.

And when i cannot rectify the situation to calm an upset patient/family member with their multiple complaints, then I take it to the charge nurse, HOA, and follow up with patient representative if necessary.

Stop with pushing this customer service and service matters crap already, and give us the adequate number of staff to take care of these patients!:angryfire

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in skilled nursing LTC.

nurses that don't know what they are doing...literally. i work with this nurse who had a resident pull out their g tube and she had to put it back in, fine but then i noticed her looking in a med reference book. she said i forgot how to verify the placement??? huh?? don't you check placement everytime you give meds or flush? are you kidding???:confused: i said use an air bolus and listen for the "swoosh" she said i did that, oh wait i forgot to listen?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment