What's the dumbest thing you ever got called on the carpet for?

[AngelfireRN]

Just curious to see what cockamamie things the rest of y'all have to put up with. I used to work in a locked psych facility, and there was a rule in place that stated the number of call ins you could have in a certain time period. After a certain number was reached, you had to be warned verbally.

Well, I was PRN, usually worked full time hours, and was often called in to replace the people who had called in for whatever reason. I began to notice a pattern. The same ones always called in, and most were never talked to about it. It was never mentioned. I had my 3rd call in about this time, and it just so happened that the DON chose to inform me of that fact on the day when I had agreed to work 4 16's in one week. I had the call book open, writing down a call in, when she came up and said, "You know you have 3 call ins, right?" I was incensed, but I looked down at the tally sheet, seeing all these others who were never bothered with such mundane details, then looked back at her and said,"Really? Three? Do I get a prize?"

I was never reprimanded again.

[wearingmanyhats, RN]

What perfect timing for me to see this post... I am an agency LPN, and do most of my shifts in one particular LTC facility. Yesterday, while I was there working doing the flu shots for their staff, I was given a write up--- several weeks ago, there was a spouse of a resident whom I caught trying to transfer wife back to bed.... yes, maybe I was a little short with him, but had told him before that someone needed to help her (he is almost as feeble as she is, and I did not want to have to do all the paperwork if she fell...... someone reported me for speaking "harshly" to him...... GRRRRRRR

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

I had a patient's family member get upset and report me to management because after I spent 45 minutes (no kidding, I timed it) reassuring the family and coaching the patient on positioning and swallowing (apparently the patient had a choking episode on a different shift that day), as I left the room, the plug to the patient call light came out of the wall.

Intent on getting to the other post-cardiac procedure patients, I didn't see the call light blinking.

Family member stood there and let it blink for a full twenty minutes, then came out to the desk and filed a complaint based on the possibility that the patient could've "choked to death in there before someone answered the light."

Never mind that I'd taken the food and drink off the bedside table to keep the alert, oriented X 2 patient from inadvertantly causing a problem and never mind that she had just taken medications and a full 240 cc's of water without difficulty before I left the room, this was a "patient safety issue."

And never mind that the patient had no needs; the family used the situation to "test" the nurses and we "failed" the test.

The jerk.

(I didn't get written up over this, BTW, just really cynical, jaded, and embittered.)

Nah. Just kiddin'.

[Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN]

I got it for adminstering scheduled oral meds at the scheduled time to an acute care pt. while she had family in her room. The family complained that this interfered with their visit.

This one has happened to me, too.

[bethin]

Got reamed by the NM that I had not done any patient care on a particular day and that no I&O's were done, no vitals charted, etc.

I plopped the schedule down in front of her face, pointed to my name and asked her "you mean that day? That day that I was off?"

Apparently the nurses had their heads so far up their butts they hadn't noticed that no aide was on the floor.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

a patient had died and his daughter was shrieking, throwing herself on the floor, etc. the attending ordered valium 10 mg. im for the daughter. she wasn't a patient, we didn't have her history/allergies, etc. and i refused, but offered to take her to the er. nm told me that i was refusing a valid physician order and that i could be terminated for insubordination. i tried to explain my reasoning, but she wasn't having any of it. "go wait in my office," she said. "i'll take care of this."

while sitting in her office, waiting to be fired, i heard a code called for my unit. nm had given the valium to the patient's daughter, and she had respiratory arrested. after transferring the daughter to the er, nm decided maybe i didn't need to be terminated after all.

[crissrn27, RN]

a patient had died and his daughter was shrieking, throwing herself on the floor, etc. the attending ordered valium 10 mg. im for the daughter. she wasn't a patient, we didn't have her history/allergies, etc. and i refused, but offered to take her to the er. nm told me that i was refusing a valid physician order and that i could be terminated for insubordination. i tried to explain my reasoning, but she wasn't having any of it. "go wait in my office," she said. "i'll take care of this."

while sitting in her office, waiting to be fired, i heard a code called for my unit. nm had given the valium to the patient's daughter, and she had respiratory arrested. after transferring the daughter to the er, nm decided maybe i didn't need to be terminated after all.

go ruby!!

and for your stupid nm, duhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

[RN007]

I was written up in nursing school during med-surg clinicals for asking too many questions. The memo said I could ask two questions about something. If I asked again, I would be written up.

BTW, I graduated top of the class.

[TazziRN, RN]

got reamed by the nm that i had not done any patient care on a particular day and that no i&o's were done, no vitals charted, etc.

i plopped the schedule down in front of her face, pointed to my name and asked her "you mean that day? that day that i was off?"

apparently the nurses had their heads so far up their butts they hadn't noticed that no aide was on the floor.

oh, this reminded me of another one: right after i went back to work after going into recovery, i was being monitored by a diversion program. i had to work within pretty strict guidelines. understandably, i had to earn back the trust of my coworkers and i knew it wasn't going to be easy. i didn't think, however, that i would be written up each and every time i burped and didn't say "'scuse me."

one day my boss, who had decided that i needed to work triage every single solitary day for the next 5 months, called me in again and showed me a handful of papers that did not have a triage nurse signature. i looked at them all and divided them into two piles and she asked what i was doing. "these aren't mine," i told her. by the time i was done i had 2-3 pages that were mine and a thicker chart that wasn't. like you, i had been off those days.

[flashpoint]

Oh. My. God.

:stone

Sounds like the visitor who coded outside my patient's room. We got her back, sent her to CCU... and she complained to admin that we'd torn her blouse.

Oh, the humanity!

:trout:

I always shake my head at the people who we pick up in the ambulance that complain about us cutting their clothes off (so we can assess that bone poking through their pants) or are upset because our combi-patches rip off too much chest hair.

[pepperann35]

:roll:roll :roll

That is hilarious!

Yeah, that really is a good one, good for you!

[Medic/Nurse, BSN, RN]

thanks to tazzirn for this one:

the board prez insisted that i write a letter of apology. i refused. the boss finally helped me come up with one that appeased the mucky-mucks:

"i'm sorry that your recent experience was a negative one. i hope this doesn't stop you from using our facility in the future for your health care needs."

hey there tazzi -

i do just love your "apology".

i love nursing!

if i ever end up working staff at any facility --- i'm having that printed on the back of my business cards!

practice safe!

.

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

Oh. My. God.

:stone

Sounds like the visitor who coded outside my patient's room. We got her back, sent her to CCU... and she complained to admin that we'd torn her blouse.

Oh, the humanity!

:trout:

Y'all probably smudged her make-up too, but I guess she didn't think about that!!