When admin-type RNs forget about the little people.

[dudette10]

A desk job RN walked into my patients room one day to provide specific information to him. I like her very much, but she did something that really annoyed me.

I finished what I was doing and left. After a while, she tracked me down and said, "Hey, the patient is really insistent about wanting to know X."

I was stunned. This piece of information the pt wanted to know is easily accessible from his chart, and the other nurse has access to it too. Instead of opening the chart in the pt's room to look it up and tell him, she tracks me down to tell me that he wants to know.

What. The. Hell.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

I knew that leaving out the exact piece of info would bring on other perspectives. I respect that. However, I have rethought not including it. If she reads this, she will spot me, but at this point, I don't care. I do like her, but good god, I thought she was smarter than that.

It was how much he weighed.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I've been that "clipboard nurse", and yes, it's true that I might not have wanted to step on the primary nurse's toes or accidentally give the patient the wrong information. I also might have had a report due in an hour, a surveyor to respond to, three phone calls from upset families/doctors/social services etc. and a stack of incident reports that had a deadline. Those "desk jobs" were the hardest and most thankless jobs I ever had.....you just catch crap from everyone. Including the staff nurses who think you just put up your feet and play around on the Internet all day.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

I've been that "clipboard nurse", and yes, it's true that I might not have wanted to step on the primary nurse's toes or accidentally give the patient the wrong information. I also might have had a report due in an hour, a surveyor to respond to, three phone calls from upset families/doctors/social services etc. and a stack of incident reports that had a deadline. Those "desk jobs" were the hardest and most thankless jobs I ever had.....you just catch crap from everyone. Including the staff nurses who think you just put up your feet and play around on the Internet all day.

I adore you, Viva, but I think you were typing your response when I revealed what the patient wanted to know. Nothing earth-shattering, obviously. I would hope any RN with a login and access to that info would just give it, rather than throwing a lateral to the primary nurse. :)

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I adore you, Viva, but I think you were typing your response when I revealed what the patient wanted to know. Nothing earth-shattering, obviously. I would hope any RN with a login and access to that info would just give it, rather than throwing a lateral to the primary nurse. :)

Yep, you're absolutely right about that.

[RNNPICU, BSN, RN]

The only time I would have checked with the RN before revealing a weight would be for a pt who was anorexic or eating disorder. When I initially read the post I was going to side with the desk RN because it is difficult to know what information to reveal to patients as the primary bedside RN is really the protector of the patient. However in the case of this that is something that can easily be answered.