would you finish work from previoius shift?

Specialties Geriatric

Published

Hello

What would you do if a co-worker from the previous shift didnt finish their work and give it to the next shift nurse, like admissions, treatments etc... Would you do it, or would you say something about it?

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Hello

What would you do if a co-worker from the previous shift didnt finish their work and give it to the next shift nurse, like admissions, treatments etc... Would you do it, or would you say something about it?

I would do it, but i would also say something about it if this was a habitual problem (as in, if looked like she/he was deliberately leaving a pile of things to do).

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Sometimes you're the statue, sometimes you're the pigeon.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Sometimes you're the statue, sometimes you're the pigeon.

And somedays you feel so dumped on you really believe that an ostrich has to be flying overhead.

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Specializes in Burn ICU, Psych, PACU.
So what would you do if you followed a nurse who only worked 4 hours with the patients and they didn't chart anything no assessment some I and O's and only signed out some of their meds....would you say something next time you saw them? Do you guys chart an assessment if you are there only 4 hours? I do but I was thinking maybe everyone doesn't when I saw this

If its not charted...it never happened. End of story. If a nurse is sued, then they'd be crumb out of luck, because they'd have no legs to stand on.

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Story of my life. Geeze last weekend they transferred a resident and hadn't even packed up her stuff until the next day when I was on.

In terms of paperwork, if it's not done, you're legally obligated to make sure it is done. Right?

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Specializes in Long Term Care.

Yesterday was the proverbial day from hell. There was no getting away from the chaos. Then the State Inspectors walked in and it got even worse.

I stayed an hour and a half trying to straighten things up for the nurse who came to relieve me. I did all the charting for the 3-11 shift and passed the first round of meds and did half the treatments b/c the 8 PM pill pass is horrible.

I will not work any more four hour shifts. It will either be the whole eight or none at all. If it isn't charted, it isn't done.

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Specializes in Government.

Sometimes a unit policy can help shift issues a lot. In a pediatric hospital I worked at, we got more admits on the 8 hour night shift than days or PMs combined. We ran all night. There were some annoyed feelings when kids who had rolled in at 7 AM didn't have their admissions completed. We sat down as a unit and talked about the 24/7 nature of the work, looked at the admit numbers and came up with a shift to shift work plan. It helped tremendously.

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Specializes in LTC.

I work nocs in a LTC, often there are faxes, orders etc left from pms for me to do. I guess I would rather do them myself than have the pm nurse stay and be in my way as I try to organize and get started with my shift. I like my clean space and having my med books stay in one place.

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I just have problem with this lady who works before me. I can understand if she cant finish her work once in a while and ask the next shift to do it, but every single day this lady dumps her work to the next shift. None of the labs are done, none of the physician orders are done, when physician gave her a verbal order, she told me to carry it out, she gave me part of her admission work that she didnt finish as a matter of factly as if she is suppose to dump it to the next shift if she didnt finish it. I'm just sick and tired it, and it is getting on my nerve!!!!!! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

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Specializes in midwifery, gen surgical, community.

Nursing is a 24/7 occupation, so of course you should finish work from the previous shift. Having said that, if I have not done something I would give report to the nurse taking over my patients and then finish off my work in my own time. If you have work left over on your shift you've probably had the shift from hell and we all know the following shift is probably going to be the same. The ward I work on, we all do the same. Its lovely. No bitches, no slackers, colleagues very supportive. I do pity the newbies though as nursing is now much harder then it was when I started.

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i have the same problem. i get it all worked out during report and address with the nurse i offer to help finish up on some things and make it a point to clarify what will be passed on. i'm a new nurse and one nurse in particular left me an admission she received @ 10 in the morning (i come in @ 2 pm) and simply said things have to get pushed to the next shift. i stood my ground and told her i would help but would not do it for her. needless to say we have an understanding now.

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HELLUP!!!

I am new to LTC...3 weeks now I am learning but not at a pace that meets MY standard. Any suggestions/direction for prioritizing and/or references that could help me along the way. Of course I talk to my co-workers regarding this but anything you can suggest that I can research on my own time?

Part of my problem is I am so used to carrying thru a task from start to finish....and reading some of these posts...."leaving work (assessments..etc) for the next shift to do is something I would like to avoid as much as possible. I feel like there are so many people "helping" with the paperwork that surely some things get missed.

What do YOU do? What is the priority on new admissions? We do have a policy and procedure manual but it is not as detailed as I would like it to be. There does not seem to be consistency from station to station either. What to do? I realize I do get impatient with myself and this is a learning process, but I would like to be "up to standard".

Any ideas for a "cheat sheet". I feel responsible to know each resident and their medical issues. At this point, it seems that will be far off. Any ideas?

This is a real challenge for me. Some days I feel like "heck with it, I'm not staying", but then I realize I'm just wanting to run from the inadequate feelings I feel. I know 6 months to one year from now I will know what I need to know, but...I WANT TO KNOW NOW!!!

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