Speaking of tape residue...(and other pet peeves)

[Bortaz]

I've been noticing that on a lot of our "clean and ready" beds, the nurse that cleaned them seem to think it's ok to have tape residue on the bed...that the bed is somehow cleaned despite their being this gunk all over it. I am not diplomatic enough to address it with the staff, so I've been considering taking it on up the vine. Thoughts?

Another thing I can't stand: Milk/formula dripped down the side of the isolette/crib. I can't even imagine what crap is growing in the milk spilled inside those warm, moist isolettes. I wonder if anyone has ever cultured it? With this though, it's not just about it being dirty (and the nurse being lazy/unobservant)...but, imagine what the parents think when they see these filthy beds. I particularly hate to find it when the baby has been NPO for 4-5 days. Same goes for clean linens. If you drop a drop of blood on the sheet, CHANGE it.

Also: If a nurse doesn't clean/swab his baby's mouth, he is not doing his job and is neglecting his patient. Especially if the baby has an ETT or is on CPAP. I've taken report on babies and found their mouths so full of gunk that you could barely get a swabby inside, and found ETTs so crusty I couldn't check placement. Pure neglect.

What peeves you?

[FlowerChild2005]

I hate how there are stains and some tape residue on some sheets and blankets.If I find them I put them in the reject bin so we won't be charged for them.I can't believe housekeeping puts those sheets and blankets on clean beds.And I have to change suction tubing.It grosses me out if it hasn't been changed recently.I also hate when some staff change patients but leave the dirty/wet brief in the trash.

[NNICU-RN]

I hate tangled lines and not having labels on if 3 or more is used. I also hate messy incubators where you store the diapers.

[dsb_fam]

I'd call it OCD, but really don't you think it should be CDO? Just looks better that way. Love reading this thread.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

Finding 4 clean blankets on top of 3 ****-or-blood-stained ones...makes me furious. Why is it easier to throw crap on top of crap than to just change everything out? Do you do that to your kids beds at home?

[katierobin23]

I'd call it OCD but really don't you think it should be CDO? Just looks better that way. Love reading this thread.[/quote']

Ha! Like OCD, but in alphabetical order like it should be. Love it.

[Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM]

We have protocols for fixing all of that and they are charted.

[katierobin23]

Another one that's popping out at me after working tonight...leaving trash in beds. I found so many chloroprep swabs and syringe caps! Grr!

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

How many needles/iv cannulas/sharps have I found under sheets/mattresses in the last 5 years? A LOT.

Another pet peeve that I had (but got fixed, with a whole lot of effort and continuous griping...) was the use of coban (the blue stretchy tape) by RTs and lab in my unit. I kept finding it wrapped so tightly around the baby's feet that their toes were black. I finally got some director-level action on it when I took a picture of the black toes and attached it to the risk report. They couldn't ignore that one, like they had the previous 10 attempts i'd made to get the stuff banned.

You cannot count on everyone to have the proper sense not to misuse the item, so it simply must be taken away.

[katierobin23]

You cannot count on everyone to have the proper sense not to misuse the item, so it simply must be taken away.

Such a pathetic statement, but so true of so many things.

Speaking of lab, I won't be surprised to see lab techs get banned from my unit by the time I'm finished working here. They took most of the skin off of a baby's foot recently by squeezing so hard and not paying attention to the ID band...the plastic totally destroyed his poor foot plastics says it's among the worst injuries they've ever seen in here. I draw most of my own labs on little babies because I just can't trust them to do it right and not hurt my babies in the process.

[nocturnalnurse]

I am a freak for how peripheral IVs are taped! I hate nothing more than yards of tape all over those poor baby extremities. They get awful tape burn from that and it's uneccissary! Like using an elephant for a paperweight! And for the love of god if you tape over that insertion site I may get violent.