Published
Its simply incredible the things nurses have nothing to do with but are blamed for. Since my career has started i have been blamed for things from Physical therapy, resp therapy, maintenance, pharmacy, doctors not talking to family, house keeping, cafeteria, etc... I have actually brought tools from home to fix tvs and toilets due to lack of response from maintenance. I recently bought a walker to help pt when physical therapy refuse to come. I have also gone to cafeteria and paid for food out of my own pocket when they refuse to bring the pt food.
At no time are these depts held accountable for these refusals. It must be great to have a job where they can decide whether or not to show up. Im sorry just need to vent!!!:angryfire
I can't say enough about how much I agree with the above posts.Patients/families are not necessarily blaming the nurse for the lack of X, Y, or Z ... they're simply vocalizing their requests to the person standing in front of them. I just can't understand why so many nurses seem to jump at the opportunity to accept responsibility for those things which are not their responsibility.
Maintenance fails/refuses to fix the TV? OK ... this is your responsibility how? Once per shift, I would update the patient/family on the fact that maintenance has been called X number of times, maintenance supervisor has been made aware, unit manager has been made aware, etc. Nowhere in there is accepting responsibility for a broken TV set. If patient/family becomes visibly upset by the problem, offer support, shake your head, agree with the unnecessary annoyance being caused by the problem, etc. ... but don't make it yours. Same thing with dietary or any other department which is failing to meet their responsibilities toward patient care.
Not to sound fasicious but its not that easy when you work with a rich group of pt and families here in Palm Beach county Florida. I have tried everything you stated and they still regard it as my problem. I have actually stood in front of pt and family and let them watch me call these depts. The main reason many nurses jump to accept responsibility is to get the family off our back .
Not to sound fasicious but its not that easy when you work with a rich group of pt and families here in Palm Beach county Florida. I have tried everything you stated and they still regard it as my problem. I have actually stood in front of pt and family and let them watch me call these depts. The main reason many nurses jump to accept responsibility is to get the family off our back .
Not so fast ... I deal with the VIP set too. And I refuse to let them get on my back by accepting responsibility for things that are not my responsibility.
I'd provide the phone number of the maintenance supervisor with the explanation that, "Again, I have made the maintenance dept. aware by phone on each of the last 3 days that the TV in Room XXXX is not working. I encourage you to follow up with the maintenance supervisor."
Keep on keepin' on ... :)
Not to sound fasicious but its not that easy when you work with a rich group of pt and families here in Palm Beach county Florida. I have tried everything you stated and they still regard it as my problem. I have actually stood in front of pt and family and let them watch me call these depts. The main reason many nurses jump to accept responsibility is to get the family off our back .
Have you referred them to the patient advocate? Sometimes the advocate can get things moving a lot faster than a staff nurse can. If that's not possible, refer the problems to your unit manager. When I was manager I was stuck with the problems all the time. And I got them fixed.
Altra, BSN, RN
6,255 Posts
I can't say enough about how much I agree with the above posts.
Patients/families are not necessarily blaming the nurse for the lack of X, Y, or Z ... they're simply vocalizing their requests to the person standing in front of them. I just can't understand why so many nurses seem to jump at the opportunity to accept responsibility for those things which are not their responsibility.
Maintenance fails/refuses to fix the TV? OK ... this is your responsibility how? Once per shift, I would update the patient/family on the fact that maintenance has been called X number of times, maintenance supervisor has been made aware, unit manager has been made aware, etc. Nowhere in there is accepting responsibility for a broken TV set. If patient/family becomes visibly upset by the problem, offer support, shake your head, agree with the unnecessary annoyance being caused by the problem, etc. ... but don't make it yours. Same thing with dietary or any other department which is failing to meet their responsibilities toward patient care.