Bad experience last night

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Specializes in Oncology.

I got pulled to a different floor last night and one of my patients had D5 with 3 amps of sodium bicarb for their IV fluids. Being from an Oncology floor didn't think much about it as it is not a rare occurance to have a patient with this as their fluids. I gave report to the oncoming nurse who was this floors supervisor and as soon as I mentioned the fluids she tore into me saying that they didn't hang bicarb on their floor without prior management approval. I explained that I had been pulled to the floor at 2300 and when I arrived the fluids were already being administered. I also explained that this was only my second time being pulled to a different floor in the hospital and I apologized. I walked out of work today feeling 2 feet tall. I was just wondering if it is common for medical floors to not hang fluids with bicarb in it? Thanks.

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If they don't hang IVF with bicarb in it that is an indication that their nursing staff is either poorly trained or severely overworked, or are using it as an excuse to dump pts elsewhere. Bicarb is is pretty safe compared to lots of things that get given on a medsurg floor! Obviously the charge nurse isn't very involved in knowing what is going on during her shift if she didn't catch that this pt had bicarb running and say something about it to you.

They have the problem, not you. Let it slide and don't give it another thought.

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She was totally out of line. Stuff like this happens all the time. Sometimes I will have someone who is a decent person who will just point out to me that on this unit for this reason they do it this way. On the other hand sometimes you run into those psyco B###hes that go off like rockets on you. Next week she will be crying the blues because no one wants to be pulled to her unit. Let me tell you a incident that happened to me. In this one particular hospital where I had worked just about every single med/surg without problems, I got pulled for first time to pulmonary floor. The patients were ordered pulmonary function test. Turned out the nurses on this unit did the pulmonary function test on the patients there. I had never worked a unit where nurses did there own pulmonary function test until that moment and have never seen it again. They used cardexs in those days and the test was written in respiratory dept's box. Everywhere I ever worked anything that was written under respiratory was respiratory's responsibility. When I reported off at the end of the shift to the night nurse and she asked me about those test I was like "huh". Geeze was she nasty, you know I think I dodged ever going there again. I feel for ya.

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Just chalk it up to one of those times when you get chewed out whether you deserve it or not. This will not be the last time this happens as long as you work in nursing. You need to work on developing a skin that is thick enough so that remarks like this don't ruin your life after you're off the job.

I got screamed at by a nurse who said that I had not emptied a foley bag when I was working as a CNA. I had emptied the bag when it was almost spilling over onto the floor. It filled up in the time between the time I emptied it and the time she looked at it. If the nurses were spending more time looking at the resident's medication situation that was causing him to urinate too much, perhaps his foley wouldn't be overflowing in less than two hours. That was not my responsibility at the time, although I wondered why nobody addressed the problem. I surely let her know, in a tone that was slightly similar to hers, although I did my best not to yell in earshot of residents, like she did, that I, indeed, had emptied the foley. Yes, I was upset. That was one of many nasty confrontations and I noticed that people who deserved criticism never got it. (A friend thing, when you all have the same thing in common). I never got comfortable there and was glad when I left. But while I was there, I did my job as best I could. I urge you to do your job as best you can, no matter how many times you get criticized. Hope things get better.

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Oh by the way, that charge nurse was more responsible than you. It was her responsibility to be aware that you were unfamiliar with the unit and it's policys, should have kept an eye on you. Once I over heard a conversation between my manager and a charge nurse about a similar situation. A person had been pulled to a ortho surgical unit from another type of speciality unit. They were given fresh post ops, a whole lot of them, had struggled with the assignment. These were the managers words to that charge nurse, "what were you thinking giving an assignment like that to a person from a completely different SPECIALITY ? ". The charge nurse said things had been so crazy that she was 3 hrs into the shift before she realized her mistake. Was I ease dropping? Just so happens that you could hear conversation in the managers office while you were in the dirty utility room. Went in there to do something and just happen to hear what I heard.

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Specializes in OB.

I had a recent experience on a contract with an undercutting coworker. I had a patient developing a problem and asked her to help me find the policy for their hospital in handling the situation (At this facility all the policies are in the computer) while I initiated basic care of the situation. She printed out the policy and handed it to me. I then followed the policy to the letter in administering the care and resolving the situation (Yes, I am being deliberately vague about what the issue was). After the patient was stabilized she proceeded to jump all over me saying "Why did you dou that? We don't do that on this unit".

Um, do you think you might have told me this when you handed me the printed policy? And why would they have the supplies in our pyxis to follow those orders if we are not to do it the way the policy states?

Needless to say all my charting on this included the line: "X,Y,Z done according to Hospital Policy #12345"!

Some people are just cutthroat!

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bagladyrn

You were very wise in your actions. I wish I could be around you some so that you could teach me some pointers about keeping undercutting co-workers from making my life difficult! I suppose you learned some of this the hard way, and some is just common sense to you. There are those of us who take a couple of days to figure out what to do about a situation like this and even then we can't figure out what to say or do! We manage to goof it up somehow!

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Specializes in OB.
bagladyrn

You were very wise in your actions. I wish I could be around you some so that you could teach me some pointers about keeping undercutting co-workers from making my life difficult! I suppose you learned some of this the hard way, and some is just common sense to you. There are those of us who take a couple of days to figure out what to do about a situation like this and even then we can't figure out what to say or do! We manage to goof it up somehow!

After being burned a few times you learn to recognize the signs and CYA! I had seen what she was like before this and was on my guard - this was just the most overt action! She just has that territorial thing going being the big frog in the local pond. The shame of it is that that she is too good of a nurse to need to build herself up by cutting down others. (Which I did say to the coworker most likely to repeat gossip!):lol2:

There are so many people on here with a wealth of varied experience to share that reading here, while addicting, is also a great learning tool!

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(Which I did say to the coworker most likely to repeat gossip!):lol2:

There are so many people on here with a wealth of varied experience to share that reading here, while addicting, is also a great learning tool!

:lol2::lol2::lol2:

Yeah. I learn a lot from reading here and like the entertainment value too.

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