I don't know if every time I call I end up catching a nurse whose been a having a bad day or is not feeling well, but of the times I've called every time I have called I've gotten the worst kind of attitude. I almost feel as if, perhaps, it is because the nurses that gave me attitude feel as if I'm ruining their day by adding one more patient.
I get it, it sucks. No one enjoys the current state of staffing ratios. I worked the floor and understand. However just as much as I'm going to be an adult and try my best to not take your displaced frustrations personally, also please try to take me sending you a patient not personal.
If it is is any consolation, by the time I return to my unit - my empty room will be clean already and that means time to prepare it for the next train wreck coming my way. I most likely will not go back and have time to relax. Maybe a quick lunch, as my next train wreck is life flighted to me or your next rapid response ends up here.
Just know we are all in the same business. Never anything personal. If my charge nurse ever calls your unit to expedite a transfer, know she's not doing it to be mean. It's because someone out there really needs that ICU bed. What if it was your mom or dad or friend?
When I worked the floor and was busy as can be, of course I would be a little uneasy when I was getting 5 calls because receiving report was delayed 10 minutes because I was doing wound care etc. So yes I get it. This post was intended as a neither side of the grass is greener kinda post. If I have a floor status patient in the ICU with transfer orders and I know there's no one in need of a room or we have other empty rooms, I will call you report and and ask you "Hey floor nurse, have you had lunch? Go eat and then I'll take you the transfer, ok?" Let's be kind and look out for each other!
Yup, one time I had a fresh trauma patient. Just arrived from OR. No BP, Tachy. Trauma surgeon at bedside. Double concentrated Levo AND double concentrated Neo and fluids running 999 on the pumps. Had to open the abdomen in the room to try and stop the bleeding. Rapid infuser with so many units of blood I had to count the empty bags to keep track. Not a good night. And no,....I wasn't able to have this as a 1:1 patient. Ugh!!!
I needed to breathe in to a brown paper bag for a few minutes after reading the last line.
It's because floor nurses are CONSTANTLY slammed. Went from floor nursing to ER nursing only to discover what I had suspected all along; ER nurses hang on to those patients until 5 minutes prior to shift change and dump them quickly, I'd actually float to ER and not have a single patient because the previous shift had shoveled them all up to the units and left triage sitting in chairs until he or she gave me 'report' and ran ('report' was "you have pod D, 1-4, no patients!")
To h@ll with hospital politics, I am too old and sober for that BS and will never work acute care again if I can avoid it...
Alcohol rehab, home hospice, jail/prison nursing, occupational and anywhere else in which I do not need to deal with hospital politics.
Had to laugh yesterday! Our manager had to take an assignment, the ICU was overflowing. Her 2 patients were both written to the floor. She started TRYING to call report 2 hrs before change of shift trying to move the patients to avoid having to triple. After an hour and a half, she called the floor, yet again, and said she had to give report NOW. The nurse hung up, called her manager and complained the ICU nurse was being nasty. The floor nurse didn't know it was our manager trying to call report. The floor manager called and wanted to know why the ICU nurse was being so unreasonable? My manager explained the situation and the floor manager just said, oh,...ill take care of it. The floor nurse immediately called back for report. I just told my manager that this how it always is when trying to call report to the floor! Lol!!!
Had to laugh yesterday! Our manager had to take an assignment, the ICU was overflowing. Her 2 patients were both written to the floor. She started TRYING to call report 2 hrs before change of shift trying to move the patients to avoid having to triple. After an hour and a half, she called the floor, yet again, and said she had to give report NOW. The nurse hung up, called her manager and complained the ICU nurse was being nasty. The floor nurse didn't know it was our manager trying to call report. The floor manager called and wanted to know why the ICU nurse was being so unreasonable? My manager explained the situation and the floor manager just said, oh,...ill take care of it. The floor nurse immediately called back for report. I just told my manager that this is how it always is when trying to call report to the floor! Lol!!!
I'm confused about the claim of holding patients until shift change. It sometimes happens that our assignments finally arrive or the bed is ready at that time, but there is no logical reason to hold the admission because we can't put off what's coming in. I'd truly rather not have hall beds or a backed up waiting room. I want to deliver my patient to their next destination and get caught up on the tracker.
Where I work, no one wants to get an admission or transfer anywhere near the end of their shift. They drag their feet, don't get rooms cleaned quickly, feign some emergency, whatever. They say things like, can't it wait until the next shift arrives??? If I'm in the middle of my shift and nothing is on its way, I'll often say sure, tell them to call me BEFORE, you start giving them report. Often they don't and I end up having to wait another hour or two because the on coming nurse has to get report and get settled. Just no sense of urgency on the part of the floors to receive the transfer. Of course, these are the same floors that will call an RRT if the patient hiccups and expect the patient to be immediately transfered to the unit without delay,...or assessment. I've had patients transfered from the floor solely for the purpose of getting 1 unit of blood,....the floor nurse complained she is just too busy to monitor a patient getting blood! Sheesh!!!
All I ask is that you give them some dilaudid, ativan and a sandwich before you send them my way. If you'll just do that, I can deal with anything else that comes up. Thanks. :)
I never understand why I get attitude from the floor either. If they're getting a patient from me instead of the ER, it's less work for them because the admission is already done.
I like making bets with my coworkers how many tries it's going to take me to call report. It usually takes at least three. It amuses me because I always give the next hour's meds before I bring the patient up, and they always have a patient IV because I check. Heck, if I'm txing to palliative, I even take down my drips and go ahead and start the PCAs (Palliative can't take pain/sedation "drips" at my job, only PCAs with basal rates) before I leave, so it's a good thing for you that I'm the one who had the patient!
I never understand why I get attitude from the floor either. If they're getting a patient from me instead of the ER, it's less work for them because the admission is already done.
I like making bets with my coworkers how many tries it's going to take me to call report. It usually takes at least three. It amuses me because I always give the next hour's meds before I bring the patient up, and they always have a patient IV because I check. Heck, if I'm txing to palliative, I even take down my drips and go ahead and start the PCAs (Palliative can't take pain/sedation "drips" at my job, only PCAs with basal rates) before I leave, so it's a good thing for you that I'm the one who had the patient!
Yep. I always medicate them, feed them, make sure they've been bathed, and all lines and dressings are up to date. That's if I have time. The other day I had to send a patient up and although she was nice tucked and fluffed, it was a rushed transfer with little time to stay and help because my charge nurse said the transfer had to happen STAT as I was getting a very unstable balloon pump.
Yeah, the endless phone calls are no joke. The secretary will put me on hold while she find the nurse and I've been on hold for up to 15 minutes then the line disconnects as if by magic. Like I get you're busy, so am I so please have the courtesy to tell me to call back instead of making a fool of me!!!!!!!!!
I agree completely. If I had an empty bed and knew I was getting someone if I know about it and have a few minutes freed up (ok, shuffle to get a min) I will call the ED myself to let them know I am ready and to give report. Occasionally I would tell them I was going up a floor to grab a soda to give me 5 minutes and they would. I built trust that I would help them whenever possible. I never complained about what they hadn't done. Its pointless, they did what they could. I have worked all around medical and surgical from general-step down-ICU and ED I get all the the perspectives. I would only ask for 5 mins about every 10-15 admissions so it was never a problem. I didn't care if I got last minute admissions. I did everything I could then handed it off to the next nurse. Once everyone understood I was a team player and did my share, those rare times I need a few it was not a big deal. Yes, at first it took a while for some to catch on but within a month the ED was trying to do somethings to make the admission a little easier for me when they had the chance. It took a while for some of the other floors with transfers, but a few minutes of kindness can help all of us and if you have it in yourself to try please do.
I'm appalled at the amount of shade I get whenever I try to call report to the floor. I used to work on the floor so I know what it's like to get that admission, especially when you're behind or when you finally start to get caught up, you're now behind because of this admission. Or my favorite excuse from the unit secretaries are, "the nurse doesn't know about getting that patient yet. Can they call you back?" I work in the ER. I can't stop the patients from coming in. Sometimes I don't even know about a patient that's in one of my rooms, and sometimes they're pretty sick after I had just gotten another sick one down the hall. I just deal with it. If I call the floor and they ask to call back, most of the time I will honor that and wait 10 minutes or so, unless the ER is so busy and we're starving for beds and I have my charge nurse pushing me to get the patient upstairs. But when I have to call back 3-4 times, that gets pretty frustrating. I wish everyone would be mindful on how busy any place could be. Maybe the floor nurses should shadow in the ER for the day and vice versa.
kalycat, BSN, RN
1 Article; 553 Posts
I needed to breathe in to a brown paper bag for a few minutes after reading the last line.
*twitch*