Can Anyone Tell Me WHY.......

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Specializes in med-surg, psych, ER, school nurse-CRNP.

Injectable Ativan only comes in a 2mg/ml dose?

-So every time you have an agitated, possibly dangerous patient, you either have to waste time getting a witness to verify the waste in the Pyxis, then draw up a microscopic dose, which usually seems to be about as effective as fighting a four-alarm fire with a teaspoon, or pull out the whole thing and waste later, and then get written up for violating policy.

Or why drug companies put pills and tabs in blister packs that are so sharp you could perform surgery with them?

Or why every floor only has ONE flipping set of keys to the narc cabinet?

-So, now when you have the drug-seeker with the egg timer whining for his Lortab, you have to have roll-call to find out who's got them. Usually it's someone on the preceeding shift and they have them in their car, and then you have to wait for them to bring them back. That is, of course, unless the sup is feeling magnanimous and comes to unlock the narc cabinet for you. Of course, by that time, Mr. Abdominal Pain NOS is practically in DT's because he's had to wait ten minutes.

Or why IV poles always have a bum wheel?

Or why the lab always takes the CBC machine down for maintenence at 10 in the morning?

Or why the sickest patients are the ones you never hear a peep from, yet the ones that are probably better off than you are always the ones that whine and carry on fit to make you hold your ears?

You guessed it, I'm on another one of my tangents. Nursing's great Unsolved Mysteries. I'd love to hear some of yours. :D

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Specializes in LTC.

ok let me rant about LTC!

why is it that everytime you need a pt to give them pills they are outside? or when your the busiest (like during 8pm med pass) thats when all the family members want to talk to you? or why the MDs just show up for rounds and expect you to have all the charts ready at the nurses station? o geeze...i could go on forever! but ill leave the one that bugs me the most for last....why is it that everytime your DON tells you your getting an admit on your shift they show up 15 minutes before your suppose to give report?

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Specializes in LTC, MDS, Education.

Writing on the last line of the nurses notes but not putting a new one on the chart :scrying:

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Specializes in geri, med/surg, neuro critical care.

Finding dried blood on the glucometer after you've already touched it :barf01:

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Specializes in Gerontology.

The best working wheel locks are on the COW?

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

Why do patients code at shift change, and of course the next shift is late...

The sickest baby that has no hope for a life has the sweetest family, and the healthy grower/feeder has never had a visitor. Breaks my heart.

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Why MDs cant find charts themselves, instead of arriving at the RN station and demanding from any nurse that passes them by.

Why MD's ask to speak to so and so and expect any random nurse to find the person for them.

Why MDs think they can just barge into the room when you are in the middle of changing the pts trach, pull the sheets off the pt without introducing themselves to check pedal pulses and turn the pt to the side to listen to lung sounds. W/O putting on a droplet precautions mask.

Why MDs think they are God.

Why MDs think they are immune to MRSA/VRE or dont have to follow protocol for Contact/Droplet Precations when coming into the room to do a physical assessment and speak to the family.

And why we have to be set up trays for them and when they are done they leave all the bloody instruments at the bedside and the pt. still uncovered w/o telling you and leaving the unit.

My goodness! I like residents, they are so much more approachable and down to earth. Attendings and surgeons are a different story.

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or......

[color=#483d8b]when a new patient arrives on the floor....when the nurse is fixing to go in the room to assess the patient, does she bother to ask the tech to do the 1st set of vitals and get the ice/water/juice....when she is about to go in there?

[color=#483d8b]or....when a late meal tray comes on the floor....the nurse sees the dietary clerk set it on the counter and yet has the nerve to ask someone to take it to the room, when its her patient?

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Specializes in LTC, Med-SURG,STICU.

Why is it that my resident has to fall during my 0800 med pass and of course it has to be with injuries?

When a family or a doctor's office calls during my 0800 med pass my unit supervisor (who has just listened to report) calls me from the end of a very long hall? Why when she could have just took the order or answered the question?

Why does the high fall risk residents stand up and sets off their alarm when I have 20 pills laid out on top of my med cart and no CNA is available to help them?

Just a few of the questions I would like to know the answers to.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

You can always take out the 2mg vial and then waste it later in the pyxis. That's what I do. Screw standing there waiting for someone to waste the other mg.

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Specializes in tele, oncology.

Why is there low census when you're fully staffed and high patient load when you can't get anyone to come in?

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Specializes in Oncology, radiology, ICU.

Why do family members always seem to call at the beginning of the shift wanting to know how mom/dad did through the night/day and then get angry when I explain I just came on shift and have yet to lay my eyes on mom/dad?

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