(Nursing only, dearest mods, lest not we turn blue.)
Not one, BUT TWO, abuse reports. Busted my butt to advocate. Guess how much I was able to do? NOTHING!
Very dangerous disease that is contagious is diagnosed months after multiple admissions. I went out of my way to piss off the right people so we can FINALLY get a grip on this situation. How much did I accomplish? NOTHING!
Terrified blind and deaf person unable to soothe from panics. I do everything in my power to ensure no triggers present during my last shift with her. Worked my tail off for that. How much progress did that make? NONE!
I got off work late as hell for the first time in ages because my group was so hard and heavy. My boss decides that would be the best time ever to sit me down and scold me for being late. THANKS, OBAMA!!!!
I built up so much trust with this patient. What a sweet, wonderful guy. Apparently he was grumpy with everyone else, but not me. You know the kind. The type that makes you feel like a rock star for getting below the crusty exterior. But then a conversation happened making me have to report a dangerous situation (dangerous to the patient). I had to violate his trust. I HATE HATE HATE this part of nursing. And what came of that violation of trust? NOTHING.
I told a doctor that a PICC had a puncture or tear in it at an undetermined place, internally, near the insertion site. I told him nursing isn't able to safely remove it. He told the next nurse to remove it. They always say, DOCUMENT TO SAVE YOUR BUTT! And I HAD documented it. I had reported it. I had given it to the next nurse in report. But when she removed the PICC, thank god it was okay, but she was surprised by the look on my face when I asked - how did the MD verify it was okay?! What did he do? NOTHING. And she forgot I said anything.
You guys are totally welcome to contribute to this b fest thread. Please do. I'm a grouchy pants and you know misery loves company!
I just spent an hour trying to respond well to a poster that might have been trolling, but I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt. COMPLETE WASTE OF MY TIME. It's kitten punching time.
I was sitting on the toilet for the first time in 10 hours when the CT tech calls and says he needs help holding c-spine to get my pt on a slide board for transport. He is in the pt's room. I try to politely tell him that I am indisposed and he says "well you better find someone who isn't busy." Ole boy proceeds to stand in the hallway and wait for me despite the main nurse's station being just around the corner with tons of techs sitting and texting. I was borderline homicidal.
i heart this thread.
Oh lawd. This reminds me of a problem we seem to have with a few select transporters and MRI/rad techs who transport.
One night I had a super sick, but very young/formerly independent, patient who had suffered massive complications after a AAA repair. The patient was on a bed alarm but still got up, and you guessed it, fell and fell hard. We had no sitters or Techs available from staffing - no one could help. She was trying to pull every line in her body at this point, and there were many. We had to emergently transport the patient to MRI, etc. it was so crazy that my ANM was actually rotating between sitting in 2 other rooms, and all the nurses were supposed to sign up for a turn also. Things just went up that one creek we all hate starting at about 0200.
So now *my* patient needs a sitter in addition to everything else. House sup calls and says we *have* to take a rule out stroke patient because there's no room at the inn, ED is now on divert, and we have one bed available even though we were technically closed. (we are exclusively cardiac and have tight ratios). After much ado, patient shows up, I get orders, neuro orders a stat MRI. Transport takes and returns the patient. At my facility, transpo is responsible for safely getting many patients on/off tele and to/from bed, and has paperwork detailing things like "strict bedrest" "fall risk" etc.
At this point I'm sitting with my AAA/now concussed patient waiting for MRI to be available so I can take her down on the Zoll and with her drips. The ANM from the sister end of the unit calls my phone and says "I just saw transpo leave your patient in the hall waking around". She stops him, sends him back.
I step out in to the hall and request that this transporter "gentleman" take about 20 steps down the hall to speak to me, stating that I can't safely leave the doorway. He refuses, waves back, and hollers "what do you need?" I start politely by asking him to please get the stroke patient back in bed - I can't leave my other patient and everyone is tied up, running crazy. The ANM passing by was leaving the bathroom on her way to a mega issue on her end of the unit.
The top-volume response: "YOUR patient has to use the bathroom and wanted to take a walk to stretch his legs. You had better call another damn nurse because I don't do bathroom." (Patient voids independently just needs back in the bed, back on tele and handed his urinal; wasn't supposed to be walking anywhere at all except from gurney to bed)
I stood in silence for a second while trying to regain my composure and stepped in close. I carefully but quite forcefully reminded him that no one was available, it was a stroke patient, and that safety was *absolutely* his responsibility. I also said that there was already going to be a safety incident report, so perhaps he could choose to be a team player so that when he met with management over his conduct and professionalism he could genuinely say that he realized his error and rectified the situation immediately. He turned tail and got the patient back in bed, who thankfully was just sort of standing in the doorway to his room (not that anyone could have done much had he gone down from right sided deficits.)
I wanted that transporter's head on a plate. Can't remember ever being *that* blatantly angry at work. I was seriously a split second from going full ballistic.
I have others, but work is just rocky right now. We usually don't have big staffing issues but there's been a large transition at the hospital and many of our experienced nurses are becoming NPs or transferring after years at the bedside. It's been rough as blue hades, especially when we start so many shifts inheriting a bit of a mess.
Oh I hate getting calls during the very small amount of time I have to use the bathroom!!
Anyways, the other day I was hanging fluids in the room of a patient who had a biopsy done. The doctor walks in: "Your biopsy results are back. You have lung cancer. The oncologist will be by soon to tell you more." The patient starts crying. The doctor turns around and walks out the door, sits down at the desk right outside the patient's room and starts loudly talking to another doctor about a "crazy" girl he went on a date with. I wanted to walk out and kick him, but decided that calling spiritual care, getting her tissues, asking if she wants me to call her family, and sitting with her would be a better use of my time.
Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Well, I work in a LTC in a rather rural area. We get more and more tasks to do and no additional help. We don't get additional help because we are in such a rural area. This job has gone from being about the resident to being about the tasks. I love my residents, but am learning to despise our administrator and the nurse manager consultants we have. That and now more tasks due to changes in our state's medicaid.
Doesn't Admin realize that by having fewer nurses doing more and more things, THAT just takes away from the care that everyone else gets...or SHOULD be able to get? The facility that claims to be so patient-centered is constantly cheating the patients. And then if a patient complains or anything goes wrong...of course the nurse is blamed.
This makes me CRAZY!
No time for the patients because of the multitude of tasks and duties to be performed and charted and charted and charted. That is NOT nursing.
Doesn't Admin realize that by having fewer nurses doing more and more things, THAT just takes away from the care that everyone else gets...or SHOULD be able to get? The facility that claims to be so patient-centered is constantly cheating the patients. And then if a patient complains or anything goes wrong...of course the nurse is blamed.
This makes me CRAZY!
No time for the patients because of the multitude of tasks and duties to be performed and charted and charted and charted. That is NOT nursing.
Which is why I am now seriously considering per diem local area travel nursing. I eventually want to get into travel nursing and feel this is a way to start.
I love my residents, the people I work with and the basics of what I do. Iowa is privatizing Medicaid and this is adding more to our responsibilities. No nurse that I know who is affected by it appreciates what is coming down.
The facility in which I work also uses a nurse consulting service. They don't have a clue of many of the things they are asking. So many people are unhappy with the continuing adding of things to our already maxed out staff.
Aaargh. No secretary last night. Stroke Alert... Incident report... Positive influenza B from swab order that ED didn't do and I saw after she coughed at me... 90 YO dementia patient and ED tries to say they can sign consent for the FFP that has been ready but the ED didn't give. Facility faxed over the Med list... Unreadable.
ED order for a UA, didn't get done. Patient's incontinent, no order for straight cath, I catch the UA order at 0630. Day shift stares a hole into me because I didn't call the hospitalist, get the order for the cath, and get the sample. F'ing FFP's done, do I get a thank you? Nope.
I applied to a hospital for a nurse residency that would end up with a job on the unit you precepted on. Of course it was conditional on them liking you. I applied, submitted a letter of recommendation and resume. I was offered my first choice. I was told today that they are scrapping the whole residency program. Buhbye student who is about to graduate and needs a job.
Oh man! Maybe you can still apply and get a job, since they liked you??
ixchel
4,547 Posts
I just spent an hour trying to respond well to a poster that might have been trolling, but I wanted to give the benefit of the doubt. COMPLETE WASTE OF MY TIME. It's kitten punching time.