I am venting my pet peeves. I had one of each of these yesterday, 1 patient w/ 3 of these. Share with me yours.
I hate:
1. Giving enemas - I have never not caused a huge mess even before I get the solution INTO the patient.
2. Taking accuchecks - The accucheck needs a calibration or quality check, or has the wrong code card for the strips, or I don't stick the patient hard enough so there's not enough blood and then have to go run for another finger stick thingie because the second one I grabbed is faulty
3. Sitz bath - see #1
4. Simply having a patient in isolation - putting on and taking off the PPE can suck your time, and if the patient has the temp in their room up I get all hot and sweaty within 5 minutes
5. Putting in a foley - this is never as easy as it should be. Either the A&O patient is unhelpful "Please keep your knees up and apart Ms X" or the anatomy is unhelpful.
Here's my list: orthostatics, Ted hose especially thigh length, stripping beds for housekeeping after the patient has been discharged because everybody knows housekeeping has enough to do already. Then there's making coffee when I've got tons of other stuff today and the family doesn't want to go to the cafeteria. I'm surprised nobody's mentioned MAKING TOAST!!
I hate taking care of patients who are too HEALTHY for ICU. It SHOULD be a breeze having one of your patients be med/surg level acuity, but it is hell. They complain that we are checking vitals every hour, that alarms are going off all day and night, the room is small, the "bathroom" is just a pull-out commode, etc... I have to unhook them from every monitoring device and IV and then reattach everything each time they want to use the bedside commode. On my other (real ICU) patient, I will be titrating drips and bolusing to keep pressures up, suctioning, turning, cleaning, adjusting sedation levels, weaning from the vent, but my WELL patient is disrupting my day on the call light every five minutes asking for ketchup on his hamburger or b*tching that he can't find his cellphone charger, or why can't he get ESPN on the television!!!!
We don't have nurses aides or techs in my ICU, and so I must leave my critically ill patient to run around playing waitress/concierge/valet to these barely ill people. The worst is when OB leave their patients who have cardiac issues with us for "observation," only because our hospital's OB nurses have never learned (excellent trick) to use the bedside monitors their rooms come equipped with or even an EKG machine. Those antepartum patients are never satisfied with anything!
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
See I like doing this, I enjoy the interaction with the patient & I feel like I'm doing something to really help them. Many times in nursing, I don't feel like I'm doing anything useful.
Maybe I should have been a physiotherapist/Physical therapist instead!
Sometimes I pretend I'm playing percussion instruments in an avant garde coffeehouse/bookstore to pass the time . . . haha kidding! Most of my patients were under 1 year old until recently and the rhythm calmed most of them down even if it sounded like ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah for a while.
My daughter is in her fourth year of six for PT so I can get tips from her soon!
Rabid Response, I feel you on that one! Sometimes we get the ones that act up out on the floor and need a little closer supervision. Then the family thinks they're really sick and the whole bunch becomes so demanding you can't take care of your vents who need you more. ICU gets misused big time.
I hate taking care of patients who are too HEALTHY for ICU. It SHOULD be a breeze having one of your patients be med/surg level acuity, but it is hell. They complain that we are checking vitals every hour, that alarms are going off all day and night, the room is small, the "bathroom" is just a pull-out commode, etc... I have to unhook them from every monitoring device and IV and then reattach everything each time they want to use the bedside commode. On my other (real ICU) patient, I will be titrating drips and bolusing to keep pressures up, suctioning, turning, cleaning, adjusting sedation levels, weaning from the vent, but my WELL patient is disrupting my day on the call light every five minutes asking for ketchup on his hamburger or b*tching that he can't find his cellphone charger, or why can't he get ESPN on the television!!!!
We don't have nurses aides or techs in my ICU, and so I must leave my critically ill patient to run around playing waitress/concierge/valet to these barely ill people.
DITTO!! Most of the patients that I get in my ICU could actually be on the med/surg floor. Now mind you, I work in a small community hospital so the Dr's put patients in ICU that wouldn't qualify for ICU in a larger hospital.
The walkie/talkies are more work for me than my patient who's on a vent!! Fluff my pillow/bend my straw and god forbid if you don't, you are a bad nurse and aren't allowed to take care of that patient anymore! Fine by me!!!
I hate giving baths.....hate it! I will bathe my vent patient on Noc shift but I feel that if the pt is alert and oriented, they should be SLEEPING on my night shift! I aint waking somebody up at 2 am to offer them a bath!
I have to agree with the Vitals thing. I know that they need to be done, but I hate doing them. Also, colostomy bags. I will clean 10 dirty buts before I would willingly do a colostomy bag....
I never liked putting Ted stockings on a patient, getting them over the ankle, you can work up a sweat!
I know a great way to get TED stockings on. Get a plastic bag (the longest one u can get) and put it over the patient's foot, roll up the stocking as much as you can, and it should slip over the bag - it does take some practice but u can take some TED stockings home & practice there. I wondered why when I did my clinical in theatre, everyone had plastic bags in their pockets! But it does work, trust me!
I hate, hate, HATE having to get sputum samples! (Or dealing with spit in general). And when you ask to get a sample, the patient (particularly males) will HOCK, HACK, COUGH, BORDERLINE GAG to get the biggest gloppiest ball of colored sputum, while I proceed to hock and gag right along with them. *ugh, just writing this makes me wanna puke*
Oh gosh, when I become an RN, I will definately bribe my aides with a free lunch to do those for me....cause I just can't take it. Lol
sevensonnets
975 Posts
Here's my list: orthostatics, Ted hose especially thigh length, stripping beds for housekeeping after the patient has been discharged because everybody knows housekeeping has enough to do already. Then there's making coffee when I've got tons of other stuff today and the family doesn't want to go to the cafeteria. I'm surprised nobody's mentioned MAKING TOAST!!