Lazy techs!!!!!

brainkandy87 · May 24, 2012

Yeah, we've got a tech who can't stay off his phone and will disappear. Plus, he really kind of sucks at doing anything other than taking patients to the floor. I can admit I defer my splints to the techs, because I SUCK at them and our techs are amazing at splints (most of our techs are amazing in general though), but I don't defer them to this tech. He put a long arm splint on someone... but stopped below the elbow. :bugeyes:

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · May 24, 2012

We have a couple that are brain dead, hide from work & are generally useless, but the vast majority of our techs are awesome.

VICEDRN, BSN, RN · May 25, 2012

My general experience with techs is that they are minimally helpful. Many times this is because they are lazy and other times this is because they have a tremendous workload and finally, lately, it is because they are pulled to sitter duty.

Frankly, I would love love love love to just get rid of the job altogether and have another nurse in the unit. At least another nurse is qualified to do whatever is needed and probably wouldn't be pulled to sitter duty.

Ciale · May 25, 2012

I'm a tech so I gotta represent on here. :) I am often "nowhere to be found" because I'm constantly asked to do 5 things at once. I often don't use the restroom or eat and by the end of a 12 hour shift it takes every ounce of energy just to get out of the car and walk up the steps to my house. I've literally laid down in my yard and took a nap because I didn't have the energy or my legs and feet hurt too bad to walk into the house.

A nurse got irritated with me after I said no to one of her requests yesterday. I said "You ask for my help at least 6 times a day (and that's being modest). There are 12 nurses + 3 doctors on staff and I pretty much work two shifts in a day so double that to 30 people. If they all asked for my help 6 times a day that's 180 tasks during my 12 hours ON TOP of the routine things I'm just expected to do every day. I can't be everywhere and do everything at once.

Techs are lazy like nurses are lazy. Unless you've teched before, it's hard to understand I think. Having two resource nurses on duty as opposed to having two techs on duty would be ideal but I guess budget won't allow that since nurses make double what techs do. I can't wait until I graduate from nursing school!!!!

Dixielee, BSN, RN · May 26, 2012

I could not get through my day without a good tech. The lazy ones where I work are very much the exception, and usually don't last long. A good tech makes me look good. A good tech makes my job doable. We work as a team with our techs and they do more work than anywhere else in the hospital. They have a lot of responsibility and definitely earn their keep.

Most of our techs have EMS experience and/or are in a nursing or paramedic program. I love our techs!! They have an even more thankless job than the RN's do.

I can't express how thankful I am for good techs!!

VICEDRN, BSN, RN · May 26, 2012

Techs are lazy like nurses are lazy. Unless you've teched before, it's hard to understand I think. Having two resource nurses on duty as opposed to having two techs on duty would be ideal but I guess budget won't allow that since nurses make double what techs do. I can't wait until I graduate from nursing school!!!!

Nursing students tech in my Er but we call them Nurse Externs. Generally, they are less lazy then a regular tech in the two ERs where I have worked with them.

And YES, there are lazy nurses out there too. :)

psu_213, BSN, RN · May 26, 2012

As a whole, the techs in our ER are better than the techs I worked with on an inpatient unit. However, like each place I've worked, there are some really great techs and some not so good ones (i.e. the lazy ones and techs that give you attitude with each little think you ask them to do).

This is true for nurses too. Now, generally, nurses have more "on the line"--i.e. a license to lose. But, there are some nurses that don't do any EKGs and ask the tech to do all his/her IV sticks--even if the tech is overwhelmed. Then again, this is a two way street--I've seen techs sitting around texting while an RN was drowning.

psu_213, BSN, RN · May 26, 2012

I'm a tech so I gotta represent on here. :) I am often "nowhere to be found" because I'm constantly asked to do 5 things at once. I often don't use the restroom or eat and by the end of a 12 hour shift it takes every ounce of energy just to get out of the car and walk up the steps to my house. I've literally laid down in my yard and took a nap because I didn't have the energy or my legs and feet hurt too bad to walk into the house.
A nurse got irritated with me after I said no to one of her requests yesterday. I said "You ask for my help at least 6 times a day (and that's being modest). There are 12 nurses + 3 doctors on staff and I pretty much work two shifts in a day so double that to 30 people. If they all asked for my help 6 times a day that's 180 tasks during my 12 hours ON TOP of the routine things I'm just expected to do every day. I can't be everywhere and do everything at once.
Techs are lazy like nurses are lazy. Unless you've teched before, it's hard to understand I think. Having two resource nurses on duty as opposed to having two techs on duty would be ideal but I guess budget won't allow that since nurses make double what techs do. I can't wait until I graduate from nursing school!!!!

I think you have made some great points with which I generally agree. I see that you are in nursing school, but many techs are not. It is impossible to understand things from an RN's perspective unless you have been there.

Anna Flaxis, BSN, RN · May 26, 2012

Our techs are all EMTs except for a couple who have been grandfathered in once our hiring policy was changed.

By far the worst attitudes are from the one who washed out of the EMT program, and the one who is an EMT-I and a captain in their local fire department.

The first one goes around the corner and sits on the computer shopping on Craigslist. He is pretty useless anyway since he cannot start lines, but when you have patients coming and going to CT or the floor or ambulances pouring in, transports and settling in ambulance patients becomes a higher priority than starting lines, cause I can do that myself. I cannot leave the department to do transports, and when settling in ambulance patient after ambulance patient, I need that extra set of hands to get it done faster.

The other tech has a sour attitude because he works in the field, and he can do advanced interventions, but when in the ED, he cannot. He can do chest compressions, he can start lines, he can do transports, and any task that UAP can do, but he cannot give meds or transport any ICU patient or any patient on certain drips. He grumbles about being "everybody's *****", and finds ways of being unavailable, and generally has a ****** attitude.

My feelings on these techs are that if they dislike their job so much, then they need to either A) change their attitude or B) find a different job, because their bad attitude brings everyone else down.

I tend to do as much for myself as I possibly can, only asking for the techs to help when I really need it. That, and for splints. I suck at splints, and usually they're so time consuming that I can get a lot done in the time it takes to do the splint.

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · May 27, 2012

We had a few techs who were attitudey and lazy and generally crappy to work with. Recently a bunch quit, transferred or were fired and their replacements are awesome: hard workers, proactive, pleasant. We started having the new hires orient with nurses instead of other techs and I think that helps create a team environment as well.

al7139, ASN, RN · May 27, 2012

Hi,

I just have to put in my opinion here. I am a nurse in a really busy ER, and work night shift most of the time. We generally only have 2 or 3 techs at night and often only one. On days they try to have a tech/nurse team that has one section assigned. Like all of you we have some really good techs and some that are not so great, BUT we also have nurses that are great and not so great. I hve been a CNA, and I know what it is like to work with nurses who work you to daeth, so when I became a nurse I resolved not to be that nurse. Our techs are not my personal slaves, and I feel like if I can do it and I am in the room anyway, I will get it done whether it's getting an EKG or labs, or helping them to the bathroom. We are all busy, and I will delegate when I am swamped, but I do my best to help out. We have nurses who are the opposite and will use a tech for everything, and I find that the techs are much slower to respond to those nurses, but they know if I ask them to do something it's because I am swamped, or its a line I couldnt get or a really large patient I need help changing or whatever. Yes we have a couple of techs that I think are useless, but mostly they don't last. A great tech is worth their weight in gold!

Amy