Ever had an instrument rep behave unprofessionally in the OR?

$fracturenurse$ · Dec 3, 2009

What did the rep do? They drive me nuts sometimes. I worked with one years ago who was a total slimeball. Used to sneak and look at the schedule in advance and try to "sneak" his instruments in when the doc had requested something else. Drove me nuts. He would just appear out of nowhere. I was never so happy when they fired him.

Now I work with one who is such a butt kisser I want to vomit. He tries so hard to impress this one doc and goes over the line. They are NOT supposed to touch a patient but he jumped in one time to help and I told him flat out-don't touch my patient. She was just a kiddo too, I think 14. I reported him to our director that time. She called him in the office, but nothing came out of it. The other day we were doing a cysto on a lady and he walks in to talk to another nurse. I told him to get out (he's an ortho rep). He just ignored me, and then I screamed get out of my room...Geez, this lady is having a cysto and I know she doesn't want this dirtbag in the room. I went right back to my director and complained. She's supposed to be handling it, but I really don't believe it. It's a shame because there are really good reps out there and when you get a bad one it just makes my skin crawl.

GadgetRN71, ASN, RN · Dec 3, 2009

Wow, Fracturenurse, that sucks. Our reps are very nice..and they don't come into the room until the patient is draped and we have made incision.

MamaCheese · Dec 3, 2009

We have great ortho reps. Don't know what I'd do without them sometimes. If I did have an issue with one I would discuss it with my nurse manager.

OR Dude · Dec 6, 2009

Without going into specifics, this rep has a history, at our hospital, of being belligerent in actions and words. I've discussed this with other nurses, and the response is, "X is just that way", as if this is the tolerated norm. I was thinking of making a complaint to the nurse manager. I've also considered complaining to this rep's company. Also, I don't know if this rep's professional behavior would be better managed by the nurse manager, or this rep's company. I tend to think that complaining directly to this rep's company would perhaps result in a more demonstrable change of behavior since the rep is directly employed by the company, and they are the ones who have a vested interest in maintaining a professional relationship with our facility.

Any other additional thoughts?

elcue · Dec 7, 2009

OR Dude: We have some pretty obnoxious reps in our OR too. The "boys' club" atmosphere between the ortho reps & surgeons, in particular, gags me...

Back to your point: I think you should use your "chain of authority" and first report this rep's behavior to the appropriate service clinical coordinator. If s/he is unresponsive, then go to the OR Nurse Manager. It is their responsibility to coordinate matters with the vendors, and therefore to address this guy's/woman's unacceptable behavior in the OR. I think you'd be out of line to go directly to the rep's company on your own. Hope you are successful. Linda

nursinadream · Dec 9, 2009

I run into reps with all kinds of behaviors, just like different staff members and surgeons. Most we rely on, and are glad they are there. Our hospital system has instituted a credentialing system for all reps. This was recommended in this year's AORN standards. I don't know exactly how it works, but a rep must swipe their ID and receive a "sticker" for every day they come in. It requires them to have particular training, TB test, etc before they can even walk through the door. Now someone has to monitor, of course. The service line coordinator may choose to turn her head some days. That is one door stop we have. And then there are the reps that drive us all nuts and the surgeons expect us to get rid of them, which we gladly do. I like the system we have in place.

Deb

coffee4metech · Dec 20, 2009

Some are nice and others I wish would get out of the OR , this one lady who does rep services for the heartcore is a witch , everytime she sees me she asks for things and rolls her eyes I just direct to what she needs and told her to get it herself !!!!! Some I love to see bright and early at 6am one guy always looks for me and we chat a while and catch up on things !!! theres always a rotten one in the bunch !