Yesterday at work I had a patient who was going to need a UA. She did not void and said she didnt have to. Right before we were getting ready for shift change she told me she would get on the potty and try. Well as I was giving report to the night nurse and told her what was going on she completely went off on me and screamed "Why didnt you get an order for an in and out cath?! That is the first thing you do. And you only had this one patient!!" I am still in orientation, this is my 2nd week, and honestly I am still unsure about things and who to even call. I tried to tell her that I was sorry and that I honestly wasnt sure what to do, that my preceptor had not told me any different and she knew the situation. She then screamed at me "Well didnt you go to nursing school?!" At this point I wanted to burst into tears right there.
I asked my preceptor, called the doctor and got an order, then let the night nurse know there was an order. I then asked the nurse if she would like me to do the cath or let her. She screamed at me from the desk in front of everyone "Well since you told me you got the order I guess you basically told me I am going to..." I did go and do it, sent the specimen to the lab, and then went home...over an hour after I was suppose to be gone.
I just feel SO stupid! I feel as if I am in the way. This is a huge med/surg unit that is very busy, and it seems like when I have a patient I cannot think clearly about what I learned, because I am so nervous. I feel like the nurses think I am an idiot.
I dont know what to do. I break into tears everytime I think about having to go to work. Will it ever get better?
The comment she made about "didnt you go to nursing school", you should have told her "yes, I did, didnt you?" And proceed to tell her, "didnt your nursing school teach you how to be a professional?"
What a horrible woman. She sounds like one of those miserable eat their young types. The hardest thing for me to learn during orientation was to stand my ground and stick up for myself. The first time I snapped back at one of those dreadful nurses my preceptor clapped and said GOOD FOR YOU (which made the witchy nurse a little angry haha). She was waiting to see if I would just keep taking their crap, and let me tell you eventually you will have had enough. I suspect the next time you talk to this woman you keep her on a short bs meter. Dont let anyone talk to you that way. When they roll their eyes at me I ask if there is something wrong and if they need to run to the restroom.
There is no excuse for the way you were treated, and please dont think a straight cath is the norm for a UA, that seems absurd to me. Wait for the lady to pee unless its a stat ua.
Next time, tell her your rationale and tell her you might be new but she darn well doesn't have a right to be that way and Karma will come back for her. Stand up and grab 'em girl.
I agree with the others who have commented that I also would never even consider strait cathing a pt that is A&O x3 whose baseline it is to void on their own. Also, as a pt, if a nurse ever came in the room and told me she needed to cath me for a UA, I would be very offended and would refuse the procedure. You need to remember, in non-emergent situations, to treat the pt and family as you yourself would want to be treated if you were the pt.
What a WITCH with a capital B!!!! I would not have straight cathed that woman either, I would explain to her that in nursing school you learned and which she has obviously forgotten, that cathing someone poses a risk of infection and is not to be done for convienance purposes and furthermore, now that UTI's related to caths are "never events" and hospitals are not getting paid for cath related UTI's, you don't want to put your patient or your license on the line!!
I never straight cath a patient unless they are distended, or unless I need the urine in an emergency like in an unconsious patient or to rule out an ectopic pregnancy.
Unfortunately, there will be coworkers like this, just ignore them and if they continue to be nasty, report them to your supervisor. Nobody has the right to speak to his/her coworkers that way.
When I was on orientation not too long ago, I got an admission from the ER at around 0530. I forget what the patient's chief complaint was, but the sending RN (from the ER) had said in report that the patient's K+ was something like 2.9 (I forget exactly what value- something low, none the less) and that she had already started repleting with 10mEqs:eek: Being a brand new nurse on orientation, I did not yet realize that this was WAY too little an amount of IV potassium to give someone with a K+ of that value (I think our protocol- for non-renal players- states that at least 60mEqs should be repleted for a K+ of :eek: If I remember correctly, I'm pretty sure I stopped the infusion once I noticed. However, the oncoming nurse chewed me out because I had not asked the docs to order more K+ for the patient. I profusely apologized to her, but I realized apologies were useless when she said, "well, I just hope the patient isn't going to suffer because of what you didn't do." I remember feeling so mad at her- I mean, what right did she have to say that to me? I obviously didn't know any better- being brand new- and that's something my preceptor should have picked up on. And yes, I did go to nursing school and graduated with a respectable GPA (3.33).
I think there are some nurses who either forgot what it was like to be a new grad or came in as new grads who thought they knew everything (and were reinforced by key people in their unit to believe as such). The truth is, nursing school never taught every nurse everything they need to know. It's like complaining that a construction company hasn't built a house in 1 month after they've only had time to lay the foundation. And that's what nursing school really is- just a foundation to build upon.
At this point I wanted to burst into tears right there.
I did go and do it, sent the specimen to the lab, and then went home...over an hour after I was suppose to be gone. 
shoegalRN, RN
1,338 Posts
And another thing:
The comment she made about "didnt you go to nursing school", you should have told her "yes, I did, didnt you?" And proceed to tell her, "didnt your nursing school teach you how to be a professional?"
I'm sorry, your experience really upset me!