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I had a very tough shift tonight. Patients going and coming from procedures, in pain, labile glucs, pressures, moods, and families. One of my co-workers had one patient with dementia who was combative and swinging and another who had to go to the ICU soon after arrival on our floor.
My coworker helped me sort through fun on my patients and I helped her get her new arrivals stat labs, UA, VS done and spent not too few minutes wrestling with her dementia patient.
We communicated how much we appreciated each other the whole shift.
Sometimes. There's obviously variation from unit to unit and shift to shift. There's overall too much petty silliness in this alleged profession for my taste. It's sometimes tempting to say "Why Tan Fox, you're 40 (or however many) years old, stop acting like a 5 year old."
Ideally, people will be polite and forthright in their interactions. E.g. instead of talking to Jed about Cletus's mistake you would go to Cletus and say it straight to him, and not in a manner to belittle or be a goody two shoes, but to let him know what the issue is and how he can correct it or prevent it from happening again. That type of interaction should happen in private and be low-key.
No one likes to hear they did something wrong, but in nursing since doing something wrong can lead to death, sometimes you have to speak up. The response you get depends on how you approach the issue. Tact, its important.
I let everyone know when they do a good job. I also let anyone I see doing something above and beyond know what exactly they did and that I appreciated it.
Its a smooth shift when nurses work together. I like!
Some are angels, most are ok, a few are just plain bad seeds. I just resigned from a new job I liked. I was 2 days off orientation and this particular bad seed grabbed me by the arm,verbally accosted me, and dragged me into my managers office. She was trying to get me in trouble. It's been devastating.
melissacarey
35 Posts
How can nurses better communicate? Do they praise each other for their hard work? If they don't do something right, how do nurses relay the message in a professional manner?
Thanks in advance.