dealing with the chatty katy's

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Ante-Intra-Postpartum, Post Gyne.

I am a new nurse. I work in OB. Right now I am doing post partum but will soon be training in labor and delivery. But on the post-partum end, how do you deal with the Chatty Kathy's? Its not that I don't want to spend time with my patients and sit down and chat, but I have several patients and have a lot to do to get my mornings rolling (vitals, meds, assessments on moms and babys, ect,ect). My preceptor said I am doing well but that I need to work on being more concise and get things done quicker in the mornings, but I often find myself in a chatty mom's room. I know they are on "mom high" but how do you excuse yourself without being rude? Often I can't even find a point to butt in, how can I do this tactfully?

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Specializes in Maternity, Obstetrics.

I wish I knew. I have worked as an OB tech in OB for 9 solid years now and I also am a Full Time Nursing Student who is in OB/Peds clinicals right now. I talked to my OB patient today a lot and didn't even get a lunch break because we were talking so long. I was doing a TON of teaching for my 13 year old post partum mom and just got "caught up" in there talking to her and her mom for most of my shift today. I do the same thing at my job when we're going over nursing and not nursing topics. I don't know how to just walk away unless I have other nurses calling me out of the room or something. Someone usually literally has to drag me out when the patient is wanting to talk to me. I gotta get better at this once I have more than one patient but right now in clinicals, I only have one patient or mother/baby couplet at a time so I spend all my time with them. At my work though I have LOTS of patients to help with and have to make myself not spend too much time with people. All I can say is that if you really need out of there just say, "Well, is there anything else I can get for you before I go? I will check on you again soon (or state a time frame)." Maybe? What does everyone else say?

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Specializes in OB/GYN, Peds, School Nurse, DD.

Haha, new mothers can talk til the cows come home. :clown: It's okay to "fake" it. You can interject nicely, "Hold that thought. I just heard someone call my name. I'll get back with you in a little bit. Kiss that cutie for me!" Then scoot! You don't have to apologize for needing to leave--you have other patients who are equally deserving of your time.

Don't be skipping lunch to talk to patients, either. You *need* to take breaks to keep your concentration sharp. Even a 4 minute appointment with a Coke and some cheese crackers will be enough to clear your head. Obviously, emergencies trump lunch, but it shouldn't be an everyday occurance. If you don't establish some boundaries on your time your patients will eat you alive. We nurses like to give & give & give, but just know that it puts us at high risk for burnout. Learn NOW to set those boundaries with patients, staff, and administration :twocents:

Just sayin'...

Cathy (32+ years experience, peds--believe me, burnout is real!)

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Specializes in Telemetry/PCU.

When I have a patient that is very chatty and I have to go in the room but I just don't have the time to talk I ask one of my coworkers to come get me in 5 minutes. They can just call in and say you have a phone call or come in and ask for your help or anything like that. It isn't exactly honest but it helps when time is crunched.

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perhaps telling the patient that you there to do a particular task, only that ?

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Specializes in NICU.

When I read the title of this thread, I thought you were talking about other nurses :D

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If I know ahead of time who loves to talk, I same them for last on my rounds and assessments.

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Specializes in ..

Oh how I wish I knew... I'm a nursing student and this is the bane of my existence on clinical. You'll go with a nurse to observe with an interesting procedure, the patient starts chatting, nurse finishes what she's doing and you end up coping the next half hour of chat. I missed a lunch break listening to a gorgeous little Ukrainian woman tell me her WHOLE LIFE STORY once.

Answer? Work with people that can't talk! I'm an NA in a facility for profoundly disabled children. My kids can't/don't talk. The best I get is screaming tantrums, and even then, they don't expect an answer and will happily scream away on their own!

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Answer? Work with people that can't talk! I'm an NA in a facility for profoundly disabled children. My kids can't/don't talk. The best I get is screaming tantrums, and even then, they don't expect an answer and will happily scream away on their own!

OMG - ROTFLMAO - this is just too much - true, but hilarious. :yeah::D:jester:

I work with cancer patients, and sometimes these poor folks have no one else to talk to about how screwed up cancer has made their lives - and sometimes we're their only outlet - I confess I sometimes get in a room and realize, crap, been in here twenty minutes!! I've told the HUC sometimes to please buzz me if he/she sees I'm stuck in a room longer than I should be - did that Saturday, actually!

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