Do you think this was un-professional?

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Jan 11, 2008

It's hard to judge without being there. I worked straight through nine hours tonight without so much as a potty break. If someone had brought chips and salsa, I might have stopped for five seconds to shove a couple in my mouth, crack a joke and try to laugh in the face of an overwhelming workload, and just basically try to be a human being for a few minutes instead of a task oriented robot. But, no such luck. Now I'm craving chips and salsa!!!!

caliotter3 · Jan 11, 2008

Maybe so. Maybe not. Sometimes you might make this observation and sometimes you will see the opposite. I've had to make some ER visits myself a few times in the past few years and have noticed one or two times that things did not seem as they should. I was just happy to get the services I came there for and was not looking to complain. If you are bothered by a situation, then bring it up to someone in a supervisory capacity. I would think that the persons involved would have had the discretion to keep their breaktime activity confined to the break room or anywhere out of sight of patients. I would suppose that they were just not aware at the time how their behavior was being considered by those who could observe them. We all forget ourselves sometimes.

YellowFinchFan · Jan 11, 2008

One night I had to take my mother to the hospital and when we got there we waited for hours. Then when we finally got into a room, there were nurses and doctors buzzing around. No one really came into our room and didn't seem to care. I looked outside the room to see that the doctors and nurses were busy, eating chips and salsa. Laughing it up and not really concerned for the patients. I know that sometimes you just got to have fun but this made them look like they just didn't care. Is this how some hospitals are?:redpinkhe

What type of floor was it? Was it ICU? tele? a Med Surg floor - was your mother in pain?

No one came into the room once she got there?

Did they take vital signs? Ask questions? How long till someone came in the room - hours- the next shift = never?

Did anyone give her medications? Did she get a food tray? Was she in distress at any time? Sorry you felt neglected. You can always go to the nurses station and ask to see your family members nurse.... if things were as you describe then you can always be an advocate for your family member and feel free to speak up.

Nurses work very hard - sorry you had a different experience/perception. On our floor a patient is seen immediately upon getting in room and assessed within 30 mins.

EmmaG, RN · Jan 11, 2008

..........

TazziRN, RN · Jan 11, 2008

what type of floor was it? was it icu? tele? a med surg floor - was your mother in pain?
no one came into the room once she got there?
did they take vital signs? ask questions? how long till someone came in the room - hours- the next shift = never?
did anyone give her medications? did she get a food tray? was she in distress at any time? sorry you felt neglected. you can always go to the nurses station and ask to see your family members nurse.... if things were as you describe then you can always be an advocate for your family member and feel free to speak up.
nurses work very hard - sorry you had a different experience/perception. on our floor a patient is seen immediately upon getting in room and assessed within 30 mins.

finchy, i believe she's talking about the er.

pumpkin, i can recall many many times when pts complained that we weren't doing anything so why weren't we seeing pts. staff often forget the pt's perception, and the pts often have no clue what's happening at the moment. it could be that this was the first time the staff had been able to have any kind of a food break or even a few minutes' down time during this shift. it could also be that at that moment there was nothing more the staff could do, that everyone was waiting for test results or phone calls from specialists to be returned, etc. ideally an er pt who is not critical should be checked on at least once every hour while in the treatment area, but that often doesn't happen because it's so busy that it's all the staff can do to remember who is in what bed and why, never mind how long they've been there. i tried to make it a habit to let each of my pts know what the delays were, but i wasn't consistent about it.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Jan 11, 2008

With all due respect, are you sure the people doing this were nurses and doctors? May I ask how you knew that?

TazziRN, RN · Jan 11, 2008

Angie, if it was at the nurses' station I doubt it was the housekeeping staff.......

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Jan 11, 2008

Angie, if it was at the nurses' station I doubt it was the housekeeping staff.......

Maybe. Some of ours do hang out at the desk, because that's how they find out which rooms need to be cleaned.

My thinking was that they could've been unit secretary, monitor tech, and/or PCTs who were up at the desk.

Some patients' family members come up to our desk and it's absolutely flooded with people -- and all of them are trying to get to a computer to get labs and Cardexes and orders scanned, etc. I check orders and chart up there quite frequently, while at the same time giggling over some comment that someone made. We might not look busy, but we are.

I also have to add that if I don't have that patient, I wouldn't go into the room and start doing things for them and I wouldn't have a clue as to where to start.

Of course, eating at the nurse's desk is a no-no.

TazziRN, RN · Jan 11, 2008

Maybe. Some of ours do hang out at the desk, because that's how they find out which rooms need to be cleaned.

Ah.....I took your question to mean that none of them might have been medical/nursing staff.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Jan 11, 2008

Ah.....I took your question to mean that none of them might have been medical/nursing staff.

Truthfully, even I don't know who's who up there sometimes, so I'd imagine that the patients and their families are equally unable to distinguish the Case Manager from the PCT or whatever.

suanna · Jan 11, 2008

I couldn't agree more. I have experienced this as a patient/family and as a staff nurse. It always shocks me that staff members will go down the hall laughing, horseplaying and joking around- right past a family in distress- crying- holding each other. Even the families camping in our ICU waiting room get to witness this spectacle. I had two staff members start a syringe water gun fight at the desk in the unit where a family of my deceased patient was coming in to pay thier last respects. Nursing isn't a holy order with a vow of silence but we are the face of caring in whatever setting we practice. Show some restraint and keep the shenanigans in the break room.