for whos benefit?

tonchitoRN · Oct 1, 2001

frustratedRN - using curse words are a great catharsis. I would encourage anyone who is frustrated to use them. I know I feel so much better after saying one. Those of you who call it juvenile or unprofessional either have great coping skills or stomach ulcers or HTN from keeping all that stress bottled up. Now granted one must only use the words in certain, restrained situations, usually away from the public's ear. But the bathroom or breakroom should be free reign. One day I was written up for something very silly. I replied to the mgr. "If that is the worst thing I have been doing then I must be a damn good nurse." I guess I was because I have was never fired for my big mouth. :cool:

spudflake · Oct 1, 2001

Charles has given the best explaination of reporting. I think they have changed it from incident to occurance. An Occurance is anything that happened out of the usual that could cause liability or any thing that is just out of the ordinary - something that doesn't occur on a usual basis. It sounds better...this occured vs. this was an incident! Write ups are usually crapola. My nurses complain about each other ALL the time. I have told them...if it is truly a problem and concern - write it up and sign your name...otherwise I will consider it venting. I am at a very small rural ER and I get about 10 occurance reports/week. (This also includes delay of care issues, ie: it took the on call lab person 1 hr to come in) I have only received 1 signed complaint regarding another employee:D but I get venting sessions in my office about 5 times/wk:o

kaycee · Oct 2, 2001

In all my 26yrs of nursing I've never "written a nurse up" or anyone else for that matter.

If I have a problem with you I will discuss in with you and if it can't be resolved face to face we'll talk together in the manager's office which I can say rarely happens. Our incident reports are as other's have said for med errors, falls ect.

In my opinion any nurse that writes someone up doesn't have the balls to handle it face to face and if I were a manager I would file them in the little waste basket under my desk.

frustratedRN · Oct 2, 2001

it seems that the big joke on our unit is now write ups. any time anything happens someone will say....how do you spell your name?

lololololol

i told some of the staff today that i was just going to fill out a bunch of those incident reports with my name already on them and pass them out in report....lol

ToofunnyRN · Oct 2, 2001

I used to work with a nurse that I swear we thought kept those things in her locker by the box. I think she just liked to go sit on the nurse managers lap after a hard day. This gave them something to talk about. Who knows?? I've never written anybody up but then again I have no problem with confrontation.

Hopefully the trend will pass. Just make sure they spell your name right That's 2 Os in TOOFUNNY!!

coff51 · Oct 2, 2001

Twenty-six years ago the head nurse explained to us "new recruits" that incident reports were a learning tool to help weed out bad habits or bring to your attention something that shouldnt happen again. And truth be known , used in that way was a very effective device---once you were confronted in that way, you'd tend to remember not to do THAT again. But what really balanced it all out was, she encouraged us - more importantly- to write up our fellow workers for some of the wonderful "above-and-beyond-the-call-of-duty" things that so many of us do everyday, which usually go undocumented and forgotten. Positive reinforcement of outstanding work yeilds more of the same, whether the group is made up of children, plumbers or nurses. Not to mention an enhanced feeling of comaraderie and friendlier atmosphere on the division. I can truthfully say that I loved my job all those years. NURSING, ya gotta love it.

frustratedRN · Oct 3, 2001

coff....

well as i said the one write up may have been warranted depending on how you look at it. ill give this nurse that much.

she truly believes she is doing it for the patinet good and to ensure quality of care.

but the ones in regards to my "unprofessional" behavior were bogus.

this particular nurse is being groomed for the tattle tale job by the acting manager.

if i could learn something from them i certainly wouldnt say anything. the only thing i learned tho was that i work with assholes.

as for writing up the good things.....ive already decided to start doing this. i have been getting some absolutely EXCELLENT assistants and i feel they should be recognized for this.

im trying to see if those forms can be used for that.

last night i had the great fortune to work with an assistant who told me one of my patients was diabetic but had no accuchecks ordered. i wasnt sure if accuchecks were necessary since she was NIDD, but i checked it out and yes it was an oversite on the part of the the docs. i never had this patient before. she reported this to the nurse before me but she blew it off.

she also reported very low outputs for a few of my patients which made my job so much easier.

she was very professional and did an excellent job.

she needs to be recognized as do some of the nurses i work with and some of the other assitants.

coff51 · Oct 3, 2001

I'm certainly aware of the backbiting and illspiritedness among us---a profession that tends to eat their young. Yikes! I also realize that supervisors are urged, nay, required to write up very innocuous events that have nothing to do w/ your expertise or conduct.(i.e. parking in the visitor parking lot in order to get to started on time --to which i'd reply "make sure the spelling is right:C-O F-F-...... " or reminders of suspension risks for coming in late "well, how many times would I have to be late to get FIVE days off? I'd really like to have quality time w/ my family..."--- the way I saw it, I'd be happy to get any extra hands to work even 1/2 hour late...) I know we all have work to do and could pass up these little tete' a tete's @ change of shift. :rolleyes: , but just experience the support and cooperation you get from that aide or collegue that serves as your extra ears, eyes and hands, when you express recognition of their job well done. It's contagious, not achieved overnite- but neither is the bitterness that breeds bitterness. Oh, and one more thing...please don't leave your sense of humor @ home!! thanks for the rant...kathye:cool:

Charles S. Smith, RN, MS · Oct 3, 2001

In the Coaching Profession we call sincere, genuine acknowledgement of someone else's moment as "celebrating what is" or "championing". There are many moments to celebrate or champion others in the simplest of ways. An authentic acknowledgement builds toward greater unity of purpose and intention in work groups. Try it...you might like it!

best

chas

BadBird, BSN, RN · Oct 3, 2001

I can understand getting written up for foul language as it is not professional. However, as all of us know there are many clicks within the nursing profession and if some people don't like you they will write you up until you are gone. This has never happened to me but I have seen and heard many nurses saying that they do not want to work with a certain nurse because they feel that nurse is not safe and the only way to get rid of the nurse is to have written documentation. Sometimes it is justified and othertimes it is just the frustration of not fitting in.

frustratedRN · Oct 3, 2001

sorry bad but i disagree with writing someone up for unprofessional conduct such as swearing.

i can understand being called aside and told to watch the language but filling out an occurance report is a waste of time.

time wasted writing it

time wasted reviewing it

time wasted being called in about it

one sentance ....watch your language....would have been enuff.

you are right about the not fitting in thing tho i dont really care that much about "fitting in" with those kind of ppl.

its a control thing.

i just wonder how management is going to use this against me.

lpnandloveit1 · Oct 4, 2001

I must be old or something. To me an incident report is an inhouse form used to document an inury either to person or prop. A med error report is, of course an in house form to report a med error. Both of these forms are filled out by the staff involved and ask questions such as how it happened and how to avoi future occurances.When staff is written up it is done by supervisory staff and can be a TRUE learning exp. when fellow staff has a complaint they report it to supervisors and they take it from there.