Rant: subservient RNs

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Very frustrated with where I work right now. I am used to a very cohesive, interdisciplinary group of proffesionals that address issues that come up together. In my newish job (been there close to a year) Everyone runs to the manager with complaints. It is ridiculous. The docs run everything, tramp all over the RNS and want our working routines to change to adapt to their needs; basically a workaround for their weaknesses that RNS have to pick up the slack for. Also we put patients to sleep, I was in a room with two other RNS and my patient urinated after falling asleep., one of the nurses I work with...hold on to your hat....asked the anes doc if we should change the patient now or after the procedure and the anes doc said, no, let the patient lay in it....I got pretty testy because A. I will be d@*#ed if I am going to ask permission to clean up a patient who urinated on themselves from a doctor....and B. That is not right....letting a patient lay in their urine in wet clothes and blankets because the anes doc doesn't want to make the procedurlist wait....So I said, "no, we are not going to let this patient lay in their urine" and I proceed to change to patient and clean them up. Well this anes doc did not like me saying that and made a snide comment and then reported me for insubordination...I mean, I get it, Godforbid we hold up the procedure, and the patient was heavy, but still....really???? Is this 1950? Guess I will have to stand up the next time he enters the room.

Specializes in Critical care.

It sounds to me that cohesive interprofessions means ' they did it my way' and this new place? Eh, not so much.

Wanting to decrease anesthesia time or to avoid having an obese, loosey-goosey patient sliiiide off the procedure table are equally important considerations to address along with the skin integrity or dignity that you pointed out.

Devil's advocate: Changing a wet patient is not always a priority. I think it can actually be more important to finish a procedure and get them out from under anesthesia. Every case is different, of course ...but I can see how it might be wiser to wait depending on the circumstances.

Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Wow. I would want you as my nurse and my loved ones nurse.

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