Verbose coworkers about their patients

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

Does anyone have a co-worker who, the minute you walk into the med room or supply room, or bump into her is the hall, gives you a lengthy accounting of her patients? :chuckle

It goes something like: Oh, my patient in 46 is on the light constantly. Her only order is Ativan 0.5 mg every 4 hours. I'd like to see Dr So and So come up here and deal with this woman for awhile. She weighs 150 kg, I swear, shoot me if I ever get that big. And the family of the patient in 47 is driving me UP THE WALL! If they have one more trivial request I'm going to need some ativan myself. You walk in the room and they want a warm blanket for the patient, then you bring the blanket and they want some juice for her, then when you bring that, they want something else. The patient is doing okay, I'm weaning her off her O2 and I'll bet she'll go home tommorrow. And, my patient in 48 is incontinent of course. I had two code browns already, and couldn't find an aide. It's probably all these antibiotics he's on, but of course the doc ordered a C-diff screening and he has to be on contact precautions. The guy doesn't even know his own name, I don't know why we're doing this.....

Meanwhile, you're still trying to figure out why you came into the med room in the first place. :rolleyes: You get a running account of her thrilling story throughout the day and ending up knowing more about her patients than you do your own. :chuckle

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Luckily I don't work with anyone that bad. But I've been known to bend the ear of a coworker or two in the med room. It's a sanctuary where sometimes we need to vent. :)

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Specializes in LTC, Med/Surg, Peds, ICU, Tele.

LOL, yes the med room IS a holy place. Ha ha. Didn't I start a thread on that topic? ;)

Well, gotta go and drive through the snow, the car is warming as I type. This gal does more than vent, she gives you a report on her patients throughout the day in great detail. It's funny how predictable the people we work with get.

Have a good day all!

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Specializes in ER.

I don't work with anyone like that either, Thankfully.

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Sounds like venting - perhaps a little long-winded, but venting :) Maybe they get stressed easier than most and cope in this fashion, or perhaps they are looking for the words of a colleague to ease their internal anxiety.

Or maybe they are just crazy :lol2::lol2:

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Specializes in Gerontology.

I work with someone like this. She talks NON-STOP all shift. It takes her twice as long to do anything because she talks so much! After a shift with her, my ears hurt.

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Specializes in mental health; hangover remedies.

My first suggestion would be to be sure she's not constantly seeking reassurance on her activities. Tho I'm not sure of the accuracy of your account - some of those things seem to be checking clinical detail - and seeking reassurances. She may be dressing this all up in verbosity.

Of course, she may just be venting to offload as she progresses through her day.

What response do you normally give?

If you respond with reassurance - and she keeps diong this - perhaps that's what she needs.

If you just nod and carry on - perhaps she's just venting.

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LOL ... I work with an RN who talks non-stop all shift, and I would say it was venting except that every sentence starts with "I", I have often thought that if she was not allowed to start a sentence with "I" she would be mute.

It doesn't matter what situation someone else is talking about, she can take it to being about her within minutes. A couple of staff were asking about another staffs family member that has cancer and she didn't even let the discussion happen because she had to tell us about her family member with cancer ... it just gets annoying after a while.

So while we all need to vent, and the medication room is a great spot, it can get tiring just listen to someone talk about themselves.

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Specializes in nursing student.

Hehe, I work with a Nurse who sings everything she says and I mean everything. And its not a fast song either, I just want to shake her and tell her to spit it out or shut up

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.
Does anyone have a co-worker who, the minute you walk into the med room or supply room, or bump into her is the hall, gives you a lengthy accounting of her patients? :chuckle

It goes something like: Oh, my patient in 46 is on the light constantly. Her only order is Ativan 0.5 mg every 4 hours. I'd like to see Dr So and So come up here and deal with this woman for awhile. She weighs 150 kg, I swear, shoot me if I ever get that big. And the family of the patient in 47 is driving me UP THE WALL! If they have one more trivial request I'm going to need some ativan myself. You walk in the room and they want a warm blanket for the patient, then you bring the blanket and they want some juice for her, then when you bring that, they want something else. The patient is doing okay, I'm weaning her off her O2 and I'll bet she'll go home tommorrow. And, my patient in 48 is incontinent of course. I had two code browns already, and couldn't find an aide. It's probably all these antibiotics he's on, but of course the doc ordered a C-diff screening and he has to be on contact precautions. The guy doesn't even know his own name, I don't know why we're doing this.....

Meanwhile, you're still trying to figure out why you came into the med room in the first place. :rolleyes: You get a running account of her thrilling story throughout the day and ending up knowing more about her patients than you do your own. :chuckle

Do you work with me? I could swear you do. I think there is one of those nurses on every floor. Really though don't you work on my ICU??

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.
I work with someone like this. She talks NON-STOP all shift. It takes her twice as long to do anything because she talks so much! After a shift with her, my ears hurt.

Yep I feel ya on that. Twice as long to do anything because they have to describe all the paramaters that the pt has and how many times they pooped and on and on for about 20 minutes before they do the 5 minute task.

Also if one little thing throws the shift off like say a unplanned CT or MRI they freak. Oh and you don't hear the end of it all night.

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

If our med room walls could talk I am sure it would lead to a very interesting movie, book and even a T Shirt

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