Why am I responsible for the dirty blanket???

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Med-Surg/home health/pacu/cardiac icu.

Why am I responsible for : the dirty blanket, missing shirt, unavailbale meds, dirty floors, OT and PT not having the patient back, the beauty shop running late, Dr's appts. being cancelled, the crappy food, the uncomfortable briefs, not enough activities, too boring of activities and generally everything else that goes on.

Oh my gosh! One of the things I am getting used to with geriatric nursing, is being responsible for everything!!!! :confused:

I mean, at what point does dietary, housekeeping, pharmacy, OT, PT, and every other department step up to the plate?

Nursing is responsible for everything. Sometimes I think I should have gone to clown school to learn juggling, not nursing school to be a nurse. (I might have been better prepared.) Oh well, that's enough of my ranting and raving. I just felt so overwhelmed with everything and everyones' families today. I couldn't make anyone happy.

Specializes in med-surg 5 years geriatrics 12 years.

Oh the joys of LTC charge nurse life !!

Specializes in LTC, Subacute Rehab.

I hear you! If the family is visiting, they don't use the light for the CNA, they come up to the desk to tell me whatever Mother needs, they ask me about what Medicare will and won't pay for (oh, Social Services, where art thou?)... I get blamed when a patient refuses a shower (I promise, the aides aren't lazy - the patient is crazy), when the doctor says he'll come and doesn't, when the pharmacy sends the wrong med, when the clerk mis-transcribes something and I don't catch it between three admits. When PT wants to know if the patient will be going home tomorrow and I don't know (ask the darn discharge coordinator). When another nurse forgets to careplan something, the DON will accost me with a chart and ask "Why wasn't this UTI careplanned?!" nevermind that I haven't worked that area in two weeks and have never been assigned that patient. "Why didn't the lab draw this patient?!" I don't know, call the lab! "Why are you calling this doctor so much? He doesn't like it!" Sorry for his troubles, but the patient had multiple urgent issues that shift. Why, DON, will you not stand up for your nurses, but instead eat crow with every family or MD complaint, no matter how irrational?

Gah.

Specializes in PICU/NICU.

Got news for ya...... Unfortunately, it's not just LTC :nurse:

I feel your pain!!:banghead:

Specializes in Telemetry, IMCU, s/p Open Heart surgery.

I go through the same thing... I think it's because we're the ones the patients see all the time. the dietary people are in an invisible area wherever the kitchen is, the same with the linen people, etc... it sucks, but i guess it's something we'll have to deal with forever. lol

I am responsible for the doctors' schedule, it seems, too for many family members who think I can summon the doctor to the bedside instantly to give third cousins a full report.

I agree. Nurses are responsible for all activities. It just drives me crazy. There is nothing that is "not my job". I can't even imagine being able to say that without some sort of backlash from my manager.

Specializes in MSP, Informatics.

You know, I think some of it is just how us nurses are. We take on that responsibility like a sponge. If someone comes up to you with the dirty blanket, what do you do? Do you take it, apologize, and bring them a new clean one. Or do you hand them the phone and let them talk directly to the linen people? The coffee is cold…do you take it apologize, warm it up and bring it back. Or do you give them a complaint form to fill out to give to dietary or the kitchen? As nurses we tend to want to sooth and diffuse the situation. Take the problem in our own hands. As a group, we don’t point fingers. And that makes us just dig away at our insides a little each day. I mean really, do you want to say to the family—Oh, this is Joan, she is the housekeeper that filled the linen cart today and put that dirty blanket on the shelf. Please talk to her about your issues…. Or is it easier to just take it, say I’m so sorry about that, and get them a new one.

Specializes in med surg ltc psych.

I like that "should have gone to clown school for juggling." That sums up the day pretty well I'd say!

Specializes in Med-Surg/home health/pacu/cardiac icu.

Sometimes, I would love to say "I can see why your Momma is so crazy. It must be genetic cause she sure passed on." Even better, I would love to say "I don't know. Why don't you go ask the penney-pinching administrator that comes up with some of these half-brained ideas." Possibly, I'd like to say, "If you don't like it, take your Momma home. Let's see how long before you bring her back or drop her off at the ER for a weekend of peace."

Specializes in MSP, Informatics.

in our nurses contract is says *other duties as assigned* that seems to cover the whole spectrum of what a hospital has to offer

Specializes in Hospice, ER.

I deal w/this in the ER, too. Nice to know we are in the same boat - dirty blankets, rotten food, docs not coming back or not calling in orders, etc, and all! Remember, we may send Grandma to heaven, but she better have a warm blanket, a pillow, and a turkey sandwich in her hand when she gets there.

It's been a long summer in the er.

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