Work frustration poll

Published

  1. Biggest source of workplace frustration

    • 51
      Patients/families
    • 56
      Direct co-workers
    • 158
      Administration/workplace politics
    • 27
      Other (please specify)

292 members have participated

Who is the biggest source of stress and frustration at your workplace?

Edited - spam - TOS violation.

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Aw grow up! Geesh......

Edited to add.....Thank you Nurse Ratched! :)

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Specializes in ICU,ER.

I am going to have to say the patients/families. I work in the ER and we all know that if you walk into an ER and 3 nurses and a doc jump on you...well, you will be grateful when you are on the road to your recovery. However, for all those that have cough/colds,chronic back pain,toothaches, and pesky lady partsl discharges.....you're gonna have to WAIT! These people are unbelievable. They wait for 2 or 3 hours and by the time you walk your tired overworked butt into the exam room with a smile plastered to your face....they are rude and snappy. You know, I really am sorry all those annoying MVC's and acute MI's make that guy that's "allergic to toradol and codeine" with the backpain wait for his dilaudid or vicodin. And not only that, expect us to fill out an "indigent form" so that our pharmacy will basically give him his Rx. THEN we have to pay for his cab ride home and even in some cases a hotel room. And these Aholes are the ones that get the Press-Gainey malarky survey. Oh...and I love the question that asks them to rate "the nurses' skill level" EXCUSE ME?? Nothing against plumbers or butane truck drivers...but come on...can they accurately RATE our skill performance? An OD patient once put on her survey under that question...."it hurt when they put the tube down into my stomach"....uh...duhh.

So..(calming down now)....it would have to be the ungrateful lot of ER abusers. The people that truly need us do thank us. Thank God for them. One positive comment from them makes up for 20 negatives of the loser abusers...=)

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Specializes in critical care.

I am so sick and tired of having to fight with nursing supervisors over nursing patient ratios .FOR THE LAST TIME THEY AREN'T NUMBERS THEY ARE PEOPLE (administration do you here me?) I am in the middle of a grievance right now because a "nursing supervisor" told me she was ASHAMED of me for refusing an er admit. The er was trying to admit a etoh who received allot of sedation and still wasn't down, no Foley and 1 puny little #22 in his wrist.In the middle of report the nurse states"And I have to call you back because he just fell on the floor" In the mean time another patient loses his airway and is requiring an emergent bronch he was also a crazy big man who was requiring the 4 nurses on that shift to care for him,so now he cant breath and he's really nuts and continues to be a WWF wrestler.another patient is intubated on 2 pressors. one other is fresh post op intubated pacer placed. So ok im thinking 3 night nurses coming on in 40 minutes.One of them has under a year icu experience ,one is a travel nurse, no ancillary staff ,because that never happens to us.so Mr. etoh will be insane ,Mr. wwf just lost his airway because he was suctioned down his new trachea too aggressively is being bagged, and we can just forget about the other 3 patients because these rns coming on will be up to their teeth in 2 combat situations.But hey the supervisor sees them as being able to take 6 patients 3 nurses 6 patients and by the way who is going to be the code nurse? So I said NO I want the drunk more stable before we admit him and I want to know what you can send for ancillary help. NOONE was the answer and "I just assessed that pt in the er and he was asleep was the other response. And we all know how the sleeping etoh goes right?He is either playing possum or he will require intubation from all the valium haldol and ativan he received thru his puny little 22 in his wrist with a limb restraint over it. I stated no I will not take him now. It will be shift change and their is an emergent situation on the unit it would be unsafe to send up the ETOHer under these circumstances with no plan in place, so up comes the SUP .She's ashamed of me and so ,on And here comes the ETOH on a stretcher And aren't we all just bleeping bleepy bleeped bleeps are the words from the sleeping babe as he is spiting and kicking and now has no puny #22 in his wrist anymore.And here's comes the night shift followed by the pulmonigist to do the bronch and med HO. {we have no ICU doc) AND shes ashamed of me. Whatever. It gets better. Yesterday I went to MRI\MRA ,CT, hida, Vascular Ultrasound with my patient (all day event) I was also the charge nurse.I transferred one of my patients to step down, ,assisted another nurse in cardioversion,verified that the travel er nurse they assigned to us was not cut out for the unit(pt vomiting ,leaves him ,RT comes to get me to help,then comes in room and demands it is time to put him back on bipap ok. so I go to nurse manager explain my findings explain that I will be off floor most of day with my patient and she needs to step in. she does. well now its 5pm ,I am at hida, and the unit calls to tell me I have to take an ER admission. I hang up and call nursing supervisor. I said do you know where I am? she states Ya off the floor. you have a half hour and you have to take report. I am only 45 minus into scan. And I still need to go to ultrasound. I said I cant take a patient I am not there. WELL the numbers say and I am the one nurse with one patient blah blah blah!!!! So It is always a fight. Im tired.Something has to give.

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Specializes in ICU,ER.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Wow, sounds like you need a rest. But please, don't feel like you or your dept. are singled out. I have worked in ICU and I know what it's like to get those "sloppy" ER pts. I heard my fellow ICU nurses fussing all the time....the pt's jeans are still on, no foley, bloody face, and on and on. But, I came from working in the ER and I know what it's like down there. I am back in the ER now and I wouldn't trade it for anything. The thing is, when you only have so many trauma rooms and ambulances calling in, the pts you have need to move to the next level. Are all of them "stable"? Maybe not.... but that's why they are going to the ICU. I can totally sympathize with you on the frustrated overworked part. I have had 2 very critical unstable pts, 1 very demanding pt. with even more demanding family members, and an ambulance coming in with a code...no name, no mechanism of injury, no info except...well, he's coding. I can't tell the ambulance..."I am not ready for this pt. now". They would just look at me like I grew an extra head and wheel him on into my room. So we get the code back, and as one of my fellow nurses take care of him while I try to call report on one of my other pt's that I felt like I've neglected with that silly code and all, the floor nurse is blowing me crap because there's no foley?? I want to laugh. Believe me, I know that the floor is busy too. I've been there. But I've had floor nurses get all huffy because I won't read them ALL the labs (which is available on computer) or give them a detailed report of my assessment (which they are supposed to do themselves and can compare any discrepances with my notes). Their heads would spin if they got this "report"...."40-something male found down in a parking lot, intubated with cpr in progress"..........and that's it.

I am not saying at ALL that floor nurses have it "easier" than we do. It's hell up there sometimes, I know. I am just saying that we all work on the same team. We are ALL overworked. We are not just having a party in the ER and wanting to "dump" our pts. on you as popular belief would have it. I would love saying..."sure, we can hold that ETOH'er because there are no other pts that need that room and if they show up, we'll tell them that we can't take them right now"

I just think that sometimes we all forget that we need to walk a mile in someone else's shoes. It's much healthier than being frustrated/enraged over a puny 22 in a wrist and no foley. I can almost promise you that it was not a personal attack against you.

You should float to the ER sometime. You might like it and God knows we need the help...=)

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I am so sick and tired of having to fight with nursing supervisors over nursing patient ratios .FOR THE LAST TIME THEY AREN'T NUMBERS THEY ARE PEOPLE (administration do you here me?) I am in the middle of a grievance right now because a "nursing supervisor" told me she was ASHAMED of me for refusing an er admit. The er was trying to admit a etoh who received allot of sedation and still wasn't down, no Foley and 1 puny little #22 in his wrist.In the middle of report the nurse states"And I have to call you back because he just fell on the floor" In the mean time another patient loses his airway and is requiring an emergent bronch he was also a crazy big man who was requiring the 4 nurses on that shift to care for him,so now he cant breath and he's really nuts and continues to be a WWF wrestler.another patient is intubated on 2 pressors. one other is fresh post op intubated pacer placed. So ok im thinking 3 night nurses coming on in 40 minutes.One of them has under a year icu experience ,one is a travel nurse, no ancillary staff ,because that never happens to us.so Mr. etoh will be insane ,Mr. wwf just lost his airway because he was suctioned down his new trachea too aggressively is being bagged, and we can just forget about the other 3 patients because these rns coming on will be up to their teeth in 2 combat situations.But hey the supervisor sees them as being able to take 6 patients 3 nurses 6 patients and by the way who is going to be the code nurse? So I said NO I want the drunk more stable before we admit him and I want to know what you can send for ancillary help. NOONE was the answer and "I just assessed that pt in the er and he was asleep was the other response. And we all know how the sleeping etoh goes right?He is either playing possum or he will require intubation from all the valium haldol and ativan he received thru his puny little 22 in his wrist with a limb restraint over it. I stated no I will not take him now. It will be shift change and their is an emergent situation on the unit it would be unsafe to send up the ETOHer under these circumstances with no plan in place, so up comes the SUP .She's ashamed of me and so ,on And here comes the ETOH on a stretcher And aren't we all just bleeping bleepy bleeped bleeps are the words from the sleeping babe as he is spiting and kicking and now has no puny #22 in his wrist anymore.And here's comes the night shift followed by the pulmonigist to do the bronch and med HO. {we have no ICU doc) AND shes ashamed of me. Whatever. It gets better. Yesterday I went to MRI\MRA ,CT, hida, Vascular Ultrasound with my patient (all day event) I was also the charge nurse.I transferred one of my patients to step down, ,assisted another nurse in cardioversion,verified that the travel er nurse they assigned to us was not cut out for the unit(pt vomiting ,leaves him ,RT comes to get me to help,then comes in room and demands it is time to put him back on bipap ok. so I go to nurse manager explain my findings explain that I will be off floor most of day with my patient and she needs to step in. she does. well now its 5pm ,I am at hida, and the unit calls to tell me I have to take an ER admission. I hang up and call nursing supervisor. I said do you know where I am? she states Ya off the floor. you have a half hour and you have to take report. I am only 45 minus into scan. And I still need to go to ultrasound. I said I cant take a patient I am not there. WELL the numbers say and I am the one nurse with one patient blah blah blah!!!! So It is always a fight. Im tired.Something has to give.

OMG, they are lucky you are still working there. First of all what do you state regs say about the ratio of nurses/ICU patients??? IS it 2:1 or 3:1? Do those regs say also that the hospital must at all times be able to supply the right ratio for the right acuity????

From there we all know that as ICU nurses our specialty organization is the AACN which does NOT advocate 3:1 ratios but 2:1. What does your leadership think about that?

Where was your Head nurse or Director??? Where is your backup if YOU are off the floor like you were??

Lee RN

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I must say I am mostly irritated by the ignorant, lazy co-workers I occasionally have to deal with. You can't get irritated by a patient, come on! You are taking care of a sick person, outside of their comfort zone! Cut them some slack! I will agree that family can be a problem to deal with, but be nice, smile, and be honest with them, and typically you won't have any problems.

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It has to be family members for me...Sometimes I feel like I am taking better care of the families then the pt. What really gets me is when a family calls for this or that and then gives me "I have been on hold for five minutes!!" when I finally get to the phone. I mean what do they think I am doing anyways?

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

Wow, where do these threads come from? This one's from 2002~

Anyhow, staffing would be my biggest issue. I would far prefer to work with about 6 patients all night than 7 or 8. Or once in awhile, 9 or 10. Too crazy and stressful.

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Specializes in Nurse Scientist-Research.

Some families are completely insane, but part of our job is dealing with difficult people so I consider it one more challenge.

What irritates me the most is not being given the means to complete my job; that is, lack of essential supplies. Who knew that in an NICU/Special Care Nursery the patients would need such silly things such as bottles, nipples and diapers. There is no reason to run out of these EVERY Sunday night. It wouldn't hurt to keep an extra case or two of those things around, they don't spoil easily you know!

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Specializes in rehab; med/surg; l&d; peds/home care.

well, i'd also like to vote for all of the above!

the admin, who lacks all common sense. every week gives us five new forms to check off on: med pass time audit, compression hose stocking audit, fridge audit every shift, sensor alarm audits, MAR completion audit (we have to check the entire MAR for previous shifts initials), etc. the admin who bring in patients we are not equipped to care. lack of supplies, lack of staffing.

co-workers, who like to back-stab, gossip, talk on the phone, and basically anything-but-doing-the-orders-and-admissions that are piling up. "who cares, we'll leave it for midnights. so-and-so doesn't do anything all night anyway!" is the answer i get if i ask for help. and then those same co-workers who smile when so-and-so comes in and talks like they are best friends, then proceeds to say what a horrible night it is and had to leave a mess. co-workers who write each other up for every petty thing, when it could be resolved without incident. co-workers who accuse of me not passing my meds, just because i happen to do it faster than they do. co-workers who think zaroxolyn is an antibiotic, and write me up for not initiating care plan on particular pt. :uhoh21: and these same co-workers who kiss up to management and are excellent at keeping themselves out of trouble. :angryfire

CNA's who don't care, don't want to work, talk back to the nurses, decide to talk on their phones in a pt's room during care. CNA's who are then written up, and still have jobs months and months later.

families can be a pain, but lately they are few and far between thank goodness. but i still remember the ones who come into the nursing office while you're on the phone with doc/lab/pharmacy and discussing pt info, and hang around, regardless of whether you ask them to wait in their loved one's room and you'll be there ASAP. families who could care less you're coding a pt across the hall, their mom wants coffee and NOW! on a good day, theres only two nurses for 20 pts, and maybe one CNA.

whew! that's a lot of stuff to be irritated by, and it sure does wear one out after experiencing it day after day. all i can say is, i used to love my job. oh well, i still love my patients!

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hmmm i was just wondering skin care d/t rushing and "carelessness" could that be b/c they have about six call lights going off, 2-3 alarms going off and trying to get jane doe dressed and up in time to get her supper or whatever it may be. As for the radio station we know as cna's that we are not to turn the station to hip hop or rap for most pt's espically the elderly would not prefer or understand that. As for teeth have ya given it a thought that maybe that resdient was uncooperative,combative and didnt wish to have there false teeth crammed in there mouth. I know there are bad cna's out there just as there are bad nurses out there. But please just remember nobody is perfect i know you forget some things here and there as do they. But sometimes instead of jumping down there throat mearly asking why didnt you put jane's teeth in would be a better approach. God bless Tiffany

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