I just had a very frustrating experience last night while giving report to one of the night shift nurses. He was very rude to me and has been this way before. Apparently he doesn't like the way I give report and gets annoyed if I leave out details and he has to ask me questions. I was giving report on a patient diagnosed with a near syncope episode and leukocytosis/UTI. I told him I didn't give the patient's thyroid hormone until the afternoon because pharmacy was waiting for a shipment and that's when they delivered it. He looked surprised and said, "well, you know you're supposed to only give that in the morning on an empty stomach right?" and rolled his eyes and then said "ok...anyways....keep going..". When I was done giving report he said. "Hmm, this interesting, (as he scanned what he wrote down) you seemed to have given me all the information except for what I actually need to know." He then went on to list questions about if the patient had had a CT scan or troponins drawn and if she was on antibiotics. I told him sorry I left that out, and that the troponins were negative, and no CT scan was ordered. He looked over on my sheet and said "I notice you have written down the patient had a 2d eccho done today?" I told him yes but that the results weren't back yet. I realize I left out important information, but once prompted I knew the answers! It's not like I had no clue what was going on with the patient. The truth is that my other patient's were sicker and this patient was probably going home the next day. I gave a less than perfect report on this patient, but in the end he had all the info he needed. I have less than 1 year experience as a nurse and I am still learning.....I hate days when I work so freakin hard and then the night shift just tares me to shreds!
Question #1: What can I do to improve my giving report skills? Books? Suggestions?
Question #2: How should I handle a co-worker being rude to me in front of a patient/family in a situation such as this?
