Gobbledygook In Nursing

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2021

I think the biggest examples of nursing verbal diarrhea would be nursing diagnoses.

To your other point, yeah, I sometimes think that people on the self-appointed Language Police Force must get paid by the outrage. I mean, the term "blind" no longer usable- really??? So a person is no longer "paralyzed", they're "mobility challenged"?

Granted, there are times when the language evolves and terms morph into insults. Moron predates retarded, which came before developmentally disabled. I think though that there's a point when language is so watered down as to be useless. A human services agency I worked for had DMR (Division of Mental Retardation) services which then became the Division of Developmental Disability services which then became the Division of Long Term Supports. Huh??

JBMmom, MSN, NP · Dec 31, 2021

Yes, the unnecessary additional language and political correctness gets to be a bit too much sometimes!

Mission statements are also a pet peeve of mine. Recently I was on a committee at my church and we were asked to come up with a committee mission statement as one of our year goals! That's when I decided I had given enough time to church committees. If we can't just come to work and do a good job at our jobs, then something has gone wrong. It also seems as though the goal of mission statements is to say as little as possible in as many large words as possible. EVERY organization in the world is trying to do something that will improve their community in some way. Let's all just go to work doing what we do and not worry about how it looks on a business card.

JKL33 · Dec 31, 2021

- Business lingo such as: Silos/siloed, reach out, collaborate, stakeholders, and especially "culture of change" which is a euphemism for the planned intention to destabilize everything and treat people more poorly than ever, then pretend they are the ones who are failing.

- Lean lingo: Every lean term that has made its way into healthcare. What a massive mistake. 6S, RIE, kanban, pareto blah, blah, blah, kaizen, standard work, and my favorite, the mingling-with-the-commoners gemba walk, where people who know nothing about this work bring their coffee to walk around and pretend they care about it.

- Death by Acronym

JBMmom, MSN, NP · Dec 31, 2021

54 minutes ago, JKL33 said:

where people who know nothing about this work bring their coffee to walk around and pretend they care about it.

In the very beginning of COVID we had an awful night shift, one person had coded another was awaiting transfer to our large "mothership" hospital, and we were short staffed as it was. I was in charge and when dayshift came on, I skipped the morning huddle at the Lean Board. Of course that was the morning that some guy in a suit was walking around and he actually took the time to pull me aside and tell me that I really shouldn't miss the morning huddle. I told him that when the Lean Board actually included anything that was going to impact the day to day work of a nurse on the unit I'd consider it.

Then I showed him the suction units that we have attached to the wall with ace wraps and asked when we might actually have the appropriate supplies to do our job since that doesn't appear anywhere on the Lean Board. Total BS that was instituted for the auto industry- not nursing. He was a little surprised that my attitude was somewhat confrontational (according to a conversation he had with my supervisor). I wasn't all that surprised, but at least I still have a job.

Jedrnurse, BSN, RN · Dec 31, 2021

3 minutes ago, JBMmom said:

In the very beginning of COVID we had an awful night shift, one person had coded another was awaiting transfer to our large "mothership" hospital, and we were short staffed as it was. I was in charge and when dayshift came on, I skipped the morning huddle at the Lean Board. Of course that was the morning that some guy in a suit was walking around and he actually took the time to pull me aside and tell me that I really shouldn't miss the morning huddle. I told him that when the Lean Board actually included anything that was going to impact the day to day work of a nurse on the unit I'd consider it.

Then I showed him the suction units that we have attached to the wall with ace wraps and asked when we might actually have the appropriate supplies to do our job since that doesn't appear anywhere on the Lean Board. Total BS that was instituted for the auto industry- not nursing. He was a little surprised that my attitude was somewhat confrontational (according to a conversation he had with my supervisor). I wasn't all that surprised, but at least I still have a job.

I'm almost afraid to ask, but what is a "Lean Board"...??

Guest 1152923 · Dec 31, 2021

Here’s another one; UBCs (Unit Based Councils). They exist only to give the false impression of nurses’ shared governance. Because of this, I absolutely refuse to participate at any level. If they propose ideas of any consequence (realistic staffing matrices, available and functional equipment of this era), they are given the ‘Rick of Pawn Stars fame’ standard response, “the best I can do is a pizza party”! ?

mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN · Dec 31, 2021

A lot of these comments make me sad. I guess I am in the minority, but I work for a large organization that is part of a teaching hospital/university system.

I can email the president of the hospital and get an answer. I am part of out unit/specialty practice council and the hospital-wide council. I am there to represent the nurses. And I DO make a difference.

I don't like the word "retarded" and won't use it. Too many people have given it such a bad, derogatory connotation.

We have gotten significant, monetary bonuses and incentives consistently through out Covid.

If something is broken or lacking, I know how and who to ask to get it fixed.

Just yesterday, we were short, and out only NA went home b/c of covid exposure. My manager and team lead went out and did VS, BG checks and fed some of the pts that needed feeding.

It is a horrible time to be a nurse, but the pt population I work with really need us and feel valued by them and my hospital.

Sometimes I think that a workplace is what you make it.

I know some places are better than others-there is a hospital 10 min from where I live, but I drive 45 min to work b/c I wouldn't take a dead dog to the other one.

#LoveMyJob

I hope I am not the only one who feels this way ?

PollywogNP, ADN, BSN, MSN, LPN, NP · Jan 1, 2022

What is a “Lean Board”? And morning huddle?

Guest 1152923 · Jan 1, 2022

2 hours ago, mmc51264 said:

A lot of these comments make me sad. I guess I am in the minority, but I work for a large organization that is part of a teaching hospital/university system.

I can email the president of the hospital and get an answer. I am part of out unit/specialty practice council and the hospital-wide council. I am there to represent the nurses. And I DO make a difference.

I don't like the word "retarded" and won't use it. Too many people have given it such a bad, derogatory connotation.

We have gotten significant, monetary bonuses and incentives consistently through out Covid.

If something is broken or lacking, I know how and who to ask to get it fixed.

Just yesterday, we were short, and out only NA went home b/c of covid exposure. My manager and team lead went out and did VS, BG checks and fed some of the pts that needed feeding.

It is a horrible time to be a nurse, but the pt population I work with really need us and feel valued by them and my hospital.

Sometimes I think that a workplace is what you make it.

I know some places are better than others-there is a hospital 10 min from where I live, but I drive 45 min to work b/c I wouldn't take a dead dog to the other one.

#LoveMyJob

I hope I am not the only one who feels this way ?

First of all, thank you for your response and I am glad that you love your job. I can speak with confidence though that your workplace and your employer are are outliers and not representative of most hospitals across the country (especially corporate-owned facilities). This has not been my experience working in numerous hospitals throughout the US and the many, many threads on allnurses describing the difficult and dangerous working conditions and poor treatment of nurses attest to this also.

Second, myself nor anyone that has responded, has said that offensive labels such as 'retarded' were acceptable; this was addressed in my original post. Euphemisms, buzzwords, and management speak were what were being discussed.

Third, I dispute your assertion that workplaces are "what you make it". Tell that to the poorly compensated nurses, having never received a bonus, working in dangerously understaffed and crowded Covid units with inadequate resources and outdated/broken equipment. I somehow doubt that these same nurses can just ring up the CEO like you can or call someone if something is "broken or lacking", also like you can.

JBMmom, MSN, NP · Jan 1, 2022

22 hours ago, Jedrnurse said:

I'm almost afraid to ask, but what is a "Lean Board"...??

Someone else had posted about the use of the Japanese words and strategies like senseis and kanbans, etc. The Lean Board is a large white board where management lists daily "drivers". These are issues that someone sitting in a office has decided are things that all nurses should be updated on every day in order to be more effective nurses.

For example, one of our recent drivers was tracking "time from bed ready assigned to time of transfer" for patients. That means when bed management decides a bed has been cleaned and a patient's transfer orders are in, someone hits a button somewhere and time starts. Doesn't matter what the current nurse is doing, maybe with another patient or helping another nurse. Doesn't matter whether the receiving nurse is available for report or says they need to call back. Maybe there's no one from transport available. None of those things count, only the final minutes that transpire before the patient is physically in the new room. Now I'm not suggesting it doesn't matter at all, it is important to move people as efficiently as possible. But when our unit is judged based on this number alone by someone sitting in a office, it's very disheartening and to me shows a lack of understanding of our jobs and a disrespect for people.

At morning huddle, the charge nurse is expected to review the current drivers and generate discussion. It's a giant waste of time.

JBMmom, MSN, NP · Jan 1, 2022

21 hours ago, mmc51264 said:

Sometimes I think that a workplace is what you make it.

I've spent four years mostly sharing your attitude. I've been on the Shared Governance committee, I've been on my unit council, I've emailed my division vice president so often she actually comes through and meets with me whenever she's in the building. I've tried to be engaged and be the change that I'm hoping for. Even with my current level of frustration I'm flattered to know that there's a supervisor who often checks in to see what nights I'm working because she says she knows she will have a smoother night when I'm there. I have coworkers that say the shifts I'm in charge they feel better in the unit.

However, the lack of respect over the past year or so has been disheartening to say the least. When direct feedback and requests about things that don't even cost money are met with resistance for what appears to be no reason, it's frustrating. Just recently, someone in the organization decided to save some money and they changed the lift sheet/slings we use for moving intubated patients. Well, they order a large number of pads that are not compatible with our lift system, and now they apparently "can't" return them for some reason and there's no budget to replace them with things that work. So we're the ones that lose out on necessary equipment to do our jobs.

Not everyone can just leave. There isn't always another hospital or job within a reasonable drive. Sometimes people have insurance reasons for needing to stay within a certain health system. My own manager is a very nice human being but the worse manager I've had in any profession.

Overall I still love my job when I'm going my job. When it's about my patients and doing what's best for them I'm happy and walk out the door almost every day knowing that I leave them just a little better off than when I came in. It's been much harder these days, and many of us just come here and vent because we know that others can understand.