As soon as I get to work, I like to get report, start seeing all my patients, check off the charts, and start passing meds as ordered. During these first several hours, I don't dilly dally around just in case something more time consuming pops up that could put me behind. (Sometimes things will happen anyway to put you behind though.) Well, trying to stay organized and get my work done in a timely manner is starting to seem more like punishment for not dragging my feet as some do. Since I'm often the first to be caught up, I end up getting asked to go do things constantly for other nurses' patients because I'm the only one already starting their charting and all the other nurses/techs are busy with patients. I do NOT mind helping out and do prefer to stay busy. But if the other nurses and techs wouldn't spend so much time after report and in between everything else talking, they'd be caught up too (most of the time). Some of these times it feels like I get taken advantage of for using my time wisely. It's like I not only take care of my patients, but everyone else's too sometimes. But when I am caused to get behind, where's everyone else when I would like some help? They're too busy with their patients.
Last night, for example, just because I was caught up, I was asked by the charge nurse to take someone else's admission. I took them, got all the info entered into the computer (after assessing the patient, of course), checked off the orders, got the blood transfusion started, etc. THEN, the nurse who was supposed to originally take that patient asked if she could now take that patient and me take the next admission. I just laughed at her as I said NO THANK YOU! It's one thing to try and help her out by taking the admission while she was busy with another patient. But don't think I'm going to do all the work and then give them up after doing all the work no one else wants to do, only to have to take another one.
When no one else is in the nurses station, the CCT (secretary/monitor tech) is always asking me to go help so-n-so to the bathroom, check their leads, take them water, see why their IV is beeping, etc because the nurse/tech is helping someone else. But then doesn't ask someone else to help with my patients while I'm in someone else's room. Instead, she'll call in that room and tell me to go check my patient.
Thanks for letting me vent! Really, I don't mind helping. But dang it, don't take advantage of me and keep me running for everybody else because I didn't goof off at the beginning. I do have charting of my own to do too, ya know?
