How do you deal with ICU superiority complex?

[CaLLaCoDe]

I have to float to ICU occasionally and I just don't jive with the put - downs even if they are not said to me directly. I know the put downs exist when the shift leader gives me my assignment and then wispers an aside remark, something to the nurse to her left. How do you deal with this superiority culture of we're ICU and anyone who floats here is a second class citizen? I feel it is hard enough to float, but it is one thing to be thinking should I ask so and so's opinion about my giving this med or should I not because I'll look more like an idiot in his/her eyes? Seriously, total mind trips, I just want to be supported that's all, not given the 'snub.'

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

Because we are usually working short as it is. Rarely do we have enough staff to share. Using a lot of agency now to cover shifts. Also we never know how many pts we will have in the ER at any given time. It could be slow for a couple of hours and then boom, car accidents, shootings and we suddenly need all the help we can get. At least on the floors they know what they have and there is a limited number of pts. We can't say, we are full, don't send anyone else. Many days every bed is full and 15 are waiting. So it's not that we don't want to help. Also don't like to hold pts because then our ER patients don't have beds. Also afraid we might miss something because we don't know how the floors work. I did work on the floor for years, but you forget, and things change and we don't want to do anything wrong. I think the float issue almost always comes down to we fear for patient safety and our own piece of mind.

[firstyearstudent]

If ED nurses floated to Med/Surg the patients would never get pain meds or food. Only kidding -- sort of.

It's my limited experience that unless you are about to kick it, the ED nurses have a hard time rustling up any compassion. It's probably due to dealing with a constant flow of drunks, starving homeless and drug addicts.

[burn out]

Because we are usually working short as it is. Rarely do we have enough staff to share. Using a lot of agency now to cover shifts. Also we never know how many pts we will have in the ER at any given time. It could be slow for a couple of hours and then boom, car accidents, shootings and we suddenly need all the help we can get. At least on the floors they know what they have and there is a limited number of pts. We can't say, we are full, don't send anyone else. Many days every bed is full and 15 are waiting. So it's not that we don't want to help. Also don't like to hold pts because then our ER patients don't have beds. Also afraid we might miss something because we don't know how the floors work. I did work on the floor for years, but you forget, and things change and we don't want to do anything wrong. I think the float issue almost always comes down to we fear for patient safety and our own piece of mind.

those are the same reasons ICU and Med/surg give but we are still floated. What is the difference when the ER nurse says it? When we are full we are told to make room. When we say we don't know how to work ER they send us anyway. We fear for patient safety and our own peace of mind too but it gets us no where, we still have to put our license on the line.

[Roy Fokker, BSN, RN]

I am told we OB nurses are a bunch of cliquey you-know-whats. I found this shocking, as I always felt at home w/the group and just don't see it. But then, perspective is everything to the one saying these things. There may be things we do either consciously or not, that give off the impression.

"It's harder to recognise a pattern when you are a part of it"

But I have long since learned, no area of nursing is "easy" at all. I have a healthy respect for nurses in med-surg, ICU/CCU and ED, having floated to these areas. I also think arrogance is a good cover for fear, in anyone. And in ICU, I found a good reason to fear for the patients, at times. Just speculating here...

You maybe speculating but I suspect you are more right than wrong.

In my limited experience, I have found that most co-workers respond positively when you approach them with a positive attitude. The ones who don't - well, they ain't worth your grief.