ICU Nurses with OCD!!!

All4Seasons · Feb 12, 2008

Jennifer, thank you thank you thank you for adding this post. I couldnt have said this better myself. You truly understand what i meant by my original post and thank you for your input, i agree with you 120%. I wish I worked with more nurses like you

You are very welcome,my dear! I didn't notice until just now that you wrote this post ~ a year and a half ago. How are things going? Are you in the same ICU, and are things any easier for you now?

I made it a personal commitment quite a number of years ago that I was going to do as much as I could to show respect for my fellow nursing colleagues. I don't belittle anyone,I don't aggressively 'jump all over them' or challenge them when they do things a different way (I will address something it's a pt safety issue,of course) - I don't have all the answers;there are many ways of looking at the same problem.I try and leave my mind open to new ideas,new ways of doing things. It's essential,imo,for personal growth.

All the best! :)

jen

RNFELICITY · May 10, 2008

I'm so OCD that my students laugh at me. The tease me about not being able to function unless I have all of my lines labeled (and, yes color-coded...Red labels on Xigris and Bicarcb, green on ns, yellow on other drugs that may be compatable with some things, but not with others like Neo, Levo, Versed,....). I even got some butt pats for being the only one who could get the ng, art, tlc, periph, vent, and dialysis lines sorted, orgtanized, and COMPLETELY untangled in a rotoprone. When I walk into my room in the morning, I end up spending the first twenty minutes getting things sorted. Granted, I don't get upset with others because they don't have it the way I want, unless it's a pt safety issue...That's just where we have to draw thew line. I guess you could say that I am one with my OCD, and its Good For Me.

OMG I would LOVE following you. I am very obsessive with things in my pt's room because I feel that I cannot work in a messy environment and 99% of the time, families or the patient themselves will thank me for cleaning up the clutter and making the room seem larger by moving back chairs and using a little organization.

I am always vigilant about how I leave my patients, as well. I have extra IV bags or drips ready to be hung, etc.

I think we are all a team and each player has their own personality. I know we are not here to socialize or to make friends, but being friendly and helping others makes it a little more bearable on those bad days and it is nice to have a friendly ear or shoulder to cry on or talk to when you need it.

:heartbeat

joeyzstj, LPN · May 17, 2008

i see what u are saying. i know work isnt really a place for socialization, but I'm trying to see the humanity in the ICU. Like helping out another nurse with their pt if they need it. Also whatever happened to the "holistic" care?? I dont see any signs of "caring". The nurses are so rough with the pts. I dont think its healthy for us as caregivers to be like this all the time. It's definitly a source of unhappiness and job unsatisfaction. Granted that maybe if i was a more seasoned, experienced nurse, i wouldnt have a such a problem with this. But since im totally fresh, a little kindness could go a long way from my fellow co-workers.

Holistic care is a term that they beat unrealistically into your head in nursing school. I work in a CVICU and I can tell you honestly that the last thing you have time for, thanks to administration and staffing shortages is the time to give back rubs and foot rubs and talk about relgious aspects and getting to know the patient in depth and all of the "fluff and puff". Most of the time in a busy ICU you have a phone in one hand screaming at pharmacy while you have another phone in your other hand getting screamed at by the surgeon while the families are in the background freaking out that the patient is sneezed and wanting freash icewater and in the meantime management is trying to give you an extra patient while bed 4's V-tach alarm is going off and bed 10's IV pumps are beeping empty becase pharmcy lost your STAT drip refill orders..............all of this while your art line is clotting off and bed 7 is confused and climbing out of bed and surgery is trying to call report on a patient they want to ship to you and beds 1-12's family is calling wanting updates, the same updates, that you have given the other 40 family members in each patients family and they are mad becasue DR. X hasnt updated all of them on rounds, ect,ect,ect. In the meanwhile you are trying to keep your composure, make time to pee and maybee just maybee get one meal. AND chart all of your days activities with amazing precision so that some genius in middle management does come to you a month later complaining that you used an @ symbol instead of the word "at"...........and this is just before lunch. Making critical decisions on patients and keeping them alive takes presedence over other things sometimes unfortunately. By the way, WELCOME TO ICU :)

neko11111 · May 19, 2008

Hmm, well i mostly mean like the nurses have to have it their way or the highway, they are extreeeemly cocky about the fact they work in an icu, they think they know more than you do. As far as ocd is concerned, i'll give u an example. If the previous shift leaves some supplies, equipment, or whatever, on the counter in the pts room, or forgets to discard finished iv bags that are hanging on the pole, the nurse freaks. They go on a cleaning spree of the entire room. I like for things to be neat and tidy too, but not to the point where its obsessive compulsive. These are just my observances on my unit, maybe its just me. im just frazzled at this point, whatever.

The only thing I can say about the neat freaks / cleaning sprees, etc. is... I've only been in the CCU for a year now - and I've found myself doing this too - the reason being....... when the sh()*t hits the fan and your patient goes south very quickly - you don't want a bunch of crap in the way to where you can't find what you need.

I go through every one of my rooms first thing - clean all of the empty crap, and uneccessary stuff out of my way.... my major pet peeve is when the previous shift leaves several IV lines tangled and all messed up. If my patient is on vasopressors, sedation, etc. - I want - no, I NEED to know exactly what is going into this line, and this line, etc. in case I need to shut it off fast, disconnect it, or titrate it up in a hurry.....

I just feel that it is better to be prepared for the worst.... than to be caught unprepared - and end up loosing someones' life.... but that's just how my brain works. I need to have it all neat, labled and ready to go! Call me ocd or anal, whatever - it works for me and gives me peace of mind.