Inappropriate nurses?

Trauma Columnist · May 9, 2017

Moved to pt/colleague relations

mkk99 · May 9, 2017

It's "wildly inappropriate" to ask a coworker how many patients they have? That's news to me!

Zyprexa · May 9, 2017

I didn't know how many patients you have is meant to be kept secret.

kaylee. · May 9, 2017

Often in "making conversation" nurses ask about fellow coworkers' case load.. asking with the assumption of relating to the hard tasks of the day is usually perceived as prosocial by the nurse being asked.

For the most part they know its not within your or power or theirs to control the assignment...so as equals in a storm of things that cant be controlled, its natural and positive to vent/discuss with your fellow nurses on the floor...

For you to leap on the attack seems extreme and the fact that u emailed management is a little much...unless there were some serious conversational untertones u are not revealing.

Why was this such a big threat?

brownbook · May 9, 2017

You are working with other nurses, aides, clerks, etc., you have to work together. From I'm going on my break now I have room 1 - 5 , no treatments are due; to can you help me my patient in 5 is crashing; you have to have team work.

Any place you work, dog catcher, ditch digger, lawyers office, CEO of Apple, you or your business will not be successful if you don't have team work.

His approach does sound rude and abrupt but it was not an inappropriate question. Your fellow nurses need to have a rough idea of who has how many patients, who is due for the first admit, etc. Ideally this is all worked out when assignments are made at the start of the shift, but conditions change and the best laid plan of assignments, admits, can fall apart.

Sorry to be rude and inappropriate but I feel like I am explaining something you should have learned in kindergarten????????

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · May 9, 2017

Knowing each others assignments are essential for teamwork. If they have a tougher assignment than you, it helps to realize that they may need my help from time to time. If they have an unstable patient, I need to keep an ear out for them needing immediate help. If they have an admit that is coming, it would be nice to know also. So, unless they are a nosy person that always complains about their assignment, I am not seeing the issue with their inquiries.

macawake, MSN · May 9, 2017

I told the Charge nurse about her Staff nurse's wildly inappropriate questioning. Charge said that "she would deal with it. At the end of the shift, Staff nurse had not apologized for his behavior, so I emailed his manager about the incident. The manager did not email me back.
Would there be anything else you would have done?

Would there be anything else that I would have done? You mean on top of what you already did? :wideyed:

You already did much more than I ever would have done in the same situation. You told the charge nurse and sent an email to the manager? Why did his question provoke such a strong reaction in you? If it were me I would likely simply have answered his question (Not covered by The Official Secrets Act).

If I for some reason (although I'm not sure what that reason would be) had felt disinclined to do so, I would just have declined to answer. That would have been the end of that.

His admittedly rather curt way of addressing you might indicate that he was feeling stressed/dumped on and perhaps that he suspected that you carried a much lighter patient load? While he could have asked the question in a more curteous way, I don't see why it had to escalate to the level of "management-involved" drama.

I can't help myself.. I'm curious... :lol2:

How many patients did you have?

a) More than him.

b) Fewer than him.

c) The same number as him.

d) None of my @%*&Â£* :angrybird1: *$ business.

(You can choose one or (since we're all nurses here, SATA if you prefer).

(Oops, I just remembered that the Official Secrets Act is a UK thing. Any way, the principle still applies here :))

elkpark · May 9, 2017

Wow, I would sooo not have complained to anyone about the other nurse ...

macawake, MSN · May 9, 2017

OP, I apologize in advance for poking fun at you.. I'm just in one of those moods... (and @Extra Pickles, if you're reading this you may have to retract your very kind words to me. Thank you though, I greatly appreciated your kind post!)

...so I emailed his manager about the incident. The manager did not email me back.

No wonder... Honestly, if I had been the manager and I got a mail/complaint like that my response would have been something along the lines of:

:lol2: :lol2: :roflmao: :banghead: :blackeye: :dead:

(You are correct, I'm probably not manager material).

"Then it's none of your business," I respond.

"Again, it's NONE.OF.YOUR.BUSINESS. Take it up with Charge if you have a problem," I retort.

In all seriousness though. As I said in my previous post, I admit that the way the nurse addressed you was curt. But your response wasn't a shining example of professional and respectful communication either. Most of the time when you speak in CAPS emphatic punctuation CAPS emphatic punctuation CAPS (!!!), the chances of reaching a harmonious agreement decreases (by alot! sorry, a lot :)). I'm still asking myself, why did you find his question so incendiary?

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · May 9, 2017

OP: Just look at the emotionally changed words you used to describe this conversation:

Snap...press...retort....sneer...wildly inappropriate

YOU appear to have escalated this- not the co-worker asking the question.

My advice: Switch to decaf

RNKPCE · May 9, 2017

Did you have a much lighter assignment and were you trying to fly under the radar?

Even if the nurse asking the question came up to you and asked with an attitude you are making a lot out of nothing. On a big unit sometimes a charge nurse may not realize when a certain nurse has several patient leave the unit and inadvertently assigns a nurse with a fuller assignment the next admission. That nurse with the fuller assignment may be overwhelmed and for some reason think you assignment is lighter and is asking you.

Let this go.