Inappropriate nurses?

[hgraves64]

So, I'm a Float pool nurse, and last night, I was pulling meds when a Staff nurse comes up to me. Without so much of a "hello", he snaps, "How many patients do you have?"

My eyebrows raise. "Are you Charge or Resource nurse?" I ask.

"No," he answers

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

"I have five patients tonight. How many do you have? Are you taking any admits?" he continues to press.

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

"Oh, I'm just making conversation," he sneers.

"No, you're being nosy. And I don't have to deal with it!" I reply.

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?

[JenGrace]

As a float you should be a bit more friendly....it will make floating easier. You'll want to be remembered by the units as the great float nurse, not as the one who comes in and goes ballistic over a standard question and runs to management. Maybe he should have introduced himself before asking your assignment, but seems to me he was just breaking the ice. Honestly I feel like you really behaved badly and hope you can go back to that floor and show them you're actually a great team player.

[sphinx99]

I think emailing the manager was a bit much, but the male nurse sounds like one of those lazy nurses who is always concerned with what other people are doing, what their workload is or what their work hours are. It wasn't his business.

OP, I think you handled him just fine, nosy types like that hate it when you don't play along. Again, I think emailing the manager was a bit much, I'm quite sure she knows just how poor his manners are and how lazy he is. Unfortunately, people like that usually know how to game the system and they are often protected by man.

I'm not sure how you arrived at the other nurse being LAZY? Because he asked about her assignment? Sounds like you (and OP) have made a lot of assumptions based on his question.

[Jjfred3550]

Just a thought here. Hgraves64 is a float nurse and pulling meds. Maybe not the best time to walk up and start asking questions. I do not want to be interrupted when I am passing meds, especailly if I were a float and do not know patients well. The staff nurse maybe should have just said hello and asked questions while not in the middle of pouring meds. Med errors, people, med errors!! Thanks!

[JadeEclypse]

The general consensus on the first post of this was that the OP was the rude and inappropriate one. Did you expect that opinion to change?

Yes assignments should be based on Acuity not numbers, why does he need to know you ask?

Maybe he was curious, maybe considering the tone of the op from the beginning what she saw as nasty wasn't actually nasty but just general curiosity which I'm willing to bet, maybe he was wanting to know which patients were hers because he did something for a patient and thought telling the nurse might be appropriate (I mean teamwork, what am I thinking?)?

Judging the entire tone of the Ops post, I'm willing to bet that he didn't ask it and as nearly a snide or rude manner as she makes it seem because it's her comments that actually come off as horribly rude and ******, if she actually responded to him the way that she says she does.

Personally I hope I never meet this nurse.

Who reports someone over them asking you how many patients you have??!?!

The sad thing is that while I would like to give the op a little bit of credit here, reading through this thread and seeing the responses toward people that are sharing their opinion when she asked what else she should have done and they are calling her on her negative attitude and behavior, I fully believe that she is part of the problem.

The comments to many of the posters here have been just as passive aggressive and nasty as the original.

I seriously hope you lighten up honey because if you're a new nurse and you're already like this you don't exactly have a lengthy future. You're quickly making yourself that nurse that no one wants around.

[CalArmy]

I'm not surprised the manager didn't respond. I think your reaction is the problem not the question.

[rnvw56]

Having been a float nurse and a travel nurse for many years, I have found out this.......my attitude is what causes me to be able to survive and thrive on any given unit. There will always be nurses that will try to provoke in whatever way, but if I was to provoke back, my shift would be miserable. I have found that if I just smile and be friendly and let them know I am there to help, by the end of the shift I am one of them and they are inviting me back. Why would you want to become the very problem that you are venting about? If you have been a nurse any length of time, you should know stresses are high and not everyone responds to you with peaches and cream.

If this is something that bothers you so much that you have to go to management with it, maybe float nursing is not for you. And heaven forbid, don't ever become a travel nurse! Please take this as constructive advise and not as an attack. Sometimes we have to look to ourselves for change.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Just a thought here. Hgraves64 is a float nurse and pulling meds. Maybe not the best time to walk up and start asking questions. I do not want to be interrupted when I am passing meds, especailly if I were a float and do not know patients well. The staff nurse maybe should have just said hello and asked questions while not in the middle of pouring meds. Med errors, people, med errors!! Thanks!

Ok then, all the OP had to do was say, " I will be happy to talk with you as soon as I am done preparing my medications. I need to concentrate just now". And then, when done, talked to the guy. Emailing management? Saying he was inappropriate? No, he wasn't, but the OP was "inappropriate".

Some people can pour/prepare meds and converse; others cannot. Maybe the guy thought she could. The OP is way over-reactive in this case.

[Jjfred3550]

Actually, when it comes to the patients rights, no nurse should ever be conversing or discussing anything while pouring meds. That is asking for trouble. We learn this nursing school!!! Just saying. We are there to protect patients, not to spend our shift talking and being irresponsible.

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

Actually, when it comes to the patients rights, no nurse should ever be conversing or discussing anything while pouring meds. That is asking for trouble. We learn this nursing school!!! Just saying. We are there to protect patients, not to spend our shift talking and being irresponsible.

As SmilingBluEyes said all the OP had to do was tell her coworker that she didn't feel comfortable talking while she was pouring meds & talk to him after but *she didn't*! She snapped at her coworker & ran to her charge nurse & NM.

I can't believe the amount of nurses that are on the OP's side. Have you read the OP & following posts? The NM didn't even respond to her email, there's a reason why!

[Nurselaura84]

He probably just wanted to talk, new face, maybe he wanted to help you. I don't usually walk up to people and ask how many patients they have, but that's his go to. Maybe you shouldn't jump to be so... Rude... With your response. I would not have apologized either, you owe him one, if anything.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Actually, when it comes to the patients rights, no nurse should ever be conversing or discussing anything while pouring meds. That is asking for trouble. We learn this nursing school!!! Just saying. We are there to protect patients, not to spend our shift talking and being irresponsible.

This post really rubs me the wrong way. First, no need to yell. Second, I hope you are not calling me "irresponsible". I AM able to converse and prepare medications and do so without errors. I have been in practice over 20 years, and can sometimes multitask if needed. Is it ideal to converse while preparing meds? Of course not. But then, I am not suggesting a casual B.S. type of conversation here. I get interrupted multiple times in my shift for valid reasons, that directly involve patient care/issues. I have to be able to work this way or nothing would get done.

Don't call me irresponsible without knowing my practice. And nursing school teaches a lot of things, but real world practice is quite another experience. I am glad for you that you work in an environment where incidental interruptions are not an issue. I don't. And again, the OP could have simply *politely* asked the nurse to wait until she was done preparing meds, and then talked to him. No need to report him to management via email, expecting they would jump and do her bidding.

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

This post really rubs me the wrong way. First, no need to yell. Second, I hope you are not calling me "irresponsible". I AM able to converse and prepare medications and do so without errors. I have been in practice over 20 years, and can sometimes multitask if needed. Is it ideal to converse while preparing meds? Of course not. But then, I am not suggesting a casual B.S. type of conversation here. I get interrupted multiple times in my shift for valid reasons, that directly involve patient care/issues. I have to be able to work this way or nothing would get done.

Don't call me irresponsible without knowing my practice. And nursing school teaches a lot of things, but real world practice is quite another experience. I am glad for you that you work in an environment where incidental interruptions are not an issue. I don't. And again, the OP could have simply *politely* asked the nurse to wait until she was done preparing meds, and then talked to him. No need to report him to management via email, expecting they would jump and do her bidding.

Everyone knows nurses aren't allowed to multi task.