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?

[TriciaJ, RN]

I can see needing some urgent help with something but not wanting to overload someone who already had a heavy assignment. So it would be quite appropriate to ask someone about their workload before deciding if it was fair to ask them for help or move on to someone else. And if it was an urgent situation, maybe the pleasantries would have been dispensed with.

I think I would have just told the coworker the answer and asked if he needed my help with something. If all he wanted to do was make a fuss about an unfair assignment, then I would have told him to take it up with the charge nurse. But why jump the gun until you've ascertained his motive?

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

A little "hi, how are you? My name is..." will go a long way for a new Float nurse like me;

No a little civility from a new float nurse goes much further. You sound like a peach to work with though....

[No Stars In My Eyes]

I'd have told the number of patients I had.

But wouldn't there be a shift assignment posted somewhere for personnel to see? If there was a problem or attitude from the guy, I would've shrugged and told him to go ask whomever made up the assignment. Not my problem. That's about the length of thought I'd give the matter.

[RNrhythm, BSN, RN]

I would have simply told him how many patients I have. It would not have occurred to me to be offended. This isn't HIPPA. If we had the same number, he'll see that the work load is fair. If the load is unfair, then it needs to be balanced. Plus, there may be extenuating circumstances. Recently I had the easier combo of patients because the Charge knew I had an unusually heavy load on my previous two shifts.

[Ben_Dover]

What The Hey! What "planet" on Earth are you from?

[audreysmagic, RN]

Wouldn't this make work so much better....

Seriously! I work in psych, it would benefit patients and staff. :-D

[Apple-Core, ASN, BSN, RN]

This Staff Nurse who doesn't know me, came on with a very blunt, prying attitude. Had he been like, "I'm having a rough night - can you help me out?" I'd been "Of course!" But he shouldn't had been taking his frustrations out on me, a complete stranger who was completely new to his unit. Attitude like his deserves a Nunya, as in None of your business, take it up with your Charge. And no, I was dealing with my own high acuity assignment. A little "hi, how are you? My name is..." will go a long way for a new Float nurse like me;

Blunt and abrasive? Yes. "Wildly Inappropriate", absolutely not. I would gently suggest that you look at your own response, because you could have risen above his behavior and de-escalated the situation with a little humor and kindness, such as, "Sorry - I didn't catch your name?" said with a smile. You'd be amazed how quickly people will unwind when confronted with calmness, a smile, and a little humor.

[applewhitern, BSN, RN]

WOW. This is what you call "wildly inappropriate?" This is a common, normal question that is asked every day. We are all in this together. Why shouldn't he know how many patients you had? Was it supposed to be a secret? If so, why?

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

I didn't know it was it was secret, locked down information telling your coworker how many patients your had. Oh, wait... it's not! He may have been short with you but wasn't asking any personal information, anything out of line nor was he being rude. Not everyone is the chatty type. Some people are shy & some people just don't like small talk.

There was no reason you couldn't have answered his question & definitely no reason to have escalated this to the charge nurse & nurse manager. You should've just answered his question & if he thought the patient assignment was unfair then politely directed him to the charge nurse.

The fact that *every single* reply has told you *you* were in the wrong should be a red flag for you & a wake up call. You need to evaluate how have conversations & interact with people.

You grossly overreacted. There was no reason to be so rude to your coworker. That person was asking a common question & even though you didn't like how they stated it you shouldn't have raised it to the level you did. That floor *might* have a high turnover rate (you don't know for sure since you don't work on it & only heard gossip) but that doesn't make what you did ok.

[quazar]

Several things to address here. First of all, there is obviously some part of the backstory here that you're not telling us. Either you've personally been accused of not taking a heavy enough assignment before, felt like you were being accused of such, or have had issues with something in that realm with this particular nurse or unit before and didn't mention that. Regardless, there's a history here you're not telling us about. For you to have such an extreme reaction to such a seemingly benign line of questioning leads me to believe that something has happened to you with regards to people questioning whether or not you're pulling your weight before, and you took this very, very personally.

Second, there is the issue of immediately reading subtext into this person's question. It may have been there, it may not have. He may have simply been wanting to know a) how many patients you had and b) if you were taking admits. Simple as that. No subtext. No nefarious intent. You assumed he meant you ill will. If you know better, again, there is a history here that you did not share.

Reading subtext when there isn't any is an excellent way to get into conflict with another person when there is no actual threat, only perceived threat. I say this as someone who is definitely guilty of such behavior (reading subtext that wasn't there and perceiving a threat that wasn't there), and having to work at unlearning that behavior for the sake of my own sanity and of preserving valuable interpersonal relationships. If you see malicious intent in someone's words, for whatever reason, when there isn't any, it is going to cause you lots of problems down the road. I'm not sure what your reasons are for reading into what this man said, but in the future, I suggest that the next time someone asks you such a question, you simply answer it, assume no threat is present, and move on.

[BSN16]

"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.

Honestly, i think this nurse let you off very easy considering how YOU treated HIM. If i were to ask someone this question and have them freak out on me, like you did, i probably wouldn't have been as nice.

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

A simple "too many" might have been a better reply and opened up a more productive and supportive dialogue.................