Name a situation that is not your responsibilty...

Nurses General Nursing

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Was talking about this with some other nurses. I am not sure if it is like this everywhere, but where i work, the nurse is responsible for everything. Any situation that occurs in the hospital can be manipulated to put responsibility on the nurse. Doctor's orders don't matter. Pharmacist verification does not matter. It is the almighty nurse that is responsible for all.

How did it become this way? Has it always been this way?

in home health washing dishes,mopping floors,wiping down cabinets,hiding money from the client's sons and cutting and styling hair. in the nursing home mooing the floors,dialing the phone for the residents to call family at the nurses station,,passing out trays,picking up trays,writing down who stayed in the rooms for dinner, monitoring visitors,putting food in the microwave for residents. as a school nurse mopping up floors, making copies for teachers,passing out personal care items like deodorant and toothbrushes,even passing out toilet paper

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Specializes in Med/Surg/Tele/Onc.

How about picking up supplies from Central Supply? This really bugs me at our hospital and I don't know why. If we have to get something from CS that we don't stock, we have to go pick it up...ex: TED hose, SCDs, ace wraps, IVF that we don't stock, all kinds of stuff. It really bugs me that CS doesn't deliver. I mean, why can't they schedule deliveries like 3 - 4 times a day for stuff like this? If you need it sooner than the scheduled time, go get it. But some days we're so busy, it's a royal PIA to have to run to get stuff like that. Is this too much to ask? Really, I'm asking seriously? Is it normal for CS not to make delivery runs? After all, they come up once per shift to stock our pyxis.

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

Vent continued:

We also have to mop floors between cases, get out all the sterile extras for the next day, take out rubbish, push heavy equipment around. While I have left the room to do these non nursing tasks, I am not there with my patient.

These things used to be done by orderlies but our own nursing director decided to cut costs. Now we have one 'inside' orderly for 16 operating rooms. In other hospitals they have orderlies that even help with patient positioning.

Our orderly just collects beds from the wards and restocks linen and irrigation fluids. That's all. And he struggles with his job so we end up having to do some of his tasks as well. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets taken away from us and we'll be doing his work as well.

Somehow trying to do all these non nursing tasks I'm expected to run a OR clinic, meet with reps about new products, scrub and circulate, educate new staff, update tray lists, replace broken instruments, update my own nursing skills through education and inservices, report broken equipment.

We have a new nursing director and we're going to try and get her to see how this system is taking nurses away from nursing.

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Specializes in Gerontology.

How about things I can't be responsible for?

Like - I can be responsible for narcotics, meds, treatments and people's lives.

However - I cannot have access to a mop so that if a pt "dribbles" on the floor on the way to the BR I can wipe it up with a mop instead of a towel. Or access to extra toilet paper so that if my pt runs out at 10:00 pm I can give him a roll, rather than having to page the 1 envirnomental attendant our hospital has, pull her away from cleaning ER stretchrs, or an OR just to get me a roll of TP.

Yes - replaceing TP shouldn't be my job, but when a pt is going through tons because of a bad case of the sh**ts, I want it!

Oh- I am responsible for the TV that doesn't work, the phone that doesn't work, that nasty smell in the room next door, the snoring roommate and the fact that the doctor doesn't visit during the 1/2 hour period on a Satthat your family member is here, wanting to speak to the doctor.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

Anything involving the dining room, unless a resident falls, chokes, or shows stroke symptoms. I'm a nurse, not a waitress or a Maitre D'.

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Specializes in Cardiac ICU.

No, we didn't cover "how to fix a light bulb" or "how to adjust the patient room's clock" in nursing school.

Also, I came across a website where people review businesses, including hospitals. Some idiot rated a hospital 1/5 stars because she "wanted a NURSE to fix her boyfriend's broken bed." She did not want to wait for an engineer or someone to bring in a bed.

I got yelled at by a lab staff saying that I didn't send in a paracentesis specimen sample when I was supposed to. I told her at that time, the patient was in ANOTHER DEPT at another person's care. (I've never even seen the patient until 2 hours later). She hit me with the "BY YOUR LICENSE, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY." Honestly, I don't know how a patient, whom I've never even seen before, is my responsibility.

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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.
No, we didn't cover "how to fix a light bulb" or "how to adjust the patient room's clock" in nursing school.

Also, I came across a website where people review businesses, including hospitals. Some idiot rated a hospital 1/5 stars because she "wanted a NURSE to fix her boyfriend's broken bed." She did not want to wait for an engineer or someone to bring in a bed.

I got yelled at by a lab staff saying that I didn't send in a paracentesis specimen sample when I was supposed to. I told her at that time, the patient was in ANOTHER DEPT at another person's care. (I've never even seen the patient until 2 hours later). She hit me with the "BY YOUR LICENSE, IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY." Honestly, I don't know how a patient, whom I've never even seen before, is my responsibility.

Please say that you took some other action relative to this "lab staff". It is important that nurses have professional relationships with ancillary departments and staff, and this sort of behavior is nothing but counterproductive.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

it isn't my responsibility to tell your wife/girlfriend that you never want to see her again -- whether you're my patient or his doctor.

obtaining consent -- for anything -- is not my responsibility and i've argued that one all the way to the nurse practice act.

nor is it my responsibility to ensure that the sidewalks are shoveled during a snowstorm, the streets in front of the hospital are plowed, the sheets in the on call room are changed ("i'm sorry. the housekeeper is cleaning room 1 if you want to ask her to get to that; otherwise the sheets are on the shelves to your right.") or the residents rounding on your roommate are too loud for you to hear the tv.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
it's not my responsibility to know what channel the football game is on or what the current score is.

i'll second that. and why don't you ask someone who actually gives a rip? they would be the ones in and out of your room wearing the football jerseys over their scrubs.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

gee this is fun -- i've thought of some more!

it's not my responsibility to take messages for visitors. if you're calling to find your boyfriend's mother who should be visiting her aunt, don't ask me to leave my patients to take a message for you. call her cell and leave it on voice mail.

your phone bill is not my responsibility. you've chosen to spend your long distance dialing dollars calling the icu to check up on your mother at exactly 7:00, when you knew we'd be in report. i don't care if you're calling from timbuktu, i can't come to the phone.

it's not my responsibility to tell the pulmonologist that you, the cardiologist who asked him to consult think he's a moron who is killing your patient. it's not my responsibility to show the anesthesiologist at your patient's head how to do a cardiac output, and i'm amazed that you'd get away with leaving your patient to come get me with that inappropriate request! it's not my responsibility to tell the nephrologist to order this or that, nor to tell the primary service that the nephrologist won't order this or that because it's stupid and not indicated.

if you're the lab, calling to tell me that the resident ordered the wrong test at the wrong time or on the wrong body fluid, page the resident. his pager number is right on the lab request, and it's not my responsibility to facilitate your communication -- especially when i had to leave my patient on the bedpan to attend to your phone call. if you're the pharmacist calling to tell me that the resident ordered the wrong drug by the wrong route or in the wrong dosage, ditto.

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