Never enough-vent

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

I am just writing this thread to vent since I have no where else to turn to regarding this or other nursing matters. It might not make much sence since I am not the best at expressing my feelings etc......I am a newer nurse ( 5 months on a med surg floor). Sometimes we are very short staffed. Today we were short one aid and a nurse. Anyway, a pt's family member yelled at me because his/her family member had not had, and I quote, "am care done yet and I thought nursing care was better here" at the time it was 9am. I was still finishing my assessments and 0800 med pass. Frankly, that was low on my priority list. I hate being thought of as a bad nurse because of this when I was RUNNING AROUND trying to finish my med pass, deal with other issues, had done am care on other pts. Etc...... I HATE this part of the job the most. It is never enough. I can never do enough. One time a pt's visitor complained because I didn't get the group of 5 visitors chairs fast enough...(took ten minutes). COME ON ! I have to actually FIND the chairs, drag them there...etc and if I can tell from the hallway that another of my pt's needs to have their trach suctioned, then that IS THE PRIORITY. not chairs for visitors......... I have worked with the public in all my other jobs but as a nurse this really gets to me.

[TheMoonisMyLantern, ADN, LPN, RN]

You're absolutely right, it really is never enough. When people try to complain about trivial things such as these though, you just have to let it go or you will get burnt to a crisp. Just remember, if you get through your shift and no one winds up worse off then they were when you began, then it was a good day. However, people outside of health care truly have no clue the hell that we can go through and the hard work we do each and every day.

[sharpeimom]

sometimes all you can do is tune them out. you have your priorities in the correct order. when people are upset or scared, they'll complain about things they otherwise wouldn't. some people are just difficult and you can't doanything about them.

just smile sweetly, apologize if appropriate, and go about your business.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

Welcome to the jungle; it gets better as you are able to build your confidence. Chairs; lol, if it were me they would have been standing for a very long time with that attitude.

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

(Wait while I get on my soapbox) And it never occurs to these people that when they get the hospitals' bill, there's no charge for what the nurses do! I'll defend to the death that the delivery of nursing care is the primary purpose of hospitals, yet all we do is included in the room rate along with laundry, nutrition, waste disposal. If hospitals billed for what we do, there would never be a lack of nursing staff. Instead of being seen as overhead costs, we'd be seen as profit centers!

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

Don't kill yourself to make everyone happy. Patient safety first, family ass-kissing way down the list. Just tell them that you have heard them but you have other things to do first.

[himilayaneyes]

That's just how people are. They don't understand what nursing is..they figure we just pass out pills all day. As far as the am care situation, you could have done the this "I'm sorry for the delay in her morning bath, but it's because we're so short staffed. I'll get to it as soon as I can. However, I can set you up with towels and a basin if you would like to bathe her." Bet that would've shut them up.

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

Uh oh. Press Gainey reports are gonna PLUMMET now! No chairs for the entire family...check. AM care done late...check. Nurse is frazzled because she has to attend to suctioning a trach pt....check. I can just imagine families filling these out with a frown on their faces and pen madly writing.

I propose another type of survey. Hospitals get funding for their stellar staffing levels and their commitment to helping staff nurses achieve goals:

Nurse manager helpful and meets with me regularly regarding performance...check. Staffing busy units so that ratios are AT MOST 4:1...check. Bonuses offered for perfect attendance...check. Patient relations employees for every unit of the hospital to retrieve chairs for visitors....check. Educational hours offered DURING working hours with staff to cover the nurses attending class...check. Counselors rotating through every unit for the SOLE purpose of letting nurses vent...check. Easy charting systems that are on a handheld device...check. Pharmacy staff deployed to every unit to deliver bundled, pt specific meds to the nurses...check. Maintenance for each unit to check and actually maintain unit specific equipment...check. Oh, and Starbucks coffee on the house for each shift.

Now wouldn't that be nice?

[linearthinker, DNP, RN]

sometimes all you can do is tune them out. you have your priorities in the correct order. when people are upset or scared, they'll complain about things they otherwise wouldn't. some people are just difficult and you can't doanything about them.

just smile sweetly, apologize if appropriate, and go about your business.

ita with this, except for the part about apologizing. i smile and go about my business, but i never apologize unless i believe i have failed my patient in some way.

[kcmylorn]

ask the family to go suction the trach while you go them a chair!!

[dthfytr, ADN, LPN, RN, EMT-B, EMT-I]

Seen on a co-workers coffee mug, "I'm here to save your ass, not kiss it!"

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

Start being more assertive. Do NOT let family members or anyone else push you around. You don't have to raise your voice. Explain, calmly but VERY firmly, that you are in the middle of important medications that people require to get better. That is your job. You prioritise. Frankly, I would tell people who want chairs or other non-consequential stuff, that that is not my job, and that I have more important concerns at the moment. I don't kiss people's a***s. Than they expect it all the time.

You have to be a little more aggressive as a nurse I think. I know you had a bad day - we all do - and it's horrible when somone yells at you. You have to get a bit more tough.

I would also be complaining to your NUM/manager/DON that you are being harrassed and harrassment of nursing staff - any staff - is NOT allowed under any circumstances. And if someone was yelling at me - unless it was an emergency of some sort - I would be tellling the NUM etc to have a word with them and I would also be telling the patient not to yell for something unless it is urgent.

Sorry you had such a crappy shift.