Nurse being above emptying a foley catheter bag??!!

[LPNfurever]

I am a new grad lpn who thankfully found a job at a LTC facility. On occasion I also work as an aid; one afternoon, I had asked the nurse if she had emptied a foley catheter bag as it contained very little in it. She looked at me as if I were crazy and said "Oh, I dont do that" in a tone that was arrogant. She walked away from me as I stood there with my mouth open dumbstruck. I dont consider myself above anything that involves pt care.

[dscrn]

I have emptied many a foley...and you were correct to question whether it had been emptied...

[katkonk, BSN, RN]

Sadly, stupid nurses come in all shapes, sizes, and ages....and experience levels. You will meet many of them in your journey. I think it probably would have been good to say something like..."I just thought I'd let you know in case you were concerned about his urine output which appears to be low". Then chart in your notes that the nurse was notified that x-amount of urine was noted in foley bag. And...let it go...unless you see her overlook important things like...uh...low urine output, giving parenteral nutrition in a G tube or NG tube with the head of the bed down, forgetting to fasten a patient's bed alarm to them, tucking away call bells in the drawers, etc. in the future! I've seen all of that in the nursing home. Then it would be your duty to notify her supervisor.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

On my unit, we nurses have to empty the linen/garbage bags when they get full. (well, empty is probably the wrong word, change might be better)

There are certain nurses who won't do this - they just keep piling in the linen, even when it is very clear that a new bag is needed. When they are on, I know I will be changing more bags than normal. Once, one bag was so full, I filled two other bags before I could close the original one!

These nurses just drive me crazy! Change the linen bag! empty that catheter bag! answer the call bell!

Seriously though - you can't obsess over these nurses. They feel these tasks are beneath them - so I just do them, knowing that the units/pts interests are more important.

Side note - I have more training/educaton than the nurses that refuse to change empty linen bags.

[systoly]

Ain't it cool? Besides The I/O concern in this particular situation, UTIs are a constant battle in LTCs so not being concerned about urinary catheters is really NOT cool. I bet she keeps a good eye on proper placement of the drainage tubing and makes sure the collection bags are conceiled while the resident is in a public area. What a great example for other staff.

[esthomprn]

When I was a tech, I had a lot of nurses treat me like that. They would act like they were to good to do simple things such as empty a foley catheter or clean a patient. Some of the nurses would wait until I finish a bath before they call me in to clean a another patient or empty a foley bag when they were just in there. I always told myself that I would never treat a tech like that when I become a nurse and as a nurse...I don't

[dansamy]

When I was a tech and going through nursing school, I had a nurse come find me while I was on my lunch break, clocked out by the way, to tell me that my patient needed me. She didn't tell me what was needed, etc. She then went on a smoke break. When I walked into the room, I found OUR tube-fed patient had vomited tube feeding. She was covered in emesis from her eyebrows to her knees. I was sooooo ****** off that this nurse was very unconcerned for her patient. I have never and will never do that to an aide who works under my supervision. I have come out of a room when I have had fifty more meds to give to 5 more patients and asked the aide to help our post-surgical, but ambulatory patient to the potty while I continue to give out meds.

[LPNfurever]

I have had other run in's with this nurse while working under her as an aid(but being her equal as an lpn). I think she is out to get me. I had a pt request a bath after lunch because of pain but she overheard this and felt the need to convince the pt to get it before because it was easier to do at that time. Im thinking, woman, what are you doing? I only had 3 pt to lay down after lunch so I would have had plenty of time to do a bath, plus she has no clue about what the routine is like on that hall(from a CNA perspective). Then she says come get me when you do the bath because he has cream that needs put on. So I tell her when the bath is going to occur and when I go looking for her to get the cream, I discover she decided to take her break! ((((head desk))) So i just decide to avoid her and play CNA for the day and tell her the critical things as they arise.....

[Anisettes, BSN, RN]

I seen all kind of variations of this thing throughout my 20+ years and it's sad. My pet peeve of all time is "It's not my job" mentality. Granted, sometimes it really isn't your job, but it is your job to follow up and refer it to the appropriate person in that case. My basic opinion is that if it (whatever 'it' is) is part of patient care and comfort, then it IS your job even it's something you dislike doing. This is what we all signed up for people, the good, the bad, the ugly, and the stinky - treating the human condition (which is all that and more).

And the amount of 'effort' I've seen nurses go to to avoid doing an 'unpleasant' task, never fails to astound me, they work harder at not working than they would have if they'd just jumped in and completed the task.

Last year an RN at my facility wrote up a tech who 'missed' emptying a bloody suction canister during a case turnover in the OR. When asked by the charge nurse why didn't she just empty the suction canister since she admitted seeing the canister before calling the tech back into the room to change it, this nurse actually had the balls to reply "I'm a registered professional nurse. I don't change suction canisters." and admitted she wrote the tech up more because she felt she was 'insubordinant' when called back in to change the canister rather than as an infection control issue. Needless to say when that nurse applied to stay for another year here when her time was up, she was declined.

[Blackheartednurse]

Wow just wow amazing...makes me wonder if the nurse in question knows or cares to assess correctly.

[talaxandra]

Yay consequences of toolish behaviour!

If I'm in charge I tend not to empty catheters, partly because I don't have time and partly because I don't want to freak out the area nurse into thinking her patient's anuric/oliguric but if I'm on the floor no nursing-related job's "below" me - what a tool.

[OrthoRN09]

I agree with Talaxandra, when I am on the floor, there is no patient care related task that is "below me". I do it all, empty foleys, suction canisters, ambulate patients, baths, linen changes....you name it, I do it. We have PCA's on the floor and they are great, but we utilize them to sit with 1:1's and assign them certain tasks/patients.