I am a new RN and where I work there are a couple of nurses on night shift who have refused to take shift report from me. One has her friend come and get report for her. She says its because of my perfume (which I don't wear). This was even confirmed by the nurse manager. They (these two nurses) when giving shift report will only say "nothing has changed"," they are still breathing" "I gave them their pain and nausea meds and they were fine"
I mean we have some very critically ill patients with over half on vents.
The nurse manager knows as she asked me to let her know if it happened again which I did
Specializes in onc, M/S, hospice, nursing informatics.
Whenever I take report, I always tell the nurse if I have had the patient before so that she knows I am somewhat familiar with him/her. However, that does not give the nurse permission to not tell me everything she knows about that patient. This needs to end immediately. If your manager refuses to do anything about it, I would file an incident report, because that (at least in our facility) goes all the way up the food chain. If that does not get results, go the BON. Good luck.
I would attempt to unearth the real reason as to why the offgoing nurse does not want to give you what you deserve: a real face-to-face report.
It is imperative for you to know what is going on with each of your patients, and a general statement such as "everyone's breathing" will not make the cut. The offgoing nurse needs to stop playing games, shove her personal feelings aside, and bestow upon you a decent change-of-shift report. It's her job.
I don't think the reasons, real or otherwise are the obligation of the offgoing/oncoming nurse to unearth. Likely they don't have time or training to do so.
As you say, getting and giving report is an integral part of the job. If you don't give meds, you get fired (sooner rather than later) and it should be the same with report.
This is a managerial problem, and the manager needs to act promptly and vigorously.
Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.
You need to request that your manager set up a meeting between you and the two nurses in question immediately so that you can get to the bottom of this situation. The manager must be present for this meeting. If this is not done, then you need to go to HR and explain the situation and tell them that this is resulting in a hostile work environment and their failure to accept or provide report is compromising patient care. In the meantime, tell them to write out a report for you on each of their patients and KEEP THESE REPORT SHEETS. If someone wants to see them, give them a copy. Sounds like some other issue is going on here. If your manager ignores this issue, you must go to HR.
I would chart it!!! "Change of shift report attempted, Nurse X refused to receive report on patient" When I end my shift I write "reported off to nurse X or reported off to NOC/DAY nurse" Cover your ass...is something goes wrong the nurse can say "well she (you) never told me about it...had she told me the patient would have not...or I would have been able to forsee... ect ect.
I agree with Mulan that risk mgmt needs to be made aware. If it were me, I would do a few things: First, refuse the assignment without report. Second, document such in an incident report and include prior dates that it happened as well. Be sure to include the fact that you did discuss this with your superior on whatever date. (which I would place the report into intra-facility mail instead of my manager's box). You gave your manager an opportunity to avoid an incident report when you reported it the first time. Thirdly, if your facility has such a structure that there is a Quality supervisor, they should be made aware as this is a JCAHO violation. Not only a violation- but this was a 2009 NPSG for crying out loud.
Another way to do this would be to give these nurses another opportunity to correct this behavior. Simply advise them that "Handoff communication of caregivers is not an option and plays a vital role in patient safety. If you are unable or unwilling to give me an adequate report I am afraid i must refuse the patient assignment and file an incident report. This is completely up to you now to determine if that is the step I need to take." Not only is the goal clearly stated, it places the ball squarely in their court.
Sorry this post is so long- hope all goes well for you. Keep us posted!!
Wow had the same thing happen to me..Nurse refused to give report..wanted to get home..I ended up getting her pt. who had a HR in the 170's..and no report...I was so angry.I emailed a letter to the nurse manager..because I wanted it in writting and informed her of what happened...She met with the whole staff and gave everyone a verbal warning..and the next step would be writing that person up.
Sometimes I find it difficult to believe how ill mannered people are allowed to get away with second rate care. I wonder how these nurses would like it if it was their loved one who was on the recieving end of a ship shoddy report. You cannot allow them to treat you this way
I agree that you need to request a meeting with your nurse manager and ask for a conference with the nurses in question. Make sure you request the meeting in a formal communication such as e-mail or letter. If the problem persists then please go up the chain of command. You do not want to end up at the risk mgmt. office before you have communicated with the DON.
And also examine if you are guilty of any of the mortal sins of receiving shift report. These include asking too many questions because you did not bother to listen to the questions the reporting nurse already answered. Asking for too many details about the patient that are uneccessary and will make the reporting nurse late clocking out. Stopping in mid report to grab a co-worker or to address something that can wait until report is finished.
If you are not guilty of these things (or even if you are) then the meeting may help establish expectations of what the shift report will include. Also if your hospital has a clinical ladder program this would be a good opportunity to develop a standardized end of shift report for your unit.
Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.
You need to have a strong discussion with your manager about this. This is totally unacceptable and the manager needs to step up and put a stop to this NOW. There is absolutely NO WAY that I would allow a nurse on my shift to get away with this. If your manager refuses to take some action, then you need to let her know that you will be going up the chain of command. It is DANGEROUS for nurses not to report off to each other and "no change" is not a report. This makes me angry just to hear about something like this.
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mom4josh
284 Posts
Whenever I take report, I always tell the nurse if I have had the patient before so that she knows I am somewhat familiar with him/her. However, that does not give the nurse permission to not tell me everything she knows about that patient. This needs to end immediately. If your manager refuses to do anything about it, I would file an incident report, because that (at least in our facility) goes all the way up the food chain. If that does not get results, go the BON. Good luck.