Nurses are not "allowed"

Nurses General Nursing

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:madface: I was just reading the reminiscing thread and one of the posts was stating something about how the nurses had to stand up when a DR. walked into the nursing station.

Welll...Get this. We have a brand new nursing unit with a nursing station. The nurses station has a long desk with approximately 5 computers. 2 are for the secretarys, one is for the charge nurse.

Behind the desk there is a thin area that houses pt. charts, med. teaching sheets, fax machine, printer. Adjacant to that is our tiny little med room with both of our omnicells. Put this way, it's a good thing noone is too large.

Anyways, then there is a room adjacant to the nurses station. A nice beautiful room, lots of shelves, at least 7 computers, nice computer space. I think you get the picture. I though we were quite lucky to have such a great room for charting. But noooo, that room there is for the "doctors", so if we are found in that room by a Dr. then we need to leave and search for a computer elsewhere.

I feel that it is really quite demeaning to the nurses and aides that work on the floor to have basically nowhere to chart. It's a thorn in my side!:madface:

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
so if we are found in that room by a Dr. then we need to leave and search for a computer elsewhere.

That's crap. It's a little difficult for them to see anything about their pt. if the nurse has no place to chart it.

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Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

LOL! Yeah, we are supose to move if we are charting or give up the precious seats if an MD comes to chart...so far that hasn't happened..it is first come first serve! LOL!!!! Our Docs don't seem to mind..they roll with it! (I LOVE MY DOCS!).

What got me was in the first hospital I worked in, if an MD entered the room of your patient and you were in there...you were expected to STOP doing whatever you were doing, and address the MD...then ask for permission to continue! Yeah right...I am not in the milliatary folks! That also didn't fly with me much, I can multitask and address anyone coming into that room, let them know who I was, and still do what I was doing! Yeah...I didn't stay there long..LOL!!!!!!!!!!!

Now at my facility it is customary to say hello and something nice if an MD comes into the room...makes for great moods with everyone! Typically I will say "hello Dr. ____, so nice to see you!" *BIG smile*! That gets them grinning every time, and sometimes a nice pat on the back too!!!!!!! I like that better!

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I have to admit our docs will get out of OUR way around the nurses station. They know that if they want us to carry out their orders, they'd better move out of the way.

We even have a couple of docs that -- don't faint now -- will actually help us with 'nursing tasks'. They'll put in foleys, put on SCDs, shave a belly (emergency c-section things). One even told me to go take care of something else and she would be happy to get the patient up to the bathroom and change her bedding.

Needless to say, those are the docs we go out of our way to spoil.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
We even have a couple of docs that -- don't faint now -- will actually help us with 'nursing tasks'. They'll put in foleys, put on SCDs, shave a belly (emergency c-section things). One even told me to go take care of something else and she would be happy to get the patient up to the bathroom and change her bedding.

We have a few of those too.

One even said "Well it makes no sense for me to ***** about how slow the short-handed staff is while i sit on my *** and do nothing."

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LOL! Yeah, we are supose to move if we are charting or give up the precious seats if an MD comes to chart...so far that hasn't happened..it is first come first serve! LOL!!!! Our Docs don't seem to mind..they roll with it! (I LOVE MY DOCS!).

See, that is how I would have seen it too. But our nurse manager will not have us back there. The Dr's are too important.

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Specializes in Psych & Psych ER.

i belive that it would be time to start to "paper train" some of those who still think that the nurse is less than a professional. "We" used to take care of docs who didn't treat us with respect, phone calls q 30mins, "oh gee doctor i'm so sorry to bother you but ....." , "oh gee doctor i feel so bad about calling you AGAIN, but your pt ....." and so on. And needless to say, being oh so pleasant, but not the least bit helpful for other things, finding charts, "extra" sheets of what ever form they were looking for, eventually they will ask for some meeting and THAT is when it can be discussed... remember calmly and never never compromising pt care.

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I always find it amazing how nurses are meant to chart. I also wonder why nurses are not meant to be at the nurses station. Why call it a nurses station? Why not call it something else? Not only do doctors take priority over us, but also every PT, dietician and lab tech it seems.

I have yet to work anywhere that wasn't at least four seats too short and we all know that at any given time at least half the staff on a floor are up doing something else. We have to do shift change report in a patient lounge and unfortunately, if a patient is in it then we're scuppered.

I was not around when our facility was built five years ago but the reason why we only have space for three people to sit down is because the medical director (?) said he was "tired of seeing nurses sitting on their butts. They need to be up and in the rooms" Nobody told him that 40% of nursing is charting. So we have one desk, around 8ft long with three chairs, all of which lost their foam some 15 years back. Because this man was such a brainiac, we now have nowhere to chart because of HIPAA as it is not really a nurses station but a desk with a call light box where patients and family members can go behind too. It is also the junction between two halls. People have to walk behind us to get to the other hall. We also have nowhere to give report apart from 12 + people standing sardine style in an 8' x 10' med room. We have resorted to putting a couple of chairs in a communications closet (my favourite place to chart)

This man also made sure the building had a laundry chute because he didn't want aides walking around with garbage in the halls (but it slipped his mind about a trash chute)

To the OP, I am sorry that the person giving you this trouble is also a nurse. You'd think we'd look after one another, wouldn't you?

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

tell the doctors that thier knuckles are dragging again.

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UGH...why do we put up with this crap. I for one will not get up for an MD...if he asks for vital signs and I am doing something else then I will kindly tell him that they can be found outside the patients room in the door chart....if he wants to know where something is then I will tell him so that he knows next time...I work in a very busy LTACH and it amazes me how some nurses bend over backwards to do EVERYTHING they can for the MD's...writing verbal orders when the doctor is sitting right next to them...until we stop allowing them to treat us like second class citizens then things will never change.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, PACU, ICU, CCU,ED,ENDO.

LOL...holy crap! I'm sorry but the ED is my house, any resident and any outside attending is a visitor. The computers are for my charting and order completion. Each nurse in an area has their own work station and theres a residents/attendings room with 6 work stations.

I've chased all manner of 'professionals' off of my computer:trout: " I'm sorry but I need to work here, please find another screen".

Some MD's need to get over themselves.

Without nurses a hospital is a 3rd rate hotel with oxygen outlets.

Paul

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Specializes in ER.
tell the doctors that thier knuckles are dragging again.

PML! :devil:

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