Had a very crazy shift the other night. I had 8 patients, fresh post-ops, most of whom were trainwrecks. One very confused gentlemen who was stripping naked, trying to get out of bed (very unsteady) and constantly unhooking his mediport ALL night long. Was in the room almost every 5 minutes trying to calm him down, couldn't get a sitter from the doc ending up having to put him in mittens. Pts. with BP issues, output issues, just multiple multiple issues all night. I never sat down once. I ran like crazy. 2 float techs who were overwhelmed with our floor and unable to complete I's/O's, blood sugars etc. A bad, bad night.
So i stay 20 minutes over my shift and left a few things undone. 1 pt. who needed an iv restart and an NG dropped, another who needed some supplies I could not find on NOC's despite calling every one under the sun in the hospital I could think of. I apologized to oncoming shift. The response I got was its ok we understand you had 8 patients (they have 4). Another of my coworkers took my sheet to copy while I was giving report to another RN, when I was ready to give report to her she said, I got what I need off your sheets, go home. I gave her a few things I learned form the small amount of time I had to go through his chart (admitted from SI, extubated that day etc. etc.)
Finish report, go to my locker, realize I left my jacket at desk. As I am walking back I overhear 2 of the dayshift RN's complaining about all the "crap" I had left them and now they have to deal with it, etc. etc. I pretend like I didn't hear them, grab my coat and walk back to my locker almost in tears.
Friend of mine was in that night, getting report from the RN who just copied my sheets and said she didn't need anything else. She goes to give my friend report and says " I got a really ******* report on this pt. today from the NOC RN. Then tells her he has some skin issues but she didnt really look at him, just got it from his chart.
I got that pt. at 2400 (not my admit) I did not do a complete skin assessment on him because admitting RN said she did and no issues. Now our unit gets credit for undocumented pressure ulcers and I am feeling quite bad right now. Apparently this is my fault. The dayshift RN admitted to my friend that she didn't really look at this guys skin either. This was one of the patients who was having issues for me and quite frankly skin was not my top priority as he was not very stable when I got him.
My feelings are a little hurt because one of the complaining RN's was my preceptor for a while and someone I felt I could go to and trust. The one who complained about my crappy report is notorious on our unit for giving horrible reports and leaving out necessary info. In fact it is pretty much my practice to get report from her and then go straight to chart to get the real history and real background info. I did not do this with the 3 extra pts. I picked up at 2400 because I did not have time. I do not "call out" others when they give me incomplete report because I figure they were busy and didn't have time to go through the chart. I am really angry that this particular nurse felt the need to make sure everyone knew she got bad report from me. It is ok for her to say "no one told me about that" but I guess not ok for me.
What I do not understand is why they would be all nice to me in report and then turn around and ***** after I leave. If there was an issue they should have said something then. Nursing is 24/7 and at some point you have to stop or else you would be there forever!!!! I don't complain when I come in and have to do a million things left over from day shift.
I am not a passive aggressive person and believe in confronting problems head on. Apparently this is not the way you do things in nursing.
This is the same reason I don't watch 'Survivor'. I don't want to know what goes on behind my back, and try not to do it to others. When work is left undone, I just prioritize and do it in order of importance. If I leave work undone, it is usually because I didn't know about it, or had something urgent happen that kept me from it. We need to work as a team and stop having peeing for distance contests. It's not about who is the 'best' nurse, it's about taking care of those who depend on us.
Specializes in Chiropractic assistant, CNA in LTC, RN.
This is the same reason I don't watch 'Survivor'. I don't want to know what goes on behind my back, and try not to do it to others. When work is left undone, I just prioritize and do it in order of importance. If I leave work undone, it is usually because I didn't know about it, or had something urgent happen that kept me from it. We need to work as a team and stop having peeing for distance contests. It's not about who is the 'best' nurse, it's about taking care of those who depend on us.
I did Day night rotations at my hospital so I know what you are talking about....just forget about it. I am a male nurse and my reports tend to be a lot shorter than my female counterparts, and people at times complain. I just sat to them that my company say we should stick to pertinent facts during report.
Unreal you should have to go through this it is just horrible.
Next time sombody says they got it all from your worksheet, I would say NO I will go over the information with you as I would not like anybody to discuss me and say I do not report properly. 8 patients and all busy ones is too much for one person to do effectively.
I feel for you. I still have trouble handling criticism. One thing that helps sometimes is to look at what is being said as if it is being said to you about another person. How much weight would you give it then? This technique can help you be more objective in evaluating if the criticism has merit or if it's just someone blowing off steam.
What I find sad, also, is that co-workers put in a bad situation turn on each other instead of banding together to question the people responsible for staffing as to why they are being put in such situations in the first place. I'm not saying anything would change, necessarily, but at least the anger would be directed at people who could do something about it instead of being directed onto those caught in the storm.
All I can say to you is that working in the hospital field there is going to be so much nepotism, favoritism, backstabbing, betrayal, sucking up, two facing coworkers that you have to work with. It's going to happen and you just can't trust anybody. Choose your words carefully and pick friends carefully, because that best friend can end up being your worst enemy. Especially if you engage in to the he say she say rumor thing. I feel for you, I know it sucks when you thinh someone is a friend and you can trust them and then something like that happens. If I were you I wouldn't do anything different. I would just take the temperature of the room before you go in it to it more often. Good luck!!!
Wow, thats one heck of a patient to nurse ratio...8 patients to one RN on nights and 4 to a day shift nurse. That's not fair. Sorry you had a bad night but you need to remember that nursing is a 24 hour a day job and what doesn't get done on your shift will get done on the next so don't worry about leaving stuff, it happens, move on. If you feel like confronting that nurse, say "Hey, you were the one who copied my sheet and said go home, why are you complaining and secondly I had 8 patients to care for last night, not 4 like you have."
I don't know about you but I'm sick of people complaining about other shifts, I just start calling out people who complain about me or to me for stupid reasons.
i am not a nurse yet! however, as long as you know that you did the best you could do then do not worry about what someone else says or thinks about you.if, your boss has not complained to you about your work than you must be doing ok! just think tomorrow it will be somebody else that they are talking about. just don't get involved with the gossip. go to work tomorrow/tonight with your head up high and smiling never let them know that you were hurt by what they said. however, when you leave your shift let them know individually if there is a problem with this chart that you don't understand to speak with you about it. kill'em with kindness. let me know how things go. :loveya:
Had a very crazy shift the other night. I had 8 patients, fresh post-ops, most of whom were trainwrecks. One very confused gentlemen who was stripping naked, trying to get out of bed (very unsteady) and constantly unhooking his mediport ALL night long. Was in the room almost every 5 minutes trying to calm him down, couldn't get a sitter from the doc ending up having to put him in mittens. Pts. with BP issues, output issues, just multiple multiple issues all night. I never sat down once. I ran like crazy. 2 float techs who were overwhelmed with our floor and unable to complete I's/O's, blood sugars etc. A bad, bad night.
So i stay 20 minutes over my shift and left a few things undone. 1 pt. who needed an iv restart and an NG dropped, another who needed some supplies I could not find on NOC's despite calling every one under the sun in the hospital I could think of. I apologized to oncoming shift. The response I got was its ok we understand you had 8 patients (they have 4). Another of my coworkers took my sheet to copy while I was giving report to another RN, when I was ready to give report to her she said, I got what I need off your sheets, go home. I gave her a few things I learned form the small amount of time I had to go through his chart (admitted from SI, extubated that day etc. etc.)
Finish report, go to my locker, realize I left my jacket at desk. As I am walking back I overhear 2 of the dayshift RN's complaining about all the "crap" I had left them and now they have to deal with it, etc. etc. I pretend like I didn't hear them, grab my coat and walk back to my locker almost in tears.
Friend of mine was in that night, getting report from the RN who just copied my sheets and said she didn't need anything else. She goes to give my friend report and says " I got a really ******* report on this pt. today from the NOC RN. Then tells her he has some skin issues but she didnt really look at him, just got it from his chart.
I got that pt. at 2400 (not my admit) I did not do a complete skin assessment on him because admitting RN said she did and no issues. Now our unit gets credit for undocumented pressure ulcers and I am feeling quite bad right now. Apparently this is my fault. The dayshift RN admitted to my friend that she didn't really look at this guys skin either. This was one of the patients who was having issues for me and quite frankly skin was not my top priority as he was not very stable when I got him.
My feelings are a little hurt because one of the complaining RN's was my preceptor for a while and someone I felt I could go to and trust. The one who complained about my crappy report is notorious on our unit for giving horrible reports and leaving out necessary info. In fact it is pretty much my practice to get report from her and then go straight to chart to get the real history and real background info. I did not do this with the 3 extra pts. I picked up at 2400 because I did not have time. I do not "call out" others when they give me incomplete report because I figure they were busy and didn't have time to go through the chart. I am really angry that this particular nurse felt the need to make sure everyone knew she got bad report from me. It is ok for her to say "no one told me about that" but I guess not ok for me.
What I do not understand is why they would be all nice to me in report and then turn around and ***** after I leave. If there was an issue they should have said something then. Nursing is 24/7 and at some point you have to stop or else you would be there forever!!!! I don't complain when I come in and have to do a million things left over from day shift.
I am not a passive aggressive person and believe in confronting problems head on. Apparently this is not the way you do things in nursing.
I don't know what kind of floor you work on, but you're not there to be nice or make friends (being professional is all you need to be to them). I would say, at this point, that you need to tell them you overhead some crap being said about you and tell them what you know - what you tried to do with what you had, how much you had going on and what little help. I think getting mad about it and not receiving any help is what you should be mad about - those kinds of nurses talking about you will talk about you even if you did everything perfect. Do they do everything perfect? no. You need to call them out - who cares who you offend, since you're not out to befriend them anyway. Defend yourself - defend your actions. Everyone feels as though they could always do more, and at the end of your shift, if there are things left to do, then leave it for the next shift. Our jobs are 24-7, as you expect work to be left for you if the previous shift couldn't get to it - within reason, not like letting Heparin infusion to be delayed for an entire shift. You just can't let them get you down - they're witches and will step all over those who let them.
Defend yourself, do your best and move on. Fiercely defend yourself. =)
By the way, WHY do you have 8 patients? Geeeeeezzzzzz!
Thank you all for the advice. I have learned a couple of good lessons from this (always do your own assessment and never trust someone else who says they did it) and watch your back lol.
This unit is huge on drama and backstabbing and I do not really fit in here because this is not my way. It is also an extremely poorly staffed unit and has a huge turnover rate. I am searching for greener pastures but I know many of the problems I experience here will come up no matter where I go.
I can put up with the drama as long as I have a better ratio.
Thank you all for the advice. I have learned a couple of good lessons from this (always do your own assessment and never trust someone else who says they did it) and watch your back lol.
This unit is huge on drama and backstabbing and I do not really fit in here because this is not my way. It is also an extremely poorly staffed unit and has a huge turnover rate. I am searching for greener pastures but I know many of the problems I experience here will come up no matter where I go.
I can put up with the drama as long as I have a better ratio.
sounds like a good idea to do your time, like prison (ha!), and find a better floor that suits you - of course, drama goes without saying in the nursing profession, but perhaps you'll find a little bit less when you move on. Good luck!
Thank you all for the advice. I have learned a couple of good lessons from this (always do your own assessment and never trust someone else who says they did it) and watch your back lol.
This unit is huge on drama and backstabbing and I do not really fit in here because this is not my way. It is also an extremely poorly staffed unit and has a huge turnover rate. I am searching for greener pastures but I know many of the problems I experience here will come up no matter where I go.
I can put up with the drama as long as I have a better ratio.
The drama of nursing!! God forbid that you should make a mistake! I did, don't even remember what it was, but I'd see little groups of 2 or 3 whispering and looking in my direction!! So, I just went over to them, said, "yeah, I screwed up!! I learned from it and I won't do it again!" AND, they'd say, "Oh!! We weren't talking about you!"
nurseinlimbo
262 Posts
This is the same reason I don't watch 'Survivor'. I don't want to know what goes on behind my back, and try not to do it to others. When work is left undone, I just prioritize and do it in order of importance. If I leave work undone, it is usually because I didn't know about it, or had something urgent happen that kept me from it. We need to work as a team and stop having peeing for distance contests. It's not about who is the 'best' nurse, it's about taking care of those who depend on us.