Painted with the same brush..........

NurseDennie, BSN, RN · Apr 29, 2002

I don't think I understand the whole situation (working the desk, etc.), but I sure understand some witch lying to cover her A&&!

Shame on her! I can't imagine a single thing you could have done differently, and I sure hope the person she told that you'd made her cry said "I don't see any tears or red eyes."

Sheesh!

Do you have to work with this person after this? That would be a difficult thing to overlook and be nicey-nice with her again, if it was me!

Love

Dennie

Jenny P · Apr 29, 2002

Oooh,that makes me so mad!!!! People like that (who ignore pt's. pain meds) need to be hexed with pain themselves and made to lay there waiting and waiting and waiting for hours until their nurse decides to do something about it!!!! And then for this person to LIE about it also really would upset me! I would never trust her again and would be checking up on her each time I told her to do something after that!

I'm assuming your "training to be at the desk" would mean that you are learning to be charge or else the how to do the job of the unit secretary? I'm not quite sure about this term either, but it sounds like you got put in a very uncomfortable spot.

night owl · Apr 29, 2002

Wendy,

Had this person done her job by giving her the pain med when you told her at the very beginning, all this could have been avoided. What a shame that some people have to be so d@mn lame. I'm quite sure that I work with the same people you do...

petiteflower · Apr 30, 2002

First off, that nurse should be ashamed of herself.

Secondly and most importantly, you should be proud of yourself, you acted as a true patient advocate and tried to smooth over a nasty situation with grace and caring. I have been in the paitent's place, and feeling like my nurse didn't care about me (part of why I went to nursing school) and wish that someone like you would have taken my part. Good for you.

hapeewendy · Apr 30, 2002

thanks guys, the whole at the desk thing is that yes I am being trained to be able to function incharge.... which is stressful enough as it is.

and I do have to work with this nurse on a fairly regular basis , though she isnt on my normal line

so when I resume my shiftwork I will just have to tidy up her errors as opposed to witnessing them first hand

it just bothered me that some ppl view nursing as a bunch of tasks we need to squeeze into 8 or 12 hours or whatever it is, and training to be incharge has made me realize that not everyone I work with is cut out for this job, which is a sad realization to have to make. I'm used to working with a team of awesome nurses who really exemplify what we should be doing for our patients

this just showed me that unfortunately it isnt the case all the time

I guess also the fact that this patient was particularly nice and awesome and caring and compassionate herself intensified the anger

though if she was a nasty old hag I would still be annoyed that the nurse didnt do what she should have in this situation

as always you guys are a great support and I appreciate you all

cheers

Fgr8Out · May 1, 2002

The more I read this BB, the more I am of the opinion that we all need to work the same hospital together and whip em into shape!! I can't imagine a better group of people to work with than those whose comments I read here everyday.

Peace:)

LasVegasRN · May 1, 2002

I HATE PEOPLE LIKE THAT!!! :angryfire

Okay, but this does open up a pet peeve of mine. When I was doing floor nursing many moons ago, we didn't have paging systems nor did we have intercoms in the patient rooms.

I'll tell you why I hate intercoms - from my own experience as a patient. I was in a semi-private room after my C-section and my roommate was a young girl in for placenta previa, strict bedrest. She had a horrible night because she came so close to losing her baby so many times and was finally getting some rest when.... my epidural wore off. :eek: PAIN, my friends, hit me. WOW did it hit me. But, I knew if I hit that call light they were going to come over that intercom LOUD asking what I wanted. And I was going to have to talk LOUD so they could hear me. How do I get the nurse's attention at 1:15 am without disturbing this poor girl? Nurse me, walked to the nurses station, in horrible pain, to ask for something. I was in a cold sweat by the time I got there and my knees gave out. BOY did I get a reaming out by the nursing supervisor. Well, gee, I didn't want to disturb my roommate from the intercom. Silly me.

I miss the days of just going to the room to answer a call light... :sniff:

sharann, BSN, RN · May 1, 2002

Wendy,

You were in the right, she was wrong. You even offered to pass the med FOR her or have another nurse help. This is a pain med. You should be proud of yourself. We all forget things on occasion, being over busy and understaffed, but you gave her at least 3 oppurtunities to "remember". Good going. Write an incident report if happens again.

Agnus · May 1, 2002

Wendy,

Ya, done good kid.

You can't make anyone cry. She chose to cry. Just as you can't make anyone feel something.

This is passive agressive behavior on her part.

She is a person who does not take responsibililty for her own actions. So she is trying to blame you, for the paitient not getting pain relief, and for her dicision to handle the situation by crying.

Ya got a baby on your hands here. Doesn't belong in a grown up responsible profession.

I betcha she can turn those water works on and off faster than you can blink. Maby she should consider the theater, where she can play her favorite game of pretend.

hapeewendy · May 1, 2002

just a quick update, the pt that didnt get her tylenol #3 the other day, got d/ced home today

she came to the desk and thanked myself and my supervisor for being such good advocates of her care for her, she whispered to me that I shouldnt worry so much about "one bad apple spoiling a bunch" I of course wouldnt agree cuz despite how annoyed I am at my co worker I dont believe in insulting them or taking part in that kind of stuff, I just wished her all the best n hoped we didnt meet under these circumstances

as for that nurse, she's cried before, sometimes she tries to use the fact that english isnt her first language as an excuse, but really I dont buy that, and its not like she doesnt understand, because she does

and really, me????? make anyone cry!

are you kidding! I am the biggest conflict avoider known to humankind (which brings on its own set of problems mind you but still)

and like one of my patients told me yesterday

"I like you so much, youre so non threatening, I mean you look like a kid in your little nursing uniform there"

while I didnt know whether to take this as a compliment or stomp my feet and shout out loud that I am 25 years old! (25 - quarter of a century!!!!!!!! years old!) I took it as a compliment which was how it was supposed to be

but im just so annoyed when ppl turn on the waterworks for no good reason

no one got pissed at her, no one raised their voice, she didnt get in trouble, no incident reports etc to speak of, nothing going on outside work that she wanted to tell the boss about

so uhhhh stop youre crying damnit!

and I second the idea that we all get together and work, those patients would be so well taken care of! *sigh* in a perfect world maybe.....

then again its nice that we are all stretched out all over this great world so there is hope for ppl everywhere to get decent good honest nursing care

cheers

off topic, another one of my patients nicknamed me

Wendles...... I'm not sure if I'm fond of this or not..... hmmmmmm

mother/babyRN, RN · May 2, 2002

I hope YOU end up being MY nurse if I am ever in a situation where I am a patient where you are. Thank you in advance for the EXCELLENT, compassionate and superb caregiver you are....YOU GO GIRL!:)