Hello everyone!!! I hope this New Year has been a kind one to you all thus far.
Well, here i go again on one of my rants about the ever so intriguing world of nursing. Here's my pet peeve of the day:
Is is just me, or does it seem to you all that everytime you go into a patient's room to pass meds, do procedures, or simply check on the patient, they always have to ask you to bring them something.
I know for me, it never fails. If I go in there to just look in on my patient they always will stop you before you get out of the door and say, "Oh, nurse, could you get me some coffee," or "May I have something for pain?" or "Turn the lights off, will you". And it drives me crazy.
Now don't get me wrong, I have no problem doing anything for my patients. But it seems that patients look at nurses as nothing more than handmaids to wait on their every beckon and call. For example, I had this man to ring his call bell just to tell me that he wanted to sit up on the side of the bed. I wanted so badly to tell him, "Well, what are you waiting for?". This is because I know that this man is very capable of moving himself because I've seen him do it when he has a male nurse caring for him. But whenever a female steps in, the patients all of sudden become invalids.
I feel that too much of my time is taken up running up and down the halls getting water and coffee. I mean, as much as family members like to stay all day in night in these patients rooms, it would seem that they would get up off of their lazy bums and get these patients something every now and then. It wouldn't hurt them to do this. Oh no, they won't do this. But they can tell you and I how to do our jobs, can't they? (LOL!!).
I have gotten to the point that I actually like being pulled to the critical care units in the hospital because we have telemetry there and you don't have to go into the rooms quite as much as you do on the medical floor because the telemetry is evident.
Do you all feel the same way? Do you all feel that patients are too darn demanding and don't respect us as care providers but see us as handmaids instead? Male nurses, do you feel that patients tend to not bother you as much as your female colleagues? I welcome all input.
As a new nurse, you shouldn't be so quick to judge.
Maybe when you are more experienced, you will have some empathy for fellow nurses.
Empathy, kindness, and compassion isn't just suitable for patients, y'know....!
I might be a new NURSE, but i've been a CNA for 22 years before moving up the food chain, so I'm VERY familiar with answering call bells, taking care of basic patient needs, and attending to and feeding people that could probably feed themselves, assisting people to sit or stand that can do it on their own, and every other aspect of DIRECT BEDSIDE NURSING. I am also compassionate for my fellow nurses, i just can't stand someone bitching about doing what they get paid for. Nursing isn't a profession, it's a calling. You either have the calling or you don't, and if you don't, i make the suggestion that you find a better job that you enjoy, and spare yourself and others your misery.
As a new nurse, you shouldn't be so quick to judge.
Maybe when you are more experienced, you will have some empathy for fellow nurses.
Empathy, kindness, and compassion isn't just suitable for patients, y'know....!
I might be a new NURSE, but i've been a CNA for 22 years before moving up the food chain, so I'm VERY familiar with answering call bells, taking care of basic patient needs, and attending to and feeding people that could probably feed themselves, assisting people to sit or stand that can do it on their own, and every other aspect of DIRECT BEDSIDE NURSING. I am also compassionate for my fellow nurses, i just can't stand someone bitching about doing what they get paid for. Nursing isn't a profession, it's a calling. You either have the calling or you don't, and if you don't, i make the suggestion that you find a better job that you enjoy, and spare yourself and others your misery.
I'm sorry John, but you sound very bitter about something. I answer call bells. I change my pt's, and fluff them up as needed. God forbid, I even talk to them. I guess that means I still love my job. But trust me, I still stress out, and often need to vent. Where can I do that safely. HERE AT ALLNURSES. Guess what, I might say things I might not fully mean or do. It is called venting for a reason, I blow off steam here so I don't do it where it might get me in trouble. Here I have the support of friends and colleagues who know exactly what I mean. And if I need it, I'll be set straight too.
So give the OP and others the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they are not ignoring the pt. Maybe they are venting so they can be a better nurse.
I understand your frustration. I work with geriatic patients with poor memory plus the long list of ailments. Venting is good. Let her rip!
I too have made many trips to patients room and after the 5 time in 2 hours you start to get frustrated when all the little tricks we've been taught does not work. Go ahead and Vent! IT HELPS!!
You bring these in all at once? Deb, how many arms do you have??
A wonderful nurse said to me, two weeks ago, "Watch. 34 years experience. Grab our bed bath stuff and linens from the bottom up. Bottom sheet, chuck, top sheet, pillowcases, towels, washcloths, bath sheet, gown. Now, grab the next room's since you can drop them off on the way. One pile. Learn efficiency."
Who is supposed to get a bed-bound person something? Whenever I leave I ask if I can do anything for them and, if I won't be able to come right back, give them a real time frame. Obviously if someone's dying down the hall all bets are off but most of the patients I see are old COPDers with pneumonia or young drinkers with pneumonia or extremely old people with, well, extreme oldness.
I had one patient at the nursing home who was a true PITA. Always on the bell, wanted a personal assistant, and harangued everyone for not being perfect. Guess whose bell went unanswered a lot. There was simply no time to do everything she wanted, since most of what she wanted was to have her mobility back. And I'm a student nurse, not a magician.
I have to agree. I come here to vent- but I would never vent at my patients or their families!!! For example last night I had a pt w/PICC w/meds running supposed to go over an hour... having issues w/the tubing etc, having to be in there every 2 minutes (literally!) to try to fix it at the start of shift, along with all my other pts' needs- which I didn't mind doing of course, and kept trying to get this kiddo's (very many) evening meds together in between times- when I finally got the meds together and brought them into the room, the kid's aunt has turned on the call light and is screaming into it, "Yeah, they'd BETTER get those meds in here RIGHT NOW before she goes to sleep!!!" THe mom is frantically gesturing that I am, in fact, there, and she stops being so upset. But still! I guess it seemed easy to her to get some medicine for her niece, but she HAD seen me in the room literally every 2 to 5 minutes since 8 p.m. Evening meds on our unit are scheduled for 9 p.m. and I think this gal got hers about 10 after 9. Ah well, this is one of those families no matter what I do I can't please- they really don't trust us for some reason.
Anyway, I jsut needed to vent. I think that most nurses do want their patients to be comfortable and realize that helps them get better faster, and would love to be able to take care of patients like that. At least where I work. But, it is a matter of prioritizing, doing what you can with the time you have and the most critical things do come first- on a crazy shift, you really do not have the time to do every one of those "little" things EVEN if you WANTED to. Also time goes so much faster when you are running around, and you don't realize it was half an hour ago that Susy or Joe asked for a new patient gown because they have some juice on theirs. And in hectic-ness, things do get forgotten as well. I guess I am repeating things others have said. But I just wanted to reiterate, that I don't think this nurse is uncaring- we can't tell anything like that at all from this post- this nurse is fed up/stressed out etc. Please, give her a break.
Part of good nursing care is to encourage wellness and return to ADLs. Encouraging and fostering a co-dependent relationship isn't in the best interest of the patients and their families.
When faced with demanding patients, I just joke with my fellow nurses about working at the Hilton. Tonight, I nearly lost it though, when I walked into a room to give the pt in A bed a med & the daughter of the pt in B bed said, "there she is, ask her" & when her father asked 'there who is', the daughter replied, 'the maid!!
Part of good nursing care is to encourage wellness and return to ADLs. Encouraging and fostering a co-dependent relationship isn't in the best interest of the patients and their families.
EXACTLY. When I worked Med/Surg, obviously some people were more limited in their ADL's etc and I am more than happy to assist when needed. But I work in a LDRP with WELL mothers and babies (most of the time anyway) and for them to ring for water, diapers, etc. When they were oriented to the room, everything is explained-snack kitchen, extra supplies. The worst is when you go in the room to bring them their supplies/water what-have-you and they are sitting cross-legged on the bed with a room full of visitors and they barely acknowledge you entering the room, so certainly no 'thank you'. I usually get 'next time you come in can you bring....?" UGGH!:angryfire
I might be a new NURSE, but i've been a CNA for 22 years before moving up the food chain, so I'm VERY familiar with answering call bells, taking care of basic patient needs, and attending to and feeding people that could probably feed themselves, assisting people to sit or stand that can do it on their own, and every other aspect of DIRECT BEDSIDE NURSING. I am also compassionate for my fellow nurses, i just can't stand someone bitching about doing what they get paid for. Nursing isn't a profession, it's a calling. You either have the calling or you don't, and if you don't, i make the suggestion that you find a better job that you enjoy, and spare yourself and others your misery.
To some people, nursing isn't a calling, but anyway.
Part of my compassion for fellow nurses includes the understanding of busy, frustrating days, venting about that, and not assuming that a person that's venting ("*****ing is not the same thing) is absolutely miserable in their jobs over ONE vent (and lecturing and scolding them in the process FOR it).
Suesquatch]A wonderful nurse said to me, two weeks ago, "Watch. 34 years experience. Grab our bed bath stuff and linens from the bottom up. Bottom sheet, chuck, top sheet, pillowcases, towels, washcloths, bath sheet, gown. Now, grab the next room's since you can drop them off on the way. One pile. Learn efficiency."
.
Sixteen years experience here. :yeahthat: Good advice:
"Work smart, not hard." However, it's those crazy days when no matter HOW much you try to be organized- Murphy's Law won't allow it!
Then you have pts. like me. I was in the hosp. after suspected appendicitis; terribly dehydrated from vomiting for several days. My IV bag was empty and there were no nurses to be found. I was afraid the tubing would run dry. Since I knew where the IV's were (back in the old days before Pyxis), I got up, grabbed another bag, hung it, recorded it on the IV flow sheet, and let the nurse know when she came in later.
She was pretty nice about it, but she did say she'd have rather I called for her. Oh well, I was just trying to be helpful, and I knew what my next IV was going to be.
I was faced with a similar situation after my Dad had had a TURP years ago. He was only a few hours post-op and was on a Murphy Drip, and my Mom was freaking out because the feeder bag was rapidly running out and she couldn't get a nurse to change it. After I had changed it myself, she began ranting and raving about the "sorry care" my Dad was receiving. I had to admonish her, because Dad was in the same hospital in which I had done my RN training and they were ALWAYS understaffed. "They don't have enough help here", I hissed at her, "And as long as I am here with Daddy, I will take care of him myself. Lighten up". "But what would I have done, if you hadn't been here?", she asked, near tears.
:yeah: :yeahthat: :yeahthat: :yelclap: :yelclap:
JohnBearPA
206 Posts
As a new nurse, you shouldn't be so quick to judge.
Maybe when you are more experienced, you will have some empathy for fellow nurses.
Empathy, kindness, and compassion isn't just suitable for patients, y'know....!
I might be a new NURSE, but i've been a CNA for 22 years before moving up the food chain, so I'm VERY familiar with answering call bells, taking care of basic patient needs, and attending to and feeding people that could probably feed themselves, assisting people to sit or stand that can do it on their own, and every other aspect of DIRECT BEDSIDE NURSING. I am also compassionate for my fellow nurses, i just can't stand someone bitching about doing what they get paid for. Nursing isn't a profession, it's a calling. You either have the calling or you don't, and if you don't, i make the suggestion that you find a better job that you enjoy, and spare yourself and others your misery.