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.
I agree it does get frustrating from time to time. Some pt's do need to realize we are a hospital not a hotel, but the way I see it, getting people what they need to be comfortable is a part of the job, whether it is pain pills or coffee. If I am really running behind and have lots to do, I will either ask my aides to help out or I will explain to the pt. I will be there as soon as I can or if they are able to ambulate themselves or if a family member is there to help out, I'll politiely ask them. It is the pts that you offer everything to them possible and they still are mad at you. Those are the pts I really get frustrated with. Overall though I think its part of my job to make my pt. comfortable and happy, they are in the hospital and not feel their best, I know when I'm sick I always want someone else to help me out.
Big, BIG need for patient education here as I see it. At most facilities there is no process for setting patient expectations regarding who to call for what, or what types of care/ services patients/ visitors are allowed to do themselves. The patients don't know if they can go into the kitchen to get ice, go into the bathroom themselves, etc. etc and it may change day to day as they progress. They are often clueless that the CNA can help them to the bathroom or can relay other needs to the nurse. Since there is no specific uniform for nurses at my facility I don't think many patients differentiate when they see a warm body.
If I'm doing an admission I'll try to outline the basics for the pt., ie; if you push the call button a CNA or Nurse will respond. For help to the bathroom, washing up or getting a drink or something (if the pt is allowed on their diet), the CNA can assist. For medication or assessment, it must be the nurse. However, I don't always have the time to go over this and it probably sounds snippy to them if I tell them "This is actually something your CNA can take care of next time". Still, take care of a couple of little requests for each pt. during the evening med pass and I'll be waking pts up for meds at 10P.
Its a sad joke where I work. The initials of the place are "BK". We always say...(amongst co-workers, not patients of course) "BK your way right away. Would you like fries with that?" It seems more like a hotel with maids than a hospital with nurses a lot of nights.
i work the night shift. at hs, i hear all the requests. "can I have more ice water?", "i need something for pain", "can i have another blanket?", "is there something to eat?". i try and get all the basic needs taken care of when i do my vital signs. i take the med cart, bp cuff, and do all my running then. so, when we do our hs round, we can change linen, get towels, offer analgesics again and hs sedation, treatments. sometimes the bell ringing goes well into the night and sometimes, when a patient calls for me to cover them with the blankets they kicked off, i look at my watch and wonder if, i'll get all my work done in time. sometimes the requests are unreasonable at the time and sometimes there are the climbers that are an ongoing conern. but 0700 always comes around faster than i know it, my releif shows up and i'm counting off the narcotics and benzos and heading for the parking lot to go home.
Big, BIG need for patient education here as I see it. At most facilities there is no process for setting patient expectations regarding who to call for what, or what types of care/ services patients/ visitors are allowed to do themselves.
I think that's the bottom line; many patients just don't know any better. My experience as a patient is limited to one visit (other than childbirth, which is another ball of wax), and while I was too ill to get out of bed for anything, I certainly wouldn't have assumed, for example, that I could have walked into the kitchen and helped myself to ice. Heck, I wouldn't have known where the kitchen was!
Patients also don't have a direct means of contacting the most appropriate staff member, such as a PCT or CNA, for needs that aren't medically-related. The PCT/CNA don't necessarily enter the room more than the nurse does (mine didn't, in any case), especially if they are spread just as thin or shared by multiple nurses.
Without a defined set of expections, both patients and nurses will experience unnecessary frustration.
Oh, and there was a recent news type item in one of the nursing journals (and a previous poster also mentioned) that if you could make hourly rounds, you could keep your call lights under control! If only if I could manage that!- I seem to be doing everything at a dead run and just barely keeping up!
Oh, and there was a recent news type item in one of the nursing journals (and a previous poster also mentioned) that if you could make hourly rounds, you could keep your call lights under control! If only if I could manage that!- I seem to be doing everything at a dead run and just barely keeping up!
that's how i feel sometimes. sure i try and do hourly rounds but somtimes the hourly round just ends and a new one begins. i feel like i'm always running. sometimes call lights are under control and sometimes we just have no control over the call lights.
Then there are those little old ladies that never ask for anything, just lay there and say "no thank your dear, Im just fine". Those are the ones that drive me nuts because I know there must be something they could use!
Oh, and there was a recent news type item in one of the nursing journals (and a previous poster also mentioned) that if you could make hourly rounds, you could keep your call lights under control! If only if I could manage that!- I seem to be doing everything at a dead run and just barely keeping up!
that's how i feel sometimes. sure i try and do hourly rounds but somtimes the hourly round just ends and a new one begins. i feel like i'm always running. sometimes call lights are under control and sometimes we just have no control over the call lights.
Even 2 hour rounds would cut down on call lights. It provides the opportunity to provide to provide the simple needs such as water, kleenex, blankets, etc on a routine basis. Patients SEE the staff more often, which can be comforting, you will also see a decline in c/o that the staff "was never in my room unless I called."
Education on what the different staff members are there for is also in order. It should also be included that nurses have to prioritize their care. People should also know that nurses CANNOT discuss other patients with them, which means that if a nurse was busy with another patient and they had to wait, the nurse CANNOT justify herself/himself by violating HIPPA requirements. I also think family members need to be educated that the staff is not there to wait on them, we are there for the patients. I think one of the biggest hurdles we face is the public's lack of knowledge about why nurses are there in the first place.
Specializes in Policy, Emergency OR, Peds OR, CVOR.
First of all, like you said, you are not a nurse. So that instantly let me know that you don't understand. Secondly, if it hit a nerve, then you are probably one of the kind of patients I am referring to. Please, don't loose sleep over it because believe me, I won't. And it doesn't matter what you think because you're not me.
Vicious, vicious, vicious. No, I don't understand what a nurse deals with but I am human and I can sympathize with the fact that they are usually overworked, underpaid and held in low regard despite the great work they do.
No, you shouldn't writhe in pain. But, if I have a patient that is two seconds away from coding (going into cardiac or respiratory arrest) you're pain in the last thing on my mind. Maybe you never had anyone to take the time to explain why they couldn't get to you right away. But you might have not been the top priority at the time. And yes, if you are ambulatory and not at risk of falling then you can get your own light. Nine times out of ten, the light control is on your bed control. If it isn't then let it stay on until someone comes to get it. If you're tired, you'll go to sleep with it on.
One of my main points is that as the nurse, you are dealing with the problems and pain of multiple people at once and you must prioritize. However, as a patient, I am only dealing with the problems and pain of one person and consider myself the top priority. I do not treat my nurse as a waitress or a personal assistant. When my doctor tells me that I will receive pain medication regularly to control the pain, I assume that my nurse receives the same information. Do I realize that there are 7,000 things that the nurse is doing at once? Yes. Does knowing that alleviate my pain? No. Is there a patient coding every single time I need my pain meds? No way. Do I get upset or nasty with the nurse? No. I remind her/him when they come into my room. If a CNA or Med Tech comes into my room first, I tell them. I think I've even asked the housekeeper for my meds before! I have never asked for anything that I could do for myself unless my doctor told me to do it under the supervision of a nurse. I have often slept with the light on because I couldn't ambulate and I didn't feel it justified using the call bell, but is it really that annoying for someone to ask you to flip the switch by the door on the way out? I didn't realize that I could have been setting someone off by doing that.
Oh, so you're a student. Then, I know why you feel the way you do know. All I have to say is, just wait until you're in my shoes. I would love to know if you change your tune after you've been nursing for one year. Yes, I understand now. I used to criticize the floor nurses when I did clinicals because I saw how jaded they were. I wondered why they didn't jump when the patient needed a soda. Well, let me tell you. Now, since I've been a nurse for only 1 and a half of a year, I understand. They probably had something going on and it was not the first thing on their mind to go bring Queen Elizabeth a Coke at the moment.
Can we say condescension? You seem so angry and confrontational. Forgive me if I hope I am NEVER in your shoes.. Jaded after only 1 1/2 years? I must say that I had several fantastic nurses that had been doing it much longer and seemed to really care about me as a patient. **I also must clarify that I have NEVER asked my nurse for a soda unless I was specifically asked if I wanted one to see if I could tolerate it. **
Bottom line, in every profession that deals with the public there will be overbearing demanding a**es that drive you insane. In nursing, you may be dealing with 9 of them but also have one patient that is scared, alone, in pain, and unsure of who to ask for help or the proper procedures to do so. When they are lumped in with the other 9, they will suffer.
Even within this thread you can see markedly different nursing styles expressed from different people. What one nurse may want could drive the next insane. I have never worked in a hospital so I don't know the protocol.
***I think that the suggestion that the patient be more educated is brilliant.***
I never once acted in such a selfish, childish way. If you feel less than human, then that's too bad. I would much rather have a nurse that actually took care of her patients' best interests then to have one that make darn good coffee.
Wow. How lucky your patients must feel. I prefer my nurses to care about my feelings of being less than human.
Do hospitals not use the "candy stripers" anymore? Looks like they could use them to get coffee, blankets, ice, water, the newspaper, requests to "just be covered up", lots of things that would really help out the nurses and the CNAs.
If you have a good volunteer who knows their limits, to not do anything medically, they could be a tremendous help to the staff.
Why are these not being used anymore, if they aren't?
No, that isn't part of my job. My job is to help implement doctors orders to help my sick people get better. It's not as simple as "if they need something, then that means they're getting better" (not quoting you, just bringing up a hypothetical quote). If I have a sick patient that has a ton of medicine on one hand and patient that just in for observation and is stable on the other, I am not going to be spending my time going to get coffee and coming in to adjust the telly one hundred times that night. My priority is to care for my sickest patients first and see about being a waitress last. Those types of people take up too much valuable times for little things and it's not right.
I feel they need to start hiring waitresses in the hospital to take orders from now on.
I totally understand that. What I'd like to know is...how do you explain such things to visitors, family, AND patients..tactfully? It seems more often than not, when I have serious patient issues and cannot get the ice, coffee, blankets, etc right then, that those patients or visitors want to whine and complain. I always thought I was explaining why and being "nice". Anyone?
mjscan_07
26 Posts
I agree it does get frustrating from time to time. Some pt's do need to realize we are a hospital not a hotel, but the way I see it, getting people what they need to be comfortable is a part of the job, whether it is pain pills or coffee. If I am really running behind and have lots to do, I will either ask my aides to help out or I will explain to the pt. I will be there as soon as I can or if they are able to ambulate themselves or if a family member is there to help out, I'll politiely ask them. It is the pts that you offer everything to them possible and they still are mad at you. Those are the pts I really get frustrated with. Overall though I think its part of my job to make my pt. comfortable and happy, they are in the hospital and not feel their best, I know when I'm sick I always want someone else to help me out.