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.
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.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
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 often do CNA tasks, get baby blankets, ice water, juice, change pads, sheets, etc just because I happen to be there when it needs doing. I don't mind. I try to round regularly and ask them if they want things or anticipate needs.
One thing that DOES bug me that I wish people would stop doing is coming by the nurse's station to ask for stuff. Very common for dads to pop by to ask, "Can my wife have some water?" or "Can we get some diapers?"
Another peeve: If you do use the call light, SAY what you want. Many times, I hear, "Can I have the nurse?" we always ask, "Can she bring you something?" but sometimes they say no, just the nurse only to find when you get there they want ice water or an extra blanket or to ask where the cafeteria is!!!
Why didn't they use the call light? I know they didn't because I've been sitting there charting. The call light is good because then you can finish charting, get the request and maybe do rounds since you're out and about. When they come to the nurse's station they tend to just STAND THERE and wait, thus forcing you to stop what you are doing. If you need something, yes, think of what else you might need while you're asking, use the call light and once someone answers TELL them what you need!!!
Waitresses would be good.
Good CNAs would help, too.
I love it when I take meds into a patient's room and have to fill their water pitcher, fetch a blanket.....sigh. I don't mind doing it....but what have the CNAs been doing? This happens with the majority of my patients, every shift.
I empty urinals and fetch and carry. Which I don't MIND doing.....but OH YES, there is that call to the doctor that needs to be made....
People need to stop preaching to the original poster on this thread. Geeze, when you can't come here and vent without getting a morality lecture something is wrong......
Preach it, this is all part of the "customer service" trend - tell me, isn't a hospital a place where sick people used to go to get better?
Isn't the basic objective to being hospitalized to get well as soon as possible? IMHO, TPTB started this customer service B.S. to encourage like-minded people to check into a hospital more often and for mundane reasons, to pad their pockets.
And you know, the ones that don't ask for things are the ones that most of the time are in pain or really need something. And those are the ones that I actually offer pain medicine or small items to. I feel that the patients that are truly sick are those that don't take the time to mash the call button. I keep an extra eye on them. Those are the ones that will crash and burn.
Well, as I've said before, the truth does tend to sting. And I'm not a candy-striper so I don't sugar coat anything. Nurses don't need your sympathy, we need your empathy. And if you empathized, you would put yourself in my shoes. It's not your fault that we are short-staffed, but we are and you just have to understand that you may not always be at the top of my list. Especially when you know that I've come to see what you want everytime you've called except once. And you can't understand why that one time out of a million you couldn't have your way just once?
Your doctor ought to come down to the hospital and give the medicine himself if he wants you to have private duty. What your doctor failed to mention was that nurses could be tied up at anytime with a dying patient that they may have to code. And he should have also told you that you were in the hospital, not the Windham and that something can simply wait if there is not other option. Whew!!! I don't know why he didn't tell you THAT. He told you everything else.
And I didn't say that a patient would be coding every single time you needed you light flipped off. But when that does happen, don't get your blood pressure up worrying about it. If I'm in there, I will cut off the light and will make several trips to do so if I have to. That's what I do. But there will be times you will have to wait and that's when patients upset me. Especially when you know that I've bent over backwards to accomodate you every single time and I failed once and you have to nerve to be talking about it?
Well wonderful, bravo!!! What, do you want an award for never asking for a soda? You can ask, just know you may not get one everytime you ask for it. And don't be fooled by those older nurses who smile in your face and roll their eyes behind your back. I do the same thing. That doesn't mean some patients don't get on it at times.
And you are welcome to have your nurses/waitress/hand maids at your service. I just suggest you hire one for private duty so you won't be disappointed. As I have said, it's easy to talk about what you haven't experienced. Wait until you feel it. I'm sure you'll be a regular Mary Poppins all the way through.
When I go into the room that I was unable to go in at the time, this is my script: "I'm sorry that I couldn't get to your sooner, but I was tied up at the moment with a situation." When they ask you what was going on, I always say, "I cannot give out that kind of information, but I was not able to get to you at the moment. Now, how can I help you?"
And the majority of them don't get upset. But what irks me is when you have some idiot say, "I've been waiting forever!!!!" Okay, first of all, you haven't been waiting forever. Second of all, somebody answered your call light and told you that they would tell the nurse you called. I can't stand people who get mad if you don't jump right then and there. That makes me very angry. There are people that won't go to the hospital because they don't have health insurance. They would love to have that bed. So I wish people would stop being so hard up. Sadly, healthcare in this country neglects the underpriviledged and disadvantaged. People in the upper socioeconomic brackets have more access and are the most ungrateful, demanding people ever. They want things their way.
Now see, your situation was urgent. To prevent air from entering your veins in a life and death situation. The reason nobody came probably was because your nurse was tied up in the nourishment station making coffee for the blue-blood down the hall from you.
See, that's what I'm talking about. Small, non-medical request like that take away time for patients like you that really needed a nurse. I usually never get a call about an IV going dry because I stay on top of things like that. But if I do, I don't change a word, I got get it. If I have a pt. that is NPO and can have ice chips and they call for more; no problem!!! I can imagine what it's like to have a dry mouth and can't have water. But Miss Sally down the hall who wants coffee, I take my time and prioritize that as last on my list. Half the time, the patients will go to sleep and forget about things like that.
I hate when patients come the nurses station, too. When they just stand there, I just keep charting or whatever I'm doing. What's wrong with them saying, Excuse me, nurse,? I can't read minds, so if they just stand there, I let them stand. I don't look up, I keep doing what I'm doing because half the time I'm not paying attention to them standing there.
One of my co-workers told one them point blank when a family member cam to the desk, "That's what the call light is for, don't come to the desk"
The original poster isn't angry or condescending, you are.
Have you forgotten you admitted on the first page of this thread that this subject hit a nerve with you?
Stop attacking.
The original poster came here to vent, not to be browbeaten with accusations and insults.
I disagree. Maybe the original post was just a vent (that's the way I saw it) but the latter post directed at the person you are writing to is definitely angry in tone and very nasty. I too hope that I won't be as (seemingly) unhappy after 1 1/2 yrs on the job. I hope that the OP doesn't have such bad days often.
On the same topic- I never knew you could get stuff in the hospital as a patient such as bacon sandwiches, toast, soda. Sheesh I must have been in some really low budget hospitals LOL.
First off; I don't miss the call light. At my current job my patients use only their monitors and their screams to summon, and they don't get into emotional/power plays (they are infants). We won't go into their parents needs; thankfully I work nights and 90% of the parents are out of there by 10pm.
This may sound strange but I think the way I practiced med/surg/tele nursing was partly a by-product of my laziness. I wanted the patients happy (and therefore not calling) so I was pro-active in addressing their needs. I worked feverishly addressing any possible needs they might have in the first few hours of my shift so they would be satisfied and hopefully sleep for most of the rest of the shift. I made sure I could get them laxatives, sleepers, pain meds, extra bedding, ice & water, snacks, good IV sites to start with. It saved me work! Not only that but the patients will often start to trust you more and they relax a bit. Some of those calls are a product of anxiety, making sure someone is there and cares. Now I know not all will sleep and I know not every nurse here works nights but I still think it's a good practice and helpful even during daylight hours (I have worked dayshift and practised this way).
Was it Tweety who posted the link to the "hourly rounds" article? That was fantastic and that is my philosophy for time management in nursing. It saves you work! After I would get everyone their needs in the first few hours of the night (7-10pm), I would start hourly rounds and keep patients in that happy state if possible. Now I'm no super nurse and I had patients I couldn't satisfy but in general this tactic worked very well for me and I believe my patients also.
Does all this planning help when you have a critical patient about to code? Not so much, but honestly I was lucky enough I guess not to have that happen every night. And I wasn't afraid to say to patients "Can't get your ice cream right now, I have a very critical patient". Can't imagine that violates any HIPAA regs as long as I didn't elaborate beyond that.
And does this excuse the patient that calls to do something they can do? Well, sometimes they need education about what they are capable of doing, they honestly don't know! Others are just little trolls. When someone would call for me to change the channel or volume, I would stand by their bed and instruct them until they did it themselves, wouldn't do it for them.
I too hope that I won't be as (seemingly) unhappy after 1 1/2 yrs on the job. I hope that the OP doesn't have such bad days often. 
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The original poster isn't angry or condescending, you are.
Have you forgotten you admitted on the first page of this thread that this subject hit a nerve with you?
Stop attacking.
The original poster came here to vent, not to be browbeaten with accusations and insults.