peeves

[duskyjewel]

Why yes, Nurse, yes I can go and swab out your patient's mouth, from whose room you just came and barged in on the bed bath I'm doing alone on an actively dying patient, now that you've walked the unit and taken as long to find me as it would have to just do it.

The majority of nurses I work with are awesome, but man, there are a few that do things like this. What's your co-worker pet peeve?

Interrupting me while I'm providing care to order me to go and do something for another patient is something I find so rude and disrespectful, to me sure, but more so to the patient. They have the right to my focus while I'm there, and they have the right to not be made to feel that they're less important than the guy down the hall.

[future_RN17]

I can see both sides of the spectrum. I'm a tech but I'm going to nursing school. The biggest thing I have learned in the past 6 years of being a military medic, a PCT, and while in nursing training, is that TEAMWORK makes the hospital function properly. Patients are the #1 reason why we all have jobs...they are to be cared for, and it's our job to care for them. Yes a nurse may not have "time" to put the patient on the bed pan, but it certainly is also apart of her job to do so because after meds and assessments, patient care is under her scope of practice as well.

Yes there are lazy staff on both sides of the spectrum, but if you're there...do it! If you need help, ask! It's very simple. From my experience I could be on a 30 bed floor and have 15 patients (most likely there are at least 5 that are incontinent, a couple that are feeders, and you still have baths, helping to get up, ect). It's our job no matter how many patients for us to care for these patients needs no matter how big or small, but if a nurse has 4 patients and a tech has 15 our nurses generally help without being asked because they know how busy we can be.

Basically, it's not about who's job it is, or who's job it isn't...our #1 priority should be the patient and when their needs are met then the job is done. Regardless if your licensed or unlicensed :-)

[cdsavannah59, CNA]

I agree Future RN, also other then that one nurse who is nice but tends to just blurt out whatever she's feeling periodically, I still like her and work great with her otherwise. I must say other then this minor issue I work with the most amazing nurses who are team players. We all work together to get things done for our patients. If the RNs see I don't have time to do something they do it themselves, or they will tell me later that they did their own vitals, baby wash because they were not busy. In my spare time I ask what I can do for them. The one nurse who sits allot and relies on pct for the extras is just plain lazy, the other nurses display a more nurturing side of patient care in their duties.

[future_RN17]

I have met nurses that say their job is to do assessments, the LPNs do meds, and the tech or cna does the patient care. They will absolutely not be caught helping with a bedpan, bath, ect.

I think it should be mandatory pre-req for nursing school to have so many hours of cna experience prior to nursing school like PHYSICANS ASSISTANTS do. I can definitely tell the difference in nurses who were once techs because they get it! They understand, they have been there !

But this isn't a bash on nurses because I get it, too. Everyone is busy. I just wish some were more open to being team players and stopped the "it's not my job" excuse that I hear so often!

[Gabby-RN]

I have met nurses that say their job is to do assessments the LPNs do meds, and the tech or cna does the patient care. They will absolutely not be caught helping with a bedpan, bath, ect. I think it should be mandatory pre-req for nursing school to have so many hours of cna experience prior to nursing school like PHYSICANS ASSISTANTS do. I can definitely tell the difference in nurses who were once techs because they get it! They understand, they have been there ! But this isn't a bash on nurses because I get it, too. Everyone is busy. I just wish some were more open to being team players and stopped the "it's not my job" excuse that I hear so often![/quote']

I have never been a tech and I am not opposed to doing personal care. In fact in the ED I work in, the nurses do most of the patient care. The techs main responsibility are EKG's and they will frequently tell whomever asks to have the nurse help the patient to the bathroom or with a bedpan because they are swamped. It is not uncommon for the nurse to ask the tech to help them clean up an incontinent patient and by help I mean the tech holds the patient over as the nurse cleans the patient and disposes of the dirty linen. In the ED I do more personal care, fluffing and buffing, and "maid-like" duties than any other nursing position I have held. I also like this job more than any other nursing position.

[hookyarnandblanket]

How about a nurse in charge of infection control who was so lazy, she threw an insulin sharp in the trash can instead of the sharps box directly above the trash can? I caught that one last week. I could have turned in an incident report but this nurse dislikes me so much, she probably would have found some nitpicky thing I didn't get done and wrote me up for it. She also gave a patient with a g-tube her meds in the dining room in front of other patients when the patient's family has requested and had it documented that they want her meds given in her room.

[ePerfect]

I don't mind helping my CNAs but sometimes they get angry with me for not helping them. For instance, I was in the middle of medpass at my facility (mind you there is me and 2-3 CNAs with approximately 32 residents to care for on every wing) and I asked a CNA to help me with a straight-cath on a resident because I needed someone to help her move her legs for me. The CNA got upset with me because I didn't stay afterwards to change the resident's brief. I have 2 hours to pass out medications and complete treatments to 32 residents. I understand she had other duties to attend to as well but this job was delegated to her. I was a CNA for 7 years, I understand it's frustrating seeing nurses doing things you think are ridiculous but sometimes I wish the CNAs I worked with at my job would take my job for a night and see how much they could get done in the same amount of time between medications, blood sugar testing, dressing changes, documentation, dealing with doctors, other nurses family members, residents and care staff and assessing patients who are sick or dying.

I help my CNAs where I can. I help them when they are busy and a resident who has a fall history decides he wants to take himself to the bathroom, or when someone dropped their box of markers on the floor and "can't reach them," or when someone just needs some ice in their water cup or a snack from the unit fridge. Nurses should always make time to help their CNAs when they can but if push comes to shove and I just don't have time, I apologize but if I can't help, I can't help.

That said if the nurse legitimately DOES have time then they need to do what they can do. If I go into a resident's room and they need something I'll get it for them. The only time I won't is if it's something that requires more than one person, in which case I'll turn the call light on and do more of my work while I wait for assistance from my staff. Nursing is all about time management. Some nurses just don't seem to get it.

There are some nurses (and CNAs too!) who will do nothing the entire shift and at the end of the shift they will complain about how much they had to do because at the very end of the shift they had to rush around like chickens with their heads cut off to get everything done.... well, if you had managed your time you wouldn't have to do that!

There are nurses who have forgotten what it was like to be a CNA, but there are also CNAs who don't understand what all the nurses have to do.

I remember one night, working as a CNA for a TBI rehab center, I had to call the nurse about a resident who just didn't look right. After explaining the situation to the nurse the she paused then proceeded to ask, "well what do you usually do in these situations?"... really? REALLY!? Why would I call you in the middle of the night if I already knew what I was supposed to be doing!? It was frustrating. All of the nurses, even the on-call ones, had online access to resident records when on-duty. All she had to do was look in the pt records and tell me what needed to be done. As a CNA I was not trained in clinical judgement. It was not my job to diagnose the situation and know what to do about it. It was my job to care for the residents and alert the proper people when something was happening.

rar. End rant.

[ePerfect]

How about a nurse in charge of infection control who was so lazy, she threw an insulin sharp in the trash can instead of the sharps box directly above the trash can? I caught that one last week. I could have turned in an incident report but this nurse dislikes me so much, she probably would have found some nitpicky thing I didn't get done and wrote me up for it. She also gave a patient with a g-tube her meds in the dining room in front of other patients when the patient's family has requested and had it documented that they want her meds given in her room.

I know we're not supposed to do this and I don't know what youre nurse's patient load was, but sometimes we don't have time to wait for a resident to leave the dinning room. THAT SAID yuo should NEVER give a resident g-tube medications in the dinning room!!! If you absolutely do not have time to wait for them to be finished eating then you need to politely escort the resident back to their room or a private area and administer the meds there. That was so disrespectful and could be so humiliating for the resident!!

[Gabby-RN]

How about a nurse in charge of infection control who was so lazy she threw an insulin sharp in the trash can instead of the sharps box directly above the trash can? I caught that one last week. I could have turned in an incident report but this nurse dislikes me so much, she probably would have found some nitpicky thing I didn't get done and wrote me up for it. She also gave a patient with a g-tube her meds in the dining room in front of other patients when the patient's family has requested and had it documented that they want her meds given in her room.[/quote']

Maybe the patient did not want to go back to her room and asked the nurse to discretely give the meds in the dining room? I know meds outside the room are a big no-no but I am not going to lie there have been times I have given an insulin in the dining room because the patient needed it and did not want to go back to their room and have their food get cold or given meds in the PT gym on another floor because the patient with a g-tube complained of pain and asked for them during therapy. Always with the patients permission or at the request of the patient and always with discretion.

As far as the insulin sharp going in the trash, I doubt that was out of laziness especially if the sharps bin was right there too. Her mind was probably elsewhere and she would have appreciated you having her back and letting her know it went in the wrong bin. A sharp in the regular trash poses a serious safety risk to whomever handles that trash and having seen the sharp go in there I think you had a responsibility to let her know. No need for an incident report but simple courtesy would be nice.

[hookyarnandblanket]

I know we're not supposed to do this and I don't know what youre nurse's patient load was, but sometimes we don't have time to wait for a resident to leave the dinning room. THAT SAID yuo should NEVER give a resident g-tube medications in the dinning room!!! If you absolutely do not have time to wait for them to be finished eating then you need to politely escort the resident back to their room or a private area and administer the meds there. That was so disrespectful and could be so humiliating for the resident!!

She had two other patients and this patient can't always speak for herself. She's worked in nursing so long that she needs to get out of the profession and retire. She has a horrible attitude and is rude to everyone. They won't even require her to do infection control presentations anymore during education day because she walked in the room, announced she doesn't do presentations and threw a stack of brochures on the tables. And she wonders why people don't respect her. I steer clear of her as much as possible. She got incredibly rude with me one day when a patient whom I was not assigned to complained of rectal pain. This nurse looked at me like I was stupid and told me that she had given the patient a suppository because she hadn't had a BM in 3 days and acted like I should know what she had done to the patient. I had spent my whole day caring for a different set of patients. No one had told me this patient had been given a suppository so there was no way I could know what was going on. The rest of the nurses at my job are great; they're helpful, polite, and professional. This lady? She needs a vacation or a new job.

[friggasdistaff]

The state of North Carolina it is required to have trained and hold a valid CNA license in order to be accepted to nursing school. I'm not sure what the official rationale is behind this requirement, but I think it is/was a valuable experience. I learned the value of patient care and attention to detail.

[cdsavannah59, CNA]

Friggasdistaff, I'm a PCT in Ga. I was told it is also a requirement to have CNA first before nursing school. My Instructor who has been a nurse for many years told us she believes the rational behind needing a CNA before nursing school was because for many many years new nurses were starting their career with no hands on experience other then Clinical's which lead to poor patient care skills. Can you imagine spending all that money to become a nurse only to discover you don't like being a nurse and it reflects in your patient care duties, or you cant stand to wipe a patients butt, smell vomit, or that you made a patient fall because you lack enough training in that particular skill. Becoming a CNA first gives you a taste of what your future career will be like. Many have dropped out of CNA classes when they discover some issues they can't deal with, like wiping vomit off a patient, etc and I'm sure many of those that dropped out of program wanted to be a nurse one day, that is until they got into the reality of it, nursing isn't just about making top money, or passing out meds etc. CNA skills are hands on skills that a RN will apply to the clinical skills to bring better improved patient care to the healthcare industry.

[Paws2people]

As an RN, I will say that any nurse that wastes her time searching for a tech when a pt needs a urinal or bedpan is being lazy. We are all in this together, and just as a nurse can't be everywhere at once nor can a tech. Also, while a nurse does have more responsibility, those responsibilities ultimately include ADL's, skin care, vitals, etc. If a tech is tied up with another pt is is up to the nurse to make sure the Pt's needs are met.

I routinely change incontinent pts, ambulate pts to the bathroom, feed pts, etc. I do it because 1 aide for my 26 bed ER cant do it all, nor would I expect them too

Thank you!