what's your pet peeve?

NotAllWhoWandeRN, ASN, RN · May 22, 2016

Hospitals designed by people who don't work in hospitals.

Our rooms are a ridiculous shape because the building is not rectangular. The soap is not within arm's reach of the sinks. The call light on the wall is between the bed and the computer, behind the ortho chair. But there's this weird stretch of room that the pt can't use because none of the alarms or the call light will reach. If the patient puts their call light on while they're up in the ortho chair, you're going to get VERY friendly in the attempt to turn it back off.

I worked at a place that was a converted office building: 45 rooms in one long hallway.

I could go on.

kalycat, BSN, RN · May 22, 2016

I am actually okay with the people who don't eat hospital food. 99 times out of 100, they are IN the hospital because of the food they eat. They can generally afford a little starvation.
Hovering family is the worst, thought. Especially healthcare illiterate family where if you say one word, it's going to require a 30 minute explanation, and they get all confused when you add a new "heart medicine" because the patient already takes "heart medicine." Nevermind that they don't even know what the "heart medicine" the patient already takes is, or what it does.

Oh God. This. So many times.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · May 22, 2016

People who are admitted for abdominal pain and state that their pain meds are inadequate, then you walk into their room and find them pigging out on Taco Bell food that their family brought in for them.

Over the years I've observed a pattern to the patients admitted with nonspecific abdominal pain.

They're usually females of childbearing age (late teens to early 40s).
A somewhat dominant male partner is involved. He delivers fast food meals to the patient, hovers like a helicopter, often spends the night at the hospital, and sometimes becomes testy toward nursing staff.
Psychosocial issues galore. Patient usually receives a mix of benzodiazepines and narcotic analgesics to treat the nonspecific abdominal pain.
In most cases, the root cause of the abdominal pain is never diagnosed.

kiszi, RN · May 22, 2016

Tangled lines.
On the vitals machines, the Pulse Ox and BP cuff lines do NOT need to be tied in multiple knots, people!
On IVs, it should not take me five minutes to figure out which tubing is connected to which bag because there are three pumps on one pole with more than one piggyback and the lines are all interwoven amongst each other. How does that even happen????
And then when you toss in the O2 tubing and the call light with the tangled IV lines, that's just the icing on the cake.
I swear I spend fifteen minutes on each patient just untangling everything so I can do my effing job already! How does that not bother anyone else? How does everyone chart that they completed a line trace on all previous shifts when the only way I could figure it out was to disconnect every line, untangle each one, and reconnect????
Yep, definitely a BIG peeve for me....

I want to "like" this about 450 times. When I come in and see that my patient literally can not move because the heart monitor is wrapped around the IV tubing and blood pressure cuff, which are threaded haphazardly through every hole in the gown... Have to tell myself, deep breaths. Don't hyperventilate.

kiszi, RN · May 22, 2016

Especially healthcare illiterate family where if you say one word, it's going to require a 30 minute explanation, and they get all confused when you add a new "heart medicine" because the patient already takes "heart medicine." Nevermind that they don't even know what the "heart medicine" the patient already takes is, or what it does.

Yep. Along the same lines, how about the one who asks a billion very specific questions, and you want to say, "You and I both know that if I explain that to you, you're not going to have any idea what I'm talking about. So let's just skip it, hmmm?"

bungee · May 22, 2016

1. Family members walking barefoot in the patients rooms and down the hallways.

2. Coworkers licking their fingers during/after their lunchbreak. Gross!

3. Loud talkers surrounding my patients rooms when they are trying to sleep.

4. Some rooms in our PICU have nice couches to for the parents while others get a recliner. This always makes me feel uncomfortable when they ask me why some parents get the nicer rooms.

5. Asking an RT to run a blood gas at 0630 and they get angry because they have not finished their breakfast while on the clock.

6. Having an excessive amount of PTO and the hospital refuses to pay out what you have earned at the end of the year. I can donate PTO to the "pool" but not to a cooworker in need.

westieluv · May 22, 2016

Over the years I've observed a pattern to the patients admitted with nonspecific abdominal pain.
They're usually females of childbearing age (late teens to early 40s).
A somewhat dominant male partner is involved. He delivers fast food meals to the patient, hovers like a helicopter, often spends the night at the hospital, and sometimes becomes testy toward nursing staff.
Psychosocial issues galore. Patient usually receives a mix of benzodiazepines and narcotic analgesics to treat the nonspecific abdominal pain.
In most cases, the root cause of the abdominal pain is never diagnosed.

Yes! You nailed it, this is exactly what my experience has been too. And nine times out of ten, the boyfriend will want to spend the night in the room, sometimes in the bed with the patient if he can get away with it. Someone should do a psychological study on this phenomenon.

Also, as a PP pointed out, you can be admitted for abdominal pain and still be hungry, I realize this, and I didn't mean to diminish this reality. It's just that the cases I was referring to match the description here and yes, they somehow never seem to find a real cause for the pain in these cases.

michelle1013, BSN · May 22, 2016

****This reply is to rexie. I forgot to add her quote***I think COWs is kinda funny. It would be nice to have a little humor in the "day of a nurse" especially with all of the pet peeves like you listed! I agree with every single one my friend

sissiesmama, ASN, RN · May 22, 2016

I am actually okay with the people who don't eat hospital food. 99 times out of 100, they are IN the hospital because of the food they eat. They can generally afford a little starvation.
Hovering family is the worst, thought. Especially healthcare illiterate family where if you say one word, it's going to require a 30 minute explanation, and they get all confused when you add a new "heart medicine" because the patient already takes "heart medicine." Nevermind that they don't even know what the "heart medicine" the patient already takes is, or what it does.

Oh yes! And they say "it's the round white heart pill! Don't u know which one? How are u a nurse if u don't know the white heart pill???"

Anne, RNC

loveSBK · May 22, 2016

I hate that as well. I have to untangle everything, label everything from the pole to the actual IV. A lot of times, I end up cleaning my room before I even assess my patient (unless they're critical of course) because I can't work when my room is a mess and my pt is a mess.

ellemae93 · May 22, 2016

When family brings 3-4 young children in to visit a patient and allow them to misbehave. There is no reason children should be screaming, running, or playing in the hallways of a hospital. It happens way too often and so many parents/guardians just sit there while their children behave like they're at a Chuckie Cheese, not a hospital. One of my co-workers actually had to change because she was emptying a foley and a kid kicked the foley and spilled urine down the front of the CNA's top. Last week an RN from another unit slipped and fell on water in the hallway leading to the cafeteria. Why was there a massive pool of water on the floor? Security pulled up camera footage and saw two kids having a water balloon fight in the hallway earlier that evening. Unbelievable.

I'm of the mind that small children (under age 10 I would say), unless they are directly related to the patient should not be visiting the hospital, and especially not late at night. A hospital with dozens of sick people and germs is not a place for little kids.

calivianya, BSN, RN · May 22, 2016

Oh yes! And they say "it's the round white heart pill! Don't u know which one? How are u a nurse if u don't know the white heart pill???"
Anne, RNC

Oh god yes. And you try to give the yellow oval heart pill to the patient, who promptly freaks out that it's supposedly the same medicine but it's round and white instead of oval and yellow. And there is more than one of them when he only takes one at home!

I swear I have that whole "there are multiple manufacturers that make pills out there, we must use a different one than your pharmacy does" at least once a week.