what's your pet peeve?

calivianya, BSN, RN · 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.

It is actually against our policy to have children under 12 visit our patients ever. We spend a lot of time bending those rules, though, as there is always the chance this will be the last time the children ever see Daddy/Grandpa before he dies, so it ends up being nurse's judgment.

We had one family just this week who brought the four year old grandchild of the patient to visit. They were EXPLICITLY INSTRUCTED not to eat or drink in the room, and that the child was only going to be allowed to visit for a few minutes. They not only let the child eat in there, the child started eating, dropped something on the floor, picked it up, and ate it. I thought I was going to barf. Just... no.

KatieMI, BSN, MSN, RN · May 22, 2016

1. Babies and toddlers visiting. Who, in his or her right mind, would ever let a baby crawl on the floor just cleaned from C. diff and washed with hypochloride? Who will allow an "exploring" toddler near vent???

2. Lines non-secured, not labeled and ethanol caps not in place.

3. Concealing poor prognosis under premice of "not robbing 'em hope".

4. Following policies for policies' sake. Including dutifully putting a call light within reach of a person who is cortically dead for the last decade.

5. Nursing notes which has all the info about patient wanting his bagel toasted and that call light within reach, but nothing about that the said patient had no bowel sounds and did not pass urine for the last 12 hours. That was at 8 am, now it is 3 pm and we're right somewhere in between SIRS and septic shock.

NotAllWhoWandeRN, ASN, RN · May 22, 2016

4. Following policies for policies' sake. Including dutifully putting a call light within reach of a person who is cortically dead for the last decade.

Managers who will scold you for not following a policy that doesn't make a difference to the patient's care.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · 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.

I'm from the era when children under the age of 12 weren't allowed to cross the threshold of a hospital, much less run unsupervised around a unit.

By the time I left hospital nursing (late 90s), the visitors had taken over. I got tired of getting stink face from parents when I requested they not let their Snowflakes crawl (or sit and eat!! Gag. [emoji33]) on the floor that had probably been peed, pooped or bled on at some point, so I just stopped saying anything.

calivianya, BSN, RN · May 22, 2016

4. Following policies for policies' sake. Including dutifully putting a call light within reach of a person who is cortically dead for the last decade.

Don't forget the nonskid socks and the fall risk bracelet! :banghead:

That really annoys me too. There is a place to chart "high risk according to nursing judgment" after the fall risk scale, and I usually click no, write a brief explanation in the comments, and then chart on the low risk strategies instead of the high risk strategies, even though my coworkers have all been charting on the high risk strategies all week. We are supposed to select all of the interventions in the appropriate low/high risk section, and then write in the comments why not if we don't. It's ridiculous.

I realize it is just easier to go according to the fall risk scale, but somebody on really high doses of sedation to the point of a RASS -4 to -5 does NOT need nonskid footwear and I am NOT going to chart that I put them on! They're not going to get up and fall if I can't even get them to withdraw to pain! I'm also not going to put the call bell right next to them, sorry.

jena5111, ASN, RN · May 22, 2016

This and all of the allusions lately about how "I pay your salary" (???) or throwing trash on the table, telling me "It's your job" to clean it up, etc.

I worked in retail for years in my pre-nursing career. One of the times when an unreasonable customer informed me that he "paid my salary," I said, "Well, then we need to talk about a raise!"

That shut him up for a couple of seconds anyway.

Toastedpeanut · May 22, 2016

Lately it's ice. I hate the stuff! Too many family members hovering asking for FRESH ice as my post op is tanking. Or family hovering in general lately. Or, "i don't eat hospital food."

THIS is why I've moved to night shift, and will never do days ever again! The family members and their demands and complaints. It made my shifts so grueling, I even thought of leaving nursing! Not so anymore, thanks to the nights.

I hate when the doctor leaves the room, and the families start asking ME what the root cause of the patient's disease/problem is. I'm like, "the doctor was just in here, you didn't think to ask her?" (I don't say this, because then guess what: bad Press Gainey scores, which is another pet peeve).

kbrn2002, ADN, 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....

Totally OT so apologies. This happened again yesterday so it's very fresh in my mind. This made me think of the tangle of cords behind my computer. EVERY time I have to mess around behind that desk I dutifully sort and label all the various connections so the next time will be easier. EVERY time that next time invariably leads to frustration and untangling all those cords again. How does that even happen?? Is there a cord fairy back there messing with me??

westieluv · May 22, 2016

Co-workers who find the time to take multiple outdoor smoke breaks throughout their shifts, disguised as "bathroom breaks", even though ours is supposed to be a non-smoking facility inside and out. It's not even so much having them off the floor, because most of them are pretty good at tying up loose ends before they walk away, but how they reek of cigarettes when they come back.

BumbleBuddy · May 22, 2016

Use your d*** call light. Stop walking out to the nurses station every time you want something because you think you will get it faster. Other nurses may stop in the middle of whatever they are doing and fetch that ice for you, but I'm not. I'm going to finish whatever I'm doing first.

Treating a heart rate in the 160's is more important than your ice. You walked to the desk so walk a few more feet down the hall and get it yourself!

Rant over. It's such a beautiful day and I'm craving tacos.

Jensmom7, BSN, RN · May 22, 2016

Oh!! Another one. People who document on auto pilot and/or don't actually read what they write.

Like the NP who documented that she instructed a patient to change position frequently and keep pressure off of her buttocks.

The patient had a Stage III wound to her left ischium.

She also had advanced dementia, was non verbal, no eye contact, and hadn't changed position independently in months...

And since I'm on a roll...

NPs who keep sticking their noses into the management of Hospice patients, order labs and meds without first contacting the Hospice team, and then have a "this is MY patient and I'll order what I damn well please" attitude when reminded by the Hospice nursing supervisor that one of the Hospice admit orders is always "NO labs, tests, procedures, meds without prior notification of and approval by Hospice team".

madricka, BSN, RN · May 22, 2016

Adults whining. Grates my nerves. If they are in pain or uncomfortable, I will bend over backwards to help them -- but grown women whining, not having it. It might work on their family members to get sympathy but not on me.

Oh, and people who show up with printouts from Google Medical School thinking they know way more than the nurses, docs, specialists, etc. Please, just don't.