Pet peeves!

[ADN 2002]

I am sure this has been addressed along the way, but what are your nursing pet peeves?

A couple of mine:

How many times have you been taking a medication history on a patient, only to have them tell you they have no idea why they're on a particular med. Hello?! It's kind of an important thing to know

Or, when a patient calls on the call bell asking for the nurse to "come here" and I ask if there's anything I can bring with me (trying to save a few steps and a little time) and the patient says no and then get to the room and they give you a laundry list of things they want. (this will almost always happen when you have five other things you're trying to do at the same time..) :smackingf

Okay, I need to quit now..I can actually feel my BP rising...LOL. Any others?

[emeraldjay]

Pts who when asked if they have any allergies to food or medication, say pollen, cat hair, mold, dust, grass, etc. Is that a med or a food? Let's stick to things there is the possibility we might actually give you!

Not to poo poo on your peeve, but I myself am so sensitive to molds that I I itched like madman and felt like I had a ping pong ball stuck in my throat after giving a pt a bath during my CNA class, discovered later while the tub stretcher was being cleaned that there was mold growing on the pad.

Considering how PCN can be made, a mold allergy can alert you to the potential for a reaction. But I can understand your peeve when you specifically ask about food or med allergies.

[jh479352]

YES!!!!!!!

Or, when I ask if they're allergic to anything, I get: "Some [insert type of med here] but I can't remember the name."

Hel-LOOOOooo! If you're allergic to it we would really like to avoid giving it to you!!!!

[jh479352]

Where is your patience, what if that was you Mom or Aunt, memory problems start around age 50 and not everyone is medically oriented or organized.

[jnrsmommy]

Just to clarify, Warpster, I DON'T withhold pain meds if somebody's sleeping. I withhold pain meds if someone is sleeping/snoring so soundly that they do not rouse after I: knock on the door, turn on the light, tap them, shake them, and call their name. Heck, this pt didn't even rouse when I took her vital signs (had a bad experience with a post-op and too much morphine one time, never can be too careful). I strongly agree with you, pain needs to be under control. I make it a habit that the first two times a prn pain med is available, I automatically bring it to my pts whether they ask or not. I always let them know that they can refuse, but that I want them in a comfortable state. Then I go back thirty min prior to it being due again and see how they're doing. This way, I stay on top of their pain, the pt is more relaxed and comfortable knowing that they're being taken care of, and I can get them doing what they're supposed to do (ambulate, cough, IS, whatever the goal is).

[GooeyRN, ADN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

When it is 0100, the pt or family of a pt decides that it is an emergency situation that the pt has not had a BM in 2 days. They want the dr. called NOW to get an order for something. IT CAN NOT WAIT UNTIL AM! :trout:

[Gabie Baby]

It's times like that you want to tell the pt "Okay, well, we'll know for sure when you're in full-blown anaphylaxis!" How dumb can people be?

I thought you were nice, being a cat person and all. People aren't necessarily dumb, they're just not all nurses.

[Gabie Baby]

I would have to say that a pet peeve of mine (I'm a CNA) is when my residents don't get proper mouth care. What is so hard about scrubbing the dentures or at least soaking them??!! The majority of the other CNA's don't do it. There are times that I honestly feel like I need a pressure washer to get all the build up junk off.

As for a pet peeve caused by a resident, that would be at suppertime when I'm pouring coffee and everyone starts yelling "I WANT SOME! BRING ME SOME! I WANT IT HOT! BRING ME SOME!!!". I'm like "There is only ONE of me. I will get to EVERYONE as quickly as possible". Some will even reply to that with "Well, hurry up!! I want some now!".

:angryfire

Try to remember, Dear, they don't want to have to be there any more than you do. I agree about the laziness of some staff and the lack of mouth care. Keep up your good deeds.

[Natkat, BSN, MSN, RN]

I spent a week in the hospital on IV antibiotics for cellulitis. I was supposed to get them every 4 hours, and have a hot-water heating pad on my foot (site of the infection). Well, the IV had problems and needed to be replaced. >snip

Families do not need to be obnoxious about how they do it, but I surely can't fault them for keeping an eye on their loved one!

Yes, but if you have been reading this posts carefully you will have noticed a trend toward nurses' time being taken up by trivial things. If nurses didn't have family members and patients bugging them to freshen the ice in their drinks or figuring out how the TV works, they would have more time to devote to patient care.

I'm sure you noticed that.

[tryingtomakeit, RN]

Don't laugh, but ... I HATE it when the nurse who uses the last thermometer cover doesn't put a new box in the holder and I don't realize it until I have walked allllllll the way to the last room on the hall (we have long halls :) ).

[mommy2boys]

I'm not a nurse yet, but I know one of my pet peeves will be a patient lying. I hate it when people lie to me, kills me when they lie to me when I'm trying to help.

I was in the ER a while back and the girl in the next bed (it was a room w/ 6-7 beds seperated w/ a curtain) was in for a OD. Apperantly she was in the night before (I can't remember the whole conversation because I was pretty drugged up from a kidney stone) for an OD. The doctor and nurse were asking her what she took, how much, etc. She told them that she hadn't taken anything else since the night before but her family made her come back in because she wasn't acting right. The doctor then tells her that that couldn't be true because her lab values were back and her levels were higher. After 15 minutes of arguing w/ her (the doc saying he knew that she had taken more, she said that she didn't) she finally admitted to taking more.

She would have been so much better off if she had just fessed up sooner. She held up the doctor and nurse by lying. WHAT WAS SHE THINKING, that she could pull a fast one on the doctor by lying? Hello, didn't she realize that they could tell she had taken more by her lab result.

JMO

Erin

[tmullet]

My worst pet peeve as a nursing student is the treatment received by some of the staff at our clinical sites! I am currently assigned to a maternity unit that covers everything from antepartum to postpartum and also handles the surgical aspects of c-sections. I know these nurses are highly skilled and are very busy, but they treat us like absolute dirt. The first night on the floor we all walked by and said hello....their response was to stare blankly at us, then grumble very audibly, "Oh, nursing students." We are trying our best to get the most out of this experience, but it is a very small unit and we are sometimes double assigned to a single patient because they are so hard to come by. The nurses treat us as if we are only interfering and are not willing to explain things to us or use us to lighten their load. I just wish they would try to remember what being in school was like and how exciting it was to get to work with a nurse who goes out of her way to show you the ropes and give you opportunities to learn.:monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance: :monkeydance:

[schoona]

I always cringe when pts (even some nurses) tell me about their prostrate probs.

My ultimate peeve is our staff room, why other staff can't clean up after themselves is beyond me. I work mainly ND and the pile at the end of the day is horrendous. I won't clean it up and if I'm incharge, I won't get other staff to clean it up (unless it's theirs ofcourse). As a mother I do enough cleaning at home without doing someone elses.