Pet Peeves

Nurses General Nursing

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What is your pet peeve? With everything a nurse has to deal with in a day, the one thing that gets on my nerves is someone who takes the garbage bag out of the can but doesn't replace the liner. It makes me psycho. How bizarre is that?

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Another peeve. The "alert and oriented" box isn't checked, neither are any of the other boxes. SURPRISE, they think Eisenhower's still president. :stone

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The same with family members and their sexist/racist remarks and demands to staff. (Fetching them coffee, getting luggage out of the car, etc.) :madface: We are not waitresses nor bellhops, but administration feels that these non-nursing duties are part of having good customer service with family members of residents.

How about family members who eat off a patient's tray? Without even teelling you! How are you supposed to track intake (% of meals eaten) if other people are taking bites of food or grabbing the juice cups for the ride home? Or are you supposed to tell everyone "don't eat off the trays"?

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I have several... but I will keep it short.

1. when you get report and the pt. is A&O x 3... they get to the room and they have no clue where they are, who they are, and are trying to climb out of bed. Come on folks... give me an HONEST report, I am taking this pt. assignement regardless of their mental status.

2. when the off going shift tells me what a terrible/busy night I am going to have. keep that to yourself, I may have a wonderful night. Leave, go home, and I will see you in the AM.

3. when staff members hide VS machines b/c they have an admission coming in 2 hours and I have one NOW.

ashley

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More pet peeves:

Hard-to-find necessary equipment.

Forgot my stethoscope one day and it was well-nigh impossible to locate another to use. It was a LONG, drawn-out process of searching the entire nursing station, not finding one, no one knew where there was one....so a prolonged search. Isn't a stethoscope something that should be there? Shouldn't there be a couple extras on the unit in case someone loses theirs? Heaven forbid there would actually BE some stethoscopes ON THE UNIT FOR USE, never worked anywhere where there weren't plenty of stethoscopes.

I also would like MANUAL B/P cuffs in each room. Needed a B/P cuff and went thru the same loooonnnnggggg process to get one.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

5 wheeled IV pole with 3 of those wheels that roll.

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Specializes in Oncology/Haemetology/HIV.

Personnel that draw blood from a portocath without training - "accessing" it with a regular (not huber/noncoring) needle. Having your pancytopenic cancer patient bleeding out from a cored port for days and days is really a pain.

ER sending up huge patients, filthy with dried BM/urine. Then using the excuse that theyare too heavy for them to move/change with shift change starting. Especially when they tell us that it took them five ER people to turn the patient...and knowing that there are only two nurses on our unit...which is also about to start shift change. And, no, the ER was slow that night and they were "clearing the Board".

It's even worse when both of the above are the same patient...and is a former employee of the facility, disabled by cancer.

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My pet peeve in nursing is "chaos". I hate tangled telemetry or monitor wires. Tangled unlabeled IV tubing and messy cluttered tray tables

Me too. Especially the tubing and messy tray tables...make that the sticky, messy tray tables :). Oh, and coming on shift and finding my patients/their rooms looking like they've been through a war, water pitchers empty/if they even have a water pitcher, no cups, or foley bags so full they're about to burst, trash literally overflowing. Meanwhile, all but 2 of the staff are sitting around at the nurse's station, (munching on the load of snacks that they brought in for their shift), itching to give report to someone (even though it's only 0645), so they can go home.

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AMEN honey. I TOTALLY agree with you!!

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Along with the not stocking the cart is Not stocking the med room so that you have to walk all the way to the other side of the building Before you can start med pass to get cups..also 3-11 not calling families or doctors with concerns but leaving something on the communication book for 7-3 to do the next day..I have 1 3-11 nurse who thinks everything is a UTI. Doesnt matter they are already on ABT or numerous TIAS are charted EVERYTHING is UTI related....My Don wants us to Help each other by pointing out ommisions on MAR.I did one day last week and for My effort got a truely hateful note back from that nurse.State will be the next one to point it out cause I sure wont .She turned my note into DON and Accused me of Challeging her nursing Judgement.DON told her no just pointing out an ommision ...Gosh I could go on...What a wonderful way to Vent...:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

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Specializes in Gerontology.

My Pet Peeve?

Nurses who call patients by their room numbers. There's nothing I hate more (well, actually there probably is, but this is high up on my list) then people saying "Rm XX" did this, or needs this. I usualy reply, "OH, you mean Mr A - I don't have a patient named Rm XX." Some people roll their eyes at me but I just keep doing it.

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.
Nurses who call patients by their room numbers.

I do this out of privacy. I am not going to say the pt.'s name outloud in a hallway. What i do say is "The pt. in Room X needs..."

But i REFUSE to refer to a pt. as "the hysterectomy" or "the lap appy" or my personal favorite, "the T and A" (tonsils and adenoids, that is!!!!)

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bad spellers & bad grammar!!!!

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