Professionalism???What happened to it??

stbernardclub · Dec 31, 2004

Been There!!!!!! My Advice, Go Up To The Nurse Who Is Relieving You And Say" I Need To Give You Report Now ", And Just Start Rattling Off. It Really Makes No Difference If You Kiss Their Butt Or Kick It.sorry To Say, But Woman And Nursing Are A Volitile Combination...

Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN · Dec 31, 2004

It goes all around. On that med-surg floor i worked on, evening shift would ***** about what day shift "left for them", night shift ***** about things that weren't done for them, etc. You couldn't win. Although i saw a lot of the night shift nurses catch hell for leaving trivial stuff to do, and the oncoming nurse whined about it, yet they had no idea that the night nurse had 2 pts. with dementia, two pts incontinent with diarrhea, one with the DT's, one who rode the call light like it was a winner at the Kentucky Derby, and one pt. with a trach that needed suctioned a lot. (Our night shift averaged 6-8 pts. with one float aide, day shift 3-4, each nurse had their own aide)

Sometimes, i swear, you can ask some people who has the most to do and not be surprised when their reply is "me, of course".

mama3babes · Dec 31, 2004

Unfortunately I think this is pretty standard in a lot of depts. I know that I can look at the schedule to see who is coming to relieve me and know that this person will be 10 minutes late, that person will not be happy with anything I've done, and that person will grill me on every decision I've made. I learned really quick that coffee better be made before they come in or I will have to wait even longer to give report. I work night shift so I will usually say jokingly " Oh I'd better give you report before everything I want to tell you falls out of my brain!" They usually laugh and get the picture. As far the rest of it I try to be a duck so to speak and let it role. :)

Malt123 · Dec 31, 2004

:rotfl: I have been in nursing for 24 years and this stuff goes on all over. The last place that I worked the DON actually told the nurses to check the previous shift nurse to make sure all her work was done. I was sandwiched in between two LPN's and believe me they enjoyed raking me over the coals with the encouragement of the DON.Even though everyone knew I was being railroaded, there was nothing that I could do to stop it. There was no way to get everything done so I prioratized and tried to make sure that the patients were taken care of. Some of the nurses would stay over on their own time to get done, some times up to 2 hours after. Of coorifice they didn't realize that they would not be covered by insurance if anything happened when they were off the clock. I couldn't always stay because I babysat my grandkids before going to work, drove an hour back and forth. My day started at 5am and sometimes I didn't get home untill 2am. But did this DON care, nope she wrote me up for being late even after calling and letting them know. She also wrote me up for not getting vital signs on a patient that refused to have them taken. Boy, was I railroaded.

NorthER,RN · Dec 31, 2004

Yep - that's why there are shifts as you said - Because 1 person can't do 24 hours work in 12. I do get a chuckle when the nurse that I give report to grills me over all that wasn't done, and then I relieve them 12 hours later to hear a hundred excuses over all that they didn't get done - and cuz I work nights and my patient care load is greater than theirs on days I sometimes have the desire to let them know how I felt in the am. I also know not to come in early for those that don't relieve on time when I've had 12.5 hours of working my butt off without a break. Oh well, nursing - ya gotta love it or look for work at Home Depot....

Malt123 · Dec 31, 2004

The 12 hr shifts were supposed to provide continuity of care and work less days. One job that I worked I ended up working 6, 12 hr shifts a week.