Disco_Superfly

Yes exactly. To be fair, it is not only the opposing shift that engages in 'it's not my responsibility' behaviour, it is also some on my own shift. I think many forget that there are 24 hours in a day.. 2 shifts. We show up to carry the torch for the ones going home and in 12 and a half hours we trade off.

I've worked nights alot of years, but I want to switch to days. Here's the deal: It won't be on the floor. The next change I make will be for better hours during the day.. No weekends or holidays. It will mean less money but hopefully by the time I can make this change I will be financially better off all the way around. Someday I will be old.. and night work only ages me faster. I can't see being 60+ years old and still working the floor. That is a very depressing thought.

Very true.. These things, though minor as they may seem, are time-consuming to the nurse and take him/her away from their pt care duties. Alot of things can happen in a day. Orders are occasionally missed, a med not given on time, etc. Alot of things can play into the cause of the trouble. Big hospitals are notorious for things like this. The main reason being that one dr.'s order goes through half a dozen hands before it gets carried out. When a med doesn't materialize on time, it is the nurse's responsibility to track it down.. same as if it is a wrong med, etc. Whereas in small hospitals.. it's you and the pharmacist. In other words.. it is a 50/50 chance it was all your fault that it wasn't done right!!:chuckle

I will continue to carry my cell phone wherever I and whenever I choose until someone ruins it for everyone else. Not for my amusement or entertainment, but based upon general principle: My family doesn't have my work number. If an emergency should arise, they can leave a message on my phone. (I rarely have it on my person and certainly not in pt's rooms) The argument about the cell phones is starting to become less about the phones themselves but how nurses spend the time they are supposed to be 'nursing'. Every night there are as many as 3 lines tied up at once with mindless jabbering to someone by the staff... totally non-work related. I try as much as possible to overlook certain behaviours, but sometimes it gets really difficult. If we complain about it, then our own rights (those of us would like to protect our rights to carry our cell phones) would be curtailed. I've said it before and I'll say it again: If people would only use these things judiciously and operate with a little common sense, we would all be better off.

I have dealt with pee, blood, puke, amniotic fluid, placenta, cancerous lesions and the like for years.. but the ONE THING that bothers me is PIMPLES. Don't ask me to pop one on your back. Yeah I can pack an infected wound without incident, but those pimples... nah. Oh yeah and teeth... can't pull little kids teeth either. 'Have your grandma do it' was my statement to my kids about it. Pimples and Teeth are my this super nurse's kryptonite.

Oh I could go for days on this subject.. But I won't. I have to say, however, that many times I am left with chores to do from day shift. I don't mind.. AS LONG AS.. when I am strapped for time, they can give their own 7 am pain med as I should be on my way out the door by then.. but it doesn't work that way for me. I thought about a 'no more ms. nice guy' attitude, but honestly, I think I do things the right way even if I get left with the crappy end of the stick quite often. At the end of the day, it isn't the day nurse who I'm doing it all for; it's the patient. P.S. I really believe many of them think that all we do at night is sit around and read. I think it would be nice to change places once in awhile just so everyone can see what it's like from the other side.

I'm not familiar with any hospitals that only have pp areas... in many small hospitals that require you to be able to work L and D, Post Partum and Nursery and you go where you're needed. In our facility, we take high risk antepartums as well as a variety of GYN surgery patients. So yeah, it would be pretty sweet if we had just low-risk post partums, but that's not the case for us. I can say though that it beats the heck out of Oncology where I was just a year ago...

The best of luck to you!! Good nurses are too few and far between so take care of this and put it behind you.

Sad, sad, sad. This should never happen but it does. I personally would get out as fast as I could. Eventually there will be no one that will work for them and they will have no choice but to change their tactics. Sounds like administration needs an 'attitude adjustment'. So sorry to hear that you have to deal with that kind of mess.

VERY good point.. No we don't have any particular assigned 'chores' at night, but it's not a bad idea. Many nights are quiet between the hours of 2 and 5. I am fond of finding things that need to be done, but yet if I feel like looking at a magazine, checking my personal email, etc I don't feel guilty because I do not take 'breaks'. I am available at all times to my patients and co workers, and besides that, I sincerely wish my co workers would pick up some of the slack and 'teamwork' could be better. A final note: You should not feel at all guilty for looking at a magazine or checking your email if you are caught up on all your duties and have taken care of other tasks. You deserve it.

Oh your story makes me think of something of my childhood. I loved dolls. Had a huge collection. There were no african americans in our hometown. I had a black baby doll. There were never any racial slurs in my home when I was growing up. I realize now how lucky I was when the vast majority of the people living in our community were extremely racist.

I never cared what a physician's nationality was, but I have been bothered by their ability/inability to communicate. Seriously, when a dr gets angry with me because I ask him to repeat himself due to the heavy accent, it annoys me quite alot. Otherwise I don't care if he is Scotch-Korean and wears a kilt like the skittles commercial, as long as he knows what the heck he's doin'.

I can give this little tidbit of advice when it comes to managing an overwhelming workload: I always refer back to the director of our nursing program and how she pounded the 'human needs model of care' and 'prioritizing those needs'. When I worked on the cancer unit and had 7 patients every night plus did charge (we were also the 'hospice' unit) I made a list with 3 categories: Have to, Need to, Want to. Coming out of nursing school taking care of 1 or 2 patients, 15 seems impossible; but it can be done. Never punish yourself or feel like a failure because you aren't able to do for those patients what you did for your patients in nursing school. Remember to do the most important things for your patients FIRST and then go from there. You will do just fine!

Amen to that.

It should be a matter of simple common sense and consideration for others. I personally think it's rude when I am at an establishment and the staff are texting at the desk or holding personal chit-chat sessions with friends on the phone and ignoring their duties. I respect the privilege of being able to have my cell phone on me at work, but we must not forget that we are on someone else's dime. Our shifts are 8 to 12 hours long.. can't we go that amount of time without conversing with friends, relatives, etc? A good-night call from mom to her kids at work is fine. Five minutes on the phone with the kids/spouse/family member is ok.. but dragging it out and ignoring pt call lights, alarms, etc is just inexcusable. Quite frankly, I just think nurses should KNOW better and exhibit better behavior. I have always said that if your job interferes with your social life, you need to give one of them up.