"they're not my patient" syndrome

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Whoah I have run into a bad case of "they're not my patient syndrome" where I work. I am having several instances happen where I am busy in one of my patients room,and another nurse will come and tell me that another patient of mine needs to go to the bathroom.Then I go to said patients room and on the way I see that nurse sitting and on the internet.I would understand if they were just as busy.But this is happening time and time again.Talking accomplishes nothing.:madface:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I am blessed where I work...we just dont' have a lot of that. We have a couple of nurses like that.

I hope it gets better for you...It may be hard, but maybe if you went out of your way to help them, they might pick up and return the favor. I've done that with a couple, and it really did work (Sounds idealistic, I know)

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i understand completely.

evidentally, t-e-a-m, is yet another 4 letter word.

for yrs, this would get my bp up.

now, i continue to help others but have no expectations.

leslie

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Thats what gets me. If there ever is a time that I am ever 'caught up' I do offer them assistance. I even helped this person with one of their patients that same night who needed a massive cleanup.Then this type of behavior is just a slap in the face.And this is just the tip of the iceberg.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice.

Happens to me all of the time. 99.9% of the time, I will help. I have one nurse that always finds something for me to do (Would you mind _____) at 3:25 when she knows on MTW when I'm working daylight, I HAVE to leave at 3:30 so I don't miss class or clinicals. One day she told me to go clamp a patient's Foley and clean up the urine... Now, she was in the room first... would have taken her all of 1 minute to do the job (I know this because I did it)... yet, she wasted more time hunting me down to tell me to do it.... :angryfire:angryfire:angryfire:banghead::banghead::banghead:

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There is one new GN on my unit who is notorious for this. Part of it is because she just cannot manage her workload. She even has lighter assignments than the rest of the "experienced staff" but it never crosses her mind to give us a hand.

Our last two groups of students have really been bad at this. They attend report, they know what is going on in the rooms. They only look after their one patient, not even the other patient in the room they are in.

I don't know if it's fear, ignorance or just plain laziness anymore.

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You are exactly right, (with the exeption of someone being extremely busy) it would take less time to do whatever it was then to hunt someone else down. Often I just do what needs to be done.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice.

I really don't mind helping whether it is my patient or not. But when I'm trying to get my end of shift vitals done or started, I need to concentrate on getting that done. The nurse that always finds something for me to do... it's usually on another patient that she has that I am not assigned to. She tried to get me to do post procedure vitals on a patient that the other NA was assigned to. I firmly explained (Had I done these Q15 x 4, I would be late getting out) that I had to finish my vitals because I had to leave at 3:30, this was the other aide's patient, BUT... to be nice, I would do 1 set. She wasn't happy, but if I didn't set that limit, I would be making up more clinical time. The other aides help me out all of the time, so I don't mind returning the favor, but boy do I detest being taken advantage of... and this nurse is notorious for doing that.

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Ok, chalk this one up to also idealistic a bit....but have you tried the direct approach?

As in, you are up to your elbows in something with a patient, nurse B pulls herself from the internet to come find you and let you know your other patient needs assist to bathroom-have you simply said "I am going to be another 10 minutes to finish this, would greatly appreciate if you could help Mrs Jones".

Some people will never think to offer, but respond to direct approach-esp if truly not that busy. Then after she wipes the surprised look off her face and does it, make sure once you are both finished to say thanks for having my back! Preferably in front of others, with a little luck and good conscience, it may be contagious!

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
"I am going to be another 10 minutes to finish this, would greatly appreciate if you could help Mrs Jones".

I think it these situations it is also good to make it about helping the patient instead of helping you as a nurse. Maybe even mention that you would hate for her to have to wait for you, and you know the patient would be very appreciative.

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Been to about a hundred staff meetings on this subject. It needs to be addressed as a patient care/needs issue and not about which nurse is or is not doing her job. Now, if a certain nurse is not doing her job then address that with the CN or NM, but beware, we all have days where the crap hits the fan and we need assistance. A really good charge nurse can be a big help when this type of mentality takes over on a unit. CN needs to lead by example, do what she can, let the nurse know what was done, and keep doing it for awhile until others get the drift. It usually works but some people are slower than others. When I charge, I make it clear, if help is needed then ask for it, if you know someone is having a tough day then help when and where you can. Patients do not care who does what if it is done when needed, professionally, skillfully, and kindly.

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Specializes in LTC, Cardiac Step-Down.

I'm all about helping other people, but one incident that happened lately has made me leery of doing so for awhile:

Another aide was at lunch and one of her patients called to go to the restroom. No big deal, right? I go in to help him (he's already halfway out of bed by the time I walk down the hall to get in there), very minimal assistance to help him to the restroom. He coded and died right there on the bathroom floor not five minutes later.

I was stuck having to answer all kinds of questions about what I was doing in there when it wasn't even my patient. Not to mention all the guilt I was feeling! Apparently he was bed rest only for this exact reason, but there was nobody around to tell me that, and nothing about his appearance or attitude indicated to me that I was doing the wrong thing by helping him to the restroom.

Now I like to insist on a small report when an aide goes to lunch, and boy do they get ****** at my delaying them :(

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