Is it just me or does it seem that a requirement to work in management is no common sense?
We had a Code Blue the other night - it was a very traumatic and rough code blue but thank god we brought the patient back and they were stabilized and then taken to ICU.
Next shift - as we are coming on duty (4 staff from the previous nightshift myself included) we are told to meet the Warden in her office.
"Other patients said you were to loud and distubing them". "One patient said she saw some staff joking and laughing"
and i quote: "Just cuse you saved a life does not mean you can carry on and be loud. Next time you have an emergency take care of it quietly"
HELLO!!! Get real.....EVERY code blue in my entire career is loud - its a life or death situation and there are 15 people trying to save a persons life.
Does anybosy see this as insane or is it just me?
The patients seem to think that we are having a party when in reality its a major emergency
Hey...psssst...hey...can you pass me the epi?...no, the epi...psst...are you listening?...I said epi...here, let me write it down and pass you a note............
Well- you could text each other during the code. Oh, wait: nurses aren't allowed a cell phone. Or you could come up with a secret set of gestures to indicate silently what you want during a code while on your next break! Oh wait, we don't get breaks either. Hmmmm, you could post a sign in the bathroom about the need to be quiet during codes. Oh yeah, I forgot- we never have time to go to the bathroom!
Perhaps you'll just have to offer the patients who are complaining some pillow therapy or a bag over the head. I hear they are effective at reducing both unwanted outside noises AND ridiculous complaints.
Or perhaps your NM would prefer to offer an inservice on use of American Sign Language during a code. I bet some of your coworkers have some very SPECIAL signs they would LOVE to share with the NM.
Specializes in medical with other stuff chucked in!.
i had a patient who complained bitterly about the noise while we were dealing with an emergency the other day ( it was 08.00 mane) and we woke her up (poor thing). She soon changed her tune when i informed her that we had made just as much noise when we were trying to save her life too ( she had an M.I a few weeks previously). She certainly saw things from a new perspective after that
I have been in codes and the nurses and doctors have been vulgar, laughing and joking. I understand it can be tense and maybe this a coping mechanism, but I found it so repulsive. But the "noise" OH EM GEE! Get over it. Some of these patients seem to think they are at a 4 seasons hotel.
I have worked the ER in a rural critical access hospital. On only one occasion have I ever experienced a patient or patient's family complain when our hospital's ENTIRE staff of one doc, two RN's, and two LPN's were working a code on another patient. This patient had a head cold and her husband tried to come into the room where we coding to complain that his wife was being kept waiting. Fortunately security grabbed him.
Generally, the other patients and families get quiet and are very gracious. They can generally see or hear the effort and care that the staff is expending. After the code situation is resolved, I would apologize to the waiting patients for the delay, only to have them say something to the effect of. "No ma'am. No need to apologize. I would sure want you all piling in and trying to help me or my loved one if one of us was dying. We are so glad to have this little hospital here to help us when we need it."
We might let our hair down and rehash the code at a later time, but that would only be when the ER was empty and there were no patients or family around. I always found the discussions of could you believe it when. . . . or I was thinking . . . . to be a team building mechanism and to be helpful for decompressing from the event. You really find out what your co-workers are made of when you experience several codes with them. It's an eye-opening thing.
Management should be ashamed. You should be highly praised for the successful outcome.
Then management could mention that other patients were disturbed by the commotion and suggest that management will implement that part of code blue protocol would be that a CNA or someone not involved in the code, will be assigned to go to other patients in near by rooms, apologize for the noise, explain there is an emergency that the doctors and nurses are responding to but it will be noisy, if there are doors the CNA could offer to close the door.
I seriously don't understand why they make a big deal out of the loudness. Why don't they make a big deal about "having brought the patient back to life". Isn't that what matters the most. Its really annoying and all. Things like that goes unnoticed and they make a big deal out of little things like that :-( so frustrating...
Is it just me or does it seem that a requirement to work in management is no common sense?
We had a Code Blue the other night - it was a very traumatic and rough code blue but thank god we brought the patient back and they were stabilized and then taken to ICU.
Next shift - as we are coming on duty (4 staff from the previous nightshift myself included) we are told to meet the Warden in her office.
"Other patients said you were to loud and distubing them". "One patient said she saw some staff joking and laughing"
and i quote: "Just cuse you saved a life does not mean you can carry on and be loud. Next time you have an emergency take care of it quietly"
HELLO!!! Get real.....EVERY code blue in my entire career is loud - its a life or death situation and there are 15 people trying to save a persons life.
Does anybosy see this as insane or is it just me?
The patients seem to think that we are having a party when in reality its a major emergency
In the "olden days", a manager would have listened to the complaint, thanked them for bringing it to her attention, state that she would look into the situation and that would be it. A savvy manager would not have dreamed of harping on staff with stupid nonsense, which is what about ninety percent of it is. A big part of the role was to deflect all the BS and keep it from hitting the staff. Back then, nurses were considered a resource and you looked after them. Sadly, those days are gone.
That, and the team work and camraderie, is what us old codgers are referring to when we say it is sad that the current generation of nurses will never experience what we had. It wasn't demoralizing back then.
I just don't think I would have been able to keep my mouth closed when my brain would have been screaming to say "Well then, thank GOODNESS we wound up saving the patient then. I can't imagine the trouble we would've gotten into if the patient hadn't of lived."
wishinguponastarLPN
217 Posts
HILARIOUS!