The thread in the nursing student forum about people who are always late got me thinking.
I am chronically early for everything. If I'm not 10 minutes early for an appointment, work, whatever, then I start to get anxiety. So I have a hard time relating to those who are temporally challenged. And I know that there are people who are ALWAYS late. I work with half a dozen providers, and one or two are like me (always there 15 minutes before start time), a couple get there right at start time, and there are 2 or 3 who are ALWAYS 10-20 minutes late for their first appointment of the session (and it drives me farking nuts, because the chronic late ones are my favorite providers and they ask me to go to lunch with them, and if I accept, then *I* will be late for my first appointment of the afternoon session, which is exactly what happened yesterday).
I know that sometimes it's just poor (or lack of) planning. But I've come to suspect that for some people, it's just part of their innate character, and that's what I want to try to understand better, so that I can better work with these people (and not show my intense annoyance). I really do think that sometimes, it's just beyond their control.
So for those of you who are temporally challenged, or love someone who is, help me understand what happens in their brains that make them this way, so I can be a more understanding coworker/supervisor.
@klone, are your providers tardy for the OR? If so, then maybe they are wired differently, but if they are punctual for surgery, it may be that a consequence for tardiness is what is needed to compel them to be on time. When you are Queen of the Facility you can determine what the consequence for tardiness will be, until then, if it is not causing problems for patients, I think you will just have to accept it.
For those who have actual conditions that hinder their abilities to act in certain ways, there are work-arounds. You can spend good money getting this information from a professional or you can go to a bookstore and buy a myriad of self-help books. These books, whether they are written by doctors or laypersons, often have many practical suggestions to help a person modify their behavior to meet the minimum expected by their role in society. A responsible person, once they realize their situation, is going to make an effort at getting their act together, just as they would for some other behavior that they would like to improve. If they don't make the effort, then that is their statement about how they see those who are put out by their behavior. As in the example I provided about the always late nurse. She had three children to support by herself. One would think that she would have done something about being late all the time. She certainly knew that she was next in line to get the pink slip, and she knew why.
Here is my two cents on the issue, as a chronically tardy person.
I may be late to work every day (I do not work in a situation where I relieve anyone else) but I am ready to rock when I walk in the door. Believe me many of the people I work with punch in, then heat up breakfast, then eat it leisurely, then spend the first half hour of the workday catching up with the people they just worked with yesterday.
When patients are late for appointments, it doesn't bother me at all. Most of them take the bus or depend on others for rides. It really doesn't make sense for our patient population to have hard and fast appointment times.
So I tend to be forgiving in that regard.
I am also, as others mentioned in this thread, very decidedly a Myers-Briggs P.
That's an interesting article. I can relate to the adrenaline rush to get moving on something. I never did my assignments early and tended to get them done at the 11th hour. My daughter is the same way with school but she is punctual to a fault.
While I am often running behind in my arrival times, I have an excellent consistent record with meeting deadlines. My coworkers who may be consistently punctual don't necessarily meet all of their deadlines. Mine are both quality and timely, I cannot not do that.
Maybe someone can explain that, how people who can and do show up on time but don't necessarily do quality work (compliance and such) nor meet deadlines. In acute care I'm sure there are people who show up on time but arent such disciplined performers. What is the personality there?
I was speaking with a manager recently regarding some people that were behind, I just could not do that, I would have so much anxiety being behind that I won't let it happen. I recently worked 5 solid 12's for 3 consecutive weeks plus 4-8 hrs on my weekends, I lived on trail mix and peanut butter on a spoon and I was dead tired but my stuff got done, both patient care and all of the documentation despite an excessive amount of technical computer problems with a steep learning curve to boot. This was an extreme example but it plays out the same for me on a regular day.
So why the person who arrives on time can't meet other deadlines? I'd think those would go hand in hand but I see it played out differently with opposite examples at my work.
All that said, chronic tardiness to shifts I would imagine is related to depression or narcissism. I'm more like the dr who doesn't set hard boundaries. I think mine is more related to my desire to be hero of the day, not jerk of the day.
A few complain. Sadly, most of our patients are uninsured, undocumented, and otherwise disenfranchised, and I think many of them feel like having to wait a long time for their appointment just goes with the territory.
We have one provider who routinely runs 30-60 minutes behind on her visits. The reason for that is because if the patient needs it, she will spend twice as long with her than the 20-minute slot allows. And for that reason, her patients love her and are willing to wait up to an hour past their appointment time in order to see her.
Sounds like the my clinic clientele! A bit off topic, but, you touched on one of my frustrations as a clinician. I LOVE working single-practitioner clinics. I'm always there on time, ready to go. We are allotted 20 mins/pt also. I get ahead as much as possible on return visits as complete physicals or pts with problems do take longer. I am usually done by 4:30, always by 5PM so no staff is having to work overtime. My frustration is when I work in a 2-practitioner clinic and the other practitioner spends twice as long on almost ALL the pts she sees, leaving me to pick up her slack. She'll see about 16 pts while I see 28-30. When I work that clinic, I'm rarely done before 6. I work with just as many complicated patients, most of whom don't speak English. If we had assigned pts, I'd be out my usual time but clinic probably wouldn't close until 8PM, which is probably why they will never assign patients.
Maybe someone can explain that, how people who can and do show up on time but don't necessarily do quality work (compliance and such) nor meet deadlines. In acute care I'm sure there are people who show up on time but arent such disciplined performers. What is the personality there?
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So why the person who arrives on time can't meet other deadlines? I'd think those would go hand in hand but I see it played out differently with opposite examples at my work.
The kind of people who try to leave for "low census" when it's hopping busy, but don't mind staying when it's slow and they can get away with being a chairwarmer for awhile (vaguely staring at a computer screen and moving the mouse around). In other words, those who prefer to spend their energy finding ways to avoid work.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
@klone, are your providers tardy for the OR? If so, then maybe they are wired differently, but if they are punctual for surgery, it may be that a consequence for tardiness is what is needed to compel them to be on time. When you are Queen of the Facility you can determine what the consequence for tardiness will be, until then, if it is not causing problems for patients, I think you will just have to accept it.
My providers do not go to the OR. I work in a clinic. As to whether or not they are tardy for their 12-hour shift in the hospital, relieving one of their colleagues, I don't know because I don't work with them there.
Specializes in Cardiac, Home Health, Primary Care.
It has been interesting reading this thread as I am one of those who is typically early for everything. Occasionally something may come up in the mornings when I'm getting around (like some self diagnosed IBS type issues) but I still seem to get where I'm going on time.
I can kind of see where those chronically tardy people are coming from (that have posted here) but I still can't get over how the RESPONSIBILITY of being somewhere on time seems to get pushed to the back burner. Even if it's for a dinner with friends I feel a responsibility to be there on time even though it's casual.
Not trying to necessarily say anything negative to the chronically tardy but is there any sense of guilt or that you weren't a responsible adult when your tardiness affects others?
Again not trying to really put anybody down as I have good friends and family who have this problem and I still set up times to meet them lol.
I have an adult son with asperger's. He's NEVER been good with time. As I child, I had to constantly be on him as he got ready for school. Even now that he's an adult, I schedule his appointments 30-45 minutes later than what I tell him it is. His doctor, dentist, etc, know to tell him his appointment is 45 minutes earlier than it actually is. Lot less stress around the house as I watch him S L O W L Y get ready! Fortunately, no one has to wait on him before they can leave work!
Specializes in Management, Med/Surg, Clinical Trainer.
Why is it offensive? I'm trying to understand. Perhaps I didn't word it correctly so you understand what I'm trying to ask, which is why I'm wondering why that statement is offensive to you.
I got what you were saying klone, and that you truly are trying to understand that is why I said I would try to answer....but the reason a person would find it offensive is saying they are 'temporally challenged." Most folks who run on a different clock do not see themselves as challenged.
Specializes in Management, Med/Surg, Clinical Trainer.
Have you considered that these folks do not think like you. There are many people who are not ruled by the clock. They are ruled more by the environment. It is not that making it somewhere on time is not important, it is....but it is NOT the most important thing. Often times the most important thing is achieving the job once there, not on the actual arrival.
And often that does not mean in that 9-5 time frame....again not ruled by the clock. I think you may find some folks who tend to run late have a different internal clock. They may be the folks who are still working or thinking at 2 or 3am.
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There are also times when a situation in front of them deserves completion before they move on. Is that poor planning? No, it is just again an unwillingness to be Ruled by a clock.
All of that said, do I get to work on time? Yes. Do I hate those 8am punch the clock type of meetings? Yes. The night person in me screams about those! But anytime post 10am and I am all over it. I am okay saying I was late because I had something more pressing."
These are the types of people who should NOT consider going into any type of career that involves shift work, time clocks or other personnel relying on a timely arrival of their relief. That, to me, is the crux of this matter. If the day shift nurse routinely arrives late, causing a delay in departure for the night shift, that is rude, unprofessional and not excused by "well, it's not in my personality to be timely."
"I am okay saying I was late because I had something more pressing."
Not sure how many employers would accept that.
The trick is finding a job were I was not pigeon holed and tied to a time clock. Management...fit that bill for the most part.
Emergent, RN
4,301 Posts
Here is a good article that explores the subject from many angles. There's no one explanation for chronic tardiness.
Life Esteem - Wellness Matters Newsletter - Punctuality - Getting There on Time