Report vent turned mega vent

[loveoutloud]

I have become increasingly frustrated during bedside report at change of shift. Ignorant nurses wanting to know ridiculous details or why I didn't do certain things. I'm not telling the Dr. To switch my patient from their current anti-depressant to citalopram because YOU think it's Indictated. There is a reason why PSYCH decided on the particular medication and we need to give it a fair chance. I'm not advocating for an increase dose in flomax because it was started yesterday.....these things take time. I did however ask for an order for a temporary foley until the medication takes effect so the poor patient doesn't need to be straight cath'd q shift (and put it in of course). I'm sorry I didn't change the OD drsg either, my patient in another room passed away and I was comforting her husband. Nursing is a 24 hour job, not everything needs to be done between 7-3. All my patients are clean, comfortable, turned, and all the orders/tasks for my shift have been completed when I pass my patient off to you. I did not read social works last note, but I also didn't take a lunch break or pee. That's because I was helping a more junior nurse with a difficult IV stick and showering my patients because that has not been done for a week and I know you will be too busy texting to bother with it yourself.

You were the last straw- the reason why I accepted a position on another unit. We often work understaffed with high acuity patients that also require complete care. It's not safe. I cannot provide the quality care I would want my loved ones to receive and therefor feel like a crappy, inadequate nurse. I truly hope the staffing and other rough areas on the unit improve for you- surely working there is taking a toll on everybody.

the above vent is NOT the main reason why I left, but was the catalyst for being fed up with years of an unsafe environment and apathetic manager. The finger-pointing and witch-hunting when people make an error needs to stop. Mistakes don't need to be advertised during a staff meeting for everybody to know. I'm getting out before I become the subject of the aforementioned witch hunts.

thanks for reading my vent. Now I must put my game face back on and get back to work.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Look, I know if my patients are on tele. How do I know? Because I LOOKED AT THE CHART. I don't expect the off shift to read me the kardex. If you need the off shift to tell you whether or not your patient is on tele, I'm thinking you didn't bother to look up the patient.

Actually, this is all moot - I most often report what rhthym they've been in t/o my shift.

I'm not the kardex. Want to know everything about the patient? There's the EHR, I have 3-4 other nurses to report off to and charting to finish.

People keep saying, "I know because I already looked at the chart." Look, I'm one of those nurses who does not give away her time for free, even if you (the general you) are. Soooo many people where I work come in up to an hour early to read charts. I don't. And, like canigraduate, I expect the off going to give me the basics, like rhythm and glucose checks or not.

On the rare occasions in which I've gotten to work early enough to look at charts, I could have given a better report to the off going nurse than she gave me.

[40thEditionRN]

At change of shift, there were ALWAYS a small handful of nurses that I hated giving report to. One was a literal nightmare. Questioned everything, at times berated the outgoing RN in front of family, was always annoyed that she got the heaviest assignment. (She didn't). She was on her last warning throughout my entire tenure at my last place of employment. Not sure how she was still there when I resigned...

I mean, some things have to be questioned, but I always felt that each RN was my colleague, not my adversary. we're in this together. Right?

[canigraduate]

It's not that the off going nurse doesn't know, it's that it's wasting time. I'm not spoon feeding report to anybody. I don't advocate being rude but some nurses will ask the silliest questions sometimes.

I show up 30 min early everyday so I can look over orders and labs and things so that I am ready for report and can have ACTUAL important "can't find the information anywhere else" questions ready after listening carefully to report.

All I ask in return is for the next nurse to be ready for report when it's time to go home.

We can't show up early and check charts in my unit. We can't clock in until 2 minutes before the shift starts. Literally, we are supposed to clock in at 1858 and be on the floor for report at 1900.

I don't work for free.

I see where some of you are coming from about the nit picky report. I tend to get too detailed when giving report on the unit I'm on now because I used to work ICU. I don't ask a lot of questions, though, I just want the basics.

Some of the nurses on my unit want to know things like how much lunch the patient had. Seriously?!? Unless they're anorexic, I DON'T CARE.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Though this is a venting thread, please debate the topic, not the poster. Thanks.