Secretaries who believe they rule the unit or hospital

emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B · Apr 3, 2016

Ed's grind to a halt without good secretaries. Most of ours are awesome and yep, they have ocd traits. Which is a necessity given the adhohlookasquirrel characteristics of ed nurses and doctors.

kidfloat · Apr 3, 2016

Because an educated "upper" class person would never do that?

In response to you know who

nursej22, MSN, RN · Apr 3, 2016

I think part of this phenomenon is due to secretaries and unit clerks being from the lower socioeconomic strata of American women. They're on par with waitresses, cashiers, babysitters and act as low class as the group they originate from.

Hey, I originate from that low class strata, as do many of the nurses I know.

Yes, unit secretaries/coordinators do tend to be OCD, a vital quality. I just resent went anyone thinks they are somehow more important than others and act on it. No dear, I won't take a pen from the drawer without asking, but please don't tell me what meds my patient needs.

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Apr 3, 2016

"I think part of this phenomenon is due to secretaries and unit clerks being from the lower socioeconomic strata of American women. They're on par with waitresses, cashiers, babysitters and act as low class as the group they originate fr

Wow, I really can NOT believe you wrote that. Our secretaries are ANY thing but low class. Many of them go to nursing school or go onto other things. And Inwould NOT want their job for all the gold available. I hate when we don't have a secretary and we fill in....I don't know the first thing about all the different computer programs they use, where to find things, how to other items, and forget answering the 4 phone lines, transferring them and taking care of the 10 people at the desk who needs something. Take a step back and look at what you wrote. Not nice, not nice at all.

RNNPICU, BSN, RN · Apr 3, 2016

In our units, UC do not place orders, everything is computerized, and all orders are placed by an MD or VORB by RN. I know when we had paper charting 14 years ago, UCs would, but only after a MD wrote it down. I couldn't imagine UCs inputting orders by anticipation. UC's maintain books of pts discharge,transfers,admissions, but do not place orders. They answer phones, transfer calls, direct visitors and other guests or staff to rooms. Some of them do have attitudes and come across as mean to staff within the hospital. On a few occasions one UC for a period of months would give this new RN a very hard time, she would transfer all calls to this new RN, have all call bells go to her, and anything else. This RN was not disrespectful to anyone. A group of CNAs and UC just didn't like her. This happened to more than one staff member as well.

I once reported a CNA for having her headphones on while performing patient care, she was trying to hide it by having the cords be a brown color instead of the white ear buds. I answered truthfully when a family complained to a supervisor and I was asked what I witnessed. Other CNA and two UCs transferred many PCT calls to me, even when I was not assigned. At lunch time I was consistently forced by UC to relieve certain CNAs so they would get breaks, instead of using the Charge RN who was the appropriate person.

I have seen a lot of theses instances. I can understand where the OP is coming from, because I have seen many instances like this.

As for answering phones, RNs, CNAs do it while the UC is on break, lunch, or if not at the front desk.

I am not trying to say that UCs are not valuable, as there does need to be a front desk person (UC) to great people, answer and transfer phones, order supplies, help direct visitors to correct rooms, assist families with directions, but some really do have attitudes towards others that really is not helpful.

RNdynamic · Apr 3, 2016

Here's the thing: their "OCD" or "control freak" tendencies that secretaries have are aggravating to most people. They develop a reputation for "claiming their space." I've seen secretaries get mad if you're sitting in for them and you, being so ignorant as to not remember where every little thing is, open up a new box of pens when another has some left. Or something else that's ultimately inconsequential like that. One of them would poke out a ceiling tile over the nurses station in order to get cool air to blow down from the air system overhead, regardless of if everyone else was too hot or cold.

There was one lady who went crazy if you printed too many things out. It could have been discharge paperwork, emails, benefits letters, or whatever. If the printer turned on and starting humming for more than 10 seconds she'd get up out of her chair and cancel the job. "WHAT ARE THEY DOING? THEYRE WASTING ALL MY PAPER." As if it were her own personal paper that she brought from home. The woman was just mad that she had to get off her duff and put some more paper in the printer that day.

APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP · Apr 3, 2016

Or unit secretaries who believe they literally run a unit. These people have no medical training at times and are not certified or licensed, yet they feel they have the authority to tell the RNs what to do.
I don't get it, why????

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!!!!

What do you think goes on in the "C" Suite?! This describes a typical day for a CEO, CFO, etc.

At least the unit secretaries are on MY side.

Farawyn · Apr 3, 2016

Here's the thing: their "OCD" or "control freak" tendencies that secretaries have are aggravating to most people. They develop a reputation for "claiming their space." I've seen secretaries get mad if you're sitting in for them and you, being so ignorant as to not remember where every little thing is, open up a new box of pens when another has some left. Or something else that's ultimately inconsequential like that. One of them would poke out a ceiling tile over the nurses station in order to get cool air to blow down from the air system overhead, regardless of if everyone else was too hot or cold.
There was one lady who went crazy if you printed too many things out. It could have been discharge paperwork, emails, benefits letters, or whatever. If the printer turned on and starting humming for more than 10 seconds she'd get up out of her chair and cancel the job. "WHAT ARE THEY DOING? THEYRE WASTING ALL MY PAPER." As if it were her own personal paper that she brought from home. The woman was just mad that she had to get off her duff and put some more paper in the printer that day.

This made me lmao.

Graduatenurse14 · Apr 3, 2016

We have 1 unit secretary who is AMAZING!!! She is excellent at getting things done (getting the patient's PIN number when family calls the desk), anticipates needs (hears an RN say a patient didn't get a dinner tray so she immediately calls the hostess) and is very professional (would never criticizes a nurse in front of family at the desk or make comments about things she doesn't have a clue about.) She truly supports the nurses and aids by answering the call bell phone right next to her chair and makes our a lot jobs less stressful. She understands that RNs are stretched to the max and does all she can to help.

We have another unit secretary who is also pretty good at getting things done, doesn't anticipate needs or if she does, doesn't do much to take any of the load off of the nurse, isn't professional with the things she says in front of families or how she talks to nurses much of the time. She's the type of person that if she can find a way to make someone look stupid or have a little control over someone, she takes it all the way. She sits on her phone and doesn't answer call bells. She makes our jobs much more stressful and no nurse is happy to see that she is working that shift.

It's a shame and some nurses are going to talk to unit director about it as she runs two units and isn't on ours much so doesn't see it. The charge nurses know but don't do anything. Our unit is getting more stressful due to being over ratio more than ever and losing 4 aids and we need more support than ever now.

kay91 · Apr 3, 2016

I am very grateful for the unit secretaries I work with. The main ones I work with also were techs on the floor before moving to the desk so they also know the floor very well in all ways. They assist with making the assignment, faxing the assignment down, answering the phone calls and getting them to the right people, assist with patient care of all sorts since they have the tech background, ordering supplies, making follow appointments, assist with typing up discharge instructions, placing people in the bed on the computer, sometimes help get rooms ready for admissions, and do follow up calls with patients after discharge. They do a lot. Yeah one of them gets upset if people mess with her supplies of stuff, but it,is mostly so we don't end up running out of stuff. they also sometimes are secretary for multiple floors if there is a call-in and still manage to help on the floor. They definitely help make a very busy day run a bit smoother imo.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Apr 3, 2016

Sigh, you are all making me very nostalgic about the good old days when we actually had a HUC. Now we [the nurses] have to do that job as well. Boy do I miss the days when the orders were done by somebody else, when the outside appointments were scheduled by somebody else, when labs were followed up on and filed...yep, by somebody else.

allnurses Guide · Apr 4, 2016

"WHAT ARE THEY DOING? THEYRE WASTING ALL MY PAPER." As if it were her own personal paper that she brought from home.

Boy, I remember the time, back when I was in school, when a fellow student and I were printing out the "just a couple things" for our assignments. We had a little trouble and when we finally got it, we somehow ended printing out a gazillion copies of every patient's kardex. The printer just kept spittin' 'em out and spittin' 'em out... it was awful!

We tried to cancel it, but that damn machine kept chugging along. Every wrrrrrrr, chunka-chunka, wrrrrrr was not only obnoxiously loud, but it was surprisingly painful. Thought I was going to die.

The unit secretary turned red in the face and looked like she was going to murder us with her bare hands! She got it to stop and I think we got scolded for wasting paper. She was not understanding. I'm sure she told anyone that would listen about the stooopid nursing students who didn't even know how to print "a couple" copies.

We steered clear of her the rest of the rotation :whistling: