She took my patients!

[Weaverd11]

Hello! I'm new to AN.

I always come here for advice on school (currently getting my BSN), financial aid, and how to work/go to school at the same time.

So the situation is this:

I work in an ICU as a Procedure Tech. We basically have some similar functions of being a regular PCT as well as a mixed bag of tricks with setting up a sterile field/assisting the physicians with procedures. We are the brainchild of a Surg. Tech and an Aide.

Our ICU is 24 beds, 2 halls. We have a hall that has 1-12 and the other 13-24. During dayshift we will staff 1 tech for each hall.

I had to work 4 days in a row, but on my first day I had to come in to work and pick the side that wasn't already "taken". Normally this side is already chosen by the person who is preceding me/finishing working their days in a row. No problem.

On my second day in, I clocked in around 6:55am (we work 7a-7p) and had to go to the bathroom. By the time I went to put my lunch away, finished in the bathroom, and made it to my station to get report from the night tech, it was 7:03am. The night tech was just starting to give report to the tech that was only coming in for one day. I mentioned that I was here the day before and that it was my 2 out of 4. The other day tech then goes into a rant on how she had this side earlier in the week and I was late so she was taking this side again. I listen to her and again say, "You weren't here yesterday and this is my second day out of 4. Since you are only here for today you should take the other side so that way I don't have to keep flipping patients."

She starts to raise her voice and says "No, absolutely not. You were late and I'm already here. I don't mean to be a you know what but no. Not today, I'm keeping these patients because I was here earlier in the week." I felt myself starting to get upset because I'm generally a pretty easy going person. The night tech sat there between us and said "I'll let you guys figure it out." I decided to just go to the other side and switch back on my third day.

This incident happened about a week ago but it still upsets me to think about. I've been here about a year and shes a little newer than me. In our unit, the LCN's don't assign us, we assign ourselves. In a years time, there have been flubs with communication where I/others have had to flip sides last minute before the shift starts. There have also been times when, in the beginning of report, someone will show up a little late... but the general understanding is that the person before you/staying longer gets to keep their patients.

Now my question to you all is... what should I have done different? Part of me feels like I should have stood my ground and kept the side. The other part of me says it wasn't worth the yelling match she was making it into, and my day ended up fine.

The part that upsets me is being concerned with this happening again. Since I gave up once, I feel like I've lost all future discussions on the issue with her. I mentioned it again a couple of days ago, and tried explaining that out of respect, you let the returning tech keep their side. She responded "Yeah, unless you're late. Soo...." It has bothered me since.

Thank you guys for your advice, Dani.

[Missingyou, CNA]

You were the one being professional by not going on with her about which patients you had.

But at the same time, she showed up at the station on time ready to work, in which case, she was the one being professional.

You were both right and wrong at the same time.

Pick and choose your battles. This one hardly seems worth the effort and stress.

Let it go now.

Best advice I have is to avoid being put in this situation again then, you won't have to worry about looking timid or having to stand your ground.

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

Suck it up and move on. Truly. It's done, over with and in the grand scheme of things, pretty darn minor. I don't think patients can be considered property and referred to as "mine".

Unwritten policies mean just that---nothing in writing, so anything goes! Maybe suggest that those in your position are assigned to the hall they will be working on ahead of time, but you might not like that either. As others have said, be present at 7 on the dot, act like an adult when things don't go your way and be the best team player you can be

[QuietRiot]

The Op said 7:03 not 7:30

I see her point. You said your shift starts at 7:00 and it was 7:30 before you made it to the floor for report. If you have that much stuff to do in the morning, you need to get there at 6:30 so that you can be on the floor on time.

There is no reason to get in a shouting match with someone over it. You are both adults, you need to act like.

If you guys have an agreed upon system of who gets what, then that system should have been followed.

BTW, It's probably best that you guys have your patients assigned. This would eliminate these sorts of issues.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

My two cents is this: While you were clocked-in on time, you were "late" to the floor to work out your assignment. I'm an RN. Sure, I can be clocked-in on time, but I would probably get into trouble if I clocked-in on time and then promptly went to the cafeteria to get a bite to eat and showed up in my ED 20 minutes after I was supposed to. My only defense would be... "I clocked in 25 minutes ago..."

I don't care when you clock in, you need to be ready to get report as soon as the off-going shift is ready to give it to you. Your shift starts at 7. You need to be there, ready to go at 7. That means when 7 comes around, you're there waiting already. If you're not there, then the other person gets to choose because... you're not there. Unwritten rules and such are fine... they can be part of local culture, but if you're not there, you're just SOL and you get what you get and you have NOTHING to point to in policy that says you're entitled to your choice.

[Weaverd11]

I haven't checked back in a couple of days.

One Ironic comment I saw was this:

1. Set a unit policy on how the assignment is done. For example, "If a tech was here the previous day, that tech will be assigned to the same hall as the previous day. If neither tech was here there previous day, the assignment is made by the techs when they arrive for their shifts" etc. It sounds like now there is no guarantee that any tech will get their assignment back, so if the techs want this to always happen, a policy needs to be put in writing."

^^^That IS our policy. Unwritten, but spoken. Our entire Tech team has gone to management and the Charges, even the Secretaries about the assignments. If you were there the night before, you get the same patients. Period. LCN's and head manager understand that this has been a policy between techs for a very long time and tell us that there is no issue because (for the most part) we respect each other and understand the 'rules'. We are told that the night tech has to let the secretaries know who had which side. The problem arises when a tech comes in at 11pm and doesn't know who left at 7pm. Its not necessarily which hall is 'easiest' at all, I don't mind working.

My problem was that since that IS our policy, I felt like she was wrong. If no one was here the day prior, we just pick a side. For some reason, some techs have sides that they prefer which is perfectly fine to when no one was here the day before. I was on time, I wouldn't call being in the bathroom late.

I'm upset about the lack of courtesy since she knows how things are supposed to go here. She worked the hall earlier in the week and had the same assignment ALL 4 days due to the SAME policy she fought to me about. Since things were starting to get loud, I decided to drop it but thats just not how things go here. Later that day she asked me to cover a shift for her and keeps asking me every other day. I'm the only person who would swap because she was feuding with the other 2 techs about multiple issues .She now gets upset and calls me 'petty' for not covering for her anymore. (I would regularly swap shifts with her since I didn't have class this summer.) I remain professional with her but tension seems to keep rising because I will no longer entertain her when she wants to chit chat as well as not go out of my way to cover her shifts like I used to.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

Unwritten, but spoken.

I agree that she was not courteous. However, it a policy is unwritten, it is not a policy. Sorry, but the way it goes in healthcare in order for something to be a policy it has to be written and then approved by some high up. If, after the fact, someone comes up and states "but I was following our unwritten policy"--well, that person does not have a leg to stand on. If you want things to change, get a policy written and approved.

[Weaverd11]

I agree that she was not courteous. However, it a policy is unwritten, it is not a policy. Sorry, but the way it goes in healthcare in order for something to be a policy it has to be written and then approved by some high up. If, after the fact, someone comes up and states "but I was following our unwritten policy"--well, that person does not have a leg to stand on. If you want things to change, get a policy written and approved.

I think I will have to talk to management about that. They like us to follow our own spoken policy which is why they are adamant about leaving assigning to us, but when nothing is written and someone new comes along to challenge it... you're right. No leg to stand on.

I was trained and taught this like many of the techs before me and we all understood that its just courtesy. Its hard enough being a tech and having a lot of patients. its even harder to have 24 different patients within 2 days.

Like another poster said, written policies have to be put in place for people that can't respect their coworkers. What I hear from the senior tech, is that it has been this way for many, many years and only now is it becoming a problem because some techs want to be seen as 'dominant'.

Anyways, I will talk to management and get something figured out. In my mind, you can't bend a policy to work when you want to keep your patients and then bend it again to get them back. Our PCT meeting was about a month ago, but we were talking about updating the policy for float/pull techs, this would definitely be something to add.

[JustBeachyNurse, LPN]

I think I will have to talk to management about that. They like us to follow our own spoken policy which is why they are adamant about leaving assigning to us, but when nothing is written and someone new comes along to challenge it... you're right. No leg to stand on.

I was trained and taught this like many of the techs before me and we all understood that its just courtesy. Its hard enough being a tech and having a lot of patients. its even harder to have 24 different patients within 2 days.

Like another poster said, written policies have to be put in place for people that can't respect their coworkers. What I hear from the senior tech, is that it has been this way for many, many years and only now is it becoming a problem because some techs want to be seen as 'dominant'.

Anyways, I will talk to management and get something figured out. In my mind, you can't bend a policy to work when you want to keep your patients and then bend it again to get them back. Our PCT meeting was about a month ago, but we were talking about updating the policy for float/pull techs, this would definitely be something to add.

Clearly your coworker has issues. Be sure to follow all written policies to the letter. You don't owe her an explanation as to why you won't change shifts. A simple "I'm sorry I'm.not available" will suffice. If she's really petty keep a log of her requests no matter how petty. Move forward to get a tech assignment as a written policy/procedure/guideline.

[QuietRiot]

If there is an implied policy or one that is customary to the unit...then it still needs to be followed!

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

The off going PCT did that deliberately to teach the OP a lesson about coming in late.

The reality is that, in most units, if you're late for the change of shift huddle you get what's left.

[NurseEmmy]

3 minutes is not typically a big deal in the grand scheme of things, however you now know what can happen in those 3 minutes. Sure the other tech should have gone by the "unwritten" rule, but unless there is a written policy about it, it is hard to enforce. My suggestion is getting this rule clarified and on paper. In the end this is a non-issue, but still frustrating at the time.