Sick of the floor....

OK, no advice, just ((hugs))

Many people gravitate to the OR when they are burned out by patient's families. The problem is your "one-on-one" time with the patient will be while he or she is asleep.

Have you considered psych/mental health? Many times there are limits on family members and there can be more time to spend with the client. However, mental health is a hard field to go into--not for everyone.

Have you thought about an outpatient cancer care center? The patients come in for chemo/meds and you get to know them and build a report with them.

Other options to think about--day surgery, endoscopy and cath lab.

That's why I loved the rules thread;

https://allnurses.com/forums/f8/whatever-happened-rules-likes-these-337684.html

It would make patient care so much easier. What I'm really beginning to hate is feeding the five thousand. I work weekends so obviously everyone has time to visit. Don't these people have common sense?

It really isn't OK to have six family members visit at once and then also expect soda and snacks. It isn't OK to have your six year old using grandmas wheelchair to go up and down the halls in it because she's been here for hours and the poor kid is bored. Or some spouses of family members say when you deliver a meal tray "Oh, isn't there one for me?" No there bloody isn't.

It isn't OK to argue about what medications you think your family member should be getting with me. I don't prescribe them, I've told you so, I've told you I will page the doctor and I've told you I don't know when s/he will get back to you.

There, I've vented with you. :)

Many people gravitate to the OR when they are burned out by patient's families. The problem is your "one-on-one" time with the patient will be while he or she is asleep.

I can say that being a nurse has certainly driven me to stay more to myself. Between the insane families, administrators and impractical policies, it is all enough to make anyone insane. :icon_hug: No advice, but take the cyberhug, please! :0)

exactly why i left med/surge and went to private duty nursing!

i have only one pt for either 8-10 shifts. i get to spend 1/1 time, really know them.

i don't have a phone, call bell, docs, labs etc etc all calling me at the same time, no family to deal with except mom/dad.

i love it! hope you find a relief soon and in the mean time "hugs' to help till you do!

I agree with another poster. Find another place within the hospital that you work, I understand your desire to speak with patients as well. It appears as though you may experience enough to explore your own options. Do not get yourself burned out by familes. Make sure you take time for yourself at the end of the shift. WE can not care for others if we do not care for ourselves. A clique that works

Thanks, all, for your responses. I sometimes want to throw the phone out the window, except the windows don't open. Or maybe send it via pneumatic tube to the hospital administrator and let her deal with all the BS. Don't people have the common sense to realize that every moment I am on the phone with them is a moment that I am not at their loved one's bedside?

Oh, and the lab calling with a "critical" troponin of 1.6, then asking for my name and for me to repeat the result to them. Hello. I know the trop is 1.6 because I already looked it up, 1.6 is hardly "critical", and I am NOT going to call the cardiologist who already diagnosed the pt. with AMI and placed a stent earlier today with a "critical troponin of 1.6". Why are you wasting my time in this manner? I'm not mad at the lab. They probably have to do this, and most of the time, they are my allies and I rely on them to do their job well, which they do. But MY GOD. Whoever came up with this asinine idea that they have to call the nurse with any "critical" lab result, then ask the nurse to repeat the number and give their name, ought to be dragged out back along with the person who designed the new "state of the art" building that resembles a four star hotel more than it does a hospital, who has probably not worked the floor a day in their life, and shot. The emergency room is right there, and it's state of the art.

Oh, and same for whoever, somewhere in the annals of history, decided that family members should be allowed to just call the nurse without a specific invitation to do so. No, I cannot tell you what your A&Ox3 mother will be taking tonight, she has a right to her privacy and it is against hospital policy to discuss private health information over the telephone, and keeping me on the phone for ten minutes will not change that, but it will keep me from being able to treat your mother in a timely fashion. And please, do not have your husband call back ten minutes later and ask the same questions because you think he is more assertive or people will take a man more seriously. I will tell him the same thing. And grand daughter at the bedside, QUIT HOVERING!!!! She cannot have saltines, she is on a clear liquid diet. No, she should not have chicken broth, it is too high in sodium. No, I did not "get a chance to check" and see if we have low sodium chicken broth, I have worked here for over two years and I know for a fact that we don't (don't get me started on the irony of being a cardiac floor and having a pantry stocked with high sodium canned soups), and by the way, what would you prefer I spend my time doing, tracking down some nonexistent low sodium chicken broth, or starting this blood transfusion that was ordered six hours ago in the ED and part of the reason it's taken so long to get it started is because of you and your family constantly interrupting me? Oh, now you have an attitude? Nice.

Phew.

I've thought about the cath lab, but have two concerns. A) I like a lot of aspects of the floor, and am afraid I might miss that. B) I think I need more experience....I'm only a year in on a cardiac tele unit. I have no critical care experience, other than the patients we sometimes get who really should be in the unit.

I was thinking about the ED, but I read a vent thread in there that sounds an awful lot like what I go through already. I've thought about ICU in order to get critical care experience, so that I can basically go wherever I want from there. But ICU has its share of family issues as well. I've considered OR, but I'm afraid I'd miss the time with the patients and practicing my skills.

I'm seriously thinking about applying elsewhere, though. Shhh! Don't tell anybody on my floor, okay?

I would think an ICU with strict visiting might be just what the nurse ordered.:wink2:

I would think the soup issue is one that your manager should be battling. We want increased PO fluid intake and then provide almost nothing that people think of as food for sick people. (Although low Na soup, espec. broth has a taste that leaves me flat.)

I often say, "I'll get back to you after I have gotten this critical situation taken care of". Sometimes this works for blood, other times to respond to lab's "critical values calls". It gives me time to regroup before dealing with family, once again. It probably will show up in 'The Survey" but can easily be defended if you do follow up with family and doc. that initial interaction was interrupted by critical situation.

I hear you, and send hugs. As I once read "These are the times that try men's souls". You are a good soul or it would not bother you. Do what is right for you.

I so sorry you have to deal with these kind of families. If it makes you feel any better I deal with the same crap only in LTC. You know the PITA that you have to deal with for a few days; I have to deal with that PITA for years. I hope you find the job were the crazy family member is not allowed near the nurse. If they try to call you they get the recorded voice that says this number is on longer in service. If you find that job let me know. I would be willing to move.

What shift are you currently working? Usually the night shifts get to avoid this mess with familes, constant order changes, lab calls and meals.