So frustrated.

SoundofMusic · May 31, 2008

I share in your frustration. I clean up the breakroom after them, clean up the supply rooms, the med room, AND, of course, their lousy charting and admission jobs which usually put me behind about an hour or two a night/day when I follow them.

What really gets me is how people eat and leave their droppings and trash behind from their lunch or dinner or snack ON THE SAME SMALL table that everyone has to use in our break room -- I mean -- do they do this in restaurants? It's just absolutely GROSS. :banghead:

I've seen half eaten sandwiches just left on the table. . . no plate or anything. Just food droppings. It's like you work with animals, or three year olds or something -- but you can never catch whose doing it!

Tait, MSN, RN · Jun 1, 2008

Monday night I walked into a break room full of left overs. The day secretary said "oh we will leave this out for you guys to eat".

What did they leave?

1/8 bag smashed chips

scrapes of baked beans in a bowl

one mangled slice of cheese cake

3/4 of some white cake no one liked enough to eat

and a hotdog in a bowl of God only knows what sauce

All at 7pm, because everyone knows nurses walk on the floor and then sit down to eat.

Please, if you don't want to clean up say so! But don't leave 12 hour old food out and try to pass it off to us!!

I also hear you on the left over charting, admission details, the "oops she wants to be a DNR and just told me" (only to find out she talked to multiple doctors about over the course of the day.

Blah!

mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP · Jun 1, 2008

OOOOOOOOoooooo the break room gets me going every time. Coffee stains all over the counter, down the front of the cabinets, the floor, THE TRASH CAN??? Usually some slimly something or another on the door handle of the fridge. Oh and then the fridge. Usually not even an ounce of space left in it to get something inside and then that smell when you open it. Move on to the table and it's piled high with partial bags of chips (mostly crumbs by now), plates of un-id'd food, ketchup and mustard packets everywhere. 9 times out of 10, stuff on the floor.

Virgo_RN, BSN, RN · Jun 1, 2008

Hee hee, you guys are too funny. I wasn't talking about those kind of messes. I came on shift the other day and had so much left over from the previous shift, it was crazy. It took half my shift just to deal with that stuff. For example, one was an admit from early that morning, and while her paperwork was done, she had not had her morning meds in the six hours she had been on the floor. I couldn't even find her meds, and between trying to find them (eventually found them on the windowsill in her room, NOT the locked cabinet where they are supposed to be) and calling the cardiologist about her rapid A fib, taking orders, implementing them, evaluating their effect, and calling again, it was 2000 by the time she actually got her *morning* medications. Another one was a post pacer implant who had been back since morning, but when I came on was still sitting on the extra linens which were damp, with the Dynamap still attached to her arm. This lady was so nice, though. She kept saying how great everyone had been and how happy she was with her experience.

Anyway, it was a crazy busy shift mainly because so much of what I was doing was "clean up" from the previous shift.

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jun 2, 2008

OOOOOOOOoooooo the break room gets me going every time. Coffee stains all over the counter, down the front of the cabinets, the floor, THE TRASH CAN??? Usually some slimly something or another on the door handle of the fridge. Oh and then the fridge. Usually not even an ounce of space left in it to get something inside and then that smell when you open it. Move on to the table and it's piled high with partial bags of chips (mostly crumbs by now), plates of un-id'd food, ketchup and mustard packets everywhere. 9 times out of 10, stuff on the floor.

Our break room is a carbon copy of yours! The sink is always full of dirty dishes, the garbage can overflowing and the inside of the microwave so spattered with unrecognizable stuff that I'm afraid to put my food in it, covered or not! Fear of fire is not foolish...

Then there are the night shifts when I go to take my supper break at 1 am and there are FIVE people shrouded in flannel blankets from the warmer sleeping on the couch and love seat we have back there, lights out and feet up. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. When I go for my last break at 5:30, there are five more in the same configuration. What is THAT?

SoundofMusic · Jun 2, 2008

What gets me is admissions. If I, as an orientee, didnt finish my admission paperwork -- and I mean ALLLLLLL of it, before the next shift -- I will get my rear sufficiently kicked. Oh, but the travel staff or whomever does it everyday, yet no one says a word. Doesn't our mangement ever say a word to these people?

One just left most of it halfway done the other night -- sheets of check off lists, literally half filled out and just left blank. To follow after that and for someone to not even chart their admission assessment. How can that be? If I didn't assess the person, how can I complete all that charting?

Chloe'sinNYNow · Jun 3, 2008

What gets me is admissions. If I, as an orientee, didnt finish my admission paperwork -- and I mean ALLLLLLL of it, before the next shift -- I will get my rear sufficiently kicked. Oh, but the travel staff or whomever does it everyday, yet no one says a word. Doesn't our mangement ever say a word to these people?

Sure SofM. The Travelers are even more despised. On my unit anyway. But all the burned out angry nurses who have entitlement issues just mutter under their breath venomous thoughts about them. And about the contracted Philipinnes in our employ. It's so cutthroat I am sickened and anxious to go into that atomosphere everyday.

On the messy matter too tho', just this AM after holding my own pee in for about 10 hours, I had a chance to go and once inside the bath"closet", there was nasty pee all over the seat. And we are a women only floor b/c we're OB!!! I went all the way off teh unit and down the hall almost exiting our unit completely to use teh public rest rooms. And that had 2 squares of paper left.

Our break room is a flippin sty too! I'm totally sick of sitting in other peoples messes. Grow up and clean up after yourselves people. I have a job to do too. And being new, I have to do everything running my tush off all night while you sit and read People and watch music videos online.

I cannot believe I spent so much on Nursing School that I am stuck in this profession of so much disrespect and discourteous people. Such a pecking order and chewing out on a daily/nightly basis.

ugh! :sniff:

Chloe

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Jun 3, 2008

I am a firm believer in that the tasks that many people take for granted the techs will do...(emptying trash, filing labs, the piddling things that could have been done with one spare minute....especially when you walk into the break room smelling so bad you want to puke....) I will NOT do unless I have to.

I had 14 patients the other night, on my own load, and did not do ANY of the tech required work...left it for days and said..."well, the trash, coffee pot, equipment, etc...is all the same as it was when you guys left yesterday. Sorry, patient care comes first..."