(1st post) Just a question about respect(or lack there of)from co-workers at hospt

[Trauma_Team_1]

hello everyone this is my first post on here :w00t:

little background on me. im 24/m,and i will be attending nursing school here in arizona after 2 years of grinding through all my pre-reqs.( its a nice feeling being done now after all that time) i have a lot of work ahead of me still obviously, but im excited. ok on to my question. i have 6 months of nothing to do until school starts so i thought i would take a job at the hospital here in town. i have a national certified phlebotomist licences so i took a position as a phlebotomist ( i wanted to see the lab part of the work so when im an rn i will have a greater appreciation, and understanding of what goes on in the lab. also i want to be great at iv's so what a good way to learn by seeing veins for 8 hr's a day). i always knew there was this thing between the lab, and those who work on the floor ( rn's,cna's,pct,md) almost like a mini war or competition. i have never worked in a hospital until recently, and i have to say i really was surprised at the lack of respect that the people on the floor give to the lab personnel ( phlebs mainly). there is this sense that the rn's think we are uneducated ,and have no business up there with "them" ( how dare we go draw blood up on the floor right). whats really funny is that i had an rn who was about my age decide she would call me "lab boy" in front of a patient as i was drawing his blood. i was very embarrassed by this and thought this was a total lack of professionalism on her part. as i was leaving the room i told the nurse that if i have any questions while im in nursing school ill make sure to ask her. needless to say her attitude changed instantly as soon as i said "nursing school". and from then on she has been really nice to me, but i wonder just how crappy i would have been treated if i never said anything about me going into nursing (so now i just tell every new nurse is see up there that i am). anyways, i was just wondering if this is a common thing for nurses to treat phlebs or anyone else whos not up there on the floor sorta like uneducated idiots. i personally worked hard to become a phlebotomist you need to go to college to do that here. all i know is when im a nurse i will never do that to any lab personal or anyone else for that matter whos there to help me with my job as i have been on that end of it myself. i just hope this is not a common thing.

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

I'm sorry you were treated like that. Just make a mental note that this nurse probably has insecurity problems, or a very twisted sense of humor. In our ER I love our lab techs. If I have a difficult stick I often go and get the lab tech and together we find a vein, start the IV and get the labs drawn. This approach has saved many patients multiple IV sticks and pain. And I have learned a lot about locating veins and drawing labs from these professionals.

On the floor the nurses do not draw labs. I have rarely seen a floor nurse diss lab.

I one time did have to write up a lab tech for innapropriate behavior with a patient, but that was a fluke.

[mosin46]

what everybody else said. might give you a clue about where not to look for your first RN job.

[CaLLaCoDe, BSN, RN]

The large majority of Floor Nurses wouldnt draw their own blood anyway, they always get a phlebotomist

The large majority of Floor nurses are underskilled at IV starting and or Phlebotomy Thats why they have IV teams to do it for them. or they keep calling the ER nurses to do it for them after hours.

So Ignore them

I'm sorry but I have to throw this generalization of nurses out the window. Most nurses at my hospital are competent at IV starts and we rely on one another if we're having a tough time no doubt.

This is an outragiously distorted view of the nursing field. We respect our phlebotomists. I have not seen phlebotomists being undervalued. To me they are part of the team.

Please don't generalize and put most nurses in a box of incompetance, that is not true and I am not buying it.