Supplies are missing!!!

tokmom, BSN, RN · Jul 19, 2013

Not so much missing, but moved. OMG, the clean utility supply cart. The stockers will come and rearrange stuff. Just the other day I needed the NG nose sticker/holder thingy (yes, there is a real name to it, just having a brain fart). Anyway, they were moved near the foley stuff. WHAT??? Who's bright idea was that? Obviously not a nurse...grumble..

DedHedRN · Jul 19, 2013

I used to have a nurse who would rearrange the cart is what I felt was the worst possible way. I once spent 20 mins making it just perfect and organized, the next day, she had undone all my work and put everything back in the no sense way it always was. I just gave up honestly.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Jul 20, 2013

Sounds familiar. I think they pay our supply clerk just to rearrange the room at least 2-3 times a week. It takes forever to track stuff down. And don't even get me started on the med cart! Just like IsisC, I gave up. Too much wasted time to clean and stock it just to have it back the way it was the next day. Talk about wasted nursing hours.

Jig1 · Jul 20, 2013

Same here, not so much missing as moved, they are constantly organizing things which seems to lead to an unorganized work-place.

Amnesty · Jul 20, 2013

As an aide in a hospital, the Masimo pulse oximeter extensions for the vitals machines. Those things are like gold. When we get patients back post-op, they have to have their own vitals machine with dedicated pulse-ox extension for 2 hours afterward (nurse have to do a q15mins vitals check on them). Being that my floor is for people with broken bones, we have a lot of days where we have all of our vitals machines tied up in rooms, and both of our portable pulse oxes, and all of the straight-to-machine pulse ox attachments, too.

The things cost like $250, and you can never find one. The other aides have taken to hiding them in the supplies room, and I go right along with this game of hide and seek. If I use one for a day, I put it back where I got it so that person doesn't know s/he's been compromised. Gotta be sneaky!!

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jul 20, 2013

We've had patients steal the pulse ox machines, and one actually "found" one in the community and returned it to a local pharmacy.

Vishwamitr · Jul 21, 2013

Not knowing the other nurse's rationale for rearranging, I'd say that its a matter of perspective. What seems "perfect" to her seems "the worst possible way", like you have said, and vice versa. It seems that you never consulted her before putting it "perfect and organized". Perhaps it would've helped if you had solicited her input and you two could've worked out something mutually agreeable instead of thinking that she had "undone all my work". I bet you she was thinking the same about you when you had undone all her work.

amygarside · Jul 22, 2013

hehe it is really annoying when other nurses rearrange the supplies..

CountyRat · Jul 24, 2013

It is a fact of life; try not to let it upset you any more than you can help it. People are peole and they are not going to change. Trying to change them will make you crazy, because they won't, and cause you to be disliked, which does not help anyone.

When I could, I would jot down notes during report that included things that I thought I might need for the patients that I was assigned, and check to make sure they were available ahead of time. If they were not, I would work on that problem ahead of time. This is not possible when the shift is totally crazy and there is just no time, but one can usually do it, and it is a great stress reliever and time saver on those occasions when it is possible.

Last word: When you have to go foraging about to find some missing supply, get more of that supply than you need, if you can, and put one or two back in your unit's storage area so that the next nurse will not have to repeat your treasure hunt. No, others will not start doing it too; you cannot change others so do not expect to, but you will be doing the right thing and, in some small way, reducing the level of tension and frustration for others, which can only make life better for everyone, including you.

GitanoRN, BSN, MSN, RN · Jul 24, 2013

Way to familiar in our Supply storage as well... Aloha~

amygarside · Jul 25, 2013

I also heard stories of nurses taking supplies at home. I guess it would be good to install surveillance cameras in hospitals including the supply room.