Ugh! Feeling a little frustrated today with some other newbie nurses (I am one myself). As part of orientation, we have several tasks that we have to complete and classes to attend. I find them very beneficial. However, it seems there are one or two immature individuals that insist on complaining, degrading, disregarding, and disrespecting every lecture, inservice and instructor/guest speaker that we have. It was easy to ignore at first, but now it seems it is spreading to other previously satisfied new grads who want to be part of this little group. Sometimes, I wish I could just speak my mind, but it would not be very professional...
- Yes, it is important that I know how to read EKGs forwards, backwards, and sideways in case my pt has a rhythm change and I need to intervene. :trout:
- Yes, I do need to know how to interpret ABGs even though we always have a respiratory therapist, because there are other assessment findings that I must take into consideration when providing treatment.
- Yes, I do want to learn how to read a 12 lead even though the diagnosis is generated at the top of the page...it is not always accurate.
- No, I don't want to have to move closer to hear the instructor/speaker because you want to gossip about how much you drank this weekend, your friend from highschool that got arrested, or which doctor you think is hot. I happen to think hemodynamics is an important aspect of critical care.
- No...I don't chart before I do something, I do follow the 'stupid' protocols, and I do take notes during these classes and read up on the newest recommendations outside of work. That's because I value my license.
- No...I don't know how you made it through nursing school either. :trout:
I guess I am just having a bad day. But being around this group for a few days reminds me of highschool too much. It's like watching an episode of the hills on MTV. :trout: It appalls me that some people lack such maturity and professionalism, yet choose an advanced area of practice. And then claim, they are going to apply for CRNA school after a year. Good luck with that when you don't even know the oral care protocol or why it's done.
Ok, this isn't the same, but to answer the question titling this thread....I wish I could say "is this report you're giving me on this patient what I'm really going to find? Or is this the report YOU got and you haven't actually seen this patient in the last five hours?" All too often I'm told a set of facts that aren't anything like what I find in the room ten minutes after report.
I love going into a room expecting to see a R TKR and finding it's the left. And that instead of being elevated, there isn't a pillow to be found for it. How was it elevated all day? That the "keep ice on the wound" order for a fresh post op, emphatically given in report, yields a patient who has an ice bag so old that it's HOT WATER from his body heat. I got a patient at midnight who had very literally a bag of hot water on his abdominal wound; when I asked him about it he said it was the bag he got THAT MORNING in PACU.
I would love to tell my co-workers to stop copying the previous nurse's charting notes on the care plans, and write their own observations. Don't know how many times I've seen a pt noted to have an IV all day, and it was d/c'd the day before. Or noted to have a "clean, dry, intact" dressing and the thing is bloodstained--and has been for a long time. Dear co-worker...did you LOOK?
I agree with you . . .. . had a case where an elderly lady was supposed to be in Buck's Traction on the left leg and it was on the right leg and this went through two shifts and one doc.
Scary.
I also see the "rote" assessments . . . . regarding IV sites, wounds, l/s, hr, etc.
It doesn't take that long to do a full assessment - plus it is the law.
ANd, to the OP...if you are noticing this, then so must your preceptors. They should have stopped such behavior in the middle of class. Either way, i would tell them, at first politely, that they must keep it down because you cannot concentrate with all the talking. If this doesnt work, turning around and snapping at them with a "DO YOU MIND?" will do the trick (i've done it. its worked for me). They will think of you as the devil, but who the hell cares...they won't be there to help you when you are presented with a situation that you SHOULD know how to respond to. So screw them :trout:
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i personally get left and right mixed up all the time. :trout: two days ago i reported a pt's l side was flaccid when it was the right, not because i didn't assess him, but because i got l and r mixed.
i do the same thing. i have to look at my wedding ring before i can chart either right or left for sure! when people go all strange on me during report and say "are you sure it's the left?" i'll say "it's the side closest to the window." i'm always right about that! (and when you're getting report, is it really important whether i tell you correctly that the new triple lumen catheter is in the right subclavian versus the left? i'm sure you'll figure it out the minute you assess the patient!)
Hmmmm...things i wish i could say. I guess there are many, but here is one topic:
Dear co-workers,
Why do you sit there at the nurses stations complaining about how much work you have to do, and how we are short staffed and it is unfiar, for an entire hour at the start of the shift. Perhaps you do not realize that you have just wasted an hour of your time that may have been spent accomplishing a few of the things that you say you don't have time to do!
Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.
Hmmmm...things i wish i could say. I guess there are many, but here is one topic:
Dear co-workers,
Why do you sit there at the nurses stations complaining about how much work you have to do, and how we are short staffed and it is unfiar, for an entire hour at the start of the shift. Perhaps you do not realize that you have just wasted an hour of your time that may have been spent accomplishing a few of the things that you say you don't have time to do!
Now, kindly shut the f*** up and get to work.
Thank you,
Your co-worker
LMAO If I had a nickel for every time I thought this, I'd be rich!
I know you can't manage your time and leave 3 hours late every day, but I like to leave on time. Give me report already!
I want report, I do not want a play-by-play of everything the resident said, ate, and did or did not do. If I want to know if they pooped, I'll look!
To one special nurse: I know you think nightshift doesn't do anything, but please stop passing off your work on me every single night we work together. I thank the Lord every time I don't have to work after you. ---Oh, and when you talk to yourself the whole time you're charting, it makes me want to tear my hair out.
Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN
11,305 Posts
I agree with you . . .. . had a case where an elderly lady was supposed to be in Buck's Traction on the left leg and it was on the right leg and this went through two shifts and one doc.
Scary.
I also see the "rote" assessments . . . . regarding IV sites, wounds, l/s, hr, etc.
It doesn't take that long to do a full assessment - plus it is the law.
steph