Speaking for myself on this topic I'd like to go over what is going through our minds on a day to day basis. And the Dos and Don'ts of delegating....
1. Is the most important of them all, please if you see us techs with an ekg machine, or a phlebotomy cart, or something important DON'T ask us to stop what we are doing to go help room 20 to the commode or to get them a beverage. DO get it yourself because chances are we have more things to do.
2. DON'T tell us oh room 20 just needs the channel changed in the room. Knowing that the PT really has to be changed, wants the channel to be changed, and would like food. DO Just tell us ahead of time keeping that information from us and then hearing the PT say oh I told the nurse I needed to be changed she said she would get someone is really irritating.
3. DON'T talk down to us, can't tell you how many times I've seen it where a new grad nurse talks down on a tech then a few months later they are colleagues both with an RN degree and the tech is a better nurse than the new grad.
We are all team mates looking for one thing, great patient care. I love my establishment now because the doctors and nurses and techs all sit together and we all speak to each other on a first name basis. DO delegate tasks to us techs in a respectful manner meaning do not micro manage have faith in us, and say thank you after we are done with said task. That means the world to us.
4. If we are walking into a room together and you start talking introduce yourself and myself with appropriate titles. I am no longer a CNA down in the ER. I am a Tech, just like doctors and nurses have specialties I too am in a specialty. Plus if you tell a PT I am a tech, rather than a CNA they won't think of me as their personal assistant having me fetch them drinks and blankets just because. Of course I will do all of that but it deters them from thinking all i do is wipe butts and wait on their hands and feet.
Of course not every nurse does this in fact in the hospital i work in there's only one nurse who does this. I love my staff and i consider myself apart of a functioning team. Please dont take this list the wrong way its just ones Techs opinion. Thanks!
What I find helpful, and require of anyone I work with, is respect. If you are busy...changes are EVERYONE IS BUSY! Language that I find respectful is...Tech1, can you help me with....EKG, blood draw, bedpan? I need to give xyz and MNOP to Trauma two and give LMN to bed 2. then we can clean up bed 4 together? THANK YOU!
YOu get a lot more bees with honey than you would with lemons.
Esme, I fundamentally agree with you about communicating in a respectful way but I shouldn't have to cajole someone into doing what they were hired to do. Nor should I have to thank them for every single task they complete. I have worked with EDT's and PCAs that wouldn't do a thing if you didn't practically beg them and there is no place for that behavior anywhere. Neither is there a place for a nurse ordering them around like slave labor.
The best teams I have worked with get the job done with little extraneous communication. Everybody knows what needs done and does it regardless of their role. If it means that I'm the one with the time to clean up the code brown then that's what I do.
Nobody likes being told what to do, I even bristle at it occasionally, but sometimes it has to be done to achieve the maximal outcome of good patient care. In those situations when I'm feeling a little feisty about it I try to remind myself of what my purpose there is. I often, especially when I'm in charge, have a bigger picture of what's going on overall in the unit and what's coming down the pike. It's on me to make sure I have the right staff doing the right job at the right time. Sometimes that means making some adjustments.
I would never expect anyone drawing blood or performing an EKG, to drop what they are doing and go into another room. I WOULD say room 20 needs blah-blah as I was flying by though. Give feedback, let the nurse know" this will take 5 more minutes.. then I can do that."
Your title depends on the designation of the facility. Some assistants are CNA's, some are patient care technicians. I would expect that with your additional skills, you are a patient care technician. If you are introduced as a CNA, clarify with the nurse in private, explain your role to the patient.
" and the tech is a better nurse than the new grad. ":nono: You do not realize the scope of duties and the responsibilities nurses have.
Esme, I fundamentally agree with you about communicating in a respectful way but I shouldn't have to cajole someone into doing what they were hired to do. Nor should I have to thank them for every single task they complete. I have worked with EDT's and PCAs that wouldn't do a thing if you didn't practically beg them and there is no place for that behavior anywhere. Neither is there a place for a nurse ordering them around like slave labor.
The best teams I have worked with get the job done with little extraneous communication. Everybody knows what needs done and does it regardless of their role. If it means that I'm the one with the time to clean up the code brown then that's what I do.
Nobody likes being told what to do, I even bristle at it occasionally, but sometimes it has to be done to achieve the maximal outcome of good patient care. In those situations when I'm feeling a little feisty about it I try to remind myself of what my purpose there is. I often, especially when I'm in charge, have a bigger picture of what's going on overall in the unit and what's coming down the pike. It's on me to make sure I have the right staff doing the right job at the right time. Sometimes that means making some adjustments.
Yup, agreed!
Also OP, you said you don't want us to stop the important thing you are doing if we see you with an EKG machine or phlebotomy cart. The thing is, unless we see that you are actually in the process of doing an EKG, which we shouldn't due to patient privacy, we don't know if you are actually on your way to using said machine, are taking it to someone else to use, or putting it away. You need to bear in mind that we don't have ESP and all you have to do is let us know what you are about to do. By way of illustration, we call registration to come for a new ambulance as soon as we see one rolling in, right? Well, one of the registration girls ALWAYS, no exaggeration, ALWAYS gets nasty with me and says something like, "I already got the call!" or "I'm already on my way, don't you SEE me coming down the hall!?" Um, NO! I don't have time to look up and down the hallways to see if she is already on her way and I don't have eyes in the back of my head, nor do I have ESP to know that someone else, who was trying to help me BTW, had already called her. I honestly don't get this attitude! So MAYBE just take a step back and see if you are really justified with all of your comments all of the time.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Maybe it's just me.....BUT!
I have worked in one of the busiest ER's in the nation with one of the greatest gun violence in the nation (South side Chicago/downtown Gary In) and flew trauma flight for 300 miles that encompassed 4 states and I will tell you that in my total 37 years of emergency nursing, trauma flight, EMT-P (and critical care, cath lab, CTPACU,PICU) even in a code you have the time to say please and thank you.
I have also found that if your fellow workers felt vslued as a team member and that in the quieter times they know you don't ask them to do a task that you won't do yourself AND offer to do with them....that in those more hectic moments when you might forget to say please...they don't mind for they respect you and know you value their position.
I have been a nurse since I was 18 years old and I am 50...mumble mumble...I have never felt any task beneath my skill.
Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Yup, agreed!
Also OP, you said you don't want us to stop the important thing you are doing if we see you with an EKG machine or phlebotomy cart. The thing is, unless we see that you are actually in the process of doing an EKG, which we shouldn't due to patient privacy, we don't know if you are actually on your way to using said machine, are taking it to someone else to use, or putting it away. You need to bear in mind that we don't have ESP and all you have to do is let us know what you are about to do. By way of illustration, we call registration to come for a new ambulance as soon as we see one rolling in, right? Well, one of the registration girls ALWAYS, no exaggeration, ALWAYS gets nasty with me and says something like, "I already got the call!" or "I'm already on my way, don't you SEE me coming down the hall!?" Um, NO! I don't have time to look up and down the hallways to see if she is already on her way and I don't have eyes in the back of my head, nor do I have ESP to know that someone else, who was trying to help me BTW, had already called her. I honestly don't get this attitude! So MAYBE just take a step back and see if you are really justified with all of your comments all of the time.
If you are having issues with a particular team member that is what your charge is for as is your supervision and manager.
I am by no means a push over...I like things done and done correctly. If admitting is getting multiple calls about the arrival of the ambulance...it sounds like a systems issue. There should be one, max two, people assigned to the task of notifying registration.
Can you imagine your frustration if 5 people tell you about the same ambulance?
If I am greeted with nastiness...I would just say...good you already know thanks. Smile and walk away
I have worked in one of the busiest ER's in the nation with one of the greatest gun violence in the nation (South side Chicago/downtown Gary In) and flew trauma flight for 300 miles that encompassed 4 states and I will tell you that in my total 37 years of emergency nursing, trauma flight, EMT-P (and critical care, cath lab, CTPACU,PICU) even in a code you have the time to say please and thank you.
I have also found that if your fellow workers felt vslued as a team member and that in the quieter times they know you don't ask them to do a task that you won't do yourself AND offer to do with them....that in those more hectic moments when you might forget to say please...they don't mind for they respect you and know you value their position.
I have been a nurse since I was 18 years old and I am 50...mumble mumble...I have never felt any task beneath my skill.
Esme, I completely agree with you. We have a very similar background. I'm more than happy to say please and thank you when it's appropriate but I draw the line at acting like people have donated me a kidney when they are simply doing their job. I rarely had problems with the people I managed in various settings because they knew I valued them without me fawning all over them. The OP had a lot of audacity to list his/her rules. It was extremely one-sided and came across as chastising ALL nurses.
I have worked in one of the busiest ER's in the nation with one of the greatest gun violence in the nation (South side Chicago/downtown Gary In) and flew trauma flight for 300 miles that encompassed 4 states and I will tell you that in my total 37 years of emergency nursing, trauma flight, EMT-P (and critical care, cath lab, CTPACU,PICU) even in a code you have the time to say please and thank you.
I have also found that if your fellow workers felt vslued as a team member and that in the quieter times they know you don't ask them to do a task that you won't do yourself AND offer to do with them....that in those more hectic moments when you might forget to say please...they don't mind for they respect you and know you value their position.
I have been a nurse since I was 18 years old and I am 50...mumble mumble...I have never felt any task beneath my skill.
No, it's NOT just you! Wuzzie and I have agreed with you but you seem determined not to acknowledge that fact. You also seem determined not to admit that this issue is not one sided.
This post seems to suggest that this issue is as simple as saying thank you to everyone every time they are asked to do a task and we will have no problems with anyone doing their job whatsoever, but this fails to take into consideration the many different personalities involved.
Another point you seem to be making is that we object to doing some tasks ourselves, or that we will always delegate during down times. Of course there are some nurses with that attitude, but don't assume that you are addressing one, especially when we have acknowledged that there is another side to the story.
If you are having issues with a particular team member that is what your charge is for as is your supervision and manager.
I am by no means a push over...I like things done and done correctly. If admitting is getting multiple calls about the arrival of the ambulance...it sounds like a systems issue. There should be one, max two, people assigned to the task of notifying registration.
Can you imagine your frustration if 5 people tell you about the same ambulance?
If I am greeted with nastiness...I would just say...good you already know thanks. Smile and walk away
Rule #2...don't engage.
I get that you don't know the whole story involved with registration so you are assuming that I engage her or that this issue has not been addressed. You're just going to have to trust that I don't and it has. It's also not a system problem; she will get 2 calls max and it's not that often, but NEVER more than that. This particular person has a chip on her shoulder and the attitude that she knows how to do her job and she doesn't need anyone calling to tell her about it. That's all I really want to say on that issue on a public forum.
This tech strikes me as the type who is nice to most people, gives excuses to some (including those who are not afraid to step on people's toes and actually delegate) and is around when there's a code blue but not so much when there's a code brown. We've all seen this type in the ER tech world.
I used to be a tech. I thought I understood a nurses job when I was a tech. When I started working as a nurse I regretted thinking that working as a tech was harder. While I appreciate a hard working tech, many of them do not feel responsible for the patient and therefore push a lot of their work on me. Nursing is a difficult job, physically and mentally. Only nurses understand just how hard this job is.
The ER Tech is an unlicensed position. The companies that use the term "techs" usually use it so they can get away with hiring non-licensed, students, or EMTs into the role. Hence why we had patient care techs at one hospital on the floors.
Here's the thing to remember. I can do everything a tech does. The tech cannot do everything I can do. Even when I wasn't a nurse, I still had a bigger scope since I could draw blood, start IVs, and triage.
Usually hard working, respectful people working together on an interdisciplinary team find respect for each other.
Unfortunately not everyone is hard working or respectful.
I work in a busy high acuity ED and still find time to say please, thanks, and great job. Those saying the ED is too busy for these words are flat out wrong.
Seems many here took offense to the OP, I think if the shoe fits, wear it. If you don't act like described in the OP why the offense?
I've watched RN's do non work related things while the tech handles the code brown. I think the things the OP vented about have merit.
Wuzzie
5,242 Posts
Esme, I fundamentally agree with you about communicating in a respectful way but I shouldn't have to cajole someone into doing what they were hired to do. Nor should I have to thank them for every single task they complete. I have worked with EDT's and PCAs that wouldn't do a thing if you didn't practically beg them and there is no place for that behavior anywhere. Neither is there a place for a nurse ordering them around like slave labor.
The best teams I have worked with get the job done with little extraneous communication. Everybody knows what needs done and does it regardless of their role. If it means that I'm the one with the time to clean up the code brown then that's what I do.
Nobody likes being told what to do, I even bristle at it occasionally, but sometimes it has to be done to achieve the maximal outcome of good patient care. In those situations when I'm feeling a little feisty about it I try to remind myself of what my purpose there is. I often, especially when I'm in charge, have a bigger picture of what's going on overall in the unit and what's coming down the pike. It's on me to make sure I have the right staff doing the right job at the right time. Sometimes that means making some adjustments.