Right now I'm having an issue with the night shift LPN. She is always crabby when she comes in and criticizes almost everything I do or say to her. Supposedly she has a bad home life, but she shouldn't take it out on me. Sunday evening when I worked, I was really busy...and when she came in, she jumped my case about all the changeover paperwork not being done. Every other facility I've ever worked in, this was night shift's job. I apologized to her and offered to stay over and help her with changeover. Her response? "I don't need your help; the only thing I need you to do is stay the hell out of my way!"
I'm seriously considering filing a grievance against her. I asked my preceptor yesterday when I happened to see her which shift is supposed to do changeover and she said nights. So this night shift nurse is really chapping my hide!!!
I'm sure I'll think of other pet peeves too....what are some of yours?
I do not or have never been a staff member at a LTC, but I did do a few travel shifts in a few. Have been in many for other reasons. I find many to be dirty, smelly, poorly staffed, not the greatest food selections, patients that look discheveled, over rated. I think Medicare gives a five start rating in our area for the best service, many are at 1 and 2 stars, and I believe they have to improve or they won't be able to stay open. A sure bet that a place is not taking care of the patient well is when you see a wound care nurse needed.
Actually, facilities that have wound care nurses have LOWER rates of pressure ulcers than facilities without them. My facility has a 5 star Medicare rating AND a wound care nurse (me). I have 150 beds in my nursing home, and 2 pressure ulcers that were NOT present on admission.
Ok, how about coworkers who hate their jobs, mentioning how bad LTC is in front of residents. If you're that miserable, quit or at least be professional enough not to make those around you as miserable as you. Especially in front of residents, it's their home.
Actually, facilities that have wound care nurses have LOWER rates of pressure ulcers than facilities without them. My facility has a 5 star Medicare rating AND a wound care nurse (me). I have 150 beds in my nursing home, and 2 pressure ulcers that were NOT present on admission.
Right now I have NONE on my unit. NONE. And my wound care consultant finally started orders so that I can tell people not to slap a stinking hydrocolloid on a stage one or stage two. OTA and calmo, baby!
Right now I'm having an issue with the night shift LPN. She is always crabby when she comes in and criticizes almost everything I do or say to her. Supposedly she has a bad home life, but she shouldn't take it out on me. Sunday evening when I worked, I was really busy...and when she came in, she jumped my case about all the changeover paperwork not being done. Every other facility I've ever worked in, this was night shift's job. I apologized to her and offered to stay over and help her with changeover. Her response? "I don't need your help; the only thing I need you to do is stay the hell out of my way!"
I'm seriously considering filing a grievance against her. I asked my preceptor yesterday when I happened to see her which shift is supposed to do changeover and she said nights. So this night shift nurse is really chapping my hide!!!
I'm sure I'll think of other pet peeves too....what are some of yours?
Blessings, Michelle
I want to ask you to pray for this person. She is having a hard time and needs prayer.
That said, I ask you to talk to her directly and let her know that you are praying for her and ask her to please not curse at you or yell at you. You should let her know that, while you care about her as a person and are praying for her, you can't help but feel upset when she curses or yells or expects you to do a night shift job. Be really nice and sweet.
If these actions don't help, it's time to talk to your boss about her behavior, which is unprofessional and not acceptable in the workplace. Maybe she needs to take some time off to manage her personal problems.
I work with a woman who is soooo miserably unhappy, so bitter, so angry that it is really hard to take. I do pray for her. I have never confronted her, as I can tolerate (barely) her in small doses, that is, i only have to cope with her at change of shift for a few minutes. And I do understand how hard life can be sometimes, so I try to be really patient. She has never cursed at me.
When I got to work today, the med cart had no applesauce or spoons. All of the oral syringes were dirty. One med was out, and hadn't been replaced. I had to start my shift looking for meds and plastic spoons. The day med tech forgot to document a PRN (the dose was on a flow sheet, but not in the MAR), which led to me making a med error.
3) Aides who are constantly making excuses for why they 'can't get' a resident to eat/drink/take a shower/allow his/her briefs to be changed/go to bed etc. There are indeed a few of them who will beat the crap out of you if you try to get them to do anything they don't want to do at a given moment, but for the most part this is just laziness on the part of the CNA. I know, because two minutes after they 'refuse' I'M in there asking them, and they go "Sure, I'm ready for a shower now".
I'm a CNA and have had this happen SOOOO many times :) It's been my experience that sometimes a fresh face makes all the difference in the world! You know how it can be, moods are often moment-to-moment. I've had residents that only want me, then 20 minutes later, can't stand to be in the same room w/ me. That's when I excuse myself, get another CNA or Charge Nurse to come in, say hi, and "vouch for me". At times a resident(s) can become a bit more confused, I can only imagine how frightening that must be....and they need "a second opinion", to help them feel safe and in control. To assure them that whatever care being suggested isn't a requirement, that it's their choice. To let them know that I can come back in a bit and that my goal is to only make sure they are safe, happy, and comfortable. When I am able to have someone help me w/ this w/in 15 minutes everything is fine again. I've, so far, encountered one resident that I believe was a danger to themself and the other people around them (staff/residents). I felt that this particular facility and staff(from the top to bottom, me included) was not equipped to accommodate this person's needs(this was heart-breaking). More often than not, a fresh face can make all the difference. Except for understaffing, there is rarely a reason to not be able to provide care when someone is refusing. When a facility is understaffed it can become difficult to find a "fresh face". Quite often the staff has to, for lack of a better term, go to the next person that is accepting of care and hope to run into someone that has time and is willing to be a "fresh face". It's wonderful that you are willing and make the time to double-check on a resident when a CNA is faced w/ this dilemma. You will be instrumental in them not giving up on their duties as caregivers rather you will inspire them by offering an alternate approach. Eventually teamwork/leadership will flourish and "laziness" or "avoidance" will become a thing of the past. You have a wonderful opportunity to directly improve the quality of care for the residents and mentor someone(s) into being the best caregiver possible. To rekindle the flame of why they got into healthcare to begin with. Don't give up, w/ enough players (staff), laziness can be re-routed. Best wishes to you!!!
It really frosts my butt when someone runs out of a med on the day shift and the med nurse knows the next shift and night shift needs that med but doesn't order. Now we have to search the entire nursing home for this one med when all day shift had to do was make a call to the pharmacy and tell them to send more. Years ago we looked out for the next shift, but it seems that today no one gives a pooh. It's really sad how we can't work together anymore. Last night we ran out of tube feeding. Of course the kitchen is closed during the night and no other units had any. Now where am I supposed to get it from????
Ok, I'm new (my 3rd week) in a LTC, so for what it's worth:
- missing meds... and especially when the previous nurse(s)s charted med as given... some obscure med that other pts don't have (to borrow) and emergency cart doesn't have either.... and this med somehow was given several times in a row... I call the pharmacy and find out they didn't even have the order for that med!
- interruptions from NACs with reports for stupid stuff I don't even care about ("I came in and the thrash bag in room xx was full"). Pts who beg meds just because "i always take it at 15:47 and not a minuter later... Interruptions from anxillary stuff with requests to help them with something not really important.
- wandering pts... this is drives me nuts... you pour the pills, you gather up all the insulin, glucometer, their SVNs... barely hold it all together, run to their room... and it's empty... and noone seen the pt. arrrrghhh...
- demented pts who are at risk for falls who just don't want to stay in their chair/bed and keep setting off the alarm every 20 seconds
- demented pts who don't know what's going on and scream "help me!!!" on top of their voice 24/7 and can't be reoriented and whose sole purpose in life is to fall out of bed
- demented pts who wander in their walkers into the nursing station or your med cart every 2 minutes and grab and move stuff around
- managers/docs who don't do anything about all above mentioned pts... not even an order for PRN antipsychotic. I swear it take me at least 30min every shift moving these demented people out of the way/out of harm way/reassuring them/putting them back into chairs/putting tab alarms on
- badly written MAR order that miss one or more "rights"
- residents asking me to adjust their bed/turn on TV/rearrange their bed table/give them extra towel/urinal/ other stuff NACs do... and running into/around the hall and not being able to find one NAC on the floor
- pts lining up for meds... I know some of you love this, but I prefer to give meds at my own pace/order. I'd rather them at their rooms.
- s....l....o.....w pts. Those who can't make up their mind what they want. Or those who just keep mumbling boring unneccesary infortmation before/while taking their meds and explaining to you why and how they take every pill since the day they got admitted.
- when you pass on some undone Tx or info and you came back 2 shifts later and it's still not done.
- lazy NACs... patronizing NACs... "I've been working here for xxx years, and if you're new you probably now that you should take care of your NACs and they will take care of you"... after starting cleaning the pt and then leaving her half covered in poop on her side for 20 minutes
- and it's not really a pet peeve, but rather a reality of LTC... OBESE pts who can't move around.... impossible to do any kind of TX without bringing two aides with you to move them around.
Sounds like most of your pet peeves are mainly with the residents! But I can relate with you somewhat. We have two residents that yell "hey" at every single person that walks by them, ALL.DAY.LONG. These residents cannot be redirected, they don't know what they want when you ask them and will yell "hey" again the minute you walk away. So I have learned to just walk on by. It may seem cold hearted but there is just nothing I can do for them and some days if I have to hear that "hey" one more time I think I am going to lose it, and I certainly don't want to do that! So I have almost bitten the end of my tongue off by now.
And as far as obese residents. I am so glad our facility has a weight limit on people we will accept for admission.
I never heard of this. I hope it's because you don't have the proper equipment to take care of bariatric resident.
Most likely. When we get a larger resident, we have to rent a bed from the local DME supplier. I kinda like it--all the bariatric beds have 3 motors, great for elevating swollen legs.
Last night we ran out of tube feeding. Of course the kitchen is closed during the night and no other units had any. Now where am I supposed to get it from???? 
Txnursekristi
38 Posts
Actually, facilities that have wound care nurses have LOWER rates of pressure ulcers than facilities without them. My facility has a 5 star Medicare rating AND a wound care nurse (me). I have 150 beds in my nursing home, and 2 pressure ulcers that were NOT present on admission.