Want to hear your pet peeves in LTC nursing

Specialties Geriatric

Published

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

1. repetitive call ins by staff that then are the loudest complainers of having to "work short" when someone else calls in.

2. call in excuses that you KNOW are not truthful just so they can lay out of work.

3. family members

4. nurses that sit around and constantly talk about other nurses and how 'stupid' they are when they make bigger mistakes than the ones they are talking about!

5. hearing the DON constantly whine about the nursing budget when she allows 'certain' people to have all the overtime they want.

6. family members.

7. the admissions dept being forced to accept any and all admits, regardless of acuity, level of dementia or history of combativeness. then administration saying 'we know this is hard but we all have to do what we can to help the company' type answers. Dont pee on us and tell us it's raining!

8. family members.

and last but not least....FAMILY MEMBERS!

Yes, the one's who don't understand the "why's" of LTC operations. The one's who complain about you and you always get called onto the carpet. Work the graveyard shift. There are less family to deal with.

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This one is a killer for me! We have nurses that won't put paper in the fax machine until the end of the shift. When 7-3 leaves and 2nd comes in we suddenly get flooded with dozens of new orders, pharmacy clarifications, and lab results after adding paper to the fax machine!!! The whole 2nd shift is spent contacting doctors and pharmacy.

Thank goodness our fax machine beeps continually when it's out of paper. My shift is busy enough without doing the previous shift's work too!

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Specializes in OB, Peds, Med Surg and Geriatric Nsg.

There is a lot to mention:

1) family members

2) residents thinking you are an aide and take their dinner trays out

3) serving dinner trays at the dining room when the kitchen has enough staff to do it; I guess I am the highest paid dining room worker you could have

4) unstocked and dirty med carts with a full garbage bag

5) undone wound treatments and wants you to do it on your shift

6) discovered open areas in their shift and wants you to do the IR

7) care plans need to be listed when every new order comes in

8) having to answer phone calls when you are down at the end of the hall; which sometimes happen to be crazy telemarketer

9) CNA babysitting

10) staff that constantly nitpicks on each other's work

11) all the call-offs; I guess you can't please everybody

Thanks for letting that off my chest..

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That "lunch" is deducted from your pay, although I have yet to take a lunch or see anyone else take one either. :/

oh yeah..bull's eye

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Specializes in PACU, CARDIAC ICU, TRAUMA, SICU, LTC.

1. Not enough electrical outlets in residents' rooms.

2. Electrical outlets not easily accessible..have to rearrange the furniture to

access one! Oh, my aching back.......

3. INR has been consistently high; constantly ordering new Coumadin dose.

Then, one evening, I found a resident's daughter preparing Alka Seltzer for

her mother..."Oh, I give it to her every night for her upset stomach."

Mystery solved......

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Specializes in PACU, CARDIAC ICU, TRAUMA, SICU, LTC.

No back-up supply of hearing aid batteries.....

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Specializes in LTC.
1. Not enough electrical outlets in residents' rooms.

2. Electrical outlets not easily accessible..have to rearrange the furniture to

access one! Oh, my aching back.......

3. INR has been consistently high; constantly ordering new Coumadin dose.

Then, one evening, I found a resident's daughter preparing Alka Seltzer for

her mother..."Oh, I give it to her every night for her upset stomach."

Mystery solved......

#2 was my pet peeve last night. Nothing more frustrating when you have a COPD patient whos oxygen, lamp and nebulizer machine cords are all tangled up and she needs a breathing treatment and the damn chair and overbed table are in the way.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.

Cell phone chargers, hair driers, radios, lamps, and other non-emergency equipment plugged into red emergency outlets.

People who get upset during a power outage when you remove their cell phone charger (with no cell phone attached) to plug an IV pump into a red outlet.

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Specializes in Home Care.

WTH do you mean there are no blue water cups for med pass and there's no skin prep in the entire building?

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Specializes in LTC, WCC, MDS Coordinator.

Having one day that is skin assessment day and...OMG...finding 4 bruises, two open areas, a skin tear, and an abrasion that NOBODY saw before I assessed the residents. Then I get to fill out the wound reports, skin sheets, orders, TARs, POs, start the nutritional supplements, notify family/DON/Dr/Administrator on each one!! A few I can understand...but not the ones on people whose skin is to be checked every shift or the bruise that covers half the resident's arm.

Along that line, finding these residents who are at high risk according to their BRADEN's score and their skin is dry, no skin protectant (which is ordered to be applied every shift) on the bottoms that break down so quickly.

I also can't take the lame excuses that are used for people who are calling in. And it does seem to be the same ones all the time and they do seem to be the loudest when complaining about working short.

And hearing the safety alarms going off, seeing staff at their med carts or on another hall and NO ONE is moving towards the alarm!! You can't hear it?? It's not your hall?? You're not a CNA, you're a med passer?? Or the charge nurse who has a pager to keep track of call lights that the CNAs haven't answered...the nurse is down the hall and the pager is laying on the desk!!

Oh....I could go on!!:eek:

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Specializes in LTC, Hospice.

OMG! I joined just so i can add to this thread. 1. Phone calls in the middle of my med pass/ addmission. Please dont page me over and over is there not a supervisor around. Im busy!!!

2. Falls/ incidents at the change of shift. Geez u couldnt fall at 1900.

3. Family members. Overbearing, know-it-all family members.

4.Looking for supplies. Gosh that makes me mad.

5.Dining room duty.

6. State Survey.

7.Demanding residents who threaten to call the state when u dont do what they want when they want.

8. Unstocked carts.

9.When the census is low. They get real desperate around this time.

10.Talk about budget, budget, budget. What about the residents.

I could go on and on. But i'll stop there

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No IV catheters to start IV's, the entire LTC facility out of briefs, CNA's who call off regularly once a week, pharmacy fails to send ordered meds so emergency box must be broken open. Familes, families, families. Falls in the middle of a med pass. I think that about covers most of it.

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