Was I out of place?

[rhkenji]

I love my ER, 9/10 people in our ER treats ourselves as one family and is always ready to lend a hand even if you dont ask for it. They're just there when you need help and we strive to have a great shift every time.

There's 1 or 2 nurses that REQUIRES help with everything that they do, even the simplest thing. As our work culture sees that the team is only as strong as it's weakest member, we try out best to help them out whenever we can.

As my charge nurse always say, "She may only work 70% of what we are able to do, they are still part of the team and we should appreciate their presence especially when we are short"

Well, this morning, I was helping out a registry nurse try to chemically restrain a female belligerent drunk patient. The problem was the other RN and I are male, and 3 of our EMTs are also male.

I advocated that for the patient's safety and everyone's safety, a female nurse should be present when we go into the room to medicate her.

This nurse was the only female nurse in the area, and the situation is starting to get out of hand, we needed to restrain this patient as soon as possible. This will take approximately 30sec to 1 minute to get everything done.

I asked this nurse nicely and explained the situation. Her answer was "Well, I need to chart, so you guys need to find someone else". She even stated that she need one of the EMTs right there and then to help her do an inventory list.

Frustrated, and after 11.5hrs of the shift behind me, I blurted out. "Well, I do hope that when it's your time to need someone to help you with a psychiatric patient that you get all the help that you need".

The EMTs and other auxillary staff started chuckling and she became really defensive while I ran off to the other side of the ER to find another female nurse to help us out.

After the shift was over, I thought about it and I felt like I was out of place. I just feel like, we are always there for everybody, but she cant be a team player even once in a setting such as our busy ER.

I know I could have handled it properly.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

I can't blame you for your reaction (sometimes I have no filter between brain and mouth), but yes, there are better ways to handle it, such as speaking to your charge nurse and management about a lack of willingness to be a team player. However, you weren't doing anything out of the "ER ordinary" to this patient; does your ER have a policy that all male nurses must have a female chaperone with female patients throughout the day? Seems like that would get a little cumbersome. Granted, some patients are more special than others; we had a frequent flyer who refused any males in her room due to a history of sexual abuse, which always made things interesting when there were no female docs present. Heh.

[PeakRN]

I agree with Pixie, I don't think it was the best way to handle things but I have certainly let similar things slip out myself.

I'm surprised that you you need same gender chaperone for chemical restraints. We have very few procedures/exams that require a chaperone, and technically our policy says that person does not have to be the same gender (we have nights where all of the staff are male or female). Chemical or physical restraints would never require us to have a chaperone present although we would have security with us regardless.

[NuGuyNurse2b]

Agree, I think you could've handled it way better. It was passive aggressive, and at worst, downright rude. You asked for assistance, she stated her reasons for not helping, you should've accepted it. And we've all been there where charting actually does take priority - so that 30 seconds may have been taking away her time from charting a new IV or a vital sign that she's going to forget if she doesn't do it right then and there. There will be times when your service will be requested too, and whatever it is that you're doing, you simply cannot help. And we've all felt the burning eyes of patient's family members on us while we're charting but they think we're playing Solitaire on the computer. It shouldn't be the same when it comes to fellow staff members.

And yes, there are fellow nurses who aren't team players, they're present on every unit, every shift...I make note to not request their assistance, and when they request mine, I turn them down.

[JBudd, MSN]

I don't know, it didn't sound all that bad to me. If you had said it viciously or with hard sarcasm, with a threatening never to help type attitude it would be, but since your coworkers chuckled I doubt it came out that nastily. You are allowed to be frustrated! and to let someone know you are.

Charting is only real time for me during conscious sedation or codes, all else can be entered a bit later. The safety of my coworkers always comes first. Could you have handled it better? meh, unless you have a halo..... lol

[Thanksforthedonuts, MSN, APRN]

I totally agree with this.

I like to consider myself a nice person but I probably would have responded a lot "meaner" than you did. You are only human and have the right to be frustrated. I don't think you did anything too outrageous honestly.

[Accolay]

And we've all been there where charting actually does take priority - so that 30 seconds may have been taking away her time from charting a new IV or a vital sign that she's going to forget if she doesn't do it right then and there.

I really have to disagree with this considering the example offered. A patient requiring a chemical restraint can be a safety issue for staff and patient and can be considered an emergency. Charting a set of vitals or an IV takes importance? You must be joking. I'm certain that I've never had charting take priority over patient care of that nature and especially helping my comrades.

[campesina]

You weren't out of line. Patient and staff safety ALWAYS comes before charting. Personally I can't ever imagine turning down someone's request for help in a situation like that.

[Guest219794]

Agree, I think you could've handled it way better. It was passive aggressive, and at worst, downright rude. You asked for assistance, she stated her reasons for not helping, you should've accepted it. And we've all been there where charting actually does take priority - so that 30 seconds may have been taking away her time from charting a new IV or a vital sign that she's going to forget if she doesn't do it right then and there. There will be times when your service will be requested too, and whatever it is that you're doing, you simply cannot help. And we've all felt the burning eyes of patient's family members on us while we're charting but they think we're playing Solitaire on the computer. It shouldn't be the same when it comes to fellow staff members.

And yes, there are fellow nurses who aren't team players, they're present on every unit, every shift...I make note to not request their assistance, and when they request mine, I turn them down.

No.

Your charting is not more important than my emergency.

Not good prioritization.

I can't even imagine turning down a peer who asked for help in what he/she considered an emergency so I can chart. Oh, and by the way- please don't have the tech help you stabilize this potentially dangerous patient, as there is a stat inventory list to be made.

No.

The potential fallout of forgetting to chart an IV compared to the potential fallout of delaying an indicated restraint- no comparison, and it is a bit surprising that any ER nurse would admit to believing these could be comparable.

No.

[Munch]

Definitely NOT out of line OP. Now I am not an ED nurse but I am asked for assistance all the time and I can never imagine myself saying no unless of course I was with a patient that was crashing or in the middle of a code. Definitely not for charting. Teamwork is one of things that makes a unit run smooth. Also since you said you would have needed her for 30 seconds, maybe a minute tops, I doubt that would have set her back all night.