You know what I'm freaking sick of? Mixed-unit and mixed-discipline hostilities. Or at least that's what I call it. We're all on the same team. We all want what's best for the patient. We need to start acting like it.
I'm talking about the constant complaints about everyone else in the hospital. Now granted, I've only ever worked at one hospital, but having talked to both my mom and my sister who both work at separate hospitals, it seems that it's the same no matter where you go.
It goes something like this ...
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RT giving attitude because the nurse calls them about a patient.
- Don't worry, I'm only assisting with an intubation. I'll be sure to rush to your 89% O2sat.
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The nurse is mad because the telemetry monitoring people keep calling them.
- I've got BM up to my elbows and all they care about is that the stupid batteries are dead.
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The telemetry people are mad because they can't see their patients.
- Replace the freaking batteries already, it's been 15 minutes!
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The ER's mad because they're on hold.
- Sure I'll sit and listen to the hold music for 10 minutes, I don't have anything to do.
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Everyone's mad at the ER for bringing them patients.
- Just before lunch, of course they're dumping all their patients now.
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Hospitalist is ****** because he's overloaded and you're calling him.
- I don't care about a morning K of 3.4!
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The day shift nurse is mad because the night shift nurse doesn't know how much O2 the patient is on.
- What do you even do at night, the patients are sleeping?!
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The floor nurses are ticked at the house shift manager
- We always get slammed when Suzi is on!
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Pharmacy is mad because the nurse is calling about the STAT med.
- Well they need to chill, the order got put in 2 minutes ago.
Are we getting the point? And this isn't even scratching the surface. I could go on for hours.
It seems like lately, absolutely everyone has an attitude with absolutely everyone else! Over everything!
I'm here to sayI'M SICK OF IT. It makes for a hostile, unpleasant work environment that causes people to have more stress than is good for them, and is the main cause for massive burnout.
So what can we do to help it?
Well for one, we can stop getting mad at everyone around us. The next time someone's giving report and they don't know something that you ask, instead of sighing or rolling your eyes, how about giving them a little grace? Maybe they had a really rough day. The next time you're getting a patient from another unit, maybe try giving them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they're getting another patient just like you are.
Maybe we could assume that we all got into health care for similar reasons.
Maybe we could value each others opinions, even if we don't like them.
Maybe we could stop judging other units until we work a day or two on them.
I understand where you are coming from. I have worked in the ER. I have also worked in ICU and know what it is like to receive a patient from the ED when all nurses are tripled and there is literally no nurse avail. to take the admission. Sometimes we get multiple admissions on the floor at the same time. With that said, some floor nurses do have attitudes when receiving a patient. In the ED, sometimes patient transfers were delayed for hours due to the nurse refusing to let me give report. Every dept. in the hospitals has their battles and hardships, however, can we atleast adjust our attitude and quit blaming the other depts. I'm starting a position on post partum next week and I'm sure there will be L and D against PP nurses and vice versa. I will do my best to keep a level head and remember that dept. has their own set of battles.
Oh do I ever feel you! I work in the ER, and I get frustrated when I am trying to call report, then get put on hold, then am told to call back in ten minutes, then get put on hold AGAIN....not because I am trying to "dump" my patient on anyone, BUT...they are sick, and tired, and they want to go to their room, and I keep having to tell them "just a little longer!", while they get more and more upset with me because they have already been in my ER for 5 hours. I take no pleasure in loading down our already overworked floor nurses, but what else can I do? There are nights that I am rushing to admit patients because I have ten more in the waiting room! And I get so frustrated with calling report sometimes as well. I got chewed out by a nurse the other day for trying to review admission orders with her while calling report...generally if I DON'T do that I get hollered at, I feel like I can't win with the floor nurses I'm still kind of new, I don't always know every bit of info that they need, although I try to review the labs and charts before I call and jot down everything I think I need to know. I don't TRY to make anyone's life harder, and I'm trying to keep a running list of certain nurses and what they expect from report, but it's going to take awhile and I get upset when they act hostile towards me for not being able to read their minds.
It seems to me the real problem is nurses and other caregivers trying to do more, with less, in a shorter period of time.
The system doesn't allow enough time for patient care.
If all could work together to improve the system and add staff to meet patient needs it would be good.
Very true, but being overly stressed doesn't give us carte blanche to be disrespectful to reach other. Therefore, until we can find solutions to being overworked, we need to work on our coping skills and control ourselves when we want to snap at, talk sarcastically to, or gossip about our coworkers. I responded to a post here the other day where I had to say sorry, I'm overly stressed/tired at the moment. So I still have slip ups, but we all need to keep working on our coping skills.
Very true, but being overly stressed doesn't give us carte blanche to be disrespectful to reach other. Therefore, until we can find solutions to being overworked, we need to work on our coping skills and control ourselves when we want to snap at, talk sarcastically to, or gossip about our coworkers. I responded to a post here the other day where I had to say sorry, I'm overly stressed/tired at the moment. So I still have slip ups, but we all need to keep working on our coping skills.
I'm talking about the constant complaints about everyone else in the hospital. Now granted, I've only ever worked at one hospital, but having talked to both my mom and my sister who both work at separate hospitals, it seems that it's the same no matter where you go. It goes something like this...
RT giving attitude because the nurse calls them about a patient.
- Don't worry, I'm only assisting with an intubation. I'll be sure to rush to your 89% O2sat.
The nurse is mad because the telemetry monitoring people keep calling them.
- I've got BM up to my elbows and all they care about is that the stupid batteries are dead.
The telemetry people are mad because they can't see their patients.
- Replace the freaking batteries already, it's been 15 minutes!
The ER's mad because they're on hold.
- Sure I'll sit and listen to the hold music for 10 minutes, I don't have anything to do.
Everyone's mad at the ER for bringing them patients.
- Just before lunch, of course they're dumping all their patients now.
Hospitalist is ****** because he's overloaded and you're calling him.
- I don't care about a morning K of 3.4!
The day shift nurse is mad because the night shift nurse doesn't know how much O2 the patient is on.
- What do you even do at night, the patients are sleeping?!
The floor nurses are ticked at the house shift manager
- We always get slammed when Suzi is on!
Pharmacy is mad because the nurse is calling about the STAT med.
- Well they need to chill, the order got put in 2 minutes ago.
Are we getting the point? And this isn't even scratching the surface. I could go on for hours.
It seems like lately, absolutely everyone has an attitude with absolutely everyone else! Over everything!
I'm here to say I'M SICK OF IT. It makes for a hostile, unpleasant work environment that causes people to have more stress than is good for them, and is the main cause for massive burnout.
So what can we do to help it?
Well for one, we can stop getting mad at everyone around us. The next time someone's giving report and they don't know something that you ask, instead of sighing or rolling your eyes, how about giving them a little grace? Maybe they had a really rough day. The next time you're getting a patient from another unit, maybe try giving them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they're getting another patient just like you are.
Maybe we could assume that we all got into health care for similar reasons.
Maybe we could value each others opinions, even if we don't like them.
Maybe we could stop judging other units until we work a day or two on them.
Oh do I ever feel you! I work in the ER, and I get frustrated when I am trying to call report, then get put on hold, then am told to call back in ten minutes, then get put on hold AGAIN....not because I am trying to "dump" my patient on anyone, BUT...they are sick, and tired, and they want to go to their room, and I keep having to tell them "just a little longer!", while they get more and more upset with me because they have already been in my ER for 5 hours. I take no pleasure in loading down our already overworked floor nurses, but what else can I do? There are nights that I am rushing to admit patients because I have ten more in the waiting room! And I get so frustrated with calling report sometimes as well. I got chewed out by a nurse the other day for trying to review admission orders with her while calling report...generally if I DON'T do that I get hollered at, I feel like I can't win with the floor nurses I'm still kind of new, I don't always know every bit of info that they need, although I try to review the labs and charts before I call and jot down everything I think I need to know. I don't TRY to make anyone's life harder, and I'm trying to keep a running list of certain nurses and what they expect from report, but it's going to take awhile and I get upset when they act hostile towards me for not being able to read their minds.
As a floor nurse, it drives me crazy that my coworkers treat you guys this way. If I'm in the middle of something, I truly will call back within a few minutes; I think most of our ER nurses know this. I'm sorry people treat you badly. I like a quick and dirty, just the facts report. The only time there's a problem is when the report I get doesn't match what the House Supe said our patient is like, or when the nurse omits pertinent details, like crazy high BPs. I work med-surg, if a patient needs step down or unit care, don't make us do the transfer--just send them there in the first place. However, that usually isn't the fault of the ER nurse, it's the House Supe in our case.
I'm a student and during my rotations I see this type of behavior everyday, many times I'm the one getting yelled at by my nurse simply because they don't want to be bothered by a student. I find there is little comradery among the nurses and unfortunately the patients are the ones that suffer. I find it disappointing and discouraging to see this type of behavior everyday so early in my education.
I think it's part of the larger societal flipness and "gotcha" attitude that I see all around me everywhere now. It's the prevalent form of humor and and popularity on the television which the vast majority of the population feeds their minds with - junk food for the brain!
Rx: Kill your television - love thy neighbor - and give co-workers the benefit of the doubt - take responsibility for your own frustration and stress without blaming others! So many of the stresses in nursing are institutional and systemic - not the fault of any individual nurse at any given time.
It made me so sad to read your post. Please don't be discouraged. I have been a nurse for 36 years. Not every facility is like that. You just have to find the right one. I finally did 12 years ago. I know that's a long time but I spent a good 20 years traveling.
I was recently told to stand down about talking about this! Our transporters get called stupid, unbelievable, and get cursed at. they are treated terribly! Can you imagine if it were you being openly hated for every single thing you did? Each and every day? I spoke to some higher ups about it. They pulled the whole "well we can't do anything about it" card. Don't my friends deserve to come to work and not be hated for 12 hours a day?
Next to them I have it easy. I just get hated over the phone by the floor nurses. And each and every one says "I would never do that!" And goes on doing it.
I'm still kind of new, I don't always know every bit of info that they need, although I try to review the labs and charts before I call and jot down everything I think I need to know. I don't TRY to make anyone's life harder, and I'm trying to keep a running list of certain nurses and what they expect from report, but it's going to take awhile and I get upset when they act hostile towards me for not being able to read their minds.
sistasoul
724 Posts
If all departments are complaining that is telling me all disciplines are overworked. The stress from the never ending demands makes us cranky.