***Some things are specific to the speciality but I want a general nurse reply as it can happened anywhere! Thanks.***
Please tell me I'm not the crazy one!
I work have worked in the NICU for about 3 years. Over the years, I have noticed some nurses on the opposing shift are a bit feisty but I have gotten over it for the most part. BUT, this small stupid thing has put me in a tizzy (sp?), and I more so need to vent than anything, but all are welcome to input your little "over-the-edge" incidences and what you do in response/to get over it.
So to the point. I was having a really fantastic day; all my babies were cooperative, all quietly snuggled back in, parents all had a good (as good as it can get) day. It was not crazy admit day or let's make a bunch of changes day - IT WAS A GOOD DAY! It was nearing the end of my shift and as I almost always do unless we are slammed, I made the haul to restock all of my patients' supplies, any and everything they would need for the next 2 shifts.
Shift change happens and I give report on my first two babies and I come to my third who is a different nurse taking them. I start my report as always, name, parents, etc. After the whole introduction, I casually skipped to the respiratory support. In the middle of saying, "I have only titrated my Os between 24% an--" the nurse butts in, holds up her hand and says, "Please,... (*hand to a fist now*) what's the patient's history?" Me: Uhhhh, PTL.
THAT WAS IT... PTL. You know, I thought about it, and yea, maybe I should have said PTL before jumping right into the whole gaggle. Maybe I should have also added the 3 weeks old apgar scores and the whole resuscitation efforts. Maybe I should have gone through the whole pregnancy timeline.
I know, I'm going too far but it kinda irked me. Yes, if there is a significant amount of history, I will start with that. But seeing as it was such a short and kinda insignificant history, it slipped my mind this time. (Serious on the apgar scores, I'm not telling you 3 week old apgar scores unless it's like 0,0,2,4,5,7)
And to be honest, I would not even mind to have stopped right there to say the history had it not been asked of me in a completely ******* rude way and tone. Honestly, I would have even given an, "Opps, sorry."
I just don't get it. What makes people behave like this after not even being somewhere for 5 minutes. I get you have a life, but don't treat people like scum of the earth just because your mind cannot get over having respiratory before history. Like, MY GOD, sorry I ruined your day...
Sorry, I know I took a mole hill and turned it into a mountain. I get that. What I don't get is how people lack a decent sense of manners.
Thanks for reading. But please do leave your experiences NICU and non-NICU. These situations happen everywhere, so even if you have them, say your non-nursing related stories too. I like to read on your guys experiences which far outweigh mine!
I also think she means preterm labor. I googled it, and got:
Praise The Lord
Pedro the Lion (band)
Pass The Loo
Part Time Lover
Pay the Lady (National Thoroughbred Racing Association)
Pushing the Limits (gaming team)
Post Tenebras Lux (Latin: Light After Darkness)
Push-The-Limit
Passion Tea Lemonade (beverage)
... You did say that you wanted general nurses to chime in, but it's hard when I can't decipher your meaning ...
I was thinking Praise The Lord - to help her stay calm, LOL. Then I recalled, from way down deep in my old brain, Pre-Term Labor.
OP, I understand how someone's rudeness would upset you.
Next time, instead of stewing about it, ask her about it. She needs to be courteous, just as much as you need to give her a little history. Be nice about it, just be direct and say you don't understand why she is upset and ask her to clarify.
Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
JCOCO-A few thoughts on the topic-- I think it's possible that she was not angry in the traditional sense. She was brusque, it is true, but that can be caused by things other than anger, such as nervousness or some other type of stress nobody but her is aware of.
If she is experienced in your NICU, and you've been there for 3 years and whatever routine she if referring to isn't common practice she may be one of those personalities that repels people with strange, but not substandard social behaviors. In my most recent specialty of private duty, there are many nurses like that.
One person was just rude all the time. When I had enough of that, I called her out on it, and turned out she didn't realize she was yelling, and as the topic was over a minor issue (I thought) she said she was doing that because she was embarrassed. True or not it did put a different spin on things from then on.
Give 'em a wide berth, or as someone else suggested, ask her what specific information she was seeking with that question, and I absolutely agree with Davey . . .
You're not the crazy one.
Last, I am so jealous of people who still use a kardex. I thought they were extinct, and I miss them.
And as for the age of the patient, just like a nurse would do for adults, at the point when I am reporting name and parents, I am giving age, what bed, weight. Hence the "etc" in my OP. For example, I would say "This is Baby Girl, parents Jane and John, was a 30 weeker, corrected to 33 and 4, in incubator on air temp of 28, weight was 2000 which was up 20 grams." Basic patient information.
At this point I usually move on to history, as I said I accidentally skipped the small preterm labor bit and got my head chopped off.
Okay. Except that in no way does your "etc" in your original post imply that you said any of that, which is the patient's history. I'd be very surprised if the oncoming nurse, having heard all that, was pissed that you didn't say the patient had a history of preterm labor (it's a 30 weeker, this is self evident). You may be taking offense at the wrong thing here and missing where you're actually miscommunicating.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I'd be very surprised if the oncoming nurse, having heard all that, was pissed that you didn't say the patient had a history of preterm labor (it's a 30 weeker, this is self evident).
Not necessarily. As I'm sure you know, as a NICU nurse, there are many other reasons why a baby could be born at 30 weeks.
Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.
I just don't get it. What makes people behave like this after not even being somewhere for 5 minutes.
Misery loves company...some people feel a sense of accomplishment and a stroke to the ego after getting their bad vibrations to affect those around them.
Not necessarily. As I'm sure you know, as a NICU nurse, there are many other reasons why a baby could be born at 30 weeks.
Well, all right, fair point. Still, my main point stands, which is that OP gave more history than s/he originally indicated and therefore this might not just be the nurse being aggravated over lack of history.
Well I can say you're better than me. I usually just report what was given to me/what changes today. I do look in the chart if I feel like something is missing or the previous nurse wasn't quite sure of something, but I don't tailor anything nurse by nurse.
Those kardex's interest me. We don't have anything that fancy, but you mentioning them makes me wish we had. It would be nice to look at instead of going to a million different places in the chart to find one thing.
I'm with you, I like knowing what is going on now/recently.
They were nice when they were legible and when they were kept up to date.
Okay. Except that in no way does your "etc" in your original post imply that you said any of that, which is the patient's history. I'd be very surprised if the oncoming nurse, having heard all that, was pissed that you didn't say the patient had a history of preterm labor (it's a 30 weeker, this is self evident). You may be taking offense at the wrong thing here and missing where you're actually miscommunicating.
As I said, I just feel like our reports are different. Different layout, different flow. I just include the age at the beginning instead of in history.
And you are surprised as much as I am about the how angry the nurse was about me not saying preterm labor at that exact time. It was the point of the post...
I don't feel offended or that I miscommunicated. I just didn't feel every single detail of my report mattered enough to be posted when the point was that a simple mishap on one part of my report made a nurse act unprofessional.
I agree with the poster who said she may have been brusque, but perhaps not as specifically angry as you have perceived. I imagine that perhaps she is just a matter of fact person? Perhaps she wasn't intending to come off angry, and was not "having a cow", but just some social signals are getting crossed.
Or maybe she had her feathers ruffled by some super minor thing that happened on her way to work, and was feeling grumpy. And that led to YOUR feathers getting ruffled and, dare I say, having a little cow yourself. [emoji15]
Don't let other people steal your joy, OP! You gave report as well as you could and the world didn't end. I wouldn't allow the "issue" to bother you for a minute longer.
Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.
I agree with the poster who said she may have been brusque, but perhaps not as specifically angry as you have perceived. I imagine that perhaps she is just a matter of fact person? Perhaps she wasn't intending to come off angry, and was not "having a cow", but just some social signals are getting crossed. .
I agree with this. As someone who communicates in a very succinct, matter-of-fact manner, and has a very "just the details, don't give me fluff, just get to the point" way of speaking, I know this can come off as angry or impatient. It's not; it's just the way I communicate and prefer that others communicate with me.
The oncoming nurse is very rigid. S/he can only deal when information is presented in the format they are used to. Must wonder how s/he deals with a change in patient condition.
This where you give the "look"... and state.. I will finish my report, you can ask ask questions when I am done.
itsybitsy
87 Posts
I definitely meant Pass The Loo...
Preterm Labor.