What is your biggest nursing pet peeve?

Nurses General Nursing

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Nurses that are brilliant but do not know the difference between contraindication and contradiction! :rotfl:

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Specializes in LTC.

#1 dear sweet little old lady hospital volunteers who are delivering the morning paper to a pt that I am bathing and walk right behind the curtain to make sure the pt get's his/her paper!!!

#2 hospital housekeepers who come up to me in the hallway and inform me that they put my pt back in bed for me because he/she was tired and asked her to.:stone

#3 Aides who take a pt's O2 off while bathing them, leave the room and never put it back on. Then when you ask them about it, they tell you that the pt said he/she didn't need it. Or when the aide or family member turns the pt's O2 up or down at the pt's request!!!!:angryfire

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wimpy, winy, pissy, no-matter-what-you-do-you-can't-please-me PATIENTS.

patients who complain of pain 10/10,(PACU) and before i can get them medicated, want their pillow fluffed, their legs propped, the curtains closed, their family called, a cup water, another warm blanket ALL AT THE SAME TIME---then after they have gotten 8mg of Morphine(titrated, of course), have been snoring, they wake wondering when i am going to medicate them. :angryfire

Oh, I do hear you on this one!

Our unit recently had a FF flyer OB patient - very large woman who was gestational diabetic (obviously not "diet controlled"!), with a clomid pregnancy.. she started coming in for triage visits at 32 weeks. By the time she was induced at 36 weeks had had 14 outpt. visits for:

"chest pain 10/10" - had walked up to the nurses station each time very casually with no SOB or other CR symptoms to sign in;

"headaches 10/10 without relief from tylenol / fioricet / etc." with no sensitivity to light, no n/v, no neuro sx - and promptly wanted to know if she could eat the huge sandwich she brought with her (and when asked when last ate, had had "a salad" 30 min. ago);

"terrible leg swelling" - +1 edema of LE's, absolutely normal in late pregnancy; DTR's +1, no clonus, cap refill of toes

Well, she came in all those times due to TOBP and because we can't prove any of the above was there or not, it was all subjective, the docs induced her. We'd tried to collect a 24 urine for protein but she "forgot" to save her urine in the hat or call us when she voided.. so it was nil. She was WELL informed by the OB on call about risks to the infant even at 36 weeks... didn't seem to mind any of that. Fortunately, all her visits/ complaints / consents were very well documented. Had been complaining of the "10/10 h/a" right before she was told she'd be induced - right afterwards was laughing, smiling, you get the pic. Oh, and obviously her terrible headache hadn't stopped her from talking loudly and animatedly on her cellphone to anyone who would listen to how sick she was...... EGAD!

Gee-whiz, her baby ended up with resp. problems and was tranferred to the NICU in the large hospital in our community.

Patients who obviously care so little for the babies they are growing and instead demand attention for fake symptoms just because they are fat, lazy, and tired of being pregnant - I want to slap them soooooo hard!

Oh, by the way, she's a military dependent, so guess who will be covering these NICU expenses? GRRRRRRRRR!!!!!

:angryfire

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the way i was asked a couple of days ago if being an RN "was only a part time temp job" until I had finished college! as if i had just come in off the street to do my job!!! I said "no, I did nursing at college and this is my full time position". These people that think to be an RN you can just show up on the day and do the job!!!!GGRRRRRRR :angryfire

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I can certainly understand that position if you have never been a smoker. I used to be a heavy tobacco user, so I can tell you that I would have had to be practically comatose to keep from smoking. The addiction is separate from pain issues. JMHO.

I would like to add that I quit smoking before I conceived.

So, someone being THAT demanding about getting pain meds can't wait 5 minutes to get them? I just can't see it!

Another 2cents on that...

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:p

another thing that make my blood boil (and i'm not really sure why), is when i come on, and the previous shift gives me that "oh, you're in for a rough day/night", and proceed to tell you about all the negative things that are going to happen. they often do it with this smirk about them too (like ha ha ha). i'll decide what kind of night it's going to be. i know that it's not completely in my control, but don't bring me down before i even start. :angryfire

yes, please!!! thank you for saying that. at my last job (oops, here we go!) someone always had to say "you don't want to be here today" or "boy are y'all in for it today." i finally actually brought it up in a staff meeting - that there is absolutely no reason to drag down the morale of the oncoming shift who is next to face the 12 hours of whatever particular hell is going on that day. please, save it for report or say "boy are we glad to see you" and smile!

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since we are just talking about pet peeves and not all the other things that we need to work on..how about our image to the public...nurses that walk around with cartoon characters on their scrubs....we are professionals, you don't see doctors or lawyers or other professionals dressing in cartoon garb...the only place I think it's acceptable is on a peds unit or at a children's hospital....how can you expect patients and their families to take you seriously when you are wearing Spongebob Squarepants or Winnie the Pooh all over your shirt...

Let's see: all the docs I work with wear scrub hats with different patterns, some are cartoons. The midwife I work with has lab coats with different little characters embroidered over her name. The 'ologists & CRNA's also have fun scrub hats. But people can't take ME seriously because I have moons & stars or pink penguins on my scrub top? My name tag says RNC - and I'm very good at what I do. That should be enough to be respected with, thank you.

BLEH!!!

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Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

When i've picked up a pt. from the peds floor wearing my SpongeBob scrub hat, first thing the kid says is "SPONGEBOB!!" and laughs and smiles. Definately more kid-friendly than the sterile-looking paper hats i typically wear.

(I've seen lawyers wearing cartoon charater ties.)

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Finally, an elderly gentleman who was sitting near us, said " Lady, if these other people in here would make thier kids mind and not give them everything they want, maybe you wouldn't have a waiting room full of screaming brats!"

I smiled at him, thanked him and we left.

My son apologized, on his own, before we'd made it out of the parking lot.

I know this is long, but the whole situation today really bothered me, it's as if most parents these days have NO parenting skills at all and it makes it difficult for everyone, including nurses like you who are trying to help.

Thanks for sharing your story!

I'm not a mom (at least not of human kids), but I do think I would have a clue on how to be the parent.

My ex-sister in law had a hideous little 2 yr old when she lived with my ex-husband & I... back in 1991. He cursed & said "no" constantly - she would not at all even TRY to make him mind. She'd let him stay up 'til all hours. I finally had to put my foot down & tell her she was going to have to start parenting him, and that he had to be in bed by 8 p.m. because after that it was adults' time. She was so mad, asked me "well who's his mom anyway?" to which I had to answer, "I'm not sure, to tell you the truth, but since you birthed him maybe you should start acting like YOU are." We never could get along over this and she soon moved back to momma's... ha!

I have an LPN friend with whom I IM-chat quite a bit. She's a little older than me and has a grown son. Her son begged for help from her to get his kids back from his ex. This woman put in a lot of time & suffering with all the court stuff to do this. Now, he, the kids, and his newly-pregnant g/f are all living in her small place. She gripes to me CONSTANTLY about how none of them have jobs, nobody helps out, they disrespect her, on & on. I have to wonder how the heck her son GOT that way? Hmmm.

I recently had a c/s patient (she's 21, it's her 3rd). Her mom & friend came in to "visit," toting along the other 2 kids and a kid her friend was babysitting. They were horrible! Climbing all over the place, screaming, crying.. it was just a madhouse. I was frazzled.. I told them they would have to go & come back when the kids were settled because the patient was just post-op and needed rest. I feel so bad for her, but why the heck do people like that keep having little ones if they cannot seem to be parents in any way?

Yeah, more peevies. UGH!

:crying2:

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Thanks for sharing your story!

I'm not a mom (at least not of human kids), but I do think I would have a clue on how to be the parent.

My ex-sister in law had a hideous little 2 yr old when she lived with my ex-husband & I... back in 1991. He cursed & said "no" constantly - she would not at all even TRY to make him mind. She'd let him stay up 'til all hours. I finally had to put my foot down & tell her she was going to have to start parenting him, and that he had to be in bed by 8 p.m. because after that it was adults' time. She was so mad, asked me "well who's his mom anyway?" to which I had to answer, "I'm not sure, to tell you the truth, but since you birthed him maybe you should start acting like YOU are." We never could get along over this and she soon moved back to momma's... ha!

I have an LPN friend with whom I IM-chat quite a bit. She's a little older than me and has a grown son. Her son begged for help from her to get his kids back from his ex. This woman put in a lot of time & suffering with all the court stuff to do this. Now, he, the kids, and his newly-pregnant g/f are all living in her small place. She gripes to me CONSTANTLY about how none of them have jobs, nobody helps out, they disrespect her, on & on. I have to wonder how the heck her son GOT that way? Hmmm.

I recently had a c/s patient (she's 21, it's her 3rd). Her mom & friend came in to "visit," toting along the other 2 kids and a kid her friend was babysitting. They were horrible! Climbing all over the place, screaming, crying.. it was just a madhouse. I was frazzled.. I told them they would have to go & come back when the kids were settled because the patient was just post-op and needed rest. I feel so bad for her, but why the heck do people like that keep having little ones if they cannot seem to be parents in any way?

Yeah, more peevies. UGH!

:crying2:

I know what you mean, just goes to show ya...we have to many rights in this country. Some might defend all of our rights to the last dying breath but when everyone is allowed to do anything, anywhere and anytime they want to...well there are just bound to be problems. I'm not saying that I have the answers, all I can do is raise my children to be good people.

These folks that just keeping having more babies and allowing them to be proper little monsters are never going to stop, and never going to understand that THEY created those monsters. It's a shame, really a shame. In the right household I bet the kids you had to deal with would be pleasant and well behaved. Poor kids :crying2:

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I have no children, so in reality I cannot understand how it feels to have a troublesome toddler. It sounds like you are bringing up a lovely boy though FutureNrse!

I agree entirley with you on this. I often see parents loosing it with their children. It must be hard after you've had a hard day and the child has done nothing but misbehave all day, but you cannot reward bad behaviour. It isn't the child's fault, it's a learned behaviour. If the child realises that if he/she misbehaves, screams etc then gets what he/she wants, ie: the toy or attention, the child will misbehave! Children aren't stupid. Or the other side when a child's behaviour is disruppting others and they totally ignore it. ie: kicking seats infront deliberatley on planes or not getting out the way for some poor old lady who can't move quickly.

I feel sorry for some children as they are often then punished for this learned behaviour by being shouted at/hit/sworn at. I have seen too often children innocently playing whilst mummy/daddy talking, and obviously getting bored may do something that is a little naughty, but not THAT bad and getting "Stop that you f***ing little b****rd!" in an angry and threatning tone. I could cry when I hear this abusive language towards children.

The worst one I saw was when a mum and dad were arguing, walking up the street and little boy in the buggy was getting upset at the shouting and after a minute, the poor boy wet himself and started to cry. To this mum got so angry, and literally screamed so loud you would have heard it 2 streets away. "What the **** did you do THAT for you little ******! Just wait til you get home!" She carried on ranting at him. It was the viciousness in her voice that upset me and her tone of voice. As I was at the other end of the street, I couldn't get an decent description of them nor did I know where they lived or I would have reported them.

How awful for you to hear that and be unable to do anything. Some parents really should be horsewhipped. When I worked for child protective services, I often supervised visits between parents and children in order to write a recommendation to the court. You would be amazed at how often a parent would be unable to contain him/herself during a one hour visit, with me sitting right there! I had parents yell (most common), curse, call kids names, and several even smacked kids. And then they acted as if it was perfectly acceptable, or tried to justify thier actions to me. Unbelievable.

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Main Entry: ori-ent-ed

Pronunciation: 'Or-E-"en-t&d, 'or-

Function: adjective

Date: 1944

: intellectually, emotionally, or functionally directed

This is the word that means to be oriented in your unit... it's a very common mistake that everyone who speaks English, the Queen's sort or the American sort, makes.

Just thought you'd like to know!

KC in FL :p

Thank you!! You woulda thought that the person who posted the other definition woulda ummm...read it first? lol

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As we were leaving, the nurse offered to let him pick a prize and I said " No, I'm sorry but Lucas didn't behave and he can't have a toy" The nurse, who was in her mid 30's, started saying things like "Oh, come on mom, don't be a meanie" By this time we were in the hall by the waiting room where everyone could see and hear. I repeated that he had not behaved and that I do not reward bad behavior. By then, my son knew that he wouldn't get the toy and gave up, but the nurse didn't. Finally, an elderly gentleman who was sitting near us, said " Lady, if these other people in here would make thier kids mind and not give them everything they want, maybe you wouldn't have a waiting room full of screaming brats!"

I smiled at him, thanked him and we left.

My son apologized, on his own, before we'd made it out of the parking lot.

I know this is long, but the whole situation today really bothered me, it's as if most parents these days have NO parenting skills at all and it makes it difficult for everyone, including nurses like you who are trying to help.

Good for you mom! Stick w/ your convictions. I've "been there, done that" and have been the "meanie".

But at our last dentist appt, our dentist said "If all children behaved as yours do, I'd become a pediatric dentist."

(Mine are 11 and 8, the latter dx w/ ADHD and ODD...but she knows how to behave in public!)

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