What is your biggest nursing pet peeve?

Scarlette Wings · Aug 18, 2010

strangers that find out you are a nurse and start asking medical questions and expecting answers!

i wish there were a button to give a standing ovation or a loud hoorah! an amen to that or something when you sooooo totally agree. lol. love this one.

and then there is the one where you have snuck to a quiet (ha!) area to eat your lunch and someone sees you in your uniform, a stethoscope, and a roll of tape sticking out your pocket and the bright red sign under your name badge that says rn and goes "you're a nurse arn't you?".....................no what gave it away???

Flying ICU RN · Aug 18, 2010

My biggest pet peeve?...

Nurses asking me for a Medical sign off at shift change,.(IE Why isn't this patient on ACE Inhibitors?, Beta Blockers?, Benzodiazepines?,...etc).

My usual answer....

A licensed physician has not ordered it.

themoreyouknow · Sep 20, 2010

Nurses who nurse from the desk. They refuse to get off their butts and get out of their chair!

Judgmental nurses who say inappropriate things to our patients because of the patient's intelligence level or socioeconomic status.

Nurses who say "I don't know how to do that because I was never trained." instead of "I've never done that before, but I will if you will show me."

Nurses who try to pick the easiest patients during report.

Nurses who call you frequently to work for them, but can never work for you when you on that rare day when you need it.

~Sherri

"The new nurse thinks like a mom. The experienced nurse thinks like a lawyer."

Crisa Mansen · Nov 19, 2010

Oh where should I begin:

1. That's not my patient. P.S. It's all of our patients.

2. Nursing assistants who sit on their butts all day and ignore you or get upset when you ask them to do something. If you don't want to work stay at home.

3. Staff who come to work late and have to spin around in circles and talk before changing shif. You're all ready late just shut up and listen!

4. Relatives who ask u a million and one questions about their family, i don't mind the questions but please spare me there must be a limit. I am A NURSE not a DOCTOR. Could you go speak to the doctor please!

5. Patients who refuse to wait five minutes to have a pamper changed when they see that you've been running up and down for the entire shift and short staffed. I only have two hands, da.. have some patience !!

6. Head nurses who come to work fresh in the morning and ask a million and one questions during the giving over, when all you want to do is finish and go home. P.S. THERE'S SOMETHING CALLED NURSES NOTES read it!!

7. Doctors who try to blame you for their mistakes. P.S. You're the dumb one not me!

amarilla, RN · Nov 19, 2010

My biggest pet peeve?...
Nurses asking me for a Medical sign off at shift change,.(IE Why isn't this patient on ACE Inhibitors?, Beta Blockers?, Benzodiazepines?,...etc).
My usual answer....
A licensed physician has not ordered it.

There really aren't enough kudos I can give this post. AMEN! :yeah:

biblepoet · Nov 19, 2010

Apologies all around. Sorry oldiebutgoodie. I have a habit of shooting from the hip and regretting it later.
After thinking on this, i suppose i'd also be frustrated if someone was feeding me the wrong information and claiming it truth.
I think my frustration stems from experiences with nursing students that put on a set of scrubs and suddenly know everything (not you, i'm speaking of personal experiences)...these same students tend to make know-it-all grads...and then make DANGEROUS know-it-all nurses right out of school. Alot of them get a big shock when they finally come out of their orientation...many of them break down and have at least one big crying spell. This type of new-nurse/recent grad (which the majority are NOT) tend to get under my skin more than a little.
In my personal opinion, a nurse has to put in at least a year of practice before i consider her/him part of the 'club'...thats when i think they've walked a mile in a nurses' shoes...and can complain about it.
Students get exposed to alot of the terminology, pathophys., clinical skills and stuff....but the vast majority of what being a nurse is all about is learned through experience on the job... after graduation. (i think most nurses would agree with this statement)
Again, although i may hold an unpopular opinion regarding new nurses and nursing students, i apologize for being out of line....and didnt mean to attack your post in such a way.

I am not a know it all nurse. Just becauSE I am new does not mean I know nothing. Do not tell me to go do my vitals and how to structure my day after I have been there 10 months. If I need your help, I will ask for it. I especially hate organization tips from someone who makes me wait for them to get report and does not organize their own day well. Also hate CNA's who refuse to do there job and when you ask them to assist you they say no, but continue on their personal conversation. I will not ask you do anything I won't do myself.

SoundofMusic · Nov 20, 2010

Patient family members who keep little detailed notebooks about every drug, every food, every treatment that goes on with their loved one while in the hospital. I mean -- if this doesn't just scare you as a nurse, I don't know what else would.

I guess some of them do it so they can keep track of what's going on and can report to their own doctors ...but others just make me wonder if they're just fishing for lawsuit, or for us to make an error.

Oh, and techs who won't fill water pitchers. Just drives me nuts. I get that they can't be everywhere at once, but this just ought to be something that's routinely done, with baths, with vitals, etc. PLEASE.

smartnurse1982 · Nov 20, 2010

I am a LVN of 15 years and my husband and I have a medical group home in our home. We have 10 nurses on staff. I have been labeled the psycho ***** mom because I expect them to: actually follow the plan of care for each child and do their job (I have had to make a daily schedule for each of my kids just so I know my kids are getting the care they need and deserve!!
I can't tell you how many nurses I have fired over the last 5 years for standing around while their child layed in the bed, or just wandered around the house while the nurses congregated and were gossiping!
Not to mention the amount of poop, meds, milk, snot and puke I have cleaned up off the floor, ceiling, beds, walls and everywhere else because they were too lazy to do it themselves.
As a mom this ****** me off. As a nurse it REALLY ****** me off!

How about helping the nurses out sometimes? Hire a janitor to clean walls,the ceilings,etc?( I understand. that nurses should clean off the beds though.

Marie13 · Nov 29, 2010

I work in LTC, and we have to "use our time wisely" because we are in charge of a million things and must be done within 8 hours. I hate when we get interrupted during our med pass! Seriously! I also hate when a department manager asks me to do something that they can also do to help out the nurses. I don't complain, they complain that we don't have "time management skills".

carolmaccas66, BSN, RN · Nov 30, 2010

One more I want to add:

If you don't want to be a nurse, CNA/PSA, EN, Doctor, whatever, do not come to work and constantly complain & whinge about it all shift-long,for every day I work with u, in my ear, plus tell me repeatedly how much u hate ur job & how much u hate the patients. No-one, I repeat, NO-ONE is stopping you from getting out there, or on the internet and finding another job in ur own time. We haven't forced u 2 be a nurse when u hate it. We haven't shackled ur legs up so u can't walk far. Although the biggest complaint is the 7 day-in-a-row shifts with only one day off inbetween, no-one is stopping u from going to the NM/NUM & changing ur roster. Start using ur initiative & actually think about things, instead of just complaining 24/7. Get off ur butt and DO SOMETHING about ur situation, instead of just expecting other people to either fit around ur needs, or 'fix' ur 'predicament'.

U can almost see the negative energy radiating from these people (in any job, not just nursing).

I hate it!

LETRN · Nov 30, 2010

Working with techs/aides that have been at their job longer than I've been alive, and think because of it they should be calling the shots. If you want to be the nurse you should have gone to NURSING SCHOOL. Tools.

rph3664 · Nov 30, 2010

One more I want to add:
If you don't want to be a nurse, CNA/PSA, EN, Doctor, whatever, do not come to work and constantly complain & whinge about it all shift-long,for every day I work with u, in my ear, plus tell me repeatedly how much u hate ur job & how much u hate the patients. No-one, I repeat, NO-ONE is stopping you from getting out there, or on the internet and finding another job in ur own time. We haven't forced u 2 be a nurse when u hate it. We haven't shackled ur legs up so u can't walk far. Although the biggest complaint is the 7 day-in-a-row shifts with only one day off inbetween, no-one is stopping u from going to the NM/NUM & changing ur roster. Start using ur initiative & actually think about things, instead of just complaining 24/7. Get off ur butt and DO SOMETHING about ur situation, instead of just expecting other people to either fit around ur needs, or 'fix' ur 'predicament'.
U can almost see the negative energy radiating from these people (in any job, not just nursing).
I hate it!

More than once, I have asked people, "Why do you work here?" and not just in health care. I restrained myself from doing that with a fellow pharmacist at my last job, because I knew that in her case, I wouldn't have wanted to know the answer.