What causes you to almost scream (internally of course) during your day?

[KonichiwaRN]

Getting a call 30 min before shift change,

and it's from the ED. Goes something like this..

"hi there. (they "almost always" use an overly cheerful voice) we're sending a patient to you right now. can anyone take report?"

[ComeTogether, LPN]

being interrupted while elbows deep in something super important for my CNA to ask something super silly that could've easily waited.

[socal212, CNA]

lol, when you’re doing a complete bed change and your RNM comes to find you, and clearly sees you are busy, to ask if you can take someone to the bathroom. You could have walked them to the bathroom in the time it took you to leave their room to find me and ask me to do this?! And who’s going to help the patient go to the bathroom now??

I’m a CNA, this happened yesterday. My manager is soo helpful ?

[missmollie, ADN, BSN, RN]

Family member who questions what I'm doing with a "Did you" question.

"did you thicken that drink"

*no, I just thought I'd let your family member drown on dry land*... Reality: "Yes". Followed by a death chilling mom stare.

[scuba nurse, BSN, MSN, RN]

Pretty much EVERYTHING all day long makes me go in my head "WOW! really??"

[Forest2]

20 hours ago, SmilingBluEyes said:

I am getting really sick of new forms/paperwork to fill out on top of everything we do. It seems every month a new piece of paperwork/form is implemented and new boxes to check are added to computer charting. And of course, they are all mandatory and to be filed in the computer record. Very time-consuming stuff.

It's almost as if someone thinks we play cards during our shift or something.

That is why a lot of nurses fake chart, copy etc. because there isn't enough time to take care of patients and chart too. This is a terrible crisis.

[Forest2]

Constant interruption. I know I should get used to it, but I just sit down for 15 seconds and a bell rings, an alarm goes off, a phone call, a visitor, here we go again. All the work done is just in bits and pieces. I feel like throwing the phone across the room and walking out. I mean really.

[Izzycat]

I scream I internally when working with alazy charge nurse.

[Davey Do]

Administrators who encourage subordinates to be passive-aggressive, labelling passive-aggressiveness as "team coaching".

During one meeting, the director of the psych unit suggested that we use team coaching in order to to guide coworkers. She used an example of a coworker not washing their and after providing direct patient care and encouraged us to say something like, "Don't you think you should wash your hands?"

I spoke up and basically said the statement was not direct and sounded passive-aggressive in that it was giving an option were there was none. I said that I would just say something like, "Hey- You need to wash your hands after providing direct care to a patient".

I know I'm going on and on about this, but there are nuances and subliminal messages in our statements and body language.

I chose the word "need" over the word "should". The word need connotes a lack requiring fulfillment whereas the word should relays a direction based in emotion.

The word should can bring up all sorts of feelings based on schema: For example, your Mom saying "You should do this" or "You should do that ".

A typical subconscious reaction could be "You're not the boss of me!"

Even though she really is the boss of me, I'm not going to allow her to get away with encouraging passive-aggressiveness!

So there!

[WickerRN, BSN, RN]

When it’s almost change of shift and you need to give an IV med and the IV goes bad.

When you take a look at the upcoming shift assignment and you were assigned to give report to the nurse who will ask you 100’s of questions even though they already know the answer because they’ll tell you “actually when I was looking up the pt their sugar was 157 not 151) and make you stay longer than needed. The same nurse who will complain why so so and so wasn’t done, yet when they arnt able to finish things on their shift they expect not to hear a peep from you.

[GSDlvrRN, MSN]

Patients with cardiomegaly that tell people they have a “big strong heart”.

[NayNeyRN]

Getting slammed with multiple admits stacked on top of each other because the previous shift doesn’t do the admit requirements if they come after 1800, Pacu starts calling report at 1845, and then my next admit comes at 1930. So now I have three full admit assessments to complete, and need to do home medication med reconciliations on them so I can do med pass at 2100.

Or the the fact that I continuously get the highest acuity patients, or the ones who had complaints and had to be soothed, or the difficult team, etc. because “you’re a strong nurse and you can handle it”.

[ComeTogether, LPN]

On 5/2/2019 at 10:59 AM, Forest2 said:

The ones that pretend to be heroes by trying to run to a bed alarm faster than other nurses. It is not in my job description to run full out. I will respond immediately but running is something else. (by the way these things go off countless times a shift.)

I can tell which patient it is and depending on the answer I may or may not run. I have a s/p CVA right now who self transfers. If her alarm is sounding shes already up and half way to wherever shes going. It IS in my job description to try to keep her safe.