What happened to common sense?

[CKPM2RN, ASN, EMT-P]

Common sense just isn't so common anymore unfortunately.

I've also heard it said as, "Common sense isn't common." and "The common people have no sense and having sense is not common."

[ChryssyD]

It's called passing the buck--no one wants to be held responsible for making the "wrong" decision. While I certainly agree that common sense seems in short supply when your supposedly professional staff are calling you for the "right" answer to a seemingly simple question, in my humble experience this is often the result of being mercilessly stomped on for every single "wrong" decision they've ever made. Negative reinforcement works very, very quickly on intelligent people, which most nurses are. While I have to agree that the smoking-outside-in-a-metal-wheelchair seems pretty easy to figure out, as Daisy4RN pointed out, it is possible to see how a patient could scream patient's rights and the nurse could wind up getting reprimanded as a result of making a decision that seems obviously correct--until a patient complains, at which point it somehow becomes much less obvious.

At the end of the day, I'm right there with you--common sense does seem to be in short supply generally, not just in nursing. But I also have to admit that the silly nurses who can't make a decision on their own probably do have good reason to be worried about making "wrong" choices if (in their experience) management can't be counted upon to back them up when patients, families, or doctors complain. That's been my experience, unfortunately, way too often.

[caffeinatednurse, BSN, RN]

Oh man, I hate taking those phone calls, some days...I pride myself on being patient, but we have a few nurses that would wear out the patience of a saint.

[lumbarpain, ADN, RN]

OMG...I was laughing at this...BUT ITS TRUE......we allow residents to go onto this terrace to smoke...and there is an Aide out there monitoring them and lighting up their cigarettes and putting these so called fire jackets on those who apparently have many holes from their ashes in their clothing...its NONSENSE..... ......I am sorry...but a Health care facility in my eyes shouldn't allow patients to smoke......it defeats the purpose of calling it a health CARE facility......yes...especially when a person has COPD and goes out to smoke...and comes back gasping for air....so....where is the common sense there? Oh and don't get me started on the nurses I have worked with......I think they should call me Mommy instead of my proper name....Oh Mommy I cant find this paper..Oh Mommy where did I put my report sheet? Mommy, can you just look at this tiny pimple on this one patient.... Oh Mommy can you help me fill out all these forms on my patient even though Ihave been here for some time and should know this by now? OH I CAN TELL YOU STORIES .....sad....but its true....

[No Stars In My Eyes]

OMG.. and don't get me started on the nurses I have worked with......I think they should call me Mommy instead of my proper name....Oh Mommy I cant find this paper..Oh Mommy where did I put my report sheet? Mommy, can you just look at this tiny pimple on this one patient.... Oh Mommy can you help me fill out all these forms on my patient even though Ihave been here for some time and should know this by now? OH I CAN TELL YOU STORIES .....sad....but its true....

This is PRICELESS! I laughed at how true it is: "Mommy!"

I'm gonna remember and use this one!

And this very anecdote makes me think what you have to go through in this respect should have your screen name reflecting a pain in an entirely different portion of the anatomy!

[Nascar nurse, ASN, RN]

After over two months of trying to beat assessment skills and follow up documentation into my nursing staffs heads......Reviewing lab reports from previous day - already all scanned into computer & considered "complete".

BMP - Glucose = 4. No typo, I'm reading FOUR. Now it's already been 24 hours and I've seen this resident several times since so I know it's not really FOUR (and it would have been way too late if it was really four). Same nurse working both days, so I call down to the nurses station "Hey, did you happen to read that lab on so & so yesterday". Reply: "Yes I did and faxed it to Dr.. It's all taken care of". Me: "And what was Dr. response to that blood sugar"? Reply: "Dr. said it was fine and didn't want any changes". Me: (banging my head on the side of desk in frustration) "I think you need to call lab and confirm there wasn't a reporting error and at least some kind of assessment yesterday that she was out of bed with usual cognition and free of distress".

20 minutes later nurse in my office. "I called lab and it was really 100". Long story short - I'm still not sure I got it in her head what if it had been FOUR...obvious she never looked at the lab report, obvious she never followed up and assessed the resident. Nursing 101 people!

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

I am appalled at some of what I see. Policy is to inform MD/NP of any and all abnormal labs. HA1C=10.2 (highest I've ever seen) No documentation that anyone was notified. I asked the nurse and was told "The NP never does anything so we didn't bother to notify her." Hmmmm...that's at least 3 DPH citations. People...wake up. You have licenses. You have brains. USE THEM.