What is the silliest complaint someone has ever made aboutyou?

Nurses Relations

Published

I don't know what made me remember this but I had a coworker once with whom I had developed(I thought) something of a rapport. Well one day we were in the nurses' station and I jokingly made a comment about her not working hard. I forget my exact words but it was something along the lines of are you hardly working or working hard. You know that lame joke, well not that lame but it was harmless like that. Well a few days later, guess what I got invited to a meeting with her and the charge nurse to discuss my attempt to slander her! She said that she felt like I had a low opinion of her as a nurse and my comments left it open for people to believe that she was not a hard worker. And I was attempting to destroy her reputation as a nurse. As broadsided as I was, I apologized profusely for my faux-pas but she wasn't in a forgiving mood. So *shrug* what could I do? Obviously we weren't as good of friends as I thought or she might have given me the benefit of the doubt. Also she must have had a massively low self-esteem or insecurities if she was that bothered by my little joke. I just moved on. I can remember being quite annoyed at first but it's funny now.

One of my patients very hautily told me that my nails were in desperate need of a manicure and that I really should be embarassed to show them to anybody. I told her, "Oh my, I know and I am embarassed!" I had gone camping that weekend prior and truth be told, they did indeed look pretty awful :uhoh21: Then, I grabbed her hand and coughed, "um...yours dont look so hot either, ya know?" We both roared with laughter!!:lol2:

Hmm... let's see... which one?

How about the black agency CNA who showed up with a major attitude and didn't like that I politely (which is my way) asked her to do her job... so she told all my black patients that I hated black people. That's about as far from the truth as you can get.

When I finally found out why my black patients (about half of my 8 pts on a med/tele floor in '99) looked at me fearful and/or disgusted when I walked in their rooms, I was shocked beyond belief. I don't think I was able to regain my patients' trust despite the charge nurse's best efforts to do damage control. I felt truly violated that day.

Another sad story involves a pt's spouse in the hemodialysis clinic where I worked next. Because I questioned why he put his wife on 3 L oxygen on our oxygen concentrator - not only did she have COPD, but our protocols allowed no more than 2 L oxygen to be given - this man hated me from that day on. He told my manager that I was trying to kill his wife with the dialysis machine and that I was not to go near her again. I was one of the most conscientious and safest nurses there (he never knew the dangerous shortcuts some of my coworkers took). My manager never assigned me to this pt again, but I lost a lot of respect for her for not setting the man straight and standing up for me (i.e., telling him to take his wife to another clinic if he didn't feel comfortable with any of her nurses, all of whom she had confidence in). In addition, I felt humiliated whenever they showed up for her tx - three times a week - and I had to ask someone else to deal with her machine alarms if I happened to hear them (we RNs weren't just responsible for the pts directly assigned to us!).

I no longer work in either place, BTW. And I wouldn't go back.

DeLana

Specializes in acute medical.

Many years ago I was taken to the office by the Clinical Nurse Manager of my ward, and told that there was a complaint from my other colleagues that it was inappropriate to leave the ward late because I had been spending my time helping other staff members with their workloads.

As a newly graduated EN I took the complaint on board and actually promised I would improve! 15 years down the line, and I can't believe my own stupidity, let alone my colleagues.

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
I once got a complaint that I made another nurse "nervous" turns out I moved too fast. I was 30 had just come from a trauma 1 ED where we all moved very fast. This nurse was in her 50s and if she moved any faster she would go in reverse. In all the time I worked with her she never took more then one pt at a time and I never tookcare of less then 12pts. (there were only two nurses and one MD and a xray Tech no aides or any other staff it was a very busy outlying free standing ED with alot of critical pts) Did I move fast, you bet.

Hey, you even "TALK" fast! (your note), I was panting just trying to keep up with you verbally! lol

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
Hmm... let's see... which one? ... I no longer work in either place, BTW. And I wouldn't go back.

DeLana

DeLana, it's the "customer service" slant they have gotten into and can't seem to get out of - even tho it is responsible for our having lost so many good nurses. Yes we should give good service as a matter of course, but it's gone too far. The emphasis has shifted so much that we are treated like "bad waiters" if a pt is unhappy.

Specializes in Alzheimer's, Geriatrics, Chem. Dep..
Many years ago I was taken to the office by the Clinical Nurse Manager of my ward, and told that there was a complaint from my other colleagues that it was inappropriate to leave the ward late because I had been spending my time helping other staff members with their workloads.

As a newly graduated EN I took the complaint on board and actually promised I would improve! 15 years down the line, and I can't believe my own stupidity, let alone my colleagues.

The world is nuts, I have gotten the same complaint over the years.

interesting.

hmm... let's see... which one?

how about the black agency cna who showed up with a major attitude and didn't like that i politely (which is my way) asked her to do her job... so she told all my black patients that i hated black people. that's about as far from the truth as you can get.

when i finally found out why my black patients (about half of my 8 pts on a med/tele floor in '99) looked at me fearful and/or disgusted when i walked in their rooms, i was shocked beyond belief. i don't think i was able to regain my patients' trust despite the charge nurse's best efforts to do damage control. i felt truly violated that day.

another sad story involves a pt's spouse in the hemodialysis clinic where i worked next. because i questioned why he put his wife on 3 l oxygen on our oxygen concentrator - not only did she have copd, but our protocols allowed no more than 2 l oxygen to be given - this man hated me from that day on. he told my manager that i was trying to kill his wife with the dialysis machine and that i was not to go near her again. i was one of the most conscientious and safest nurses there (he never knew the dangerous shortcuts some of my coworkers took). my manager never assigned me to this pt again, but i lost a lot of respect for her for not setting the man straight and standing up for me (i.e., telling him to take his wife to another clinic if he didn't feel comfortable with any of her nurses, all of whom she had confidence in). in addition, i felt humiliated whenever they showed up for her tx - three times a week - and i had to ask someone else to deal with her machine alarms if i happened to hear them (we rns weren't just responsible for the pts directly assigned to us!).

i no longer work in either place, btw. and i wouldn't go back.

delana

Specializes in heme/onc (adult), NICU.

Hi! I am new to this site and this is my first post. I am currently a NICU nurse but did adult heme/onc/med-surg for five years. I think the silliest thing I got written up for was when I told a 300 lb woman that I could not lift her up in bed with just me and the nurse extern because she was too heavy. She went nuts and threw me out of the room (not the first time she had done it to someone...she had major issues from a gastric bypass gone wrong and I guess couldn't help herself). I got written up by my NM for being "insensitive to the patient's needs" and being "a bad example to the nurse extern I was with". I guess it would have been a better example if I had been out on disability with an injured back?!

Specializes in geriatrics, pediatrics.

My charting was flagged by another nurse because I didn't have a dressing order from the doctor to put a bandaid on the skinned knee of my peds patient. Was told next time to clean it with soap and water and have the school teacher put on the bandaid. Needless to say that didn't fly with the doctor. Got standing orders after that for bandaids.

That's pretty silly.

ok, when I was working at a nursing home I was actually repremended for giving a lady a cool shower. never mind that it was summer and hot and the lady was completely cognitive of it. I thought it was weird that if they ask for a cold shower you couldnt give them one.. but whatever

Specializes in general surgery/ER/PACU.

I gave a post op patient morphine in the distal port in the IV tubing to dilute it and she told me not to do it like that because she liked to feel it burn as it was going in:nono: .........sign of a junkie.

+ Add a Comment