Just curious to see what cockamamie things the rest of y'all have to put up with. I used to work in a locked psych facility, and there was a rule in place that stated the number of call ins you could have in a certain time period. After a certain number was reached, you had to be warned verbally.
Well, I was PRN, usually worked full time hours, and was often called in to replace the people who had called in for whatever reason. I began to notice a pattern. The same ones always called in, and most were never talked to about it. It was never mentioned. I had my 3rd call in about this time, and it just so happened that the DON chose to inform me of that fact on the day when I had agreed to work 4 16's in one week. I had the call book open, writing down a call in, when she came up and said, "You know you have 3 call ins, right?" I was incensed, but I looked down at the tally sheet, seeing all these others who were never bothered with such mundane details, then looked back at her and said,"Really? Three? Do I get a prize?"
Once I got written up and nearly fired because I moved my face out of the way to avoid a punch in the face.
There were 2 of us changing an extremely abusive alzhiemer's woman's bed. She was nearly 6 ft tall and wieghed every ounce of 300 pounds. I was behind the patient and my co-worker was in the front (patient was rolled on her side). I was trying to wipe her butt when she got her hand lose and attempted to hit me in the face. When I saw the hand coming to my face, in reflex, I moved out of the way and the patient hit her wrist on the bedrail. She obtained a wrist fracture.
I was told that I should have let her hit my face because my face was surely softer than the bedrail and she probably would not have gotten a fracture if she had hit my face instead.
So, I guess my broken glasses and broken nose would have been the better option?
Once I got written up and nearly fired because I moved my face out of the way to avoid a punch in the face.
There were 2 of us changing an extremely abusive alzhiemer's woman's bed. She was nearly 6 ft tall and wieghed every ounce of 300 pounds. I was behind the patient and my co-worker was in the front (patient was rolled on her side). I was trying to wipe her butt when she got her hand lose and attempted to hit me in the face. When I saw the hand coming to my face, in reflex, I moved out of the way and the patient hit her wrist on the bedrail. She obtained a wrist fracture.
I was told that I should have let her hit my face because my face was surely softer than the bedrail and she probably would not have gotten a fracture if she had hit my face instead.
So, I guess my broken glasses and broken nose would have been the better option?
BTW, this was the administrator's mother!
OMG.
Well, this really is an accurate illustration of how much nurses are valued and respected.
I didn't actually get written up, but I got scolded pretty badly by the head of security, the director of nursing, and my nurse manager for this.
I worked in a children's hospital. One of the parents approached me in the hall, saying she couldn't find her daughter (6 years old). We looked all over the floor, and called both the playrooms on the other floors. We then called the child life specialist to see if she had taken the child anywhere. We called the cafeteria to see if the child had wandered down there. No one had seen her. The mom was frantic.
I called the security office and told them we had a child we couldn't find. Gave them a description of the child, where she had last been seen, etc. etc. Usually, they call a missing child overhead. So I waited and waited and waited for it to be called overhead, but nothing happened. After 30 minutes (30 minutes of listening to this mom scream and cry), I called security again and asked what was going on. They told me, "Oh the security guy is coming up to your floor now." That seemed strange to me, but whatever.
The security guy came up, found me at the nurses' station, and he had the DON and my manager with him. They called me into the conference room and said, "What were you doing, calling security?" I explained that this mother had approached me and said her kid was not in her assigned room. I explained all the attempts we had made to find her. Since we couldn't, I called security, so they could alert the other floors to be looking out for this child. (at this point, about an hour after I had first called security, the child still hadn't been found.) The security guy looked at me and said, "You can't call security just because you don't know where a kid is. Security is for missing children." And the DON chimed in and said, "yes, we can't waste security's time just because we don't know where someone is. They need their time to be looking for actual missing children."
I was just dumbfounded. I sat there for 15 more minutes, listening to them rant and rave about irresponsible people making mountains out of molehills and causing an uproar where there was no need, because after all, we just didn't know where the little kid was; we weren't sure the child was actually missing at that point.
So I finally just got up and left the room. Told the kid's mother to go speak to security directly. She went directly to the security guy, the DON, and my NM (who were just standing there, watching me walk away) and started screaming about how her child was missing. Then, the security guy sprang into action. He raced away and called a "code pink." The little girl was found 30 minutes later. Apparently, she had left the playroom to come back to her room, when a nice old man offered to walk her down to the McDonald's on the ground floor and treat her to some french fries. She started off with him, but then something freaked her out, so she ran off, got lost, and couldn't find her way back to our floor. She was finally found wandering around by herself near the morgue.
So, the lesson I learned is that just because you don't know where someone is doesn't make them missing. I quit working there very soon after that.
Wow some of these stories are rediculous... I really hope i don't have to deal with this on too regular of a basis when i start... I mean the patient stuff is definetly expected... but things such as letting someone hit you in the face or get in trouble, or the missing child thing is just rediculous.
"i'm sorry that your recent experience was a negative one. i hope this doesn't stop you from using our facility in the future for your health care needs."
i hate to apologize when i haven't done anything wrong. if i ever have to write such a letter, i might say "i understand you feel that part of your recent experience here may have been negative...."
The security guy looked at me and said, "You can't call security just because you don't know where a kid is. Security is for missing children." And the DON chimed in and said, "yes, we can't waste security's time just because we don't know where someone is. They need their time to be looking for actual missing children."
For the first time ever, I was so frustrated and stressed out I actually cried in front of my co-workers. I was called in by the manager the next day, and told that if I ever again felt the "need" to cry, I was to go somewhere private and alone to do so, lest I "scare" the other nurses.
I resigned.
I've cried at work recently, but I'm glad I didn't get in trouble for it, that's rude.
Oh, thank you for this post!!!!! Does it count for comments on your review, as well? I'm having difficulty swallowing some comments made on mine. Question - is it worth trying to rebut what they say in writing, or just let it go - payback can be a b***** as well as know!
Oh, thank you for this post!!!!! Does it count for comments on your review, as well? I'm having difficulty swallowing some comments made on mine. Question - is it worth trying to rebut what they say in writing, or just let it go - payback can be a b***** as well as know!
mc3
IMO any paper trail is a good trail. Remember to put specifics in it that opposes the "purported" behaviour or act. CYA.
I was the DON at a correctional facility for several years. One early morning one of my new nurses called me at home and said that when they were counting a box of vials of demerol, she noticed the top was off of one of them but the top it was laying in the bottom of the box. The other nurse that was counting with her said "oh, that happens all the time, just tape it back on". Well, it does not happen all the time, you have to really push to get the tops off of those vials.
The new nurse said she didn't feel comfortable signing the count sheet. I told her DO NOT sign it and I wanted a memo from everyone involved and I would be there in a little while (I lived 30 miles away) to look into it.
When I got there I just felt like something was fishy, so I talked with my administrator and we decided to take that vial to the State Highway Patrol and have it analyzed and lo and behold it was only 10% demerol and 90% saline.
So of course a big investigation was launched.
The only person who got in trouble out of the whole deal was me! :angryfireI was severely reprimanded and accused of not following the chain of command and taking it upon myself to decide to have it analyzed. (which I didn't, the administrator agreed.)
Corporate office really wanted it just swept under the rug and covered up instead of having the bad publicity but since I had "taken it upon myself" to stir things up they had to investigate.
Nothing ever came of it except for me getting in a lot of trouble.
About a year later, the nurse I suspected of diverting the demerol lost her license for an accumulation of investigations by the BON on her for the same thing in several different places.
I was written up in nursing school during med-surg clinicals for asking too many questions. The memo said I could ask two questions about something. If I asked again, I would be written up.
BTW, I graduated top of the class.
During a review I was demerited for "being to nice to the patients". OMG, I left that job ASAP.
Valanda
112 Posts
Once I got written up and nearly fired because I moved my face out of the way to avoid a punch in the face.
There were 2 of us changing an extremely abusive alzhiemer's woman's bed. She was nearly 6 ft tall and wieghed every ounce of 300 pounds. I was behind the patient and my co-worker was in the front (patient was rolled on her side). I was trying to wipe her butt when she got her hand lose and attempted to hit me in the face. When I saw the hand coming to my face, in reflex, I moved out of the way and the patient hit her wrist on the bedrail. She obtained a wrist fracture.
I was told that I should have let her hit my face because my face was surely softer than the bedrail and she probably would not have gotten a fracture if she had hit my face instead.
So, I guess my broken glasses and broken nose would have been the better option?
BTW, this was the administrator's mother!