What's the dumbest thing you ever got called on the carpet for?

[AngelfireRN]

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?"

I was never reprimanded again.

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

This all makes me feel better about the write ups I've had.

Our Pyxis machine prints out every interaction we have with it and we throw all that paper directly in the trash can. I turned off the printer because the paper blocked the fingerprint reader, and got written up. I moved the trash can to beside the printer, and now direct the paper stream straight into it now and everyone is happy.

Pharmacy made up some IV meds for us and since it was the weekend I signed out all 6 bags to our unit. Got demerits for not going back and forth 6 times over the weekend and signing them out one at a time.

[MIA-RN]

I was told once that I need to relax more at work and slow down. I was told that I should take more time to be chatty with my coworkers, and not worry so much about my patients because they were not critical. :uhoh3:

[bsg rnc]

I was spoken to by the head nurse ( loooong time ago) for spending too much time with the patients, the other nurses were feeling insecure about themselves and I should spend more time with them at the desk! I transferred to high risk OB.

[MzMouse]

I was told once that I need to relax more at work and slow down. I was told that I should take more time to be chatty with my coworkers, and not worry so much about my patients because they were not critical. :uhoh3:

I was told in a review that I should make sure to take time every day to chat with my coworkers. Apparently walking in the door and immediately starting to work is frowned upon. This from the the manager who at least once a month complains when there is too much noise at the nurse's station.

[bonquilt]

For hanging up on a nursing supervisor. I hadn't been working at this hospital very long, and was doing an emergency surgical case on a weekend evening. We were nearing the end, and I called the Sup. to see who was doing the recovery (PACU). She said there wasn't anybody, that I had to do it. I told her no, I wasn't oriented to that unit plus I had no experience other than OR. She snottily replied "All OR nurses do recovery". I calmly explained to her that they do not, and that I do not, and that it wasn't safe for me to do something I had no experience. Again she said I had to do the recovery. Then I explained to her that I wasn't ACLS-certified and therefore couldn't legally do PACU. Her response? "We can waive that; we waive that all the time". Told her again that I wasn't doing recovery, she started to insist again, and I hung up on her. Amazingly enough, she found someone to do it. Next morning, my director asked me about it (Sup had written me up). I told her what happened, and she did agree with me on refusing, but asked why I hung up. I tod her it was 'either hang up or call her a stupid b***h.' She muffled a snicker, then said I did have to write an apology. Afterwards, I told the director that if this hospital waives the ACLS requirement after-hours I couldn't and wouldn't recommend the place to anybody. Found out we don't waive it, thankfully! Got thanked by my co-workers, tho; they didn't like doing PACU during their on-call hours, and since I didn't have to do it neither did they anymore!!

Sometimes I think we have some of the dumbest nursing supervisors. One calls us in the middle of the night, announces who she is and the name of the hospital, then says "we have a surgery" and then SILENCE! Okay, it's 3am, you're calling me, you damn well BETTER have a surgery. I don't ask what it is; I wait for her to tell me. Sometimes it's quite amusing, too. Like the time she said Dr. E had a stab wound he wanted to take to surgery. Having had experience in a trauma hospital, I asked where the stab wound was. The reply? "In the ER". She's the same one who called us in for a 'hip hemi-arthroscopy' (are we scoping only half the hip?). But I guess it's good she's a supervisor instead of actually giving pt care!

Bonnie in Snohomish, WA

[wiegel34]

I got called to the Head nurse's office because of a complaint from a female doctor. She told the head nurse that she thought that was against breast feeding. Now the doctors are mind readers!!! My head nurse did not even defend me. I a pro breast feeing nurse, I had 5 children an breast

fed everyone of them. I told her that, but she said that I needed to convince the doctor of that. I didn't as, I thought it sounded childish to go to a doctor and try to convince her that I was pro breastfeeding. She should have been able to read my mind!!! It is really going too far when you get in trouble for what they thing you are thinking!

[LPN2GO]

I am a travel nurse, so I am required to do all things quicker, more efficient, pick up all slack, do my job, monitor all others jobs, and finish in the required time frame. after a particularly hectic morning , I noticed the ADON was on the floor. As this was a Saturday I was curious. She asked to see me in her office. When I arrived she pulled out 2 write ups. The first was because I had not administered a tb skin test ( on my day off) and the second was for not administering aloe vesta to a patient reported by a CNA ( patient had no order) word to the wise.....always check the facts before signing anything, if I hadn't done this I could have lost my contract immediately and been sent home owing monies to the agency that I was working under. don't take it for granted because someone has taken the time to write it down......they probably weren't doing their job because they were too busy looking for others to blame.

[grace90, LPN, LVN]

Soon after I started floating, I spent a shift in OB, needed to call for new orders on one gyne patient and one postpartum section patient. I asked the regular nurses who to call and how and yada yada, and they assured me I was calling the correct docs. Then I get written up for calling the wrong doc. I refused to go to that unit for months after that.

A couple years ago I had a s/p lumbar lami pt with an extensive cardiac hx, including a silent MI. He out of the blue developed severe shoulder pain, anxiety and hypoxia. Guess what, it was another silent MI. While I was copying down the internal med doc's telephone orders, I also added in 'Oxygen 2 liters per nasal cannula' because myself and the respiratory therapists in the room with me agreed that he needed it. The doctor wrote a note by the actual order stating "order not written by me" and the supervisor ripped me a new one because I couldn't choose to put oxygen on someone unless I was ACLS and at that time I wasn't. HUH?????

Does MONA not stand for Morphine, Oxygen, Nitroglycerine and Aspirin?

As a CNA I had one I thought was ridiculous. I worked mostly per diem for a local nursing home 11 years ago. One morning they called me around 5:30 am to come in at 7 and work a 1st shift. What I didn't know was that there was over a foot of snow in my driveway from a nasty snowstorm that had blown in. I guess I must have been sleeping like a rock and never heard the wind. My husband got to work okay with his truck, but my little Buick had other ideas. I got stuck in my driveway. And I mean STUCK. I couldn't even see the tires. And forget trying to dig myself out. The wind was blowing over 50 mph (if I remember right) and temperature and windchill were below 0 degrees F. I called them saying that there was no way I could get there, and family members living nearby had the same problem. I got written up for that. What did they expect me to do?

The hospital where I work is really getting strict about reassessing pain within an hour of any pain intervention and charting it within that hour. The last couple times I missed, I got written up. One more and I get suspended. What bugs me is that other nurses miss too, and haven't gotten the same treatment. I know that because I've asked fellow nurses about it. So what makes me so @#$%&@ special?

[EDNewbie]

My supervisor once threatened to write me up because I said, "Frick," (as in "What the frick") according to a coworker. He asked did you say that and I said yes, so what.. he said I won't write you up, consider this a warning. I nearly laughed in his face- write me up for not using profanity?! What an idiot he was.

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

I was "given the talk" because I stayed with a dying patient, instead of getting ice and water for another patient in the same room. I was really given %@&& because I asked why the charge nurse could not help in that situation.

Another time I was written up because a visitor knocked me down while I was rushing to the lab with a stat specimen, seems no one else had the time for that either. This a huge lady who just ran right over me, did not even attempt to assist me back onto my feet. No apology, nothing.

Another time was because a doctor could not find the supplies he had ordered left at the bedside. They were there, in the bottom of the stand, he just was too important to look for them.

It is so nice to feel appreciated. LOL!

[EmmaG, RN]

Another time I was written up because a visitor knocked me down while I was rushing to the lab with a stat specimen, seems no one else had the time for that either. This a huge lady who just ran right over me, did not even attempt to assist me back onto my feet. No apology, nothing.

You were written up for being a human speed bump?

[luvschoolnursing, LPN]

Being pregnant. I wasn't written up but reprimanded because myself and another nurse were making a bed and she joked that if I got much bigger, I wouldn't be able to reach the bed. I was told we were insensitive to the patient because she had had a hysterectomy when she was young and hadn't been able to have children. This was not why she was in the hospital at the time