We all have our pet peeves, something that we are SURE is rude whether it bothers others or not. So I'm wondering -- what bothers you?
Things that bother me:
In a nurse's station with four or five unused computers, why does anyone have to sit down at the one I'm using, clearly marked with my scut sheet, my pen, my drink and my charting all pulled up and not finished? They take my spot, log me off (so I have to start over with any charting I didn't sign before the arrhythmia alarm jolted me out of my seat) and log in over me. Then when I return, they tell me "I didn't see your name on it." Why not just use the computer with the screensaver up and no ones stuff there?
People who put their feet up on the chairs in the nurse's station. Not only does it look totally unprofessional to anyone who visits the station, including families, but the C. Diff that that they' we picked up on their shoes is now transferred to the impossible-to-clean fabric chairs in the nurse's station.
Saying "no prob" in response to a thank you.
Taking the nurse's chair. Our rooms has a sofa and two chairs for visitors, a recliner for the patient and a chair at the computer station for the nurse to use when charting. So why do the visitors always have to take the nurse's chair? Clearly, the nurse can't chart from the sofa.
After you've taken the nurse's chair, why give me attitude when I ask you NOT to sit in front of my computer, but to sit in one of the five spots provided for visitors?
Visitors using the patient bathroom.
Staff who let patients use the staff bathroom. I've never been able to figure that one out.
Specializes in Pediatrics, Pediatric Float, PICU, NICU.
Another pet peeve is in regards to report. At my hospital we are supposed to follow a uniformed, head-to-toe, SBAR approach to report. It irritates me to no end when I am starting report and the oncoming nurse interupts my report to ask questions about a system I haven't even got to yet.
Also, I get irritated with people who take too long giving report by telling a whole bunch of stuff that isn't relevant - for instance, just tell me the kid is tolerating a regular diet, I don't need to know what condiments they used on their 3-course meal. However I try really hard not to let this one bother me because I would rather you tell me too much than too little.
Driviers that tailgate me in the middle lane when I'm already 5 over the speed limit
When I learned to drive, I was taught that a good rule of thumb for safe following distance is one car length for every 10 MPH. So if you're going 40 MPH, you should allow 4 car lengths between you and the car in front of you so that you have time to stop or maneuver in an emergency.
I will sometimes reduce my speed according to the car lengths the driver behind me is using. To allow them safe stopping time, you know.
Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Driviers that tailgate me in the middle lane when I'm already 5 over the speed limit
Around here, 5 over the limit will get you tailgated in the slow lane. Driving slower than traffic flow in the non-slow lane is rude. If you aren't passing anyone, you belong in the right lane.
Around here, 5 over the limit will get you tailgated in the slow lane. Driving slower than traffic flow in the non-slow lane is rude. If you aren't passing anyone, you belong in the right lane.
If it's two lanes, sure. If I'm in the far left lane I'll always pop next lane to let a person pass if they are driving faster than I. But if you're on a 3-lane road there's no reason a person can't pass in the left lane if they want to zoom past your already-speeding self. CD didn't specify highway, so it could've been city streets, but even on the highway, unless I feel like being super poky I don't use the far right lane because of congestion with merging/exiting traffic and jackwagons who don't yield to drivers that are already on the highway.
So another non-nursing rude behavior: playing chicken on the highway when you're merging and YOU have the legal obligation to yield. My city's ramps are plenty long enough to titrate your speed to match traffic and find an opening to slide into.
Another pet peeve is in regards to report. At my hospital we are supposed to follow a uniformed, head-to-toe, SBAR approach to report. It irritates me to no end when I am starting report and the oncoming nurse interupts my report to ask questions about a system I haven't even got to yet.
Also, I get irritated with people who take too long giving report by telling a whole bunch of stuff that isn't relevant - for instance, just tell me the kid is tolerating a regular diet, I don't need to know what condiments they used on their 3-course meal. However I try really hard not to let this one bother me because I would rather you tell me too much than too little.
Seems like there is always one nurse who does this. Drives me crazy as well. We had one traveler who would always interrupt and ask questions about a system I hadn't gotten to yet as well. When I took her aside privately to kindly explain how to do report, she ended up in tears and said I was being mean to her.
Yep, me . . . a fairly new nurse at the time . . . practicing NETY.
When I learned to drive, I was taught that a good rule of thumb for safe following distance is one car length for every 10 MPH. So if you're going 40 MPH, you should allow 4 car lengths between you and the car in front of you so that you have time to stop or maneuver in an emergency.
I will sometimes reduce my speed according to the car lengths the driver behind me is using. To allow them safe stopping time, you know.
I was told at a "driving school" I attended that the car length behind for ever 10mph is no longer expected in big city, large volume traffic situations because people just keep getting in front of you...However, it is never safe to tailgate. It is very dangerous and rude.
Specializes in Peds Urology,primary care, hem/onc.
Oh I love this thread!!! Ruby starts another great one!!!
Work related:
-Cell phones! I work in an outpatient clinic. Signs up about no cell phone use during visit. Cannot TELL you how many times I walk into an exam room and they do not get off the phone! Or worse, the hold one finger up to get me to wait.
- Kids with cell phones. I work in pediatrics so the kid is my patient. When the parent will not make them get off their phone so we can start the visit/I can examine them (Don't make me be the bad guy and tell them to turn the phone off)
-Parents that let their kids tear up the exam rooms (shred the exam room paper, ruin multiple gloves, don't throw trash in the trash can etc.
- One of my biggest pet peeves is in our hospital cafeteria. The amount of rudeness I see in my fellow employees drives me bananas (and add at that point I am hangry too). They cut in front of our families/patients in line, they have conversations while in the salad bar line or dink line(with 10 people behind them waiting). They wander aimlessly around and blocking people trying to get through.
- People who do not restock when they use the last of something. Happens in our clinic all the time. When you take the last fax coversheet, handout, consent form etc (things we use a ton every day).... PLEASE go to the front of the clinic and make copies. Always happens when you are in a zoo of a crazy day and you need something and they are all gone, including the hard copy.
-Not identifying yourself to people. If you are walking through our clinic, INTRODUCE yourself!!!
-Phone etiquette- LISTEN when I identify myself on the phone (Urology clinic, this is RNsrgr8t!)- reply "Susan???". Uh NO!!! I just told you who I am. Why don't you indentify YOURself and I MIGHT help you find who you are looking for!
- Phone ringing of the hook in clinic, resident is sitting right next to the phone and all of the nurses are on the other line. ANSWER the dam* phone please!
-Not using please/thank you- I am from the South so we also say Yes sir/no sir, Yes Ma'am/no Ma'am.
- The hospital where I work, does not have separate transport/pt elevators, so staff and patients/families all have to share. I get so angry when you are on the elevator and the doors open on a floor, there sits a patient in a stretcher with 3 monitors, 2 nurses, the family etc and I am the ONLY one who gets off the elevator to let them on. Seriously??? This is a hospital people, if they are moving a critical patient, get OFF the elevator and get out of the way (this is for the hospital employees, not visitors).
- Families having no phone etiquette when you call them. Example
"Hello this is RNSrgr8t from the Urology office returning your call"
Patient end- ***crickets*** (but you can hear breathing so you know they are still there)
"Hello?"
***crickets*** long drawn out pause then "Yeah?"
"Yes, this is rnsrgr8t returning your call?"
"Yeah?"
Long pause as I wait with bated breath for them to tell me how I can help them.......
"How can I help you?"
FINALLY- like after 3 LONG minutes they FINALLY tell me what they want. Sheesh...
- another phone etiquette- Families that leave a message asking for a call and when you call them right back...their phone is busy.....forever. Try multiple times to call (b/c the message they left sounded urgent) and after 5-6 attempts, they FINALLY answer. I will make a comment that I had been trying to reach them and their line was busy. "Well YEAH, I was on the phone!!". Why don't you wait to leave us a message to call back when you are able to be ready by the phone to answer?
-I have one coworker who sighs, heavily whenever she feels "stressed". She is a very special snowflake so her coworkers are doing twice her work load but she still feels overwhelmed and all I hear all day is an exaggerated sigh, over and over again. Sorry babe, not going to do your work too no matter how much I can hear you breath!!!
-treating the MA's, check in people, housekeepers, transport techs like second class people. Smile, look them in the eye, THANK them, they work hard too!
Outside of work
-hate how people cannot drive nowadays. Tailgating, not using directional signals, going too slow in passing lane. I REALLY try not to get road rage!
-People who are noisy gum chewers.
-People who do not know what an indoor voice is
-I have a LOT of respect for people who work in the service industry (waiters, cashiers etc) b/c people are CRAZY. But that being said, do not have an attitude, especially when I am being nice and polite to you, do not talk to your coworkers when you are checking me out, do not huff, sign or be rude.
Will have to think about the "no problem" thing. Have to admit I DO say that as a response (b/c I seriously mean that whatever I did was really NOT a problem to do) and I am 40!
Rude: Having me hold your phone for an hour+ (yes, I timed it) when your break is supposed to be 30 minutes. I don't mind holding a phone for up to 40-45 minutes but an hour+ and then me having to hunt you down to give you your phone is rude. Personally, I don't hand over my phone until I know my food is ready to be eaten when I sit down for my 30 minutes.
Rude: Pt's girlfriend ( who kept saying to me she was the wife) asking me not to give this hurting alert and oriented young 30-something year old boyfriend any pain medications. She not only did that but she had multiple detailed questions about everything while making notes of what was being said. I tried the best I could to be the patient nurse but I finally told her that the person that gets to decide about pain meds is the one laying down in the bed as a pt, not her. Next shift I had the pt, I was fired from his care. I was relieved when I was fired as it was beyond draining being in that room.
Rude: Please stop trying to draw me into a conversation when I'm in the break room trying to eat my food. I hate that people try to engage you with a mouthful of food and then expect you to reply them. Lunch time is not only eating time, it's also my alone time to gather my thoughts together not a time to talk about things I care not about.
Specializes in Home Health, Mental/Behavioral Health.
If it is their first language and their conversation does not include you, then it is not rude, IMHO.
I agree. Especially if it is in the break room. They are tryna unwind. I wouldn't want people mad at me at work in say.. Japan ... for speaking English to a friend or co-worker. As long as they are providing unbiased professional care and communicating with the head properly I don't see the problem.
If it is their first language and their conversation does not include you, then it is not rude, IMHO.
However, it is impolite to whisper or speak secretively in the presence of others as it leaves the impression that the conversation is about the excluded person.
Blaming the contract staff for all the problems because you know nobody has their bac and you believe they deserve it as they earn more.
As an agency nurse I catch this a lot. I ask them if they would feel better f I left and they could handle the patients on their own. That usually ends the conversation.
Things that bother me:Coworkers who cannot be bothered to perform the basic components of their job.Bosses who DO NOTHING when you inform them via incident reports and emails that your coworkers are not doing their job.Coworkers who feel that it is their business to monitor what you are and aren't doing while you are at work and they are not.Coworkers who confront you in front of your coworkers! IF you got a beef with me, Discuss it with ONLY ME behind a closed door. DO NOT run to the boss with a beef you got with me UNTIL you have discussed it with me first! We are NOT in middle school anymore!Coworkers who cannot clean up after themselves so you gotta spend 20 minutes clenaing up after them so you can then do your job!Coworkers who 'forget' to pass on pertinent information during report. Like a pt with a PICC LINE...or a pt with a wound vac. UMM...ya should've told me that in REPORT!! I shouldn't have been surprised by that during my rounds. (I work in a prison so we don't do bedside handoff)Coworkers who think that us 3rd shifters do nothing all night but watch TV and gossip with the Correction Officers. Then argue with us when we didn't do something that THEY were told BY THE BOSS to do the day before but they're so lazy they prefer to pawn it off to other staff. And the laziness is allowed to continue by management.Snitches and two-faced coworkers. I've learned in my 20 years in this profession that the ONLY person I can trust is ME! SO it's a very rare occasion when I 'vent' to a coworker....somehow my 'vent' ends up in the ears of the bosses :/Patients and families that think they can DEMAND certain treatment otherwise they'll get me FIRED because they're paying my salary!!I'm so glad I work in a prison because I can tell an inmate NO and not have to worry about a Press-Ganey score
I think we've worked together! I once worked at an institution from noon to half past midnight. We had to "break" the day nurses so they got their 30 minute lunch and 2 -15 minute breaks. They never gave breakes to the evening or swing nurses. We would work from noon to 10p before we'd get a break.Yes, management gives in to the day shift because the day shift if there to whinge all day at them. Meanwhile, I work the night shift because: I'm awake anyway; I like the lack of politics; I like the lack of gossip; I get to spend more time with the patients that need care.I hate managers who got promoted to management because they don't like patient care and/or they are lazy and/or they are beloved by management because they will insist nurses follow guidelines that are not in the best interest of the patient (but do swell the bottom line).I don't like managers who don't have high professional expectations of their staff and who don't support their staff when under pressure. I have seen good nurses thrown uder the bus by by managers over and over again. Especially in positions with the state. I hate administrators who don't question low staff morale or high turnover and continue rewarding managers who don't support their people. I once worked at a hospital where an entire three shifts of workers demanded a transfer from a unit after a particular nurse was made the supervisor of that unit. That's almost 30 people who refused to work with a new supervisor because she was so abusive! No one said a thing in upper management and I saw that woman drive good nurses out and harm patient care. I don't like healthcare providers who don't hold themselves to the highest professional standards. Don't divulge confidential patient information. Don't mislead or misinform or outright lie to your patients and their families. Don't tell people you will call them back and then ignore them. If you don't like patient care, change professions. Don't inflict emotional or physical pain on the helpless in your passive aggressive pettiness.Respect isn't earned, it is due. It is due to every other person we meet. When we are in positions that give us power over how comfortable, healthy, and functional our patients are, we have an even greater responsibility to respect our patient's rights to autonomy, self determination, informed consent, and appropriate levels of care. It harms patient confidence and morale when we are disrespectful to them or others, including fellow staff. I hate the profit driven industry that comprises healthcare. Early medical researchers didn't get filthy rich, nor did they expect to, when they discovered penicllin, smallpox vaccines, etc. I hate that we don't have enough nurses, aides, housekeepers, dietary,etc., to have a more patient focused environment in our hospitals and SNFs. Instead of understaffed facilities funneling money to investors why not pay caregivers more and increase staffing levels? I have been a nurse 20+ years, it's been my second career and I have loved it. I am looking at a third career. Any suggestions?
Drives me crazy as well. We had one traveler who would always interrupt and ask questions about a system I hadn't gotten to yet as well. When I took her aside privately to kindly explain how to do report, she ended up in tears and said I was being mean to her.
JadedCPN, BSN, RN
1,476 Posts
Another pet peeve is in regards to report. At my hospital we are supposed to follow a uniformed, head-to-toe, SBAR approach to report. It irritates me to no end when I am starting report and the oncoming nurse interupts my report to ask questions about a system I haven't even got to yet.
Also, I get irritated with people who take too long giving report by telling a whole bunch of stuff that isn't relevant - for instance, just tell me the kid is tolerating a regular diet, I don't need to know what condiments they used on their 3-course meal. However I try really hard not to let this one bother me because I would rather you tell me too much than too little.