When admin-type RNs forget about the little people.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

A desk job RN walked into my patients room one day to provide specific information to him. I like her very much, but she did something that really annoyed me.

I finished what I was doing and left. After a while, she tracked me down and said, "Hey, the patient is really insistent about wanting to know X."

I was stunned. This piece of information the pt wanted to know is easily accessible from his chart, and the other nurse has access to it too. Instead of opening the chart in the pt's room to look it up and tell him, she tracks me down to tell me that he wants to know.

What. The. Hell.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Very annoying. BUT, at least A) She was a nurse and B) She ran it by you first. And I would have said "ok, so could you look it up and tell the patient?"

It is very annoying, and seemingly like you as the primary nurse are somehow hoarding information from your patient like you are 1:1 for the day. Ah, ya, and you take hour lunches and serve tea at 4pm.....

On the flip side, there's the non licensed, non-certified, randoms who go into a patient's room to deliver a message, bring flowers, whatever--and end up in a lively discussion about how their Auntie's second husband's cousin's girlfriend had the SAME exact thing as the patient and after search-engine research told them xyz, they went to the top guy in the next city over....and they ended up filing for disability....and mountains of other stuff that then takes more time to attempt to re-educate......Sigh.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Been there , done that.

I was also "stunned". That's the problem.. we are agog at the request and do not respond correctly.

Hindsight being 20/20. We needed to tell the clipboard nurse... " get your tookas back in there and answer the question ! "

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

A desk job RN walked into my patients room

A very close friend of mine is a 'desk job RN.'

She bluntly confirmed her intentions for taking the job: "I want to be paid as much as possible to do as least as possible. And by the way, I never want to touch another funky patient for the rest of my career."

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

Devil's advocate here: what if the patient had asked a question that only the physician was allowed to answer? At my facility, patients tend to ask us questions that they know they should be asking the physician, but are afraid to do so. I don't know, but maybe that admin-RN didn't want to 'over-step' any boundaries that would have had the primary nurse receiving the 3rd degree for the remainder of the shift. I know I've had to backtrack many times to firmly 'remind' a patient that an answer or information they seek must come from a discussion from with their doctor. It is absolutely amazing that the patients can remember to ask everyone but their doctor.

In situations like these, I begrudgingly place the darn note for the doctor (a simple act, I know, but the patient can ask for him or herself and just won't!), because after all, they (ANA, Nurse Practice Act, Florence Nightingale, MY BOSS, etc) say that no matter what, I must serve as advocate for my patient (in addition to cook, housekeeper, masseuse, teacher, door mat, waitress, and anything else they can use us for with the same amount of money).

Sorry, my well-thought-out post turned into a trip down memory lane that led to a vent and a pet peeve. Take a breath, BSNbeDONE, take a breath!!!!! Can I get some water over here?!?!?!? Make it a double!!!!!

[NotMyProblem MSN, ASN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN]

A very close friend of mine is a 'desk job RN.'

She bluntly confirmed her intentions for taking the job: "I want to be paid as much as possible to do as least as possible. And by the way, I never want to touch another funky patient for the rest of my career."

Working on that plan as we speak!!! From what I've found so far, your friend has taken the last available job...but I'm still looking for one (community, not hospital).

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

i do patient education sometimes and have found that some nurses resent me telling their patients anything. I try to do what the primary nurse wants so I generally ask first

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

A very close friend of mine is a 'desk job RN.'

She bluntly confirmed her intentions for taking the job: "I want to be paid as much as possible to do as least as possible. And by the way, I never want to touch another funky patient for the rest of my career."

Been there, doing that... however, I would still converse with said funky patient.

[firstinfamily, RN]

I love it when a managerial type nurse comes and opens a door for a patient and then leaves the rest to the primary care nurse!!! I have had this happen a few times and every time it was very frustrating for me. First I would clarify with the patient what they understood from the conversation with said "clip board" nurse and clarify further if needed. Often times they really do not have any further questions or if they did I would do the best I could to clarify them and if I could not then I would re-visit the clip board to come back and make another visit. Document only what you do. If it is something the MD needs to be involved in then clue him in as well. Often I would say "QA nurse would like. . . . . . " and ask the MD what his response would be. I really hated it when another nurse would approach my patient and open a door that I had not expected or even discussed it with me. If the clip board did not approach you first I would bring that up to her/him. As the primary nurse you have the right to know what is being discussed with your patient. You have to remember the clip board has different priorities than yours. Supposedly, we all are to be working as a team for the patient, therefore the lack of communication with you is really not very productive or professional.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

A very close friend of mine is a 'desk job RN.'

She bluntly confirmed her intentions for taking the job: "I want to be paid as much as possible to do as least as possible. And by the way, I never want to touch another funky patient for the rest of my career."

At least she's honest about it. I can respect that.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

On the flip side, there's the non licensed, non-certified, randoms who go into a patient's room to deliver a message, bring flowers, whatever--and end up in a lively discussion about how their Auntie's second husband's cousin's girlfriend had the SAME exact thing as the patient and after search-engine research told them xyz, they went to the top guy in the next city over....and they ended up filing for disability....and mountains of other stuff that then takes more time to attempt to re-educate......Sigh.

This made me LOLOLOL. Thank you!!!

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Been there , done that.

I was also "stunned". That's the problem.. we are agog at the request and do not respond correctly.

Hindsight being 20/20. We needed to tell the clipboard nurse... " get your tookas back in there and answer the question ! "

Oh, how I love a spot-on use of the word "tookas."