When you became a nurse...

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

When you were a new nurse, how did you make the techs listen to you, especially if you worked there as a tech before you graduated?

[liveyourlife747]

Techs should listen to you, that is part of their job. If they aren't then I would go to management. You need a team to be able to manage a hospital floor, if there is a break in the team your day/night will be a disaster. Just let them know you respect them. Thank them for what they do. Acknowledge that you appreciate them for the job they do, and don't be afraid to jump in and help them.

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

This can be a big issue for new nurses and even non new nurses that are just new on the unit. After months of insubordination and terrible incidents I would just tell the tech, cna, aide that I would report such issues to the manager. The end. Examples: refusing to help while sitting at the desk online or on a cell phone ( we have a few like this and unless you are assertive or aggressive they won't help and will acutally refuse and laugh about it at the desk, going on 6-7 breaks and not getting vitals while you are drowning in your own work and not able to do their job too( aides have specific tasks they are too do on my unit). I think because I let it go for so long when I finally told the 1 offender I would just go to the manager this person was pretty shocked and shaped up quick. For things like aides that go beyond their scope or disregard doctors orders, I do some teaching( some of them really don't know any better or think they are helping ).