Who Should Clean Up, Offgoing Shift or Oncoming Shift?

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

You are the Day RN 7-3:30.

You see Docs come in to Round about 1515. You do not see which patient they see first.

You go in to Report Room a moment later, come out at 1528, sit down to chart (first chance all day to do so). You have had no break that day except a quick potty run, including no lunch. You have about 1/2 hour's worth of charting to do and you will be on overtime, which is highly discouraged.

3-11 RN comes to you at 1540, tells you that Room 3 has a mess in it and you have to clean it up. She is loud and angry and speaks none too calmly.

Docs had done some procedure on Rounds while you were in Report and had left the aftermath (trash, sharps, bloody stuff - this was a long time ago when blood and sharps were left wherever).

On the one hand, you did not know there was a mess because you did know the docs were on the unit, but you did not know what they were doing because you were in Report. Also, you still had to chart and were already on OT.

On the other hand, is it right for the 3-11 nurse to walk into a mess which, she argued, happened before she was on duty? She was on duty, technically, at 1500, came out of Report about 1528.

So who should do the clean-up?

[heron, ASN, RN]

This is the kind of nit-picking issue that leads to unecesary shift wars. On-coming nurse just needs to pick up and move on, not waste time and energy chasing off-going nurse around and nagging her about it. It would be different if off-going nurse made the mess herself or if she was sitting around making small talk at the change of shift, but that wasn't the scenario.

The person responsible for the mess is the one who made it. As a lifelong night nurse, I've picked up after a busy previous shift more times than I can count. Got no time for kid stuff.

[Sour Lemon]

It's hard to imagine two people having such a petty disagreement. Oncoming shift could easily take care of it, but I wouldn't mind clearing it on my way out the door, either.

And if the off-going nurse is just starting to chart after shift change, that makes me wonder if the "mess in room 3" was just the final straw on a whole heap of other messes left behind.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

It's hard to imagine two people having such a petty disagreement. Oncoming shift could easily take care of it, but I wouldn't mind clearing it on my way out the door, either.

And if the off-going nurse is just starting to chart after shift change, that makes me wonder if the "mess in room 3" was just the final straw on a whole heap of other messes left behind.

It wasn't. Offgoing nurse was still new to ICU, thus not the best organized or fast yet. She was compulsive about caring for patients, afraid to leave them even if there had been time. And remember - this nurse didn't know there was a mess until informed by the 3-11 nurse.

3-11 nurse was more experienced, kind of a hyper personality.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Maybe just me, but I always strive to leave things tidy, neat and complete when I go off. And I kinda like having the same courtesy from the other shift. It's a habit I grew up with; leave things as you would like to find them, sorta thing. And I have worked all shifts, and still I feel this way. Don't leave something YOU would not want to find when you arrive. However, I won't start a shift war; it's not the hill I want to die on.

[AceOfHearts<3]

Why not quickly clean it up together? We do bedside reporting or at the very least introduce the pt to the oncoming nurse and do line tracing. It should be at this time when the mess is discovered. Personally I would hope both RNs would help to quickly tidy up the room- both are on the same team. If the mess was made by the off-going RN that would be a totally different story, but it's still not something I would make a big deal out of (unless it was a habit).

[dawniepoo]

Yes! This is the best solution and the most fair. Nursing, after all, is a team sport

Sorry don't know why the quote feature didn't work here, lol

[Cowboyardee]

It's oncoming shift's responsibility. You get paid to do good work for 8 hours, not to make sure everything is perfect regardless of the day's circumstances. By those standards in an ICU, on some days you would never go home.

If oncoming nurse asks nicely, I would often either clean it up myself (if I've got the time) or offer to do it together (if I'm tight on time). Professional courtesy and not wanting to start a shift war, etc. It sounds like the 3-11 RN didn't have the decency to ask politely, so frankly I would probably dig my heels, refuse, and tell her to write me up in if I were the 7-3 RN. But then again, I'm not a new RN or new to the ICU. Not too cool of the oncoming RN if you ask me.

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

How about the two of you go in together, work as a team and clean it up,

mess is gone.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

The docs should clean up their own dang mess.

I generally make sure my own messes are picked up, but no way am I going into OT to clean someone else's. Besides, in the time oncoming RN spent hunting and griping at offgoing RN, oncoming RN probably could have had it cleaned up.

Or reminded the MD their mom doesn't work here.

[Cat365]

I am not responsible for messes someone else made and I am not psychic to know when other people make them. I probably would help clean the mess unless you are a dick about finding it. Then you get a shrug and guess you will have to talk to Dr. Messy.

I work third and and sometimes day shift has a crappy day. I accept that and don't mind if you say one, two, and three are not done. I might say two and three are ok, but could you finish one before you leave? Depends once again on whether you are a dick about it and if you were on Facebook when I walked in.

We are a team and I get that, but I also won't clean up your mess every night.

[Rocknurse, MSN, APRN, NP]

To me it's about pride. I wouldn't dream of handing over a mess unless I was in the middle of a crashing patient situation. I took pride in the fact that when I handed over a patient in the ICU that they were bathed, had fresh sheets, that all lines were labeled and within expiration date, all drips were labeled and had a spare bag hanging if they were due to run out, trash was emptied and CRRT bags changed, mouth care done, fresh gown and new dressings. I would clean the rooms to my liking when I took over the shift because I can't work in a mess, but I would do the same before the next shift came in regardless. I'm a neat freak and I despise mess.

It's sometimes a bit soul destroying because you get to know the nurses who are slobs and handing over the patient to them was disheartening because you know you'd come back tomorrow to a bomb site. Clean as you go, restock as you go, and always make sure the necessary things are done. There's always those occasions when you can't keep up because the patient is very sick, but if you've built a good reputation others will get to understand that that's not your normal. I'd never want the reputation of being the slob. I used to get so mad at one nurse in particular because I'd walk on the unit and invariably she was sitting at the desk on her phone or chatting and obviously had time to clean, but I'd walk in the room and there was mess everywhere, dirty table top, dressings out of date, patient looking disheveled and trash overflowing. No excuse for that.