Who Should Clean Up, Offgoing Shift or Oncoming Shift?

[Kooky Korky]

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?

[NancyPie]

My stance has always been a joint effort. We're all busy.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

I didn't know anyone had asked why I brought it up. Must have missed that.

I sometimes think of things from the past, maybe because I am retiring soon and must be reviewing my life. Also, I see on AN a lot of fighting over the same stuff we were dealing with back when I was a newer nurse.

Sometimes, like this case, I wonder what modern day nurses think, how they handle such things. One thing that stands out about this case is that younger nurses have no understanding of docs creating a mess but not cleaning it up. It's just the way it was. And I don't recall us having techs in ICU at that time. We had a secretary on Days Mon-Fri and that was all.

My goal was just to see if anyone knew of the right way to handle it. Nothing sinister or weird.

There is no ONE right way to handle it. Being rude and demanding to the day shift nurse does not make it her/his responsibility to clean up the mess. In fact, that would make it less likely that anyone I know of would have pitched in to help clean it.

The mess happened after the day shift nurse did rounds and went into report. At 15:28, she/he had handed over the patient's and started charting. (Perhaps the mistake was in not finding a hidey hole in which to chart. That was more possible back in the day when we used paper charts.). Stuff that happens after you give report isn't really your job.

Even back in the day, doctors cleaned up their own danged messes. Maybe not in community hospitals, but in the teaching hospital where I started my career, all you had to do was point out the mess and remind them that it was their responsibility. It was rare that an actual attending made the mess and didn't have an entourage to clean it up.

The best answer is that the evening nurse cleans it up herself without mentioning it to the day nurse. Or that the NAs hat already taken care of it.

I can't figure out why this thread about something that happened decades ago is relevant now, nor why it is still going.

[Feelgood RN]

Ester: SUSAN CLEAN UP YOUR MESS!!

Susan: Billy made it he should clean it up

Ester: MOM SUSAN WON'T CLEAN UP THE MESS IN OUR ROOM

Susan: Billy made the mess he should clean it up

Mom: Billy is my precious angel and he doesn't clean up anything so figure it out

between yourselves.

Ester: BUT ITS MY TURN TO PLAY IN THE ROOM AND IT WAS A MESS FROM HER TURN

Susan: But I didn't do it.

Mom: BOTH OF YOU STOP WHINING AND CLEAN UP THE ROOM!

I don't know if any of you remember this conversation from childhood but that seems like the easiest answer.

[Harveyslake]

Here's the end of the discussion: if an Admission arrives at 15:15 during report, which nurse is responsible for taking care of the patient? Certainly NOT the off going nurse!

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

There is no ONE right way to handle it. Being rude and demanding to the day shift nurse does not make it her/his responsibility to clean up the mess. In fact, that would make it less likely that anyone I know of would have pitched in to help clean it.

The mess happened after the day shift nurse did rounds and went into report. At 15:28, she/he had handed over the patient's and started charting. (Perhaps the mistake was in not finding a hidey hole in which to chart. That was more possible back in the day when we used paper charts.). Stuff that happens after you give report isn't really your job.

Even back in the day, doctors cleaned up their own danged messes. Maybe not in community hospitals, but in the teaching hospital where I started my career, all you had to do was point out the mess and remind them that it was their responsibility. It was rare that an actual attending made the mess and didn't have an entourage to clean it up.

The best answer is that the evening nurse cleans it up herself without mentioning it to the day nurse. Or that the NAs hat already taken care of it.

I can't figure out why this thread about something that happened decades ago is relevant now, nor why it is still going.

It's still going because people are still commenting. And the topic has evoked different viewpoints from commenters showing, as you said, there is no ONE right way to handle the probem of who cleans up.

It's relevant because I still think of it from time to time and wonder how it could have been handled better. It's as relevant as anything else, depending on one's viewpoint.

I guarantee you doctors where I worked did not clean up after themselves, Ruby. There were surgeons who would take off their used OR gowns, gloves, masks, booties, and caps and drop them on the floor - right next to the trash can in the OR or locker room. It was really aggravating. Once I asked a surgeon would he please use the trash can and he looked at me like I had lost my senses. He did make an attempt to use the trash can, but didn't always succeed. I didn't know if it was intentional or ???

Since AIDS coming upon the scene, things in this arena have indeed changed and no one is allowed to get by with leaving sharps and other contaminated stuff around for someone else to get stuck with a potentially life-threatening item, but not back when this happened.

Also, when people respond to my posts, I don't like to desert them by not answering. I think it's rather rude when OP just disappears.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

The docs should clean up their own dang mess.

Agreed but they think they are God, and gone to boot. However, I have worked with an otherwise dear male nurse that would open his diabetic needles and other supplies in the supply room and leave his packaging on the shelves, I was always cleaning up after him, he was gone. I'm sure I wasn't the only one. My husband is the same way. Open any food package and leave it on the counter or table instead of throwing it in the trash that is RIGHT THERE. No amount of mentioning it will change them. I think it is passive aggression.

Passive aggressiveness is certainly possible. Or ???

Just collect the stuff from now on, put it on top of his med cart, or bag it and give it to him, or put it on his chair.

[Vacationtime247]

If you're to lazy to clean up after yourself, don't get mad when I do it for you. Case in point. Every day I'd come into work, the break room was a mess from the last shift. Food, drinks, perfume, nail polish, phone cords, you name it, it was thrown everywhere. Tell them to clean it up. They never did and would leave what they didn't take in a stinking cluttered disaster. So finally I'd had enough. "I'm going to clean as soon as I get here, so it'd better be clean or else it's all getting thrown away" No one listened, it was the same. So, EVERYTHING got tossed in the trash. No name, no date, TRASH! Oh they HATED me for that! But on a positive note things did improve.

My favorite piece of clutter is the cell phone. Everyone knows they are NOT supposed to have their cell phone out during working hours. Find one, put a note on it saying "found at nurses station", then slide it under the Nursing Supervisors door.

VT247

[Kssrn404]

AMEN!!!!! Do it together. While I(being new to ICU) am not as fast as the other nurses on the unit , always strive to leave the room restocked, clean and clean patient, there are times where a mess can happen at shift change. Such an example is diarrhea from a tube feeding at shift change as we walk into the room for bedside report. I'll stay longer and we can clean and bathe the patient together and change the linens. No need for squabbling back and forth. We are a team and should act like one.

[Linka]

Nursing is 24/7 and in my opinion she overreacted. Who cares about a messy room??? I care if the patient is stable and the nurse can tell me what is going on with the patient, that's all.

And the answer to your original question in my opinion is "whoever has the time to do it".

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

If you're to lazy to clean up after yourself, don't get mad when I do it for you. Case in point. Every day I'd come into work, the break room was a mess from the last shift. Food, drinks, perfume, nail polish, phone cords, you name it, it was thrown everywhere. Tell them to clean it up. They never did and would leave what they didn't take in a stinking cluttered disaster. So finally I'd had enough. "I'm going to clean as soon as I get here, so it'd better be clean or else it's all getting thrown away" No one listened, it was the same. So, EVERYTHING got tossed in the trash. No name, no date, TRASH! Oh they HATED me for that! But on a positive note things did improve.

My favorite piece of clutter is the cell phone. Everyone knows they are NOT supposed to have their cell phone out during working hours. Find one, put a note on it saying "found at nurses station", then slide it under the Nursing Supervisors door.

VT247

You sound like a hurricane!

I think you might be in trouble for the cell phone dealings. Has your boss reacted yet? Or the owner of the phone?

I do understand where you're coming from, but your actions seem extreme.

Or laudable if we want the rules followed.

Might be best not to be The Law, though. Maybe take a picture and send it to the boss and ask for her or his ruling?

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

You sound like a hurricane!

I think you might be in trouble for the cell phone dealings. Has your boss reacted yet? Or the owner of the phone?

I do understand where you're coming from, but your actions seem extreme.

Or laudable if we want the rules followed.

Might be best not to be The Law, though. Maybe take a picture and send it to the boss and ask for her or his ruling?

Many facilities which have had a stringent "no cell phone" law in the past are loosening up on that mandate. I'd say it's best not to be The Law, and taking a picture and sending it to the boss for a ruling is still being a tattle tale. Unless the phones are interfering with patient safety or becoming a HIPAA issue, leave it be.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Many facilities which have had a stringent "no cell phone" law in the past are loosening up on that mandate. I'd say it's best not to be The Law, and taking a picture and sending it to the boss for a ruling is still being a tattle tale. Unless the phones are interfering with patient safety or becoming a HIPAA issue, leave it be.

The way I read that post is that the phone itself has the note put on it and slid under the door. After all, how would OP be taking pictures without a phone? I can't imagine standard cameras would be allowed either, and then there's the hassle of finding a computer to connect to and print the photo. And then OP could find herself in some serious hot water for theft of property.