Would you ever ask another nurse to give your pt a suppository?

Nurses Relations

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  1. Would you ever ask another nurse to insert a suppository into your pt?

    • 51
      No. I would feel guilty and would delegate another nursing responsibility to them instead.
    • 7
      Yes, I dont want to do it either!
    • 4
      Yes, but I would feel guilty/bad about it.
    • 112
      Yes, to help teammate since turning patient on side for skin assessment.

174 members have participated

I am a skin and wound resource nurse for my unit and I have to do PU prevalence for my unit every wednesday. I have to turn 30 pts and assess their skin for PUs and clean BMs with the nurse if we find them, I even change dsgs for them of it is a PU underneath. I was taken aback when I was asked by 2 nurses yesterday "while im on that side can you place this suppository?" These are the only 2 favors I was asked to do all day also. I felt put on the spot and taken advanage of - I have never thought of asking another nurse to do this for me, I tend to think that people would prefer to do this as minimally as possible and you are expected to do the dirty work for you own pts. What do you think? Was I being a poor sport about it or were they taking advantage of me?

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

If I was working with someone I knew was prissy, I'd just say, "Wait! Hold 'em over so I can slide this little thing in before you're through!"

But, basically, if you're already in range and position.....luck of the draw, I say!

Specializes in Med-Surg.

A little off topic, but I don't get why nurses ever think giving a suppository is dirty work. It takes all of a minute to turn a patient, lube up, and insert. It's one of the easiest medications to give! I would rather do that then wait twenty minutes while someone takes their 15 pills one at a time.

Anyway. I think the rationale behind these nurses asking you to give a suppository while doing a skin check makes a lot of of sense. I know some of my patients (especially the kind who come with pressure ulcers) experience a lot of pain when turning. It makes sense to turn them as required, but not excessively to prevent pain. If you were doing a skin check on this type of patient I wouldn't have a problem asking you to do a suppository.

I am sorry you feel like you were getting taken advantage of. I think patients get the best care when we work together as a team, even if we don't have to.

Specializes in critical care.

I find this to being akin to rushing like a mad woman to the room when I see our techs going in for a bed bath. I'm sure the tech is secretly groaning a little because me doing my assessment from the back is going to slow them down a little, but for many of these patients, getting turned is genuinely painful. Plus I get to help the tech with the bath, which gets the shift off to a good start with them since they see I really mean it when I say I want to help when I am able.

It surprises me that you feel put out by this because you are a nurse, and because being in wound care, you should be seeing with your own eyes the difficulty some patients have with basic movements. I'm surprised that you don't recognize and embrace the benefits of clustering care, like administering a suppository while a patient is already in a convenient position to do so.

Specializes in Critical Care.

I wouldn't have any problem with it and don't find this to be all that unusual. Assuming both nurses are right handed, it's far easier for the nurse on the patient's right to place the suppository, otherwise you're doing it 'backhanded' or left handed. Plus, it takes all of 2-3 seconds.

It wouldn't have even crossed my mind that I was being taken advantage of. That nurse WAS, though, taking advantage of a situation which would allow her to cluster care and save time, both are which good nursing habits.

Of course nobody looks forward to giving suppositories, but it also wouldn't have occurred to me that another nurse would have been seriously put out by being asked to do so. I'm more leery of asking for favors that require lots of time, and this probably didn't take a full 30 seconds.

OP, I'm curious, what would you have done if you were that nurse?

As resource nurse, do you have a patient assignment on the day you do skin checks? I could see you having a problem if you do have a patient assignment you need to manage in between checking all the patients, or maybe there is a slippery slope in nurses expecting you to do more and more of their care?

If this isn't a problem, I would have given the suppository.

Specializes in Gerontology RN-BC and FNP MSN student.

No problem doing it here, it seems it would kill two birds with one stone, while assessing the patient and administering the suppositories, it saves the patient from having to get in the same position twice.

And it's really about the patient's comfort rather than our own...isn't it?

Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

i would rather give suppositories than apply TED hose. I hate TED hose!!!!!

Specializes in SICU.

I think you may be over reacting. It's not like she asked you to give an enema, insert a rectal tube or manually dis impact the patient. Suppositories go in in ~1 second .

Specializes in Gerontology RN-BC and FNP MSN student.
i would rather give suppositories than apply TED hose. I hate TED hose!!!!!

Absolutely! You nailed it here! Haha

Specializes in ER.
i would rather give suppositories than apply TED hose. I hate TED hose!!!!!

I hate orthostatics-with a passion. I'll take a simple suppository any day of the week.

I would have said, "When you turn the patient, please call me so I can insert the suppository!"- hoping of course, you would say, "Don't worry, I got it."

(And I know PU is "Pressure ulcer", but when you wrote PU and then BM and suppositories my inner Beavis and Butthead came out.)

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