Yelled at by NA for shaving pt.

[Nellie Nurse]

Yesterday at work I was shaving a patient's face when the NA that I was working with asked me to step out of the room. She says to me " I specifically told the family that he could not be shaved with anything but an electric razor because he is on Lovenox." Now I know that I am new to this unit and I am still in orientation but I felt confident 1. That I would not cut the patient's face, 2. That if I did cut the patient's face that he would not bleed to death. Does your facility have a policy against shaving a patient while on anticoagulant. Any input would be appreciated. I tried to look for a policy for my institution but I couldn't find one. I can see telling the family to use an electric razor for home use but I don't feel as if I was endangering the patient by giving basic care. This is just frustrating. This NA is very good with patients but she is also very opinionated and tries to tell everybody what to do. I don't want to do anything that would make our working relationship bad because I am the newbie and I plan on staying on this unit for a very long time. Anyway I don't know why I've been thinking about this incident for the past two days. I guess its because I feel like this encounter could happen again in the future. And if it does... what should my response be? Note: I am not a very assertive person and people with strong personalities tend to intimidate me. Thanks again for any insight.

[DusktilDawn]

This morning prior to the end of the shift, I walked into a patient's room to hang her IV antibiotic, while I was handing the antibiotic the NA who was also assigned to this patient and had just finished her VS began to reinforce health teaching concerning DB/C and spriometry use. After hanging the med, I gave him the biggest grin. What he told the patient was correct and appropriate at that time. This NA is one of the few that will encourage and reinforce health teaching concerning DB/C & spirometry use. This NA is awesome to work with, I feel like I have another set of eyes watching OUR patients and that I have another pair of hands to help care for OUR patients. I wish I worked WITH more NAs like him.

Concerning the NA in Nellie's OP, she was correct in what she was teaching, but was disrespectful in the manner she chose to "discuss" the situation with her.

sbic56 is correct about being open to learning from others regardless of rank. Believing that as an RN you could never learn anything new from an NA would be closing yourself from great resource of knowledge concerning patient care.

[broke1]

This morning prior to the end of the shift, I walked into a patient's room to hang her IV antibiotic, while I was handing the antibiotic the NA who was also assigned to this patient and had just finished her VS began to reinforce health teaching concerning DB/C and spriometry use. After hanging the med, I gave him the biggest grin. What he told the patient was correct and appropriate at that time. This NA is one of the few that will encourage and reinforce health teaching concerning DB/C & spirometry use. This NA is awesome to work with, I feel like I have another set of eyes watching OUR patients and that I have another pair of hands to help care for OUR patients. I wish I worked WITH more NAs like him.

Concerning the NA in Nellie's OP, she was correct in what she was teaching, but was disrespectful in the manner she chose to "discuss" the situation with her.

sbic56 is correct about being open to learning from others regardless of rank. Believing that as an RN you could never learn anything new from an NA would be closing yourself from great resource of knowledge concerning patient care.

Very well said.

[pie123]

There's also the issue of being yelled at by this person. That is not appropriate. She should not be yelling at you, and should not be telling everyone what to do unless she's been designated supervisor.

You have a chain of command to use for this type of behavior I'm sure. I would first try to deal with it one on one. Explain to her that whenever she has a problem to with you, not to yell, but to take you aside and speak to you profressionally. Also, let her know you have a supervisor and it isn't her.

Good luck.

I agree!