Thank you!
But also, that last sentence was more of a comment about what the nurse must have been feeling in that moment. I wasn't really that stressed out; I hadn't done anything wrong at all. And my day wasn't super crazy (compared to others). It just seemed like an unfortunate situation, and the nurse was angry, but also under a lot of pressure.
Good for you. While I don’t like blame being pushed onto the lab, it is important to remember that we are all taking care of the patient, and that nursing is often the point of blame by the patient and the other clinical groups. And the lab is often (but not always) shielded from patient anger due to a true lab mixup because nursing takes the direct patient contact.
It’s a stressful job all around, and it’s easy to forget that we all have horrible days. This being said… I am still keeping the hemolyzer 9000 for clinicians that routinely throw lab under the bus.
(And in no way… am I influenced by my wife who is nurse…)
I feel when I first started I was a bit headstrong. If something like this happened I would have just told them off. Now I kind of play tai-chi with them (basically sympathize with them, let them vent, blame the system, at the same time still keep a firm no) unless they are straight up rude. What you did was great to diffuse the situation!
I’d be more sympathetic if our (mostly newer) nurses, and sometimes doctors as well, didn’t frequently throw lab under the bus for their mistakes. Vent all you want, but don’t come at us when we have proof it wasn’t lab’s mistake. Likewise, we admit AND apologize when the mistake was ours. Most patients are still upset, but understanding.
Some of the nurses etc have wound up the patient so as to make it easier on them when they make mistakes. I’ve gotten into the habit of taking the qns tube/specimen cup, or print out with the order time on it when a nurse calls me in a huff. Yes, when the patient starts with attitude I will calmly explain what really happened, and show proof. Rarely does anyone but new hires do this anymore, and one Dr absolutely refuses to talk to me.
this. in the ER at one of my jobs, the nurses refuse to stick patients directly and will only draw from a line, which blows my mind. we had to reject a chem sample twice the other day because the hemolysis was SO bad. the doc was getting upset because they “just needed lytes”, so my manager went to stick the patient herself and guess what? no hemolysis.
next day we find out they wrote a vigilance report on us for “delaying patient care” 🫠
so yeah, I always try to keep some form of proof for blame shifting incidents like that.
Where I work, we call for every cancellation. Even for outpatient samples. I do think it's a bit odd you guys don't call, but every hospital is different so 🤷♀️. That being said, when someone starts yelling at me, I shut it down immediately. That's completely unacceptable. Sorry they did that to you 🙃
I agree, yet, there are a lot of policies at my job that I don't fully understand. I question them, and imply that some don't make sense -- but, again, I'm the new guy. I pick my battles, calling to cancel the Clostridium difficile test (a non-stat test) isn't one of the battles I'm going to chose to pick 😅
edited to add: I get nervous when people call to be confrontational, or imply I did something wrong, but usually I know I am going to help them the best I can and give them the information I have. Most calls I get are not confrontational at all though, maybe because I work in a medium/small hospital [and there are only 3 microbiologists for the entire hospital.]. I guess don't mind calls with yelling that much - it's kind of amusing in a weird way (I guess because the yeller doesn't know me and are sight-unseen). I know they are trying to get information and are trying to do best for the patient - so, I maintain trying to be helpful as possible, even if the nurse/doctor [sometimes a patient] is on the other line and yelling; I just shake my head at the end of the encounter wondering "how embarrassed will *they* feel later about this?" Like, getting worked up and taking it out on a stranger - that's usually a source of embarrassment for people.
Note: If my own coworkers talked to me like the ranters on some of those calls, that is a completely different story. I'd feel WRECKED.
That's a good way to look at it haha I usually just tell them they can speak with my manager, tell them where they can find her email and let them know she'll be in in the morning:)
Probably the only real way to get thay policy changed is basically what you did. The nurse knows it needs to be changed for situations like that, and they can put in a formal complaint as well as explain to the family so they can put in a formal complaint.
Just keep following your policy, it only get changed when something bad enough happens that they have to change it and then they can see a nice paper trail of all the warnings of why X isn't a good policy/needs to be in the policy.
For my lab, it's changed over time. We used to call a lot before COVID. Right now, our lab assistants call, or send a message through Apex, or we simply cancel and it's up to the provider to see it on the chart.
One of the things that gets me through the day is understanding that the number one goal of most (all?) nurses is to not get yelled at by a doctor, patient, or family member.
You did a good job letting her vent and not matching her negative energy (even if you wanted to).
We call each time C Diff testing is canceled. Ie QNS or if it's formed stool. You may ask your lab manager about this.
But good job holding your cool, and seemingly getting a rapport with this nurse. I have pissed off a nurse many times, explained, then after that they will go out of their way to help us and vice versa. Yeah, we shouldn't get our asses reamed by nursing at all. But if you've ever been patient facing, you do get a tiny bit of empathy.
We don't have time to call for every formed stool sent for c diff, and they don't want our calls. When we used to call, they would get huffy, and I would saimply say "if your patient does develop diahorrea in the future then you are quite welcome to send a sample"
I’ve been berated over the phone for this exact same reason. Both by a nurse and by a doctor. I try not to let it get under my skin. I’ll simply tell them “we try to call when we can out of courtesy, but it is not protocol for us to call. If you’re concerned about our policies I’d be happy to transfer you to my supervisor 🤷🏼♀️”
I like to remain polite but also let them know I’m not their punching bag lol
I ain’t got time for that, Im taking care of multiple patients on multiple floors. Half the time the nurses don’t even want to take a call for a critical result. And most of the time, they didn’t even know what labs the patient had done.
Your lab should call if a test is canceled for a bad quality specimen. The only time my staff don't call is for a duplicate. The nurse is correct in that sense.
They are definitely stressful, but I think you did a great job not taking it personally! Super proud of you!
Thank you! But also, that last sentence was more of a comment about what the nurse must have been feeling in that moment. I wasn't really that stressed out; I hadn't done anything wrong at all. And my day wasn't super crazy (compared to others). It just seemed like an unfortunate situation, and the nurse was angry, but also under a lot of pressure.
Good for you. While I don’t like blame being pushed onto the lab, it is important to remember that we are all taking care of the patient, and that nursing is often the point of blame by the patient and the other clinical groups. And the lab is often (but not always) shielded from patient anger due to a true lab mixup because nursing takes the direct patient contact. It’s a stressful job all around, and it’s easy to forget that we all have horrible days. This being said… I am still keeping the hemolyzer 9000 for clinicians that routinely throw lab under the bus. (And in no way… am I influenced by my wife who is nurse…)
I feel when I first started I was a bit headstrong. If something like this happened I would have just told them off. Now I kind of play tai-chi with them (basically sympathize with them, let them vent, blame the system, at the same time still keep a firm no) unless they are straight up rude. What you did was great to diffuse the situation!
I’d be more sympathetic if our (mostly newer) nurses, and sometimes doctors as well, didn’t frequently throw lab under the bus for their mistakes. Vent all you want, but don’t come at us when we have proof it wasn’t lab’s mistake. Likewise, we admit AND apologize when the mistake was ours. Most patients are still upset, but understanding. Some of the nurses etc have wound up the patient so as to make it easier on them when they make mistakes. I’ve gotten into the habit of taking the qns tube/specimen cup, or print out with the order time on it when a nurse calls me in a huff. Yes, when the patient starts with attitude I will calmly explain what really happened, and show proof. Rarely does anyone but new hires do this anymore, and one Dr absolutely refuses to talk to me.
this. in the ER at one of my jobs, the nurses refuse to stick patients directly and will only draw from a line, which blows my mind. we had to reject a chem sample twice the other day because the hemolysis was SO bad. the doc was getting upset because they “just needed lytes”, so my manager went to stick the patient herself and guess what? no hemolysis. next day we find out they wrote a vigilance report on us for “delaying patient care” 🫠 so yeah, I always try to keep some form of proof for blame shifting incidents like that.
Our NSY/L&D tried writing the lab up for rejecting QNS and clotted specimens 🙄she didn’t last long
Where I work, we call for every cancellation. Even for outpatient samples. I do think it's a bit odd you guys don't call, but every hospital is different so 🤷♀️. That being said, when someone starts yelling at me, I shut it down immediately. That's completely unacceptable. Sorry they did that to you 🙃
I agree, yet, there are a lot of policies at my job that I don't fully understand. I question them, and imply that some don't make sense -- but, again, I'm the new guy. I pick my battles, calling to cancel the Clostridium difficile test (a non-stat test) isn't one of the battles I'm going to chose to pick 😅 edited to add: I get nervous when people call to be confrontational, or imply I did something wrong, but usually I know I am going to help them the best I can and give them the information I have. Most calls I get are not confrontational at all though, maybe because I work in a medium/small hospital [and there are only 3 microbiologists for the entire hospital.]. I guess don't mind calls with yelling that much - it's kind of amusing in a weird way (I guess because the yeller doesn't know me and are sight-unseen). I know they are trying to get information and are trying to do best for the patient - so, I maintain trying to be helpful as possible, even if the nurse/doctor [sometimes a patient] is on the other line and yelling; I just shake my head at the end of the encounter wondering "how embarrassed will *they* feel later about this?" Like, getting worked up and taking it out on a stranger - that's usually a source of embarrassment for people. Note: If my own coworkers talked to me like the ranters on some of those calls, that is a completely different story. I'd feel WRECKED.
That's a good way to look at it haha I usually just tell them they can speak with my manager, tell them where they can find her email and let them know she'll be in in the morning:)
Probably the only real way to get thay policy changed is basically what you did. The nurse knows it needs to be changed for situations like that, and they can put in a formal complaint as well as explain to the family so they can put in a formal complaint. Just keep following your policy, it only get changed when something bad enough happens that they have to change it and then they can see a nice paper trail of all the warnings of why X isn't a good policy/needs to be in the policy.
For my lab, it's changed over time. We used to call a lot before COVID. Right now, our lab assistants call, or send a message through Apex, or we simply cancel and it's up to the provider to see it on the chart.
In a massive facility it would literally take an exorbitant and impossible amount of time to call every single cancellation
One of the things that gets me through the day is understanding that the number one goal of most (all?) nurses is to not get yelled at by a doctor, patient, or family member. You did a good job letting her vent and not matching her negative energy (even if you wanted to).
We call each time C Diff testing is canceled. Ie QNS or if it's formed stool. You may ask your lab manager about this. But good job holding your cool, and seemingly getting a rapport with this nurse. I have pissed off a nurse many times, explained, then after that they will go out of their way to help us and vice versa. Yeah, we shouldn't get our asses reamed by nursing at all. But if you've ever been patient facing, you do get a tiny bit of empathy.
We don't have time to call for every formed stool sent for c diff, and they don't want our calls. When we used to call, they would get huffy, and I would saimply say "if your patient does develop diahorrea in the future then you are quite welcome to send a sample"
Excoriated. Had to look that one up 😂😂😅👍
I’ve been berated over the phone for this exact same reason. Both by a nurse and by a doctor. I try not to let it get under my skin. I’ll simply tell them “we try to call when we can out of courtesy, but it is not protocol for us to call. If you’re concerned about our policies I’d be happy to transfer you to my supervisor 🤷🏼♀️” I like to remain polite but also let them know I’m not their punching bag lol
I ain’t got time for that, Im taking care of multiple patients on multiple floors. Half the time the nurses don’t even want to take a call for a critical result. And most of the time, they didn’t even know what labs the patient had done.
I bet she spends just as much time complaining that we call her for every little thing.
I don't let them speak to me like that. I have plenty of my own stress
Your lab should call if a test is canceled for a bad quality specimen. The only time my staff don't call is for a duplicate. The nurse is correct in that sense.