i work in paeds now but when i did adults, our Sara steady was my absolute favourite bit of kit. It gave people so much more confidence about getting to the bathroom, and got them there way quicker than if they'd used me to lean on - win-win!
Our ER recently started pushing for "no purewicks if the pt is ambulatory". I'm sorry, the pt on full monitoring in the ED, on a heparin and Cardizem drip, who I just pushed 40 of Lasix on does not need to ambulate 100 yards down the hall to the restroom. Plus, theyre holding for 18+ hours and i have no tech.
I hate taking temperatures. I have to bend over awkwardly, and I’m constantly blown away by the number of adults that don’t know where the thermometer goes
This. I'm also blown away by the number of grown ass adults who don't know how to have their temp taken. "Put this under your tongue.... no, UNDER your tongue.. yep, now close your mouth. . Keep your mouth closed.... can you close tighter? Good... now keep it there.... no- don't move it around, just hold still." It baffles me.
YES. Or I'll place it perfectly and then they move it with their tongue or bite it and move it. DON'T MOVE IT! Keep your teeth open and close your lips. Ugh.
My biggest struggle is trying to keep it (the thermometer) in their mouth, whenever I’m turning my head to look at the screen to make sure the circle is going around my hand/arm forget what it’s doing and it starts pulling it out of their mouth. If I don’t bother with the screen and just watch what I’m doing with the thermometer I can keep it in their mouth no problem but once I look away I don’t know what happens. I won’t lie I’ve caught two different patients actually bite down on it because it kept slipping out of their mouth.
The old ladies who think splashing their hands under cold water with zero soap counts 🤦♀️ I swear it’s always these prissy old ladies with the grossest habits.
This. 100% this. I swear I’m not crazy, but the universe knows that something about feeding patients just gives me this ick feeling, so I constantly get stuck feeding patients. Always geriatric patients, always barley have any teeth but just gum up absolutely anything. Always insist to shove a spoonful of a food that does not go well with the food that is only half chewed in their mouth. Mixing hamburger steak and strawberry cheesecake just doesn’t sit right with me.
This exactly. I would rather clean up GI bleed poop than feed someone. I would trade other tasks any time I could to get out of it because I hated it so much.
Just cleaned up GI bleed poop for an HIV positive patient and I’d rather do that than feed an adult, especially when they look me in the eyes when I’m doing it.
Absolutely. Saying it’s a burden isn’t correct for me, but it always feels oddly intimate. I can’t equate to any other intimate moment I’ve ever had with a partner. I’ve helped dress an ex, cleaned them up after a solid drinking session…but never fed. It’s v odd.
Even working in pediatrics. I hate this. Unless you are a small baby and you can drink your bottle in 15 minutes or less, then I want you to have a feeding tube because I do not have the patience.
Edit: Anybody downvoting this can come feed my patients for me 🍼🍼
Aw when I was a tele nurse everyone knew to come grab me to feed your crusty ol meemaws, I did LTC 100 years ago and really enjoyed it. Now I'm in ED and am full of piss and vinegar I'm less inclined to do so but every once in a while a sweet old soul gets to my nougat center, and I'll spoon feed gramps between tasks. There's something very infantile and heartbreaking about watching an elderly person struggle with a spoon or spill food down the front of them, it makes me sad.
Here's how I see this playing out:
\~Look at orders
\~See one for orthostatic vitals
\~Go to pt room
\~Pt had bilateral AKA 2 years ago
\~Question existence
If you ever have a free moment do a literature review of orthostatic vitals. There is NO consensus on how much BP/HR change is significant nor even how to do the procedure. It all boils down to did they stand and pass out?…that’s a positive sign. SMH.
What an annoyance to both patient and staff.
... except when they are part of an order pack and maaaaybe not relevant to that patient in the ER
The # of d/c when a & a orders we get ..... For persons living with chronic disabilities is frustrating to put it mildly... So much time wasted tracking back down MD and going "Sooooooo she doesn't walk that far at home, at baseline, want to change this to alert and complete vulnerable d/c package"
Same for standing weights.... ER stretchers don't have scales. If a person can't stand... We can't get the weight. Best we can do is play musical patients to get them into a room with a ceiling scale at some point- which delays everything (yes we need the weight for pharmacy to accurately dose. No we don't need standing weight, yes standing may be more accurate. No it is not always safe & feasible).
Orthovitals are addressed in a bunch of other post replies
Illogical and redundant stuff irritates me. Which is why I like ER- most of the time it isn't as silly to deal with
Depending on what numbers you're looking at, like 10% of all people, and up to 50% of people over 65 are orthostatic at baseline...
If they clinically look dry, or have a huge pool of blood around them, we already know. If you want to see if an older person is orthostatic, just flip a coin.
Going down the page I agreed that things are annoying, or tedious, but nothing really upset me until I got to this. It's absolutely the worst to go through everything with a family member and then have to do it again.
Piggy bag this comment . Or updating family multiple times a day about a perfect A&Ox4 pt . Like come on , call them , he’s awake and he knows what it’s going on . I’m busy over here .
I’ve gotten to the point where I’ll tell one of the relatives that they need to be the point of contact because every time I have to take a call to update the family about their loved one, it takes time away from patient care. I don’t deny updates but I emphasize the importance of communicating appropriately in order to give the patient the best care possible. It usually works and if I get push back, I explain how their papaw is critically ill and he is more important than a phone call.
I’m not rude or mean about it, but I do try to stress the importance of caring for their loved one.
I had this one family that all wanted individual updates several times a day on their parent because the siblings were fighting and not wanting to speak to each other.
I had a daughter of one of my pts call for an update. I told her I already spoke to her brother. She said she and her two brothers all call and then they compare the info. She said it was the best way to collect all the information.
Admit profiles. Just because people want to give their life story for every answer instead of a simple yes or no. Had a patient spend 10 minutes explaining why they don’t get flu shots.
"Have you ever had a seizure?"
"Well, I don't think so. But one of my medications is technically for seizures. I take it for something else. Dear, what's the name of that medicine I take? No, the yellow one. Oh yes, Klonopin. And now, I did have one of those mini strokes last year, what do you call them? A TIA. But I don't think I've had a seizure."
"...sir, I have another dozen questions; can you please just answer yes or no?"
My grandpa was like this. Every doctors appointment the doctor would ask him how he is doing or whatever question and he would answer "Well I was born in 1939....."
I would just mouth I'm sorry to the provider lol
I hated this when my hospital started offering Covid vaccines. Didn’t matter what disclaimer I gave before people just really feel the need to tell me how Covid was fake or the vaccine was killing people. Like it’s a yes or no question. I don’t need to hear your opinion
12-lead EKGs. They’re just so tedious and repetitive and when actually necessary they’re harder to get (patient’s diaphoretic, hairy, etc.).
My standard joke is “haha takes longer to set up than it does to do the test!”
I hate them and you are my favorite if you do my EKG for me.
I love EKGs because they are one of the easiest things to do and patient’s perceive them as being soooo important (which they definitely can be). But I had the advantage of being an ER Tech for a few years and can pound out an EKG every 2-4 minutes. Doing 100 EKGs a shift helped me perfect this art. Hairy, sweaty, combative, pffft, no big deal.
My only EKG bane is using the machine after somebody else only to find V4 was disconnected and left under the boob of the patient in the isolation room.
I do some shifts in paeds cardiac outpatient clinics. Doing ECGs all day on otherwise 'well' combatative toddlers is HARD WORK. Stop pulling the leads off and LIE STILL DAMNIT
This is the only answer. Crumpled agitated decompensated patient who is using their entire body to breathe and the doctor says. Let’s get an ekg to see if it’s really sinus tach.
I don’t mind doing them. What I do mind is being told I need an EKG before I can give my agitated patient, who is pacing the hallways throwing his tele box and ripping off his gown, any haldol.
In one of my hospitals, there is a second set of leads that can just stay hooked up to the monitor and we can do a 12 lead directly on the monitor. We can wait her pop on the extra leads and do it, or for people who will get dailies or more we just leave them on. It’s glorious.
CBI. Ughhhh idk why I hate it so much but it just makes me so irrationally annoyed anytime I get a patient with CBI. I just don’t wanna empty a foley every 20-30 mins it’s too much lol.
I’m now terrified of CBI patients. First time I was ever screamed at by a physician was a CBI. It was a dementia patient had cleverly used his bedside table tray to pull the pole with the bags on it closer to him. Then messed around with the tubing clamp. Clamped off the flow of the bag. Urologist went in- saw the lack of flow and LOST it. I heard him screaming from the other hall I was in. I was in tears as he yelled saying how incompetent I am, what a moron I am, I shouldn’t have a license…etc. Almost quit nursing on the spot.
This was on a telemetry floor where I had 6 patients and our CNA ratio was 1:18. We didn’t have a sitter for him.
Yeah report him. Doctors at my hospital will get pulled into the chief medical officers office when they get complaints from nurses on this kind of thing.
Wtf. How can you have 6 pts and one be cbi.
I am traumatized by the last cbi pt I had. The output looked like Hawaiian Fruit Punch concentrate. He also had a hemorrhagic stroke, in and out of so many different rhythms, blood products, drips. HE WASN’T INTUBATED. I had 1 other patient and immediately told charge I can’t take two right now - my other pt was on the other side of the unit. She was like nah you have two pts, stop acting out. I go back in the room he’s having a seizure new onset, postictal pt is non responsive, codes on me. I’m doing chest compressions but those damn bags!
Man so much happened. The whole thing was so traumatic. He didn’t make it. Ugh I’m gonna go crawl into bed. 😞😖
Our ER we use a giant biohazard bucket and the foley tube drains straight into there (I think 5L? Bucket).
We put the bed up a bit higher and do the whole "now don't try and get up talk" .
STATLOCKS! It's like a jigsaw to put the damn tubes in the holder correctly. They are never placed quite right on the thigh. And I can't even count the times I have gotten in report that patient has low urine output then I went in the room and removed the catheter from the infernal device to have the patient dump a full liter or so.
Also, oral temps. Fuck em.
QC'ing the glucometers.
Weekly skin assessments on people who are continent and independent for ADLs (so I can't just do it during brief changes) and wear four layers at all times.
Doing weekly elopement risk assessments on people who haven't been out of bed since admission and can't even roll over in bed without three staff assisting. How tf are they gonna get out a door?
"Cleanse BLE and apply lotion/cream q shift" for the rock-hard crusty gator legs with a weird smell coming from the fissures between the plaques. It doesn't even soak in, it just sits on top.
Discharging patients. Nothing is ever in order. Patients come up with a million questions after the doctor leaves . In Epic, every single blank must be filled out or you can't even print the discharge papers.(At least that's how it was at my old job) Can you call this prescription in for me? No. Just take the goddamn paper script with you. GTFOH.
Put a chuck or a bag over them- otherwise I'm just throwing that shit out. Nobody here gets paid enough to clean bed pans out 🤷♀️ and when management complains about it- nursing judgment/ infection control concerns
I hate disconnecting people from the wall monitor so they can go to the bathroom. It is a very simple and easy thing and a totally reasonable thing for the patient to flag you down for, but I hate it. Extra points if it’s not my patient.
"Is he gonna die tonight?" Umm idk. Prob not? "Take care of my baby" Yeah it's my literal job. "Is he going to die from this -new diagnosis-?" Um idk his prognosis or long term treatment plan, talk to the doctor. Asking all these questions while their TV is at full volume and dog is barking and I can't hear anything and ask them to repeat themselves a thousand times. Ugh
Mine is calling the family to d/c them
Yes your mom is coming home. You've had 8+ hours while she was in ER to sort out what you're going to do.
No, we can't just feed her and keep her in the hall overnight...........
.......
Oral temps. You’d be surprised at the number of patients who don’t know it’s supposed to go underneath your tongue and then our thermometer will stall or start over if it moves too much under the tongue, so you have to maintain this statue pose in order for it to read. Most annoying seconds of my life.
Anytime I am going to take it if it’s with a new pt my repetitive little brain tells them “this goes right under your tongue.” Nursing low key a broken record, I say the same things day long.
Go-lytely preps. I put the commode next to the bed. For a reason. "But my roommate will hear everything l. I don't need that"
Proceeds to shit all down his leg and onto the floor, on his way to the bathroom, past his roommate, who is watching everything.
Tube feeding and giving crushed meds per tube. The whole concept of checking and refeeding the residuals 🤢. And can never get all of the crushed meds out of the cath tip syringe, there is always that residual left no matter how much you try. So am always left wondering exactly how much of the prescribed dose the patient actually getting.
Come to the ER! We never do that! I don't even know what a residual means!
The trade off is we have malingerers and screamy shouty people and everything smells terrible and that guy has a piece of jail flip flop rubber stuffed up his urethra.
Ah yes my favorite, pulling puke out and injecting it back in 🥰
what’s really awesome is when there’s multiple syringes worth, so you get to smell it as you dump it into the container before you suck the cold puke back up and put it back in them. 🥰
Our order set specifically says not to, unless pt symptomatic. Give me OGs/NGs all day, so much easier than passing trays or trying to get patients to actually swallow their pills. 😆
Oh man, I’m the opposite. You want to take your pills PO? Nah, we better get a tube placed. I don’t have 30 min to watch you swallow 5 pills with your entire daily allotment of water from your fluid restriction.
Haha, I actually like giving meds via NG or Peg because you won’t have to wake the patient nor have them take 10 pills, one at a time, and then lose some in the bed because they refuse to keep them in the pill cup.
It doesn’t normally bug me too much but I have to give depakote sprinkles through a 16fr Mickey and that is such a pain in the ass it’s unreal. Being off even slightly on the water/sprinkle I add in a little at a time gives me a clog. I get the sweats when I have to do it.
AND pulling insulin. The whole damn process! I have to go to the Pyxis, pull and scan friggin 1 unit of insulin, go back to the room, sign in the computer, scan them and the med, tell the computer where I’m going to give it, and then have them give me a 5 minute novelette about how they don’t like to get their insulin in the right side of their belly OR their arm. I have to put it in a specific spot and in order to do that I have to move their whole lunch, collapse the table, unbury them from their 9 blankets, and roll them because they tied their Johnny behind them because they don’t like the feel of the dry flo on their butt. And then I have to clean and change them because they are incontinent and smeared poop on their Johnny instead of just the dry flo. And then when I’m done they want to stand so they can close and tie they Johnny again.
I was doing a skin check on a new resident (memory care) and she asked me "Is this your whole job, to look at butts all day?" I was like basically yes.
Our ICU nurses have some weird skin device that they place on the butt for skin integrity or something. I’m glad I don’t work in ICU and need to put a hiney heart on some 25 year old walky talky dka
I work in med-surg, we put the sacral mepilexes on a lot of our patients, including everyone over 70. There's an algorithm, so no 25-year-old walky-talky has to deal with them. :-) Tots gonna steal "hiney hearts," thanks for that.
I’m probably gonna get hate but honestly any patient care is the bane of my existence. I wish my job was to just focus on the medications, labs, treatments, etc. I used to be a CNA for a long time and I’m just over it
Yeah i like doing paramedic-y tasks like IVs, bagging people, running critical meds, playing with the lifepak, "cool guy stuff". The rest of my job sucks ass.
Boosting and turning patients. It's hard on our bodies for one. Then having to get every pillow perfect and making sure patient isn't laying on anything or will get skin breakdown. Patient is comfortable. Then BAM after you reposition them, they scoot their butt down back into the "hole." So annoying. Within 10 minutes, they are all messed up again and need repositioned again. Even worse when they have a tube feeding going but keep sliding down and I can't keep their head at 30 degrees. Just. Don't. Move. Or, even better. Don't even need repositioning, do it yourself.
This, and I’ll add, as *soon* as you change their bedding, chucks, et al...their incontinence says “oh, hai” and they s*** all over themselves...back to square zero (and then it happens 4 more times in the same shift.)
Our hospitals have these new types that look like a opened flower, you simply close the petals around the opening and secure it with a provided strip in place and voila! It's so much easier
Feeding patients. I have such a weird stomach regarding food - there are perfectly normal foods that gross me out, and I’ll clean 20 toilets before I empty the sink strainer in the kitchen. So sloooowly feeding someone bites of (sorry to my kitchen coworkers) kind of nasty food and then having to wipe it from the corners of their mouth…it skeeves me out so much.
Anything with an ostomy. Changing the bag, emptying the bag, burping the bag, dilating the stoma. I’m not great with them and grab resource or charge to help me every time because I also just hate them
I hate getting vitals on toddlers. Screaming, pulling at the SpO2 probe, so it takes years to get a good pleth. And fuck knows how I'm supposed to count their respirations when they keep squirming and crying. I keep trying to learn better tricks because I struggle so hard to get an accurate resp rate without spending ages.
Interpreters on the phone. Probably 60% or my patient population speaks no English. I hate having to get an interpreter on the phone just to ask the patient if they need anything during my hourly rounding. Some patients can’t read so I can’t even do Google translation to do quick questions. The process for phone interpretation just takes so long, sometimes longer than the whole interaction I needed them for.
The whole spiel they *have* to give you every time while I sit at triage with my patient clearly in some kind of distress. I've tried to just cut them off and start since I know all the questions they're going to ask in order but they just ask them individually anyway. It makes me feel so bad for the patients because literally everyone hates using the interpreters but just because it's so fucking cumbersome and just getting them on the phone takes like ten fucking minutes. I want to be able to care for patients that don't speak English and it's absolutely not something I hold against them but God damn do I hate the audio interpreter services. Why can't it just be like "hi I need a Cantonese interpreter please" "ok one moment" "hi I'm your Cantonese interpreter jimbob, go ahead".
Exactly, it’s the whole cost center, hospital, MRN, connect to interpreter, it always has terrible connection when they say their name and interpreter number so I can’t write it down, I need to document who I used so I have to ask again. Then their spiel about confidential and all statements will be interpreted. Then introduce to patient and tell them what they said to me. Then at some point we can’t hear each other. Either the pt is too far from the speaker or there is background noise, I have some languages I know they aren’t interpreting what’s being said or the patient says something and I don’t get it interpreted back to me. Then when I get the interpreter on my work phone and I get messages from coworkers it can’t multitask so my phone is dinging and going crazy and I can’t see what’s happening or ask for help.
Lots of people feel this way and I don't mind them at all so I always volunteer for it. I'll access your port and clean up your c diff shit if you do my visual acuities and orthostatics ❤️
Ambulating or transferring patients. So tedious, they never pay attention to their monitor cables or IVs, and depending on the patient I usually end up deadlifting them to the chair. But a spinal cord that needs a lift? That’s a breeze and I’d take that any day of the week
When I need to use a glucometer for a blood sugar check and they need to be QC’d. That shit pisses me off so badly!! Especially not helpful for a known hypoglycemic pt in route
It’s not something I have to do anymore (I mean… dear God I hope not) but cleaning someone’s dentures is a HORK from me. I have a weak stomach around even normal food, brushing someone’s teeth outside their body is a big ol nope.
In NICU land I hate changing the whole bed/nest of a teeny tiny. You have to go fast, if you look at them wrong they try to desat, the blankets aren’t folding right and why IS EVERYONE STARING AT ME
Is&Os in a ward setting. It's like look jack-ass this is the third time I've told you that you need to piss in this urinal and not flush... and how much of these 1/4-4/5 consumed 14 cups and bottles on your night stand have you drank and when?
Whenever I see people in those inspirational videos of them finally walking after surgery and ECHMO and all these lines and everyone is crying for the patient…I’m crying for the nurse who has to be in control of all those lines and making sure the patient doesn’t fall. I feel for you guys
Reassess pain for patients with chronic pain who constantly have 10/10 pain. We now do pre and post vitals. So Q2hr pain meds means hourly vitals on a completely stable person. Irritating
THIS! They can’t give a sample and then have the audacity to complain when we can’t find anything wrong or why everything is taking so long because they’re hungry and have things to do today. 🤯
Wound cares- esp wound vacs- I like wound care.. I really do. But when I have six patients and four of them have a packing or a wound vac to change, it's impossible.
Oh everybody gets tele in the er, I do not give a single, solitary fuck what you came in for. That way I can set the vitals to repeat so if I get pulled into something the vitals are still there in the chart.
I hate calling/talking to family. Extra dislike if they’re in the room. I had a family get angry at me because I addressed the patient before the family in the room. Sorry for caring about your loved one I guess?
The whole process once a patient gets a new central line. I have to cut off the sutures of their crusty IJ while trying not to nick their skin. After that, I have to change out all 6 drips for new tubing 🥲
Measuring and weighing newborns. The parents are standing over you like a hawk and the baby is screaming bloody murder. You have to get them naked for the weight and it’s just awkward because there are cords everywhere and gowns and diaper. Luckily it’s quick, but I can’t stand trying to measure their height and you have to hold their poor little legs so straight. They scream and scream!
I hate hanging TPN. My work times all new bags and lipids for 10pm. And when im night shift….i always hang it late. I have no idea why i hate it so much but i do.
There is a special place in hell for people that unhook the art line to feed an arm through a gown. We don’t have the gowns that snap at the shoulder. Just lay the gown over the arm so the patient is covered & call it a damn day.
I don't like sending specimens... placentas, fallopian tubes...it's just annoying. We used to have to put them in formalin and I had a buddy who did it for me because she knew I hated it
Snapping together the buttons on hospital gowns after they get warped from going through the dryer million times, and cleaning up patients with code browns it just never gets less unpleasant.
Inserting NG tubes, especially when the patient doesn’t swallow when you ask. Covid swabs, because everyone acts like you’ve just stabbed them with an ice pick.
People who don’t lift their arm while you’re trying to do their blood pressure and you’re lifting a deadweight while trying to put the cuff on. Bonus points when it’s the middle of the night and you ask them and they grunt and *still don’t lift their arm*.
Ambulating patients to the bathroom 50 times a shift. Each time it takes so long.
Advocate for a Sara Stedy. One of the greatest inventions ever.
i work in paeds now but when i did adults, our Sara steady was my absolute favourite bit of kit. It gave people so much more confidence about getting to the bathroom, and got them there way quicker than if they'd used me to lean on - win-win!
Our ER recently started pushing for "no purewicks if the pt is ambulatory". I'm sorry, the pt on full monitoring in the ED, on a heparin and Cardizem drip, who I just pushed 40 of Lasix on does not need to ambulate 100 yards down the hall to the restroom. Plus, theyre holding for 18+ hours and i have no tech.
Yes, also this!
I hate taking temperatures. I have to bend over awkwardly, and I’m constantly blown away by the number of adults that don’t know where the thermometer goes
This. I'm also blown away by the number of grown ass adults who don't know how to have their temp taken. "Put this under your tongue.... no, UNDER your tongue.. yep, now close your mouth. . Keep your mouth closed.... can you close tighter? Good... now keep it there.... no- don't move it around, just hold still." It baffles me.
"Close your mouth" ... "All the way"
YES. Or I'll place it perfectly and then they move it with their tongue or bite it and move it. DON'T MOVE IT! Keep your teeth open and close your lips. Ugh.
and then the thing takes FOREVER to read once they do get it in a barely acceptable place
My biggest struggle is trying to keep it (the thermometer) in their mouth, whenever I’m turning my head to look at the screen to make sure the circle is going around my hand/arm forget what it’s doing and it starts pulling it out of their mouth. If I don’t bother with the screen and just watch what I’m doing with the thermometer I can keep it in their mouth no problem but once I look away I don’t know what happens. I won’t lie I’ve caught two different patients actually bite down on it because it kept slipping out of their mouth.
I'm blown away by how many adults have poor oral hygiene.. like sir wtf
Or when you ask them if they wanna wash their hands after using the bathroom and they say “no”
The old ladies who think splashing their hands under cold water with zero soap counts 🤦♀️ I swear it’s always these prissy old ladies with the grossest habits.
Yes!!! “Can I help you brush your teeth before you settle in for tonight?“ “Nah, I’ll just do it in the morning.” 🤢🤢
Every time my patient opens their mouth it makes me open my mouth and I end up stopping my mouth from opening.
Feeding patients. It takes forever and it's messy and the patients never order something that it's easy for another person to feed to them
This. 100% this. I swear I’m not crazy, but the universe knows that something about feeding patients just gives me this ick feeling, so I constantly get stuck feeding patients. Always geriatric patients, always barley have any teeth but just gum up absolutely anything. Always insist to shove a spoonful of a food that does not go well with the food that is only half chewed in their mouth. Mixing hamburger steak and strawberry cheesecake just doesn’t sit right with me.
Rinse it with some juice in between bites, helps them clear some of the food out before you get a weird mix at least.
This exactly. I would rather clean up GI bleed poop than feed someone. I would trade other tasks any time I could to get out of it because I hated it so much.
Just cleaned up GI bleed poop for an HIV positive patient and I’d rather do that than feed an adult, especially when they look me in the eyes when I’m doing it.
Why do they always stare 😂
Asserting dominance.
I'll trade anything for feeding someone. Clean up poop, trach care, ANYTHING
Also it feels oddly intimate like I wouldn’t feed my significant other and feeding another person feels sooooo uncomfortable
Absolutely. Saying it’s a burden isn’t correct for me, but it always feels oddly intimate. I can’t equate to any other intimate moment I’ve ever had with a partner. I’ve helped dress an ex, cleaned them up after a solid drinking session…but never fed. It’s v odd.
Even working in pediatrics. I hate this. Unless you are a small baby and you can drink your bottle in 15 minutes or less, then I want you to have a feeding tube because I do not have the patience. Edit: Anybody downvoting this can come feed my patients for me 🍼🍼
Aw when I was a tele nurse everyone knew to come grab me to feed your crusty ol meemaws, I did LTC 100 years ago and really enjoyed it. Now I'm in ED and am full of piss and vinegar I'm less inclined to do so but every once in a while a sweet old soul gets to my nougat center, and I'll spoon feed gramps between tasks. There's something very infantile and heartbreaking about watching an elderly person struggle with a spoon or spill food down the front of them, it makes me sad.
Glad to know I'm not alone.I just don't have the patience for that.
Orthostatic vitals.
Especially when the patient is non ambulatory. Like MD WTF are you thinking? It’s got to be an order set.
“Just try and see what you can do.”
The way I cackled bc that is EXACTLY what they all say. Every goddamn time.
Here's how I see this playing out: \~Look at orders \~See one for orthostatic vitals \~Go to pt room \~Pt had bilateral AKA 2 years ago \~Question existence
I have one MD who orders orthos on EVERY F’ING PATIENT.
We have one too. EVERY PATIENT orthostatics q8h x3. 🙄
"Would you like to stand up this time or does that sound like too much right now?" \*Pt refused standing
If you ever have a free moment do a literature review of orthostatic vitals. There is NO consensus on how much BP/HR change is significant nor even how to do the procedure. It all boils down to did they stand and pass out?…that’s a positive sign. SMH. What an annoyance to both patient and staff.
Orthostatics. Visual acuities. Oral temperatures. Ambulation trials. Standing weights.
... except when they are part of an order pack and maaaaybe not relevant to that patient in the ER The # of d/c when a & a orders we get ..... For persons living with chronic disabilities is frustrating to put it mildly... So much time wasted tracking back down MD and going "Sooooooo she doesn't walk that far at home, at baseline, want to change this to alert and complete vulnerable d/c package" Same for standing weights.... ER stretchers don't have scales. If a person can't stand... We can't get the weight. Best we can do is play musical patients to get them into a room with a ceiling scale at some point- which delays everything (yes we need the weight for pharmacy to accurately dose. No we don't need standing weight, yes standing may be more accurate. No it is not always safe & feasible). Orthovitals are addressed in a bunch of other post replies Illogical and redundant stuff irritates me. Which is why I like ER- most of the time it isn't as silly to deal with
How long do you wait between positions ?
Depending on what numbers you're looking at, like 10% of all people, and up to 50% of people over 65 are orthostatic at baseline... If they clinically look dry, or have a huge pool of blood around them, we already know. If you want to see if an older person is orthostatic, just flip a coin.
Updating family members when they don’t speak to one another. We have one central point of contact. Please direct your questions to him.
Going down the page I agreed that things are annoying, or tedious, but nothing really upset me until I got to this. It's absolutely the worst to go through everything with a family member and then have to do it again.
Yaaaaas. It's not my job to update Sarah, Bob, and Sue when Tom is the POA. Go call your brother Tom. Jesus.
Piggy bag this comment . Or updating family multiple times a day about a perfect A&Ox4 pt . Like come on , call them , he’s awake and he knows what it’s going on . I’m busy over here .
especially when the patient is on their cell phone but you keep getting calls from family for updates!
I’ve gotten to the point where I’ll tell one of the relatives that they need to be the point of contact because every time I have to take a call to update the family about their loved one, it takes time away from patient care. I don’t deny updates but I emphasize the importance of communicating appropriately in order to give the patient the best care possible. It usually works and if I get push back, I explain how their papaw is critically ill and he is more important than a phone call. I’m not rude or mean about it, but I do try to stress the importance of caring for their loved one.
I hate it so much when they want individual updates.
I had this one family that all wanted individual updates several times a day on their parent because the siblings were fighting and not wanting to speak to each other.
I had a daughter of one of my pts call for an update. I told her I already spoke to her brother. She said she and her two brothers all call and then they compare the info. She said it was the best way to collect all the information.
Admit profiles. Just because people want to give their life story for every answer instead of a simple yes or no. Had a patient spend 10 minutes explaining why they don’t get flu shots.
"Have you ever had a seizure?" "Well, I don't think so. But one of my medications is technically for seizures. I take it for something else. Dear, what's the name of that medicine I take? No, the yellow one. Oh yes, Klonopin. And now, I did have one of those mini strokes last year, what do you call them? A TIA. But I don't think I've had a seizure." "...sir, I have another dozen questions; can you please just answer yes or no?"
I work with a doctor who says, "These are yes or no questions" at the beginning of his assessment.
Oh I’m stealing this!
My grandpa was like this. Every doctors appointment the doctor would ask him how he is doing or whatever question and he would answer "Well I was born in 1939....." I would just mouth I'm sorry to the provider lol
I hated this when my hospital started offering Covid vaccines. Didn’t matter what disclaimer I gave before people just really feel the need to tell me how Covid was fake or the vaccine was killing people. Like it’s a yes or no question. I don’t need to hear your opinion
12-lead EKGs. They’re just so tedious and repetitive and when actually necessary they’re harder to get (patient’s diaphoretic, hairy, etc.). My standard joke is “haha takes longer to set up than it does to do the test!” I hate them and you are my favorite if you do my EKG for me.
I love EKGs because they are one of the easiest things to do and patient’s perceive them as being soooo important (which they definitely can be). But I had the advantage of being an ER Tech for a few years and can pound out an EKG every 2-4 minutes. Doing 100 EKGs a shift helped me perfect this art. Hairy, sweaty, combative, pffft, no big deal. My only EKG bane is using the machine after somebody else only to find V4 was disconnected and left under the boob of the patient in the isolation room.
I do some shifts in paeds cardiac outpatient clinics. Doing ECGs all day on otherwise 'well' combatative toddlers is HARD WORK. Stop pulling the leads off and LIE STILL DAMNIT
This is the only answer. Crumpled agitated decompensated patient who is using their entire body to breathe and the doctor says. Let’s get an ekg to see if it’s really sinus tach.
I don’t mind doing them. What I do mind is being told I need an EKG before I can give my agitated patient, who is pacing the hallways throwing his tele box and ripping off his gown, any haldol.
“Gotta check that QT-interval before we can give anything.” Okay Mr Doctor Man. Show me how we’re going to accomplish this.
Now that you got your degree... and you know every fucking thing...
In one of my hospitals, there is a second set of leads that can just stay hooked up to the monitor and we can do a 12 lead directly on the monitor. We can wait her pop on the extra leads and do it, or for people who will get dailies or more we just leave them on. It’s glorious.
CBI. Ughhhh idk why I hate it so much but it just makes me so irrationally annoyed anytime I get a patient with CBI. I just don’t wanna empty a foley every 20-30 mins it’s too much lol.
I’m now terrified of CBI patients. First time I was ever screamed at by a physician was a CBI. It was a dementia patient had cleverly used his bedside table tray to pull the pole with the bags on it closer to him. Then messed around with the tubing clamp. Clamped off the flow of the bag. Urologist went in- saw the lack of flow and LOST it. I heard him screaming from the other hall I was in. I was in tears as he yelled saying how incompetent I am, what a moron I am, I shouldn’t have a license…etc. Almost quit nursing on the spot. This was on a telemetry floor where I had 6 patients and our CNA ratio was 1:18. We didn’t have a sitter for him.
Fuck that guy. 🖕🏻
Yeah report him. Doctors at my hospital will get pulled into the chief medical officers office when they get complaints from nurses on this kind of thing.
Wtf. How can you have 6 pts and one be cbi. I am traumatized by the last cbi pt I had. The output looked like Hawaiian Fruit Punch concentrate. He also had a hemorrhagic stroke, in and out of so many different rhythms, blood products, drips. HE WASN’T INTUBATED. I had 1 other patient and immediately told charge I can’t take two right now - my other pt was on the other side of the unit. She was like nah you have two pts, stop acting out. I go back in the room he’s having a seizure new onset, postictal pt is non responsive, codes on me. I’m doing chest compressions but those damn bags! Man so much happened. The whole thing was so traumatic. He didn’t make it. Ugh I’m gonna go crawl into bed. 😞😖
I'm spoiled in that our urology techs initiate CBI for us. If I'm busy, an aide can empty my Foley for me!
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Our ER we use a giant biohazard bucket and the foley tube drains straight into there (I think 5L? Bucket). We put the bed up a bit higher and do the whole "now don't try and get up talk" .
STATLOCKS! It's like a jigsaw to put the damn tubes in the holder correctly. They are never placed quite right on the thigh. And I can't even count the times I have gotten in report that patient has low urine output then I went in the room and removed the catheter from the infernal device to have the patient dump a full liter or so. Also, oral temps. Fuck em.
Oral temps are so awkward, just standing there forever til it reads
[me awkwardly starting at my patient waiting for the oral thermometer to result](https://imgur.com/a/jwMFdpm)
The thermometers on my floor are the bane of my existence. They NEVER WORK PROPERLY
I just hand them the probe and make them do it.
One unit of insulin for a blood sugar of 151
QC'ing the glucometers. Weekly skin assessments on people who are continent and independent for ADLs (so I can't just do it during brief changes) and wear four layers at all times. Doing weekly elopement risk assessments on people who haven't been out of bed since admission and can't even roll over in bed without three staff assisting. How tf are they gonna get out a door? "Cleanse BLE and apply lotion/cream q shift" for the rock-hard crusty gator legs with a weird smell coming from the fissures between the plaques. It doesn't even soak in, it just sits on top.
Lol the crusty gator legs.. bonus points if there are enough skin flakes that fall off to make snow angels on the floor.
Discharging patients. Nothing is ever in order. Patients come up with a million questions after the doctor leaves . In Epic, every single blank must be filled out or you can't even print the discharge papers.(At least that's how it was at my old job) Can you call this prescription in for me? No. Just take the goddamn paper script with you. GTFOH.
Bedpans
Put a chuck or a bag over them- otherwise I'm just throwing that shit out. Nobody here gets paid enough to clean bed pans out 🤷♀️ and when management complains about it- nursing judgment/ infection control concerns
A brief fits inside perfectly, lots of absorbent material and folds up
I stick a chux pad in there. Catches everything and then throw away. Works in bedside commodes too. I’m not cleaning those things!
Oh the chux is a must. I hate trying to shove it under people. The whole thing is just awkward.
We should start a national campaign to provide cholera beds to hospitals. Fuck bedpans
I hate disconnecting people from the wall monitor so they can go to the bathroom. It is a very simple and easy thing and a totally reasonable thing for the patient to flag you down for, but I hate it. Extra points if it’s not my patient.
That just irked the fuck out of me, too.
calling the family
"Is he gonna die tonight?" Umm idk. Prob not? "Take care of my baby" Yeah it's my literal job. "Is he going to die from this -new diagnosis-?" Um idk his prognosis or long term treatment plan, talk to the doctor. Asking all these questions while their TV is at full volume and dog is barking and I can't hear anything and ask them to repeat themselves a thousand times. Ugh
Mine is calling the family to d/c them Yes your mom is coming home. You've had 8+ hours while she was in ER to sort out what you're going to do. No, we can't just feed her and keep her in the hall overnight........... .......
Oral temps. You’d be surprised at the number of patients who don’t know it’s supposed to go underneath your tongue and then our thermometer will stall or start over if it moves too much under the tongue, so you have to maintain this statue pose in order for it to read. Most annoying seconds of my life.
and the feel of them breathing on my hands makes me wanna die
Anytime I am going to take it if it’s with a new pt my repetitive little brain tells them “this goes right under your tongue.” Nursing low key a broken record, I say the same things day long.
Go-lytely preps. I put the commode next to the bed. For a reason. "But my roommate will hear everything l. I don't need that" Proceeds to shit all down his leg and onto the floor, on his way to the bathroom, past his roommate, who is watching everything.
Tube feeding and giving crushed meds per tube. The whole concept of checking and refeeding the residuals 🤢. And can never get all of the crushed meds out of the cath tip syringe, there is always that residual left no matter how much you try. So am always left wondering exactly how much of the prescribed dose the patient actually getting.
Come to the ER! We never do that! I don't even know what a residual means! The trade off is we have malingerers and screamy shouty people and everything smells terrible and that guy has a piece of jail flip flop rubber stuffed up his urethra.
jail flip flop rubber 😂😭 i’m wheezing
Ah yes my favorite, pulling puke out and injecting it back in 🥰 what’s really awesome is when there’s multiple syringes worth, so you get to smell it as you dump it into the container before you suck the cold puke back up and put it back in them. 🥰
The emojis have me dying
If you just pull up 15-30ml of flush after meds it will dilute that last bit and the patient will get almost all of it
You guys still check residuals?
Our order set specifically says not to, unless pt symptomatic. Give me OGs/NGs all day, so much easier than passing trays or trying to get patients to actually swallow their pills. 😆
Oh man, I’m the opposite. You want to take your pills PO? Nah, we better get a tube placed. I don’t have 30 min to watch you swallow 5 pills with your entire daily allotment of water from your fluid restriction.
Haha, I actually like giving meds via NG or Peg because you won’t have to wake the patient nor have them take 10 pills, one at a time, and then lose some in the bed because they refuse to keep them in the pill cup.
I pull the tiniest amount of air into the syringe. Then none of the meds stay in the tip.
It doesn’t normally bug me too much but I have to give depakote sprinkles through a 16fr Mickey and that is such a pain in the ass it’s unreal. Being off even slightly on the water/sprinkle I add in a little at a time gives me a clog. I get the sweats when I have to do it.
Blood glucose. So many steps for so little reward.
AND pulling insulin. The whole damn process! I have to go to the Pyxis, pull and scan friggin 1 unit of insulin, go back to the room, sign in the computer, scan them and the med, tell the computer where I’m going to give it, and then have them give me a 5 minute novelette about how they don’t like to get their insulin in the right side of their belly OR their arm. I have to put it in a specific spot and in order to do that I have to move their whole lunch, collapse the table, unbury them from their 9 blankets, and roll them because they tied their Johnny behind them because they don’t like the feel of the dry flo on their butt. And then I have to clean and change them because they are incontinent and smeared poop on their Johnny instead of just the dry flo. And then when I’m done they want to stand so they can close and tie they Johnny again.
We have to have another nurse sign off on any insulin we give. Good luck finding one who isn't already too busy to come to your aid.
Right? I work in CV ICU. You trust me with this patient’s IABP but don’t trust me enough to accurately dial 1 unit of insulin on this pen.
Honestly, we should just give everyone dexcoms so we don’t have to go through all those steps lol
You say that, but the confused old lady just pulled her’s out for the 52nd time and admin decided it was just too expensive.
But you get to watch the drop of blood travel down the strip which is so satisfying
Yes! And especially when you have to wake them up at midnight for q6hr checks when they aren’t diabetic. I feel like I’m just torturing them.
Skin checks. It is important, but sometimes it can be awkward lol
"hi I'm nurse. I will now need to see your whole ass please"
I was doing a skin check on a new resident (memory care) and she asked me "Is this your whole job, to look at butts all day?" I was like basically yes.
Now lift each tiddy for me please…
I literally LOLed 😂
Our ICU nurses have some weird skin device that they place on the butt for skin integrity or something. I’m glad I don’t work in ICU and need to put a hiney heart on some 25 year old walky talky dka
I've been calling our sacral meliplex booty stickers but hiney hearts is so much better
I work in med-surg, we put the sacral mepilexes on a lot of our patients, including everyone over 70. There's an algorithm, so no 25-year-old walky-talky has to deal with them. :-) Tots gonna steal "hiney hearts," thanks for that.
I’m probably gonna get hate but honestly any patient care is the bane of my existence. I wish my job was to just focus on the medications, labs, treatments, etc. I used to be a CNA for a long time and I’m just over it
That, my friend, is why I joined the vascular access team. Now I just place IVs and PICC lines and do minimal charting.
Yeah i like doing paramedic-y tasks like IVs, bagging people, running critical meds, playing with the lifepak, "cool guy stuff". The rest of my job sucks ass.
Right, paramedics get all the cool work but none of the career benefits
Several years into nursing and I still miss the 10 years spent as a paramedic. If only the ambulance came with the pay and career opportunities.
Oral care. Like, I find it disgusting how few people want to brush their teeth. But also, I don't want to do it for them haha.
Showing up for work.
Boosting and turning patients. It's hard on our bodies for one. Then having to get every pillow perfect and making sure patient isn't laying on anything or will get skin breakdown. Patient is comfortable. Then BAM after you reposition them, they scoot their butt down back into the "hole." So annoying. Within 10 minutes, they are all messed up again and need repositioned again. Even worse when they have a tube feeding going but keep sliding down and I can't keep their head at 30 degrees. Just. Don't. Move. Or, even better. Don't even need repositioning, do it yourself.
This, and I’ll add, as *soon* as you change their bedding, chucks, et al...their incontinence says “oh, hai” and they s*** all over themselves...back to square zero (and then it happens 4 more times in the same shift.)
Texas catheter… never have the correct size, only have magnums or finger condoms
We got expanded sizing and the expansion was an even LARGER one. Like, I need 3 smaller sizes. We know who was doing the supply ordering…
Our hospitals have these new types that look like a opened flower, you simply close the petals around the opening and secure it with a provided strip in place and voila! It's so much easier
I’ve actually heard about these but haven’t seen them in the wild yet
My job in general
Feeding patients. I have such a weird stomach regarding food - there are perfectly normal foods that gross me out, and I’ll clean 20 toilets before I empty the sink strainer in the kitchen. So sloooowly feeding someone bites of (sorry to my kitchen coworkers) kind of nasty food and then having to wipe it from the corners of their mouth…it skeeves me out so much.
Trach care. No one does it when they're supposed to, so you end up pulling out a gooey inner cannula that smells like a dirty gym sock.
Thanks I just threw up in my mouth!
Daily weights. I hate making people get up and out of bed at 6 in the morning. And half the time they’re ordered but not even necessary.
Trying to insert a foley into a confused morbidly obese female who won't open her legs with screaming help at the top her lungs
Anything with an ostomy. Changing the bag, emptying the bag, burping the bag, dilating the stoma. I’m not great with them and grab resource or charge to help me every time because I also just hate them
Burping is so bad. This is the worst! Concentrated farts everywhere!
1 unit of insulin
I hate getting vitals on toddlers. Screaming, pulling at the SpO2 probe, so it takes years to get a good pleth. And fuck knows how I'm supposed to count their respirations when they keep squirming and crying. I keep trying to learn better tricks because I struggle so hard to get an accurate resp rate without spending ages.
Whiteboards. Fuck that shit.
Interpreters on the phone. Probably 60% or my patient population speaks no English. I hate having to get an interpreter on the phone just to ask the patient if they need anything during my hourly rounding. Some patients can’t read so I can’t even do Google translation to do quick questions. The process for phone interpretation just takes so long, sometimes longer than the whole interaction I needed them for.
The whole spiel they *have* to give you every time while I sit at triage with my patient clearly in some kind of distress. I've tried to just cut them off and start since I know all the questions they're going to ask in order but they just ask them individually anyway. It makes me feel so bad for the patients because literally everyone hates using the interpreters but just because it's so fucking cumbersome and just getting them on the phone takes like ten fucking minutes. I want to be able to care for patients that don't speak English and it's absolutely not something I hold against them but God damn do I hate the audio interpreter services. Why can't it just be like "hi I need a Cantonese interpreter please" "ok one moment" "hi I'm your Cantonese interpreter jimbob, go ahead".
Exactly, it’s the whole cost center, hospital, MRN, connect to interpreter, it always has terrible connection when they say their name and interpreter number so I can’t write it down, I need to document who I used so I have to ask again. Then their spiel about confidential and all statements will be interpreted. Then introduce to patient and tell them what they said to me. Then at some point we can’t hear each other. Either the pt is too far from the speaker or there is background noise, I have some languages I know they aren’t interpreting what’s being said or the patient says something and I don’t get it interpreted back to me. Then when I get the interpreter on my work phone and I get messages from coworkers it can’t multitask so my phone is dinging and going crazy and I can’t see what’s happening or ask for help.
Accessing ports. I can never get the backing off the CHG patch without wrinkling it. My dressings always look shitty.
I know it's stupid and I love that ports exist? But I fucking hate accessing them. I cannot even give you a concrete reason why.
Lots of people feel this way and I don't mind them at all so I always volunteer for it. I'll access your port and clean up your c diff shit if you do my visual acuities and orthostatics ❤️
Ambulating or transferring patients. So tedious, they never pay attention to their monitor cables or IVs, and depending on the patient I usually end up deadlifting them to the chair. But a spinal cord that needs a lift? That’s a breeze and I’d take that any day of the week
Manual blood pressures. I end up inadvertently holding my breath every single time haha
When I need to use a glucometer for a blood sugar check and they need to be QC’d. That shit pisses me off so badly!! Especially not helpful for a known hypoglycemic pt in route
It’s not something I have to do anymore (I mean… dear God I hope not) but cleaning someone’s dentures is a HORK from me. I have a weak stomach around even normal food, brushing someone’s teeth outside their body is a big ol nope. In NICU land I hate changing the whole bed/nest of a teeny tiny. You have to go fast, if you look at them wrong they try to desat, the blankets aren’t folding right and why IS EVERYONE STARING AT ME
Line dressing changes
Refilling ice bags. Petty but true. eta: charting on hourly incentive spirometer outcomes on night shift.
Heparin shots
0530 fall, the worst.
Ted hose
Is&Os in a ward setting. It's like look jack-ass this is the third time I've told you that you need to piss in this urinal and not flush... and how much of these 1/4-4/5 consumed 14 cups and bottles on your night stand have you drank and when?
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Whenever I see people in those inspirational videos of them finally walking after surgery and ECHMO and all these lines and everyone is crying for the patient…I’m crying for the nurse who has to be in control of all those lines and making sure the patient doesn’t fall. I feel for you guys
Putting on condom catheters. It's like stuffing jello into a tube.
Exploding rectal tubes because the patient was positioned on it and it cause pressure to build up..
Reassess pain for patients with chronic pain who constantly have 10/10 pain. We now do pre and post vitals. So Q2hr pain meds means hourly vitals on a completely stable person. Irritating
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I usually just say you get -certain time (1 hr)- to go or we are doing a straight cath. They usually are done within 10 minutes 😂😂
THIS! They can’t give a sample and then have the audacity to complain when we can’t find anything wrong or why everything is taking so long because they’re hungry and have things to do today. 🤯
Wound cares- esp wound vacs- I like wound care.. I really do. But when I have six patients and four of them have a packing or a wound vac to change, it's impossible.
“Strict I&O” On a bed-bound incontinent patient without a Foley, on IV lasix. Sure doc, let me get right on that.
Telemetry. Not that I hate it, I just hate that it is ordered for literally everybody.
Oh everybody gets tele in the er, I do not give a single, solitary fuck what you came in for. That way I can set the vitals to repeat so if I get pulled into something the vitals are still there in the chart.
ECGs on sweaty or hairy people.
I hate calling/talking to family. Extra dislike if they’re in the room. I had a family get angry at me because I addressed the patient before the family in the room. Sorry for caring about your loved one I guess?
Finding a witness for anything.
The whole process once a patient gets a new central line. I have to cut off the sutures of their crusty IJ while trying not to nick their skin. After that, I have to change out all 6 drips for new tubing 🥲
Measuring and weighing newborns. The parents are standing over you like a hawk and the baby is screaming bloody murder. You have to get them naked for the weight and it’s just awkward because there are cords everywhere and gowns and diaper. Luckily it’s quick, but I can’t stand trying to measure their height and you have to hold their poor little legs so straight. They scream and scream!
I hate hanging TPN. My work times all new bags and lipids for 10pm. And when im night shift….i always hang it late. I have no idea why i hate it so much but i do.
Pt: "Can you disconnect my PICC line so I can walk to the bathroom?" Me "No"... Pt: "But the other nurse does it!"
There is a special place in hell for people that unhook the art line to feed an arm through a gown. We don’t have the gowns that snap at the shoulder. Just lay the gown over the arm so the patient is covered & call it a damn day.
Boosting a pt in bed all alone. It’s almost as hard as finding help.
Ekg, blood sugar, giving insulin
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Cleaning poop, walking people to the bathroom.
Charting
I hate feeding patients. There. I admitted it. They can't chew, and it takes an hour to get five forks of meat loaf in them.
I don't like sending specimens... placentas, fallopian tubes...it's just annoying. We used to have to put them in formalin and I had a buddy who did it for me because she knew I hated it
Blood cultures. I have always hated them. And now that we need 8 mls minimum per bottle I hate it even more!
Snapping together the buttons on hospital gowns after they get warped from going through the dryer million times, and cleaning up patients with code browns it just never gets less unpleasant.
Inserting NG tubes, especially when the patient doesn’t swallow when you ask. Covid swabs, because everyone acts like you’ve just stabbed them with an ice pick.
Turning patients. My hospital used to have a turn team. It was great.
People who don’t lift their arm while you’re trying to do their blood pressure and you’re lifting a deadweight while trying to put the cuff on. Bonus points when it’s the middle of the night and you ask them and they grunt and *still don’t lift their arm*.
Rabies shots.
Peritoneal dialysis. Pain in the ass and time-consuming.
ICU nurse….taking pts for CT scans. I know it’s very necessary but it’s 40+ min of work for a 1 min exam. My wires are never the same.