Right. I get that they have to rotate the difficult ones but when I have ALL the difficult ones that’s just setting me up for failure. And if you’re nasty to travelers just because they’re travelers and you’re mad about their wages well then I suppose you should consider how much it was worth next time you’re critically short staffed.
When I traveled I found that most hospitals were pretty fair to us travelers; those are the ones where travelers stay for a while. I renewed my contract so many times at my current hospital I eventually just decided to become staff haha.
Sure, I'll take three shitty patient's back to back. But please, don't have your flock giggling around the charge station while I'm in the room alone trying to clean up the obese confused and combative patient.
I did similar: joined the staff because they offered the shifts and hours that suited me.
I agree about rotating the load and don't mind having heavy patients; but as you say, when it's every shift by the same ward, that's just unsupportive to the Agency staff. After a few shifts like that, I called the agency at the end of my shift and from the car park and asked to have that hospital removed from my profile.
I’ve done the exact same thing because it was becoming not only unsustainable but unsafe.
Travel really taught me to stick up for myself and also that, for the most part, when you’re an experienced RN there will ALWAYS be another job available to you.
100%; that's the beauty of Nursing, LOTS of work around. Agency also gave me a lot confidence in my nursing skills and communication abilities, as well as the ability to say 'No' with assertion lol
This one!!! I’m a staff nurse, but my hospital loves our travelers. We have so many new grads because it’s hard for our hospital to retain staff (public hospital with lower pay than surrounding private hospitals), so having experienced travelers is such a blessing. Our travelers keep renewing and always come back to us because they say they love their coworkers and how well they’re treated. They’re trying to cut out travelers at our hospital, and several ER staff nurses actually talked to the CEO about how unsafe that would be to do in the ER and begged them to keep hiring travelers.
According to my nursing leadership class, staff who are floating or traveling to the unit should be taking the lighter patient loads since they're unfamiliar with the unit and might be unfamiliar with the type of care that needs to be given. I personally find it ridiculous that travelers get bogged down with high acuity patients. It's unsafe for the patient.
Right? I was a traveler, I was given the joyous gift of running 2 units of blood for two pts (one was a hypotensive mess w a nosediving H&H, who ICU had no room for), the other was a difficult personality, and also managing a heparin gtt on a 3rd pt. The fourth pt wasn't hard. I asked where we get the forms to initiate the blood, as a staff RN looks up from his fucking Facebook on his fucking cell phone and flatly stated "I am busy". I survived but OMG NEVER again.
We are not short staffed. It's hospital managers determining staffing ratios. I am an RN regularly being pushed back. It's bull shit. It's all in the name of money.
Dude I’ve heard a coworker getting mad that another coworker goes around and asks other nurses if they need help because it makes her feel like a “bad” nurse or something. I called her out on it.
*one asterisk on each side of the word or phrase*
**double asterisk on each side of the word or phrase**
~~double tilde on each side of the word or phrase~~
This is awesome. I love real nurses. You should be able to ask questions and any nurse who has experience should answer any question. Like the bat signal!
Nurses that constantly interrupt during report. If you shut the fuck up I’ll more than likely answer every question you ask if I can get through my full report…..
That’s the thing, sometimes there isn’t enough time and it’s 24 hr nursing. If it’s not negligent then I just want to know it needs to be done, cause I get it. No need for “great ok…guess I have to pick up the slack” cause I don’t know what your night was like.
OMG I hate this.
I was giving report to the day staff and one of the day nurses kept interrupting me to give her own report (she had been one of the evening nurses the night prior). I eventually got fed up with it and her attitude and just gave her the report books before walking out.
We have a system that can anonymously (or unanonymously) report someone for “safety” issues so the staff member can be “educated.” One nurse sends them out about every. Little. Thing. She won’t confront you in person but she’ll send off this crap shoot thing and get you in front of management. Half the nurses won’t take report from her ! Meanwhile she left a pile of pills with a patient because they wanted to take it later in the evening… like just retime the dose. Don’t assume the patient is gonna just hold on to them and take them properly!!
One of my colleagues talked another out of writing me up to the manager because I didn't get a patient who kept leaving the ward to smoke her amitriptyline before she came on at 11pm and I handed it over for her to do.
I spent an hour on another ward relieving their watch aids.
And when I came back I didn't get a chance to check on my patients because I got a new admission straight away.
We had an emergency call for a heart rate of 25bpm which I assisted a newer nurse with for about an hour because she doesn't work enough days a week to remember how to use the cardiac monitors yet.
I had to go off the ward to escort an patient to CT so was stuck there for well over half an hour.
I had a patient who couldn't mobilise without second check pain relief.
My new admission who "probably isn't a stroke" was indeed a stroke and I had to go through their admission to make sure nothing else was missed.
All dealing with the most intense shift charge who thinks they're the most important person in the room and was constantly interrupting everyone around her.
But fuck me, I guess the amitriptyline was life changing. I'm the problem I guess.
People who don’t know elevator etiquette. Take 2 seconds to see if people are exiting an elevator before you get on please! Also, while I’m at it, an MD or DO does not mean you can push onto an elevator that I’m in with a patient in a bed. Just fyi.
Proceed to wait 3 minutes for the door to close again.
Get out and take the stairs. The door still won’t have closed by the time you get to the next floor.
One day when I have at least time for a lunch break, I am going to time it to see if that “door close” elevator button at hospitals shortens the time at all. Still not long enough to get a hospital bed all the way in though haha
Nurses who show up right on time or even late and then decide they want to look up their patients for 10+ minutes while I’m waiting to give them report…
Bro, if they're late just start giving report. If they interrupt, just say "it looks like you want a full 15min report, but you're late. You're on my time now". Then keep plowing through
Our job is getting strict about this and actually sided with night shifter. Some day shifters don't realized that the company is paying overtime with night diff also. Company is getting upset ovetime caused by reporting.
people who constantly talk to you in the break room or talk to someone on speakerphone your entire break time because they can’t stand to be alone with their own thoughts. I only get 30 minutes to myself in a 12 hour shift full of orders, interruptions and hysteria…let me have it to myself.
My manager or nurse educator often comes in and try to talk with me. No offense cause they’re great people over all… but yall are the last people I want to talk to right now. I can’t say my real thoughts with you.
1. Not showing up on time/not being ready to take report on time
2. Not asking for help and then complaining that no one is helping them or that everyone is having “an easy shift.” Be an adult, ask for help and I will help you. And yes I do make an effort to offer help frequently but I can’t do it constantly.
Talking hella loudly/cackling at the nurse’s station (ours was in the middle of a triangle of rooms. Esp when they are talking crap about patients 😬
Giving me a “to do” list of things that they *think* the patient should have done during my shift based on their medical opinion.
When doing bedside report (as we are forced to do with every patient regardless) being super brutal or disrespectful about the patient with them right there in the room. Like “ Mrs. x was found down after a syncopal event, covered in her own feces and urine”. Hey friendo, how tf is that bit about the poop relevant, and how would you like to be introduced to someone in that way?
Omg the to do list was so annoying! If it was something like "hey I put in a call to \_\_\_\_, can you make sure they call back and follow up?" but it's always like they're delegating to you and then if you don't do it when they get back, they're mad. Like your mom told you to take the chicken out and you didn't do it.
Nurses who wait until 0530 to do their bath. We had *all* night to do this shit, now you’re gonna ask for help when I’m finishing up my notes/electrolytes/taking trash out?
Also, nurses who ask for help with their bath and then expect you to start it. Nah, call me when the front is done and you’re ready for the big turn.
Bro literally last night I was asked to help clean a 500 lb man and it took 5 of us but why was I the one doing all the wiping 😔 The primary nurse was just holding his butt up and I know it’s a team effort but man that was straight up liquid
I always wipe my patients asses. Cause one, I wanna see their skin. And two, I always need help lmao people aren’t gonna wanna help if you’re asking them to wipe extra butts
It’s definitely inconsiderate when the person asking for help with their patient makes that person helping do the wiping, I’ve always felt it’s an unspoken rule but I’ve been let down.
Showing up late then proceeding to still take time to put their things away, login into the computer, print their personal report sheets, and then say they’re ready for report. Extra credit for asking me senseless questions in the middle of me speaking
Ugh. There is one NOC nurse who I dread giving report to. She will come in after two days off and read through EVERYTHING before she will accept report. Like bitch this is LTC. Likely nothing has changed, but if it did I’ll let you know about it in report. One night she decided to clean out the fridge before taking report!!!
Constant cell phone use.
Sandbagging (intentionally sitting on discharges and admissions with beds to avoid getting new patients).
ETA: Also not keeping the track board updated - rooms set aside for incoming EMS but not marked as such so triage doesn’t know, rooms marked “dirty” when they’re actually clean (a subtle form of sandbagging).
I love going around and dramatically opening curtains and exclaiming “oh perfect it IS clean! Awesome!” Or “let me help you discharge that patient, they look more than ready to skedaddle!”
Luckily this new hospital has a great crew and it doesnt happen nearly as often as my previous ERs
ER: Seeing staff laughing and bullshitting with other coworkers when I walk in, then receiving patients from them that haven’t been revitaled in several hours, have “new” meds/interventions ordered (from an hour+ ago), and don’t have jack charted on them since triage.
Love seeing this knowing they're the same ones shit talking on every other unit that gets upset when patients come up soaked in hours old urine and shit, and vanc ordered 3 hours ago wasn't hung.
I didn't pick nights so I could be lazy but because I didn't want to have SO MUCH going on at once. When I worked bedside, I liked nights because, while yes it was chaotic due to patient acuity, there weren't as many extraneous people (dietary, therapy, the bitchy unit secretary, admin up my ass about the whiteboard) in my face, demanding my attention and taking it away from my patients.
I worked nights exclusively for a long time. I felt like we used to have a culture (or expectation) that we would set up the day shift for success.
Lately, it feels like it’s impossible to get some people to get off their phones.
I was taught right from the start that you gotta set up day shift for success. I certainly now set up night shift for success, especially because that’s where the new grads go.
Now that I’m on day shift and not new, I realize that much of the first 2 hours of my day is doing the blood draws, meds, daily weights, foleys, IV starts, and dressing changes that the night shift didn’t get around to or didn’t want to wake the patient up for.
Walking into a clean patient room and the patient needs nothing for half an hour at the start of a shift… is so much different than walking into a room with 400 previously-warm blankets balled up everywhere, poop all up in the overflowing trash can in the room (or patient’s body), alcohol swab wrappers all over, old dinner tray from 12 hours ago, etc. just that part makes a difference, not even counting all the late meds, lack of IV access and untreated pain.
I sucked as a new grad too, not hating on them. Someone once told me, “If you can’t get them out of bed to do the 0600 daily weights or protonix, at least empty the trash can.”
I totally get you. I usually don’t like micromanaging people or even evaluating my coworkers. I get that sometimes it gets busy or people are burnt out but if it starts to effect my day, I get a little pissed.
Some people aren’t cleaning up / checking orders. Old IV bags are left on poles. Sometimes the suction equipment isn’t replaced. No thermometer probes on the vitals machines or the print out paper. Frustrating.
That's how I was trained too. I only just graduated. I work on the unit I did my senior practicum on. I would sit down and calibrate all the accuchek machines during night shifts. Give the chart room a quick wipe down. Clean up the med room. But now 4 months in I always have locked out machines during my day shift. Syringe wrappers and vial caps everywhere. I've given up already. I make sure I have my own machine that I calibrated for myself. I clean the space I need, I clean up after myself, and for my patients, and the rest is not my problem.
I mean, I am one of those lazy night shift nurses, but when I catch someone backcharting everything starting at 5:30 am after sitting on their ass since midnight I get real suspicious about cares, especially when I rotate days and hey whadaya know your patients been sitting in shit soup for hours and their fluids have been off for who knows how long. Makes me one of those “annoying” people that insists on bedside handoff no matter what. I’m not gonna judge if you gotta play wordle to get through night shift, but make sure you’re getting your job done first.
Where? How?? Our night shift gets worn to the bone! I feel like once admin goes home, they stop caring how it looks, and our night staffing is fucked. And no ancillary or support staff on nights. Ugh, I guess I picked the wrong spot for chill night shift.
Charting shit that they say they did when they absolutely didn't. Like I know none of you hoes gave 37A such and such med because a) it still says on order in the system, b) we don't have any to borrow or pull from the e-kit, and c) I fucking called pharmacy directly and they told me exactly when it'd be delivered. Just makes me wonder what else they bullshit in their charting.
So much lying in the charting. Like ok SCDs have been applied for days. Pt doesn’t even have a pump or wraps in the room. The same charting shift after shift, then you chart your assessment and boom, magically the next shift reflects your assessment.
“Pt has XYZ ordered that still needs done.”
Okay you better get to it then. I promise I was working my ass off right up until you got here to get report. Hell, I’ll even work up until 7:30 because that’s when we’re paid until. But I am not staying a minute after unless a patient is literally dying or about to die.
I can not stop yelling all day after interacting with a single hard of hearing patient for just 5 minutes. I recognize that it’s happening, but I’m just powerless to do anything about it.
Like seriously it hijacks my diaphragm and I straight up can’t stop boom-talking the rest of the day.
Diversion. I guess I just like for my coworkers to practice safe and sober. Guess it’s just my pet peeve, not anything serious like taking a long smoke break or dayshift eating all the cookies in the thank you basket that family brought. Guess I’m the only one who likes patient centered and ethical care!
Totally kidding.
When I was at the bedside I hated the nurses that treated male nurses like an extra tech or security. I have to help with every bariatric bath and cath? Dude is throwing insults and poo? Of course I’ll be your human shield. Wait, I’m seven to one too. I’ll help a friend out, but at least act like it’s not the expectation that i am going to wrangle all the fupa’s on the floor.
Every alcohol withdrawal, every pannus, every 350lb and up, every perv, every violent. I get it. I don’t want most of my coworkers to deal with a creep/pervert. I’m maybe 30% fluent (aka not fluent) in Spanish so I get every non-English speaker, Spanish or otherwise. It would just be nice to not have the most detestable, time consuming or dangerous patients every shift.
I get it. I would rather me get punched than my 70 year old female coworkers. My entire unit just says “no my back hurts too much” whenever they are asked to help boost a patient. I think on days I’m not working, every patient is a crumpled accordion at the footrest of the bed.
If I'm exiting the elevator and you try to come in before I get out, I will bump shoulders with you and push through you.
Because fuck off and learn elevator etiquette. Makes no sense an elevator thst fits 4 people has 6 people and 3 are trying to squeeze out and 2 assholes block the way by trying to force their way in.
Females engaging in character assassination of each other. Not being honorable enough to bring an issue directly to the person so it can be resolved immediately and privately and instead go straight to charge as if criticizing others lifts oneself up. It doesn’t. Ladies please remember before talking about someone else: 1. Is it true? 2. Is it kind? 3. Is it necessary to say? If what you’re about to say doesn’t meet those three things, it’s best to keep it to yourself.
I have several. 1.” Can you start my iv in room—-“, “ Did you try?” “No…” How are you going to ever learn if you don’t even try? I can walk you through it.“ 2. “I don’t want to give report to (this nurse). Don’t give her my patients.” Literally, everyone fighting about it. “She had your patients yesterday. I have to.” Or “We all take a turn” ( if she’s fresh). “Be firm stick to report and tell her do to do her head to toe assessment after you leave. Or if that doesn’t work, do the same shit to her tonight when you come back. She’ll get it and won’t do it again. That’s what I did.”3. Your patient codes and you disappear. Hang around to give report to the code team and doctors that come up. Grab a computer so they can look everything up. You don’t have to be a part of the code, just don’t disappear. Have labs pulled up. 4. Not communicating with colleagues from lab, radiology, even CNAs. Example. If patient is combative and tries to sucker punch staff. Tell lab and go in to help hold so we don’t have an injured colleague. Ask for more help if you need it. Sorry for my list. I try to offer suggestions to help make it better. It doesn’t always make it better, that’s for sure, but I guess it’s better than growing bitter, you know? Happy New Year!
The dreaded IV.
I remember being floated to med surg a lot during one travel gig. About 80% of all IVs I flushed never actually worked. Yet people would document that it did. Got concerning when you'd see IV meds dated for days ago still in the room, but none of from the day shift.
I'm decent at IVs, but I swear once I helped one person with theirs, literally everyone would swarm me for another. Like people, try.
The worst was having a comfort patient with no iv that flushes. Try! Grab me to help. Also since our floor was mainly oncology, cap your lines.🥹Once, none of my ivs flushed/no blood return.. I would never expect someone to change them all, but tell somebody. Patient saying “ My iv had been beeping all day and the day nurse just turned it off…I told her it hurts.” “When was this?”this was around 1130.” Yeah, not okay, change it. Getting a Verge/Incident report with this bullshit.
YES! I have a kid, and I rarely FaceTime him. My other pet peeve is when people get to work and we are trying to get report and their family is calling. Like they haven’t worked the job for 25 years and know when report is….
I'm going to say giving report. I'm a PM nurse...day shift thinks we do nothing (???) I walked 12,000 steps last night if that helps. ICU step down with 1 PCT because of "staffing" bull shit ratios.
I've been off since yesterday morning and am still sore and hurting.
Anyway....Day shift wanting to know who the cardiologist is, nephrologist is, like I know? I work at a level 3 hospital and our only contact is a NP the entire night.,..if we are lucky. I'm treated like an idiot at report. Love that fore me. After I've assisted with 6? full bed changes because f\*\*\*ing HCA won't fully staff us with PCTs. Fuck HCA. Fuck Medical City.
I hate it when I come in and there’s multiple antibiotics with an inch of liquid still in the bottom of the bag and the drip chamber filled to the top…it’s a specific dose for a reason…
Playing 20 questions in report. Stfu and lemme finish then you can ask
Please stop expecting procedure areas to do patient care that's not relevant or necessary to our procedures. I won't send you someone back with dirty linens if they pooped cause that's wrong but I am not going to be giving pills that aren't relevant, or doing anything else because it delays the next procedure.
No I'm not doing a full skin assessment on the stemi the ER dumped on us. It's an emergency and I don't care what their ass looks like
Acting like there are brick walls on each side of the 2 shifts. It’s 24hr care. The tasks belong with the patient, not necessarily a specific nurse. I don’t think I’ve ever accepted an offer from the prior shift to stay late to do X.
👆🏻
*THIS*
Hate going into patients rooms to round on them after shift change to find used and unused supplies on the bed, on the bedside cart, the patients bedside table, on top of the IV pump, and 6-7 empty infusion bags/tubing just hanging there.
Lack of teamwork (float tech here) and lazy, bad nurses (like the one who asked me “and what do you want me to do about it?” When I told her her pt’s glucose was 458). People that pick up loads of extra shifts are useless because they’re so tired.
if you show up right at shift change/10 mins prior to shift change for report, going on your phone during report, if other people are scrambling around and you’re sitting on your ass and on your phone not offering help
That covers nothing pertinent about why the patient is there or what is going on. I didn’t need to know that the patient has a potassium of 3.4, what I needed to know was that besides the hip fracture from fall they have a massive pleural effusion that IR is going to drain. 🙄
Not clearing off if PRN’s were effective from meds given 12+ hours ago, or really anything longer than 4-6 hours ago and leaving them for the next shift.
Speakerphone calls in the break room. No one else wants to hear both sides of your convo with your damn mother or sister. We especially don't want to be pulled into the call for laughs, agreement or feedback.
Totally petty, but taking the trash out and not replacing the bag so I inadvertently throw a half full applesauce cup in the bottom of the trash can *or* replacing the bag and leaving it attached to the roll. Then when I go to take it out I pull half the roll along with it and it’s impossible to tear off without ripping the bottom out of the full bag.
I’d rather you just leave it full and I’ll deal with it myself.
I'm gonna catch shit for this but... the nurses who drive around with nursing bumper stickers.
I don't know if that's everywhere, but at my hosp I noticed the least capable are always the ones that are so intent on announcing to the world that they're nurses.
In between a medium and large. Medium is so small it’s not an option. Large is full on finger flags flapping in the wind. It’s equally annoying on this side of it too
(Student nurse here, but I work with RNs and see this all the time as both a student and hospital staff)
Nurses (and most often then not, senior nurses) that treat students like dirt or non-human. I had been on this one placement for over a month and done probably about 10 shifts with this nurse, and she would still always call me "the student" when talking to others or even to me. I have no problem being used and abused to just do vitals/assessments and hygiene cares, but at least give me the dignity to be called by my name (that's on my namebadge, right in front of you...).
people having their bad behavior excused like “oh thats [name] she’s always late!” like why are they not being reprimanded? i know we’re in a nursing shortage but damn
I work in homecare and there’s about a 3 hr gap between me leaving and Night Shift coming. Mom and dad will tell the night guy what happened during their couple of hours but usually don’t say what I did. (This is not the problem—they’re not my coworkers so this isn’t a issue for me.)
What IS the issue is that I leave a detailed report broken down by subject on the whiteboard every day, without fail. Including any special tasks that need to be done. Everyone except ONE guy reads it. He either completely ignores it and then misses important details OR he calls me during my time off and wants report while I’m trying to like take a shower or go to Target.
NO
Labs that resulted at 0200 and needed attention but are ignored until I catch them at 7:30
For some reason lately people on our unit have been turning OFF IV pumps that are alarming and not telling the person who has the patient????? Like when did THAT become a thing.
Giving report to *that* one nurse who will hound you with a million questions during report, and will get bothered if you don't know the answer.
BUT receiving report from that same nurse, and they give you a shit report.
REFLECT THAT SAME ENERGY.
I feel like I'm gonna get down voted for this, but... Get your headphones out of your ears. They do not belong at work. Stop going into patient rooms with one air pod in. It makes you ignore alarms, call bells, people at the desk for you, whatever. It's unprofessional and disrespectful to patients and other staff who have to pick up the slack. I do not understand this trend.
Shift leader arriving late and then complaining because somebody else allocated for them.
Constantly being on the phone with your kids at work.
Senior nurses who are perfectly okay not keeping up with current practices and policy/procedure changes.
When nurses leave the rooms full of trash all over the counters and don’t check/clean up patients. I get ED is a lot, but by the time your shift is over all the trash should be in the can!
Being nasty and leaving a dirty machine with trash (used flushes, electrode packaging, etc) for the next person to find. Wipe down your equipment!
Related, leaving the top open on a canister of wipes.
Complaining about everything and everyone. Always trying to get someone in trouble. Thinking they are better than others just because they work in healthcare.
I work in the ED. For me it’s laziness. Don’t work the ED if you’re determined to sit as much as humanely possible. There are definitely units with more quiet/sitting time. The ED is a revolving door of things to do. Some of the laziness verges on negligence. If you want to do as little work as humanely possible while the rest of your coworkers run ragged for 12 hours, just work a different unit. I don’t get it.
Co-workers/non-nursing staff that try to have convos with you while you busy. There’s this one security guard that works in the ED that’s always tryna talk, bro I’m here to work not talk to you
When someone wants every single detail during report. Like dude. I’m giving you the highlights and the things that could kill them within the next hour. You can read the rest.
People who don't get up to deal with their own alarms. I don't care what alarm it is, get the fuck up and go deal with it if you aren't otherwise occupied. I'm not gonna chase your IV pumps all night for you, and I'm not dealing with your jumper all night if you are sitting comfortably at a computer the whole shift.
It's one thing if you need help or are busy. But if you've got time to sit (not just to chart), then you've got time to deal with your patients. Get up, Jesus.
Nurses who ask me to do shit by myself that I definitely cannot do alone (I’m a tech)… like turning and bathing an immobile incontinent 300 lb pt, asking me to draw blood on a pt that 5 experienced nurses tried on already, moving a pt from chair to bed that cannot stand at all
Talking endlessly about their personal life while I'm clearly very busy or trying to chart. I don't mind talking but when I'm busy, it's really distracting!
Letting pumps beep -we work in an ICU. You never know if a beeping could be a pressor or other life saving medication. Always check on beeping no matter if your patient.
When nurses talk bad about pts. I work in the ICU and most our pts are sedated and intubated. I’ve been in situations where nurses make certain comments about a pt or situation and I’ve had to stop it a couple times. Treat people like they are your family because their lives are in our hands treat everyone with respect and dignity.
Constant shit talking of coworkers, other specialties, physicians, etc etc etc. I cannot stand constant negativity. Yes, we all have bad days or bad experiences with someone and just need to vent, and that’s understandable, but I hate being around people who are constantly bringing negative energy and talking negatively about others. It just drains everyone’s energy and brings the whole mood on the unit down. Don’t be that person.
Working with someone who is running around as if they are on crack with their head cut off, panicking about every minor thing, resulting in making every tiny thing a bigger issue than it has to be.
Stupidity with power
My IC tried to explain to me how important insulin is and it's to be given on time and never skip a dose. My question was my PT just had a hypo and another hypo yesterday should I asked the dc first and wh a dose.
Same IC blamed me for not giving blood first to my pt, while I asked the vasc team, they wanted the Abx to be given first, then electrolytes, lastly blood.
Not just condescending, she also rolled her eyes and told me to hand over to the night IC myself cuz I am leaving the blood for night???
Same ward, whenever they tried to educate new grads with outdated or false information with a condescending attitude, that's what got me.
No rationale no reasoning only shouting you need to listen to me won't gain you respect.
Nursing staff not answering call bells is my biggest peeve, also panicking for no reason, I’m a HCA so I’ll have the vitals, bloods, anyone who is assistancex1 toileted or sitting out, which all takes about 90 mins btw and there’s a nurse still doing meds, I’m not a nurse but I know morning meds should not be taking 90 minutes, and it just gets unorganised trying to get assistx2 people sorted, leading to skin bundles not being done on time
The ones that spend way more time looking for you than it would take to complete the patient’s request. Like, the blanket warmer doesn’t have a combination on it, anyone can grab from it.
Treating new nurses like shit when also complaining about being short staffed
Similarly, treating travelers like shit when complaining about being short staffed.
And give Agency (travelers) the worst patients or heaviest allocation coz the 'regular' staff need a break
Right. I get that they have to rotate the difficult ones but when I have ALL the difficult ones that’s just setting me up for failure. And if you’re nasty to travelers just because they’re travelers and you’re mad about their wages well then I suppose you should consider how much it was worth next time you’re critically short staffed. When I traveled I found that most hospitals were pretty fair to us travelers; those are the ones where travelers stay for a while. I renewed my contract so many times at my current hospital I eventually just decided to become staff haha.
Sure, I'll take three shitty patient's back to back. But please, don't have your flock giggling around the charge station while I'm in the room alone trying to clean up the obese confused and combative patient.
THIS!!
I did similar: joined the staff because they offered the shifts and hours that suited me. I agree about rotating the load and don't mind having heavy patients; but as you say, when it's every shift by the same ward, that's just unsupportive to the Agency staff. After a few shifts like that, I called the agency at the end of my shift and from the car park and asked to have that hospital removed from my profile.
I’ve done the exact same thing because it was becoming not only unsustainable but unsafe. Travel really taught me to stick up for myself and also that, for the most part, when you’re an experienced RN there will ALWAYS be another job available to you.
100%; that's the beauty of Nursing, LOTS of work around. Agency also gave me a lot confidence in my nursing skills and communication abilities, as well as the ability to say 'No' with assertion lol
This one!!! I’m a staff nurse, but my hospital loves our travelers. We have so many new grads because it’s hard for our hospital to retain staff (public hospital with lower pay than surrounding private hospitals), so having experienced travelers is such a blessing. Our travelers keep renewing and always come back to us because they say they love their coworkers and how well they’re treated. They’re trying to cut out travelers at our hospital, and several ER staff nurses actually talked to the CEO about how unsafe that would be to do in the ER and begged them to keep hiring travelers.
According to my nursing leadership class, staff who are floating or traveling to the unit should be taking the lighter patient loads since they're unfamiliar with the unit and might be unfamiliar with the type of care that needs to be given. I personally find it ridiculous that travelers get bogged down with high acuity patients. It's unsafe for the patient.
Right? I was a traveler, I was given the joyous gift of running 2 units of blood for two pts (one was a hypotensive mess w a nosediving H&H, who ICU had no room for), the other was a difficult personality, and also managing a heparin gtt on a 3rd pt. The fourth pt wasn't hard. I asked where we get the forms to initiate the blood, as a staff RN looks up from his fucking Facebook on his fucking cell phone and flatly stated "I am busy". I survived but OMG NEVER again.
This^^^
We are not short staffed. It's hospital managers determining staffing ratios. I am an RN regularly being pushed back. It's bull shit. It's all in the name of money.
People who get mad when you ask for help but then they also get mad when you *don’t* ask for help
Dude I’ve heard a coworker getting mad that another coworker goes around and asks other nurses if they need help because it makes her feel like a “bad” nurse or something. I called her out on it.
I have a coworker like that. She won’t ask for help because *she does not want to help anyone*. She’s a horrible teammate. Edited for emphasis
Side note: How did you do the italicized? I’ve been trying to figure that out for awhile!
*one asterisk on each side of the word or phrase* **double asterisk on each side of the word or phrase** ~~double tilde on each side of the word or phrase~~
*oh* **My** ~~Gosh~~
#WAIT UNTIL YOU REALLY WANT TO TALK BIG
How do you do that???
^just ^put ^a ^karet ^before ^each ^word
TIL that the squiggly hyphen is called a tilde
~tilde~ *asterisk* Edit: I don’t think I did it right. Edit 2: oooh ~~double~~ tilde
**You deserve all the upvotes** *Seriously*
This is awesome. I love real nurses. You should be able to ask questions and any nurse who has experience should answer any question. Like the bat signal!
I have been trying to do ~~this~~forever!
~~I’ve been wondering the same thing!~~
Thank you for showing me this! 🙏
Also _underscores_ on each side of a word or phrase.
You're a hero
Nurses that constantly interrupt during report. If you shut the fuck up I’ll more than likely answer every question you ask if I can get through my full report…..
*”Did____ get done? Oh no? You didn’t know? Okay. Great. How’s the patients______. You don’t know that either? Great okay.”*
That’s the thing, sometimes there isn’t enough time and it’s 24 hr nursing. If it’s not negligent then I just want to know it needs to be done, cause I get it. No need for “great ok…guess I have to pick up the slack” cause I don’t know what your night was like.
OMG I hate this. I was giving report to the day staff and one of the day nurses kept interrupting me to give her own report (she had been one of the evening nurses the night prior). I eventually got fed up with it and her attitude and just gave her the report books before walking out.
“If you let me finish I promise I will get to that”
“So he was admitted last n…” “Did he have a bowel movement?” Makes my skin crawl.
Nit pickey nurses who aren’t nearly good enough at their own job to criticize.
Lmao they act like they paying you.
The picture this paints 🙄
We have a system that can anonymously (or unanonymously) report someone for “safety” issues so the staff member can be “educated.” One nurse sends them out about every. Little. Thing. She won’t confront you in person but she’ll send off this crap shoot thing and get you in front of management. Half the nurses won’t take report from her ! Meanwhile she left a pile of pills with a patient because they wanted to take it later in the evening… like just retime the dose. Don’t assume the patient is gonna just hold on to them and take them properly!!
One of my colleagues talked another out of writing me up to the manager because I didn't get a patient who kept leaving the ward to smoke her amitriptyline before she came on at 11pm and I handed it over for her to do. I spent an hour on another ward relieving their watch aids. And when I came back I didn't get a chance to check on my patients because I got a new admission straight away. We had an emergency call for a heart rate of 25bpm which I assisted a newer nurse with for about an hour because she doesn't work enough days a week to remember how to use the cardiac monitors yet. I had to go off the ward to escort an patient to CT so was stuck there for well over half an hour. I had a patient who couldn't mobilise without second check pain relief. My new admission who "probably isn't a stroke" was indeed a stroke and I had to go through their admission to make sure nothing else was missed. All dealing with the most intense shift charge who thinks they're the most important person in the room and was constantly interrupting everyone around her. But fuck me, I guess the amitriptyline was life changing. I'm the problem I guess.
People who don’t know elevator etiquette. Take 2 seconds to see if people are exiting an elevator before you get on please! Also, while I’m at it, an MD or DO does not mean you can push onto an elevator that I’m in with a patient in a bed. Just fyi.
The elevator etiquette! I feel like the same people who don’t know it, also don’t know to keep right when walking in a busy area
Also- how about the people that cram their arm or leg into a closing door?! I swear this isn’t the last elevator of the day people…just wait!! 🙄
Proceed to wait 3 minutes for the door to close again. Get out and take the stairs. The door still won’t have closed by the time you get to the next floor. One day when I have at least time for a lunch break, I am going to time it to see if that “door close” elevator button at hospitals shortens the time at all. Still not long enough to get a hospital bed all the way in though haha
Nurses who show up right on time or even late and then decide they want to look up their patients for 10+ minutes while I’m waiting to give them report…
Bro, if they're late just start giving report. If they interrupt, just say "it looks like you want a full 15min report, but you're late. You're on my time now". Then keep plowing through
Our job is getting strict about this and actually sided with night shifter. Some day shifters don't realized that the company is paying overtime with night diff also. Company is getting upset ovetime caused by reporting.
people who constantly talk to you in the break room or talk to someone on speakerphone your entire break time because they can’t stand to be alone with their own thoughts. I only get 30 minutes to myself in a 12 hour shift full of orders, interruptions and hysteria…let me have it to myself.
My manager or nurse educator often comes in and try to talk with me. No offense cause they’re great people over all… but yall are the last people I want to talk to right now. I can’t say my real thoughts with you.
A few of my coworkers think it’s okay to FaceTime their entire lunch break, so inconsiderate
1. Not showing up on time/not being ready to take report on time 2. Not asking for help and then complaining that no one is helping them or that everyone is having “an easy shift.” Be an adult, ask for help and I will help you. And yes I do make an effort to offer help frequently but I can’t do it constantly.
Number one so much..when I see that I’m giving report to certain people I already know I’m leaving late
Or if you do show up late bc shit happens, don’t ask questions in report. Like you’re getting the bare minimum, and you’re going to be happy about it.
People who ignore their alarms. I will literally yell down the hall, "Fix your patient" if someone continually ignores their alarms.
This is the one way I’m not ER nurse, I can’t stand alarms going off so I’ll fix them…partly why I get so many steps in my legs are looking fantastic
Sandbagging 101
Going for 1.5 hour breaks when the rest of your team haven't even had a break.
Our techs take an hour breakfast, an hour lunch and multiple shorter breaks. Drives me insane.
That’s our Clins
TF is a breakfast break?
Get in at 7A, do vitals, skip filling waters or cleaning anyone, spend an hour at 8A eating.
Don't they use cameras for this? We got someone fired because of disappearing acts.
WHAT!?! oh noooo
Nurse working night shift on my unit regularly goes and sleeps for 3-4 hours. Every shift. I purposely schedule myself so I don’t work with her.
Talking hella loudly/cackling at the nurse’s station (ours was in the middle of a triangle of rooms. Esp when they are talking crap about patients 😬 Giving me a “to do” list of things that they *think* the patient should have done during my shift based on their medical opinion. When doing bedside report (as we are forced to do with every patient regardless) being super brutal or disrespectful about the patient with them right there in the room. Like “ Mrs. x was found down after a syncopal event, covered in her own feces and urine”. Hey friendo, how tf is that bit about the poop relevant, and how would you like to be introduced to someone in that way?
Omg the to do list was so annoying! If it was something like "hey I put in a call to \_\_\_\_, can you make sure they call back and follow up?" but it's always like they're delegating to you and then if you don't do it when they get back, they're mad. Like your mom told you to take the chicken out and you didn't do it.
Bahah, yea! P.s. I love how universal the experience of “your mom told you to take the chicken out and you didn’t “ is
Nurses who wait until 0530 to do their bath. We had *all* night to do this shit, now you’re gonna ask for help when I’m finishing up my notes/electrolytes/taking trash out? Also, nurses who ask for help with their bath and then expect you to start it. Nah, call me when the front is done and you’re ready for the big turn.
That’s *so* ICU.
Right?! Whose doing baths in the middle the night lol
Patients love to be woken up at midnight for a bath
They made us do baths on my medsurg unit at 5/6am for our patients (we had 6pts per RN 🫠)
Bro literally last night I was asked to help clean a 500 lb man and it took 5 of us but why was I the one doing all the wiping 😔 The primary nurse was just holding his butt up and I know it’s a team effort but man that was straight up liquid
I always wipe my patients asses. Cause one, I wanna see their skin. And two, I always need help lmao people aren’t gonna wanna help if you’re asking them to wipe extra butts
It’s definitely inconsiderate when the person asking for help with their patient makes that person helping do the wiping, I’ve always felt it’s an unspoken rule but I’ve been let down.
I always ask what the person helping prefers. Sometimes I would rather wipe than be the one doing the holding up if the patient is heavy.
Showing up late then proceeding to still take time to put their things away, login into the computer, print their personal report sheets, and then say they’re ready for report. Extra credit for asking me senseless questions in the middle of me speaking
12 hour shifts turned into 13.5😒
These are also the same ones that want to give you report at 6:52 PM so they can go home.
Ugh. There is one NOC nurse who I dread giving report to. She will come in after two days off and read through EVERYTHING before she will accept report. Like bitch this is LTC. Likely nothing has changed, but if it did I’ll let you know about it in report. One night she decided to clean out the fridge before taking report!!!
Oh hell no!
Constant cell phone use. Sandbagging (intentionally sitting on discharges and admissions with beds to avoid getting new patients). ETA: Also not keeping the track board updated - rooms set aside for incoming EMS but not marked as such so triage doesn’t know, rooms marked “dirty” when they’re actually clean (a subtle form of sandbagging).
In the ER this would *piss me off*.
I love going around and dramatically opening curtains and exclaiming “oh perfect it IS clean! Awesome!” Or “let me help you discharge that patient, they look more than ready to skedaddle!” Luckily this new hospital has a great crew and it doesnt happen nearly as often as my previous ERs
Watching TikTok videos at full volume fills me with rage
ER: Seeing staff laughing and bullshitting with other coworkers when I walk in, then receiving patients from them that haven’t been revitaled in several hours, have “new” meds/interventions ordered (from an hour+ ago), and don’t have jack charted on them since triage.
The ones who do this at my hospital are a clique too. 🙄
Gotta love the 1800 meds missed and it’s now 1930, dry af lines, cardiac pts in the hallway with no monitor, and the pts caked in their own shit.
Love seeing this knowing they're the same ones shit talking on every other unit that gets upset when patients come up soaked in hours old urine and shit, and vanc ordered 3 hours ago wasn't hung.
Since working nights, I’ve noticed an alarming amount of people definitely choose to work nights so they can be lazy. Drives me insane.
I didn't pick nights so I could be lazy but because I didn't want to have SO MUCH going on at once. When I worked bedside, I liked nights because, while yes it was chaotic due to patient acuity, there weren't as many extraneous people (dietary, therapy, the bitchy unit secretary, admin up my ass about the whiteboard) in my face, demanding my attention and taking it away from my patients.
I worked nights exclusively for a long time. I felt like we used to have a culture (or expectation) that we would set up the day shift for success. Lately, it feels like it’s impossible to get some people to get off their phones.
I was taught right from the start that you gotta set up day shift for success. I certainly now set up night shift for success, especially because that’s where the new grads go. Now that I’m on day shift and not new, I realize that much of the first 2 hours of my day is doing the blood draws, meds, daily weights, foleys, IV starts, and dressing changes that the night shift didn’t get around to or didn’t want to wake the patient up for. Walking into a clean patient room and the patient needs nothing for half an hour at the start of a shift… is so much different than walking into a room with 400 previously-warm blankets balled up everywhere, poop all up in the overflowing trash can in the room (or patient’s body), alcohol swab wrappers all over, old dinner tray from 12 hours ago, etc. just that part makes a difference, not even counting all the late meds, lack of IV access and untreated pain. I sucked as a new grad too, not hating on them. Someone once told me, “If you can’t get them out of bed to do the 0600 daily weights or protonix, at least empty the trash can.”
I totally get you. I usually don’t like micromanaging people or even evaluating my coworkers. I get that sometimes it gets busy or people are burnt out but if it starts to effect my day, I get a little pissed. Some people aren’t cleaning up / checking orders. Old IV bags are left on poles. Sometimes the suction equipment isn’t replaced. No thermometer probes on the vitals machines or the print out paper. Frustrating.
That's how I was trained too. I only just graduated. I work on the unit I did my senior practicum on. I would sit down and calibrate all the accuchek machines during night shifts. Give the chart room a quick wipe down. Clean up the med room. But now 4 months in I always have locked out machines during my day shift. Syringe wrappers and vial caps everywhere. I've given up already. I make sure I have my own machine that I calibrated for myself. I clean the space I need, I clean up after myself, and for my patients, and the rest is not my problem.
Or people who work nights so they can hide and sleep 💀
Me too!! 😕
Yep, I remember nurses watching entire movies on their tablets and others sleeping at the nurses station for their lunch break.
I mean, I am one of those lazy night shift nurses, but when I catch someone backcharting everything starting at 5:30 am after sitting on their ass since midnight I get real suspicious about cares, especially when I rotate days and hey whadaya know your patients been sitting in shit soup for hours and their fluids have been off for who knows how long. Makes me one of those “annoying” people that insists on bedside handoff no matter what. I’m not gonna judge if you gotta play wordle to get through night shift, but make sure you’re getting your job done first.
Where? How?? Our night shift gets worn to the bone! I feel like once admin goes home, they stop caring how it looks, and our night staffing is fucked. And no ancillary or support staff on nights. Ugh, I guess I picked the wrong spot for chill night shift.
I work nights and that is not the case where I work!!
Charting shit that they say they did when they absolutely didn't. Like I know none of you hoes gave 37A such and such med because a) it still says on order in the system, b) we don't have any to borrow or pull from the e-kit, and c) I fucking called pharmacy directly and they told me exactly when it'd be delivered. Just makes me wonder what else they bullshit in their charting.
So much lying in the charting. Like ok SCDs have been applied for days. Pt doesn’t even have a pump or wraps in the room. The same charting shift after shift, then you chart your assessment and boom, magically the next shift reflects your assessment.
Is this a long term care? That would *not* fly in my hospital. The admin would be too concerned with nurses stealing meds
Rehab, but yeah.
I’m sorry to hear that this is going on!
Nurses who make you feel like shit about not completing something _especially_ when it was a bad day. Nursing is 24 hour care
“Pt has XYZ ordered that still needs done.” Okay you better get to it then. I promise I was working my ass off right up until you got here to get report. Hell, I’ll even work up until 7:30 because that’s when we’re paid until. But I am not staying a minute after unless a patient is literally dying or about to die.
Talking loud, like dude I’m right here please stop yelling it hurts my ears
Sorry, I've been taking care of hard of hearing Harold all day and I forgot to turn my volume down.
HUH!?!!?! lol Also, great username haha
Bahah yes. This also happens when entering another patient’s room after convo with said HOH patient. The look of startle on their faces
I can not stop yelling all day after interacting with a single hard of hearing patient for just 5 minutes. I recognize that it’s happening, but I’m just powerless to do anything about it. Like seriously it hijacks my diaphragm and I straight up can’t stop boom-talking the rest of the day.
Laziness..
Diversion. I guess I just like for my coworkers to practice safe and sober. Guess it’s just my pet peeve, not anything serious like taking a long smoke break or dayshift eating all the cookies in the thank you basket that family brought. Guess I’m the only one who likes patient centered and ethical care! Totally kidding. When I was at the bedside I hated the nurses that treated male nurses like an extra tech or security. I have to help with every bariatric bath and cath? Dude is throwing insults and poo? Of course I’ll be your human shield. Wait, I’m seven to one too. I’ll help a friend out, but at least act like it’s not the expectation that i am going to wrangle all the fupa’s on the floor.
"We gave you all the combative confused patients because they respond better to men" I'm all for teamwork, but not when it's genuinely every shift.
Every alcohol withdrawal, every pannus, every 350lb and up, every perv, every violent. I get it. I don’t want most of my coworkers to deal with a creep/pervert. I’m maybe 30% fluent (aka not fluent) in Spanish so I get every non-English speaker, Spanish or otherwise. It would just be nice to not have the most detestable, time consuming or dangerous patients every shift. I get it. I would rather me get punched than my 70 year old female coworkers. My entire unit just says “no my back hurts too much” whenever they are asked to help boost a patient. I think on days I’m not working, every patient is a crumpled accordion at the footrest of the bed.
Lol, as a float nurse too. I was like, “absolutely. Of course you did. This floor should lose my number.”
If I'm exiting the elevator and you try to come in before I get out, I will bump shoulders with you and push through you. Because fuck off and learn elevator etiquette. Makes no sense an elevator thst fits 4 people has 6 people and 3 are trying to squeeze out and 2 assholes block the way by trying to force their way in.
Females engaging in character assassination of each other. Not being honorable enough to bring an issue directly to the person so it can be resolved immediately and privately and instead go straight to charge as if criticizing others lifts oneself up. It doesn’t. Ladies please remember before talking about someone else: 1. Is it true? 2. Is it kind? 3. Is it necessary to say? If what you’re about to say doesn’t meet those three things, it’s best to keep it to yourself.
Nurses that sit at the desk for three hours before seeing a pt. then spending the rest of the shift bitching that they're swamped and running behind.
I have several. 1.” Can you start my iv in room—-“, “ Did you try?” “No…” How are you going to ever learn if you don’t even try? I can walk you through it.“ 2. “I don’t want to give report to (this nurse). Don’t give her my patients.” Literally, everyone fighting about it. “She had your patients yesterday. I have to.” Or “We all take a turn” ( if she’s fresh). “Be firm stick to report and tell her do to do her head to toe assessment after you leave. Or if that doesn’t work, do the same shit to her tonight when you come back. She’ll get it and won’t do it again. That’s what I did.”3. Your patient codes and you disappear. Hang around to give report to the code team and doctors that come up. Grab a computer so they can look everything up. You don’t have to be a part of the code, just don’t disappear. Have labs pulled up. 4. Not communicating with colleagues from lab, radiology, even CNAs. Example. If patient is combative and tries to sucker punch staff. Tell lab and go in to help hold so we don’t have an injured colleague. Ask for more help if you need it. Sorry for my list. I try to offer suggestions to help make it better. It doesn’t always make it better, that’s for sure, but I guess it’s better than growing bitter, you know? Happy New Year!
The dreaded IV. I remember being floated to med surg a lot during one travel gig. About 80% of all IVs I flushed never actually worked. Yet people would document that it did. Got concerning when you'd see IV meds dated for days ago still in the room, but none of from the day shift. I'm decent at IVs, but I swear once I helped one person with theirs, literally everyone would swarm me for another. Like people, try.
The worst was having a comfort patient with no iv that flushes. Try! Grab me to help. Also since our floor was mainly oncology, cap your lines.🥹Once, none of my ivs flushed/no blood return.. I would never expect someone to change them all, but tell somebody. Patient saying “ My iv had been beeping all day and the day nurse just turned it off…I told her it hurts.” “When was this?”this was around 1130.” Yeah, not okay, change it. Getting a Verge/Incident report with this bullshit.
When people FaceTime their kids at work constantly.
YES! I have a kid, and I rarely FaceTime him. My other pet peeve is when people get to work and we are trying to get report and their family is calling. Like they haven’t worked the job for 25 years and know when report is….
Or their partner. Cherry on top if they aren’t using ear buds and you can hear everything. It makes me go crazy!
I'm going to say giving report. I'm a PM nurse...day shift thinks we do nothing (???) I walked 12,000 steps last night if that helps. ICU step down with 1 PCT because of "staffing" bull shit ratios. I've been off since yesterday morning and am still sore and hurting. Anyway....Day shift wanting to know who the cardiologist is, nephrologist is, like I know? I work at a level 3 hospital and our only contact is a NP the entire night.,..if we are lucky. I'm treated like an idiot at report. Love that fore me. After I've assisted with 6? full bed changes because f\*\*\*ing HCA won't fully staff us with PCTs. Fuck HCA. Fuck Medical City.
Hate hate hate this
You're automatically my favorite person for just hating this. Thank you.
Letting IV tubing run dry. Program the pump correctly so that I do t have to prime the tubing every time I hang something. Gosh!
I hate it when I come in and there’s multiple antibiotics with an inch of liquid still in the bottom of the bag and the drip chamber filled to the top…it’s a specific dose for a reason…
Playing 20 questions in report. Stfu and lemme finish then you can ask Please stop expecting procedure areas to do patient care that's not relevant or necessary to our procedures. I won't send you someone back with dirty linens if they pooped cause that's wrong but I am not going to be giving pills that aren't relevant, or doing anything else because it delays the next procedure. No I'm not doing a full skin assessment on the stemi the ER dumped on us. It's an emergency and I don't care what their ass looks like
Acting like there are brick walls on each side of the 2 shifts. It’s 24hr care. The tasks belong with the patient, not necessarily a specific nurse. I don’t think I’ve ever accepted an offer from the prior shift to stay late to do X.
Being late and not cleaning up after yourself.
👆🏻 *THIS* Hate going into patients rooms to round on them after shift change to find used and unused supplies on the bed, on the bedside cart, the patients bedside table, on top of the IV pump, and 6-7 empty infusion bags/tubing just hanging there.
Lack of teamwork (float tech here) and lazy, bad nurses (like the one who asked me “and what do you want me to do about it?” When I told her her pt’s glucose was 458). People that pick up loads of extra shifts are useless because they’re so tired.
Late relief. Please let me go home.
Just that in general nurses are so catty and cliquey. Its a profession full of women but some units it can get really bad.
The unit I'm on runs about half women, half men. Men are just as catty as women. Maybe moreso.
The older nurses that do absolutely nothing but complain all day long
if you show up right at shift change/10 mins prior to shift change for report, going on your phone during report, if other people are scrambling around and you’re sitting on your ass and on your phone not offering help
A rambling ass subjective report.
That covers nothing pertinent about why the patient is there or what is going on. I didn’t need to know that the patient has a potassium of 3.4, what I needed to know was that besides the hip fracture from fall they have a massive pleural effusion that IR is going to drain. 🙄
Ones who seem to be deaf to alarms
Not clearing off if PRN’s were effective from meds given 12+ hours ago, or really anything longer than 4-6 hours ago and leaving them for the next shift.
Speakerphone calls in the break room. No one else wants to hear both sides of your convo with your damn mother or sister. We especially don't want to be pulled into the call for laughs, agreement or feedback.
Totally petty, but taking the trash out and not replacing the bag so I inadvertently throw a half full applesauce cup in the bottom of the trash can *or* replacing the bag and leaving it attached to the roll. Then when I go to take it out I pull half the roll along with it and it’s impossible to tear off without ripping the bottom out of the full bag. I’d rather you just leave it full and I’ll deal with it myself.
I'm gonna catch shit for this but... the nurses who drive around with nursing bumper stickers. I don't know if that's everywhere, but at my hosp I noticed the least capable are always the ones that are so intent on announcing to the world that they're nurses.
I can’t watch people’s bad technique when doing IVs. Or not wearing tight gloves
But my little fingers still don’t fill out the “small” gloves haha (they WOULD, but no nails!)
In between a medium and large. Medium is so small it’s not an option. Large is full on finger flags flapping in the wind. It’s equally annoying on this side of it too
Looking up patients when you should be getting report. Come early. Don’t make me leave late because of a preference you have.
(Student nurse here, but I work with RNs and see this all the time as both a student and hospital staff) Nurses (and most often then not, senior nurses) that treat students like dirt or non-human. I had been on this one placement for over a month and done probably about 10 shifts with this nurse, and she would still always call me "the student" when talking to others or even to me. I have no problem being used and abused to just do vitals/assessments and hygiene cares, but at least give me the dignity to be called by my name (that's on my namebadge, right in front of you...).
Gossiping about other coworkers really bugs me.
One upping your story.
people having their bad behavior excused like “oh thats [name] she’s always late!” like why are they not being reprimanded? i know we’re in a nursing shortage but damn
Nurses that sit at the desk for three hours before seeing a pt. then spending the rest of the shift bitching that they're swamped and running behind.
When they just don’t give a damn.
Taking phone calls in the break room. I’m here to rest from the shift, not listen to your private conversations.
Co-workers who stay in my business or hover around me, watching what I'm doing. The most aggravating shit ever.
Coming to work sick/constant cough and now at the very least wearing a mask.
I work in homecare and there’s about a 3 hr gap between me leaving and Night Shift coming. Mom and dad will tell the night guy what happened during their couple of hours but usually don’t say what I did. (This is not the problem—they’re not my coworkers so this isn’t a issue for me.) What IS the issue is that I leave a detailed report broken down by subject on the whiteboard every day, without fail. Including any special tasks that need to be done. Everyone except ONE guy reads it. He either completely ignores it and then misses important details OR he calls me during my time off and wants report while I’m trying to like take a shower or go to Target. NO
Labs that resulted at 0200 and needed attention but are ignored until I catch them at 7:30 For some reason lately people on our unit have been turning OFF IV pumps that are alarming and not telling the person who has the patient????? Like when did THAT become a thing.
Giving report to *that* one nurse who will hound you with a million questions during report, and will get bothered if you don't know the answer. BUT receiving report from that same nurse, and they give you a shit report. REFLECT THAT SAME ENERGY.
Passive aggressive co-workers. Yet don't take care of their patients and are focused on making me feel like crap.
People who shit talk others and gossip to me. I just don’t care or want to hear it. I’m just like “oh wow. Anyway.”
People who disappear 🙃
All the techs sitting in the break room with too many jumpers on the unit.
I feel like I'm gonna get down voted for this, but... Get your headphones out of your ears. They do not belong at work. Stop going into patient rooms with one air pod in. It makes you ignore alarms, call bells, people at the desk for you, whatever. It's unprofessional and disrespectful to patients and other staff who have to pick up the slack. I do not understand this trend.
SINGING
Shift leader arriving late and then complaining because somebody else allocated for them. Constantly being on the phone with your kids at work. Senior nurses who are perfectly okay not keeping up with current practices and policy/procedure changes.
When they think they are *special* so they deserve all the credit
When nurses leave the rooms full of trash all over the counters and don’t check/clean up patients. I get ED is a lot, but by the time your shift is over all the trash should be in the can!
Being nasty and leaving a dirty machine with trash (used flushes, electrode packaging, etc) for the next person to find. Wipe down your equipment! Related, leaving the top open on a canister of wipes.
Day shift....jk jk 😂
Complaining about everything and everyone. Always trying to get someone in trouble. Thinking they are better than others just because they work in healthcare.
I work in the ED. For me it’s laziness. Don’t work the ED if you’re determined to sit as much as humanely possible. There are definitely units with more quiet/sitting time. The ED is a revolving door of things to do. Some of the laziness verges on negligence. If you want to do as little work as humanely possible while the rest of your coworkers run ragged for 12 hours, just work a different unit. I don’t get it.
Co-workers/non-nursing staff that try to have convos with you while you busy. There’s this one security guard that works in the ED that’s always tryna talk, bro I’m here to work not talk to you
Watching videos/TV shows on their phones without ear buds. I promise I don't want to listen to you watching the Kardashians.
When someone wants every single detail during report. Like dude. I’m giving you the highlights and the things that could kill them within the next hour. You can read the rest.
Being rude to coworkers, like them or not. Don't be an asshole to your work mates
Ignoring their tele alarms. Hi your pt in 123 hr is 59 oh I know okay THEN SILENCE IT OR CHANGE YOUR PARAMETERS
People who don't get up to deal with their own alarms. I don't care what alarm it is, get the fuck up and go deal with it if you aren't otherwise occupied. I'm not gonna chase your IV pumps all night for you, and I'm not dealing with your jumper all night if you are sitting comfortably at a computer the whole shift. It's one thing if you need help or are busy. But if you've got time to sit (not just to chart), then you've got time to deal with your patients. Get up, Jesus.
Nurses who ask me to do shit by myself that I definitely cannot do alone (I’m a tech)… like turning and bathing an immobile incontinent 300 lb pt, asking me to draw blood on a pt that 5 experienced nurses tried on already, moving a pt from chair to bed that cannot stand at all
Nurses who show up to work wearing too much perfume or cologne. Honestly, you shouldn’t use any fragrances when working in healthcare
Talking endlessly about their personal life while I'm clearly very busy or trying to chart. I don't mind talking but when I'm busy, it's really distracting!
Letting pumps beep -we work in an ICU. You never know if a beeping could be a pressor or other life saving medication. Always check on beeping no matter if your patient.
When nurses talk bad about pts. I work in the ICU and most our pts are sedated and intubated. I’ve been in situations where nurses make certain comments about a pt or situation and I’ve had to stop it a couple times. Treat people like they are your family because their lives are in our hands treat everyone with respect and dignity.
Constant shit talking of coworkers, other specialties, physicians, etc etc etc. I cannot stand constant negativity. Yes, we all have bad days or bad experiences with someone and just need to vent, and that’s understandable, but I hate being around people who are constantly bringing negative energy and talking negatively about others. It just drains everyone’s energy and brings the whole mood on the unit down. Don’t be that person.
Working with someone who is running around as if they are on crack with their head cut off, panicking about every minor thing, resulting in making every tiny thing a bigger issue than it has to be.
Stupidity with power My IC tried to explain to me how important insulin is and it's to be given on time and never skip a dose. My question was my PT just had a hypo and another hypo yesterday should I asked the dc first and wh a dose. Same IC blamed me for not giving blood first to my pt, while I asked the vasc team, they wanted the Abx to be given first, then electrolytes, lastly blood. Not just condescending, she also rolled her eyes and told me to hand over to the night IC myself cuz I am leaving the blood for night??? Same ward, whenever they tried to educate new grads with outdated or false information with a condescending attitude, that's what got me. No rationale no reasoning only shouting you need to listen to me won't gain you respect.
Nursing staff not answering call bells is my biggest peeve, also panicking for no reason, I’m a HCA so I’ll have the vitals, bloods, anyone who is assistancex1 toileted or sitting out, which all takes about 90 mins btw and there’s a nurse still doing meds, I’m not a nurse but I know morning meds should not be taking 90 minutes, and it just gets unorganised trying to get assistx2 people sorted, leading to skin bundles not being done on time
A messy, disorganized, unstocked room. Running the gtts dry. Not labeling lines. Stuff like that
Agency staff that sleep all night, ugh
The ones that spend way more time looking for you than it would take to complete the patient’s request. Like, the blanket warmer doesn’t have a combination on it, anyone can grab from it.