Quick rant

Spectra-link phone rings...
Aide: Minnie? 37 needs to see her nurse right away.
Me: Okay. What's up?
--- no reply. call ended ----
Drop what I'm doing and head down to room 37.
Me: Mrs. 37? Everything alright??
37: I need the bedpan.
(it's too late)


I will clean poop anytime, but seriously??? C'mon!! ASK the patient why they need the nurse and prevent a problem. At least I'd like to think this was the case, and not that the patient was already soiled and the aide didn't want to deal with it!

Okay. Feel better now. Last edit by MinnieMomRN on Aug 9, '10
Once, I had a patient who insisted I get the nurse. I asked him if I could help, he said I just want the nurse. So I dutifully went off and got the RN...Patient wanted another blanket

omg on the floor I used to work this happened all the time. We had a ward clerk that answered call lights at the desk. He would page me, call me, find me, for every single call light that went off. Now, I'm with you, I have no problem cleaning patients or changing them, however, ASK the patient what they need. I stopped med pass, dressing changes etc, so many times to get another patient some ice its not even funny. I started getting so behind in what needed to get done I finally asked him to PLEASE find out what they need. I feel your pain MinnieMom

Yes some people are lazy or have no brains, or just don't want to work!Tell them next time to do their job not ring you all the time...can't stand lazy people!

I got the opposite at work the other day! I'm an aide in a LTC facility. The nurse was in with a resident giving him his meds and when she was done she came to find me to say "Rob (not his real name) has some dirty clothes on the floor and needs a new blanket. I tried to do it but he wouldn't let me, because he didn't want to be a bother." I guess he doesn't want to bother the nurse, who is willing to do it, but go ahead and bother the aide who still has 6 people to get into bed!

Quote from pharmgirlomg on the floor I used to work this happened all the time. We had a ward clerk that answered call lights at the desk. He would page me, call me, find me, for every single call light that went off. Now, I'm with you, I have no problem cleaning patients or changing them, however, ASK the patient what they need. I stopped med pass, dressing changes etc, so many times to get another patient some ice its not even funny. I started getting so behind in what needed to get done I finally asked him to PLEASE find out what they need.

I've also heard the comment, "If I do this for them now, tomorrow it's my job.." Sigh.

I have worked as a tech in a hospital, a CNA in LTC and a unit coodinator in a hospital so I have seen it from a few different sides. As the unit coordinator I sat at the desk and answered call lights. I always said "Can I help you?" meaning "can I listen to your need and direct you to the appropriate person." We were NEVER allowed to leave the desk and go help then ourselves although I would have becasue I was also a tech in the same hospital on other nights.I ALWAYS tried to get them to tell me exactly what they needed so I could call either the nurse or the aide. If the aide could do the job I called them first, since there are lots of things ONLY the RN can do. But MANY times the aide had 5 or 6 people stacked up waiting to go the the bathroom. Then I would check to see if the nurse was free.Many times the patient would NOT tell me what they needed they just insisted they needed their nurse. I then tried to prompt them, as in " Your nurse is busy, can I send in your aide?" But some patients insist that they see the nurse, even for ice.There were times when so many call lights were going off and admissions were coming in and Dr.s were placing orders, thru me, that I needed 6 hands. The desk can get super busy and I only realized that after I became a tech and a unit clerk.

Yes malemI was a unit coordinator in a huge, busy teaching hospital, in a plastics and reconstructive/burns unit. I wasn't really allowed to leave the desk, and if I had to go to the ward/outpatients wherever, I was asked at times to help a patient to the bathroom etc if the nurses were at handover or busy, but legally I would explain I couldn't, because if anything happened to the patient I and the hospital would get sued. The nurses used to literally beg and I only helped get a patient off the toilet once cos the nurse was nearly crying to get help (management just wouldn't listen of course). I also had my own busy phone to answer and other duties to do - I was off sick for 2 days once (I got sick from stress at work), and had I think about 80 calls on the answer service because management, in their wisdom, didn't bother to replace me. It took me a whole day and working overtime to get through the messages and deal with urgent matters.Being a nurse and having done admin/theatre coordination, the latter was more busy than nursing but in a different way. So I have an idea re both jobs.Some nurses implied to me one day that as some of us sat at a desk for a living, that we just filed our nails all day. God did I set them straight that day!And the phone was insane everyday - and yes I would get told off if I had to go away to leave the phone to go to voicemail - people would ring my big boss and complain. Yes, been there done that....

I love it... "rings call bell... I need my nurse"... sec says "how may we help you?".... 'pt... I need MY nurse"... nurse interrupted in med pass to bring a coke. Yeah.... that's what a college education has brought me down to. GREAT. Now I'm a drink dispenser too.

You lot hand out soft drinks in a hospital??? The closest we get up here is Ginger Ale for unsettled stomachs.Patient wants pop? Family brings it in.

I get it in a different way...I'm passing meds (LTC) and am in the room and the resident wants the CNA...(not that I have all the time in the world) I ask if I can help...no..you are busy (yes..I am, but..) Just have Gina help me. (Gina the cna has 20 on her assingment because of a call off) I ask if I can help, again. What does the resident need???? Ice or just a pillow fluff!!!!! Oye. I try to explain that we try to work together as a team, but apparently I'm over qualified to get ice. Oye!

I agree with your rant 100%. I get paged to the nurses' station about 1,200 times a night.....and it could be for a patient with a blood glucose level too low to register or a television remote control that's not working.