PACU Nurses: How do you handle them?

[coprolalia]

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Okay. Moving on.

-copro

 

[maceo]

Arch,

Did you read this...



This is ultimately about who's responsible for the patient. Again, I know someone who's being hauled into court because of an incident in the PACU. None of the PACU nurses have been named.

Figure it out. This is about more than just "getting along" and I hope many of you reading this realize that. I agree wholeheartedly with Gern Blansten about picking and choosing your battles. Too often, though, all I see is doormats. We're giving away our Profession... slowly... by bits and pieces...

-copro

Im not saying you are wrong. You are right when you say nurses have to follow orders etcetcetc.. but you are causing yourself more heartache
if you wanna challenge nurses.. just move on if they are not actively assasinating you rpatient.

 

[jetproppilot]

Im not saying you are wrong. You are right when you say nurses have to follow orders etcetcetc.. but you are causing yourself more heartache
if you wanna challenge nurses.. just move on if they are not actively assasinating you rpatient.

Concur.

Wasnt saying you were wrong either, Cop.

Agree with the Jetted text above which was my point as well.

 

[coprolalia]

One night on call a PACU nurse gave the "standard" morphine dose post-op. Didn't realize the order wasn't in. Also failed to realize the patient had CKD 4, and that the morphine would be hanging out for a long, long time. She sneaked around and casually asked us to write the order. Resident said no when they realized why the morphine wasn't ordered. Nurse went up the chain to the attending, who also said no. Then she jumped over to another chain, and asked the sucker PA to write the order, who also likely didn't understand the effects of impaired renal Fx on morphine. PA wrote the order.

I never once thought about compromising what I thought was right that evening. That nurse wasn't getting shit from us. I still lokk at her suspiciously to this day.

Similar situation in my intern year. The nurse should've been fired and had a permanent demerit noted on her state license. Almost killed a patient with a narcotic she was expressly told not to give (and none was ordered).

When absolutely nothing happened to her because she was popular and feared, I realized that the whole system is basically f**ked and rigged. Sad really that I got so jaded very early in my training. Maybe I just was lucky enough to have my eyes opened early on. Like Zack de la Rocha, though, I for some reason feel the strong and compelling need to speak out against some of the bullsh*t I see, and try to change it (not that I agree at all with a lot of what comes out of that dude's mouth).

But I thought we were talking about delayed signouts. That's a completely different story. I'm not gonna raise hell because a nurse is too fukin lazy to hook up a bp cuff. It happens to me all the time in OB. Drop off a C/S, I've got the Pt. hooked up, BP done, my charting done by the time I see a nurse. Some of them don't even know what the pulse ox cable looks like on the new machine. My goal is to get out of there, period.

Yeah, but then they try to write you up for not doing it, or if you pointiout that they should be doing it (which is what I gather has happened to the OP). That's my point. That's the game. If they can get in your grill first, they will. Don't reinforce their laziness. Don't do their job too. Make sure people know what's going on there as well. We all have a job to do and yours and my time, unlike their's, is not finite and "on the clock." It's a waste of your valuable time to do their work. Don't forget that.

Also, I agree with what Dimoak said earlier in this thread... except that I necessarily should have to be pleasant when someone is being a sh*thead and trying to pick a fight with me.

-copro

 

[ProRealDoc]

Similar situation in my intern year. The nurse should've been fired and had a permanent demerit noted on her state license. Almost killed a patient with a narcotic she was expressly told not to give (and none was ordered).

When absolutely nothing happened to her because she was popular and feared, I realized that the whole system is basically f**ked and rigged. Sad really that I got so jaded very early in my training. Maybe I just was lucky enough to have my eyes opened early on. Like Zack de la Rocha, though, I for some reason feel the strong and compelling need to speak out against some of the bullsh*t I see, and try to change it (not that I agree at all with a lot of what comes out of that dude's mouth).

Yeah, but then they try to write you up for not doing it, or if you pointiout that they should be doing it (which is what I gather has happened to the OP). That's my point. That's the game. If they can get in your grill first, they will. Don't reinforce their laziness. Don't do their job too. Make sure people know what's going on there as well. We all have a job to do and yours and my time, unlike their's, is not finite and "on the clock." It's a waste of your valuable time to do their work. Don't forget that.

Also, I agree with what Dimoak said earlier in this thread... except that I necessarily should have to be pleasant when someone is being a sh*thead and trying to pick a fight with me.

-copro

Zach de la rocha is the $hit!

 

[maceo]

I for some reason feel the strong and compelling need to speak out against some of the bullsh*t I see, and try to change it
-copro

Do yourself and your adrenals and your sanity a favor and DONT TRY TO CHANGE s h it. you aint gonna win. what dont you understand about that?

 

[kmurp]

I "handled" it by marrying one.

 

[maceo]

I "handled" it by marrying one.

better than marrying a crna