Professionalism

Professionalism. So much goes into being a "professional". Not just in nursing but in every work environment. I'm prompted to write something about this because a couple of days ago it was the end of my 12 hour shift and I had  gave report on all of my patients except for one. I was looking for the day shift nurse in charging of caring for that patient to give report however, she was nowhere to be found. Therefore, I went to the day shift manager and asked if I could give her report because the staff nurse was not there. The response I received was, "no, you still have a few minutes she should be here soon". The response is not what I was expecting but if we look at it technically it was about 7:10 in the morning. "Technically" my shift ends at 7:15 am. So yes, "technically" I could wait around for another 5 minutes and hope the staff nurse shows up. However, I felt that it was an unprofessional situation as the staff nurse that was not there should have been on the floor by 6:45 am. If she was on time to work I would have been leaving on time from work. Needless to say, she was almost a half hour late to work by 7:10. So I had to pay for her unprofessionalism because I ended up leaving the hospital at about 7:35 am that morning. Why? Because the day shift manager didn't recognize that I should be LEAVING at 7:15 am not waiting until 7:15 am for a staff nurse that was running 30 minutes late and then stay late to give her report to her AT 7:15 am. Now, I really don't care about leaving at 7:35 am but it's the principle. I had to pay for someone else's unprofessionalism. When the right thing to have been done was the day shift manager take report for the day shift nurse and let me leave on time and not make me assume responsibility for someone else's unprofessionalism. But, in the "professional" world you learn to pick your battles and this one wasn't worth it to me.

A battle that is worth my breath again comes back to professionalism. Now, my floor has private rooms and semi private rooms. We are a primary nursing facility which means there are no nursing aids or assistants. The RN does everything for all 4 or 5 patients. We all know there are intercoms in the room so you can ask the patient what they need without going into the room. This is great if it's a PRIVATE room. However, semi private, NOT ok between the hours of 10 pm and 6 am. I personally never answer my patients from  the intercom whether its private and certainly not if its semi private. Why?? Because in semi private rooms there is only a curtain separating the two patients. I don't appreciate and especially my patient that is trying to get some rest doesn't appreciate the other patient who constantly needs to be readjusted or needs pain meds to wake him/her up by calling the nurse every 20 minutes and the nurse shouting over the intercom, "hi Mr. Doe how can I help you". Could you

imagine if you were in the other bed trying to sleep?! You would not be happy. I have a few coworkers that have done that and I've had to approach them and ask them in a professional manner to please stop using the intercom in the middle of the night because my patient was frustrated and could not sleep. Again, this boils back down to professionalism. Being professional in this situation means being considerate that there are other people in the room not just your patient you are answering on the intercom. It would be much more effective to slip into the room quietly and ask Mr. Doe what he needs in person quietly. I am sure Mr. Doe would be happy with that service and sure as hell his roomie would be too. 

As nurses sometimes we forget that our patients are our customers. That is why we are there. For them. Not for our convenience. It is these things that make patients give high satisfaction scores for a hospital. It's courtesy over efficiency. Figure out how to be courteous and efficient at the same damn time. Your patients, their roommates, family members etc will love you for it. You are a professional so act like one. It's just like when you go into a store lets use home depot for example. You walk into Home Depot and you are looking for a certain type of screw. Now you know Home Depot has a whole entire isle dedicated to screws and this is not stuff you are really familiar with so you ask an employee for help. The first employee tells you where you can find the screw and points you in the right direction. So you go and you look and you still can't find the damn screw you need. So you ask another employee. THAT employee stops whatever she is doing and not only tells you where the screw is but WALKS you over and SHOWS you exactly where the screw is so your not wasting your time looking around. That is being professional. The second employee recognized you as a customer is more important that whatever the task at hand was and stopped everything to help you. Intern, you are happy with your service and next time you go to Home Depot you wouldn't hesitate to ask that same employee for help because you know they will actually be helpful!

It's not rocket science. Nursing is customer service just like anything else. Your patients are your customers. Being in a hospital that is trying to get magnet certified it is so imperative that all the nurses understand this. Courtesy above efficiency is how you become a magnet hospital. Being a professional is part of being courteous to your patients as well as your coworkers and all other staff and family members. Anyways, I've rambled on too long on this subject.

Moral of the story if you want to be treated like a professional act like a professional.

Until Next Time.

-Norah