Speak softly and carry a big stick…you will go far…
I am the type of person that will go above and beyond for
the people I love and people I barely even know BUT don’t mistake my kindness
for weakness…
People will test this with me especially at work. I believe
in being a team player however, in my mind I am really the leader they just
don’t realize it. That is when people think they can just run a muck and I will
be okay with that. Wrong!
Today started off wrong from the get go. I was annoyed the
entire day because people simply don’t know how to do their job that is
directly tied to me being able to do my job effectively and efficiently.
Efficiently being the key word here. I hate when people
waste my time!! So many things went wrong today that are systematic complex
problems on top of the normal laziness of people not wanting to do their job.
It is in my nature to want to fix this stuff. I have no problem calling people
and telling them I need them to do their job (speaking softly of course), do it
effectively and efficiently because I don’t have the time to wait on them
You can get people to do a lot of stuff for you if you speak
nicely but assertively. Build your credibility with people. Then when you make
that phone call to whomever, the doctor, the pharmacist, the discharge planner
and you tell them you need something and you need it now. They know you are
serious and they will do it.
I have told the pharmacist several times when I am missing
medications that I am missing the 0900 dose of whatever and its already 0930 I
need this medication asap. The pharmacist will say something like, “we are
really busy right now we will get it to you asap” and I will reply telling him,
“I will come get it in 5 minutes”.
Because I know that if I rely on the pharmacist to get my medication to
me on time it wont happen and he knows that too so he will take his sweet time
making the medication. However, when I tell him I will be there in 5 minutes to
get it and he knows I will be there in 5 minutes he will make it right away.
It is still an inconvenience for me to have to go get the
medication. I am irritated I have to do that but I also don’t want to worry
about a 0900 medication for the next 2 hours continuously checking the
medication room to see if the medication was delivered wasting more of my time
and making me even more irritated than I was to begin with.
Anyhow, enough about medications and the pharmacy…nursing
assistants…
Let me tell you why I do not believe in nursing assistants
in the hospital setting. I believe nursing assistants are great for nursing
homes, clinics, rehab facilities ect. In the hospital….no! Many nurses will not
understand this because they have never worked at a primary nursing hospital
where there are no nursing assistants. However, I have. It is a million times
better!
Is it more work? No. It’s that same amount of work. Except
you are solely reliable for all the care given. YOU are in charge of YOUR
license. The outcomes of the patients you care for are ALL yours.
With nursing assistants that is not true. The responsibility
it’s shared only on your part as the registered nurse! YOU are responsible for
the nursing assistants actions. If that nursing assistant forgets to tell you
that your patients BP is 200s/100s and has had no urine output and did not
document it in the computer and you were too busy to ask and something happens
to that patient…who do you think is going to bare the responsibility? THE RN.
Personally, I don’t like nor do I enjoy working with people
who are not motivated, passionate, or well educated to do their job. I absolutely
hate excuses! I don’t like complainers. People whom ALWAYs have a bad day. It’s
just not possible! It’s not possible that every shift you are drowning. Its not
possible every single shift you have a bad assignment. The problem is YOU. Not
the patient assignment. Not the floor you work on. It’s you!
Today was one of those days where I had to speak softly and
carry a big stick to get things done the way I needed/wanted them and in a
timely fashion. I get irritated when people don’t do their job and it’s not
because they are “busy” it’s because they have been surfing the web or on their
phone.
I can’t tell you how many times I had to ask my nursing
assistant to get up and help me and put her phone away. To be honest, I really
could have done it all myself. I don’t need her help but, it’s the principle.
Why should I do her job and my job?!
When I worked at a primary nursing facility this frustration
did not exist. As the nurse I was responsible for everything in terms of
patient care. The only person I could be
mad at if something went wrong or did not get done was myself. Also, the nurses
I worked with understood the concept of team play. Without working as a team it
was understood that we would all drown. In hospitals with nursing assistants there
is a division. Nurses’ work and nursing assistants’ work is black and white.
There is no teamwork. The best part of working at a primary nurse facility was
that we all had the same level of education and our scope of practice was
equal. I was not working with people that did not have the proper background
and training to understand the complex pathophysiology of medically ill
patients, people that did not share the same scope of practice as myself, and
people that did not understand the ramifications of their carelessness and
failure to report/document critical findings with urgency.
What is the point of nursing assistants if I am going to do
all the work anyway? Or even worse, have to listen to my patients complain
about them and spend half of my day putting out fires that would have never
been created in the first place if it were just me.
It would save me time. It would give me peace of mind. Most
importantly, it would be safer for the patients.
If you are going to do something, do your absolute best or
don’t do it at all. I am a perfectionist. My expectations and standards are
high for myself and the people I work with…speak softly and carry a big stick…
Until next time
-Norah
