I was not pleased a couple days ago when I had to transfer a patient to another floor. They had been with us for about 15 minutes when the patient informed us that they had tested positive for MRSA within the past few weeks in the doctor's office. This was not good as the patient was in a semi-private room and the roommate was free of all bugs. I had to get the patient with MRSA out of there and into a private room. After looking at the bed situation we had no private rooms available, and there were no possible bed moves to be made to alleviate the situation. So, I called admitting to see if we could find this patient a different floor to move to. We knew we'd be getting the patient post-op, but at least this would buy us another day to move some people around and hopefully have a bed available.
About 2 hours later I finally am able to make the transfer. As I'm giving report to the other nurse it's clear that they are less than thrilled about having to take this patient, and they immediately put me on edge with this comment: "He probably knows what to say to get a private room without having to pay for it." Excuse me? Does this other nurse seriously think that a patient with underlying dementia (yes, I already told her that in report) is with it enough to come up with an elaborate scheme to get a private room? The next question she posed after I explained in the kindest way possible why he was indeed MRSA positive was, "Don't you guys have any private rooms?"
At that point I wanted to go up there and speak to this nurses face-to-face. Does she really believe that I'm that stupid to have not put him in a private room or do bed changes if it was an option? I was completely taken aback and actually had to pause to put together my response. It was incredibly difficult for me to keep my composure and not respond the way I really wanted to her patronizing questions. But I did because it is important not to take things personally. This nurse was just upset that she had to take another patient and was dealing with it in her own way.
Tuesday, September 25, 2007
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1 comments:
I've been trying to figure that dynamic out for awhile. I work with people who are taken aback when someone else just assumes they don't know what they're doing (Gosh. You mean physicians second-guess computer technologists with two decades of experience? Say it ain't so!). Some of the people around me give it right back and don't notice except to get mad when it comes around to them.
I try really hard not make that kind of assumption, but I used to, a lot. Confidence in a routine seems to breed a contempt for all that is not in our domain. I assume it's a turf thing, but it requires real effort NOT to be that way. I wish I could wipe it out because it's damaging.
For what it's worth, the nurse wasn't actively thinking you're stupid. The nurse was going through all the permutations of stuff other people do to HER without thinking about HER situation.
This is learned. I wanna unlearn people of it.
The first step is to notice your reaction...
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