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Well, I do learn something new every shift–and it isn’t always pleasant. Take a recent shift as charge nurse: I found out pretty fast that I should ALWAYS let the docs have their conversations. Management was pretty smart in implementing a doc-to-doc conversation rule when it comes to major procedures and intervention on our floor. Unfortunately, I found out the hard way how valuable such a rule is.
Without going into too much detail, we had a minor emergency on our hands the other night that required surgical intervention. As charge nurse, I have to make sure everyone is in the “know” so I end up making phone calls. The reality is, if I don’t make calls, sometimes we have a serious communication lapse. That in itself can get ugly.
So, I intervened and called a doc for another doctor–and all heck broke loose. I basically got caught in the middle of a huge blow up fight between the two of them, and consequently was not only thrown under the bus, but run over several time. This nurse became the fall guy–and if it wasn’t for my team who stuck up for me, I would have had a serious melt down. I kept my cool, got everything accomplished in a timely and safe manner…but the patient heard the whole blow-up! AGGG! Up the chain of command I went…not fun after a 13 hour shift.
Yeah, so lesson learned. If there is a lapse in communication between docs, I’m not going to attempt to fix it–let them iron things out. I’ll keep my mouth shut, do my job, and watch my butt while taking care of my patients.
