There are a lot of things in my day-to-day activities as a RN that let me know I chose the right career field. Smiles from a sweet, elderly woman or an unexpected thank you. When I see a patient bounce back from the brink of death, and later go home better than they arrived, I feel accomplished. It makes my heart feel good to see folks get well. In fact it makes all the not-so-great stuff seem less.
But still. Despite the many rewards that outweigh the frustrating moments there are still some things that really grate on my nerves. These things make me grit my teeth and want to scream. They are the things that I can’t even deal with. Or at least I wish I didn’t have to deal with them.
I’m sure I could make a completely different list depending on the given day, but here’s ten things that today I just can’t even.
1. Computer problems. Come on man! I am already eight hours behind on charting after coding that STEMI from the ER, and I’m still trying to recover mentally from the past two hours of my shift. The last thing I need is a computer that refuses to come on when I sit down to chart.
Same thing goes for a slow computer. If you can’t keep up with the speed of my tapping fingers then you need to step it up Mr. Program. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Just like I don’t have time to figure out why the correct medication refuses to scan.
I am not an IT expert. I know how to turn off the power to restart, but that’s about it. Beyond that, I can’t even.
2. Condescending professionals. Hi. Aside from being your beck and call girl, I am also a nurse. I am a professional, and I certainly deserve to be treated as one.
I cannot stand being talked down to like I am a child or an imbecile, especially if I am in the right. But even if I am wrong I don’t deserve verbal abuse. It’s not professional, and I can’t even.
3. Patient’s family drama I can’t stand drama in my own family, so I especially can’t deal with it in people I don’t know.
Yes, I think family dynamics is important to the long-term health of my patient, but right now in the critical care unit it is simply a distraction and impediment to my patient’s well-being. It’s selfish to bring outside issues into a patient’s place of tranquil healing.
Take it to the waiting room. I can’t even.
4. Double charting. Hey, let’s go paperless! I mean, except for this. Oh yeah, and this. Let’s do some on paper, and some in the computer. And in the mass confusion feel free to double chart until this issue is resolved some time in 2017.
5. People who can’t comprehend Hipaa. I am really sorry I cannot release personal information to you about my patient over the phone. Really, truly I am.
That’s why when you tell me you go to church with my patient’s cousin, went to high school together, or live down the road from them I explain gently and in layman terms about Hippa, privacy laws, and why it is illegal for me to disclose personal health information without patient consent.
The thing is I don’t mind explaining it at all. Not at all. But when you then yell at me anyway it’s frustrating to me. This is not my decision, and I’m not being mean. It’s the law. I understand she’s on your prayer list, but I can’t even.
6. When I can’t. Can’t what you ask. Well, basically anything. I am my own worst critic, and when I can’t do something to the degree that I consider worthy then I get upset.
If I cannot get that difficult IV started I’m livid with myself. If I can’t remember how to do a skill I haven’t done for a while or the normal range for a certain lab then you would think my world has ended. While they’re not big deals, in my perfectionist mind it’s just awful. I can’t, so I can’t even.
7. Made-up medical terminology. You are the reason they make those lists of abbreviations we cannot use. Your determination to make up your own abbreviations adds to the already confusing world of healthcare, and the possibility of error while receiving orders.
No one knows what kind of dressing you’re talking about or what exactly that word you just used is supposed to mean. It only means something to you! And the fact that you get angry when I ask for clarification makes it even worse.
No, they didn’t teach that in nursing school. Because you’re the only person on the planet who uses that term. I. Can’t. Even.
8. 15 minute mandatory meetings. These really only bother me when they’re on my day off. It just so happens, though, that they are always held on my day off.
It’s fifteen minutes. Yet it’s mandatory information. It is information that is so detrimental that it must be mandatory to attend, yet it is so simple that it can be explained in fifteen minutes.
I’m so confused. Can’t we bunch some of these together and just make a day out of it? After getting gas and a baby sitter, I can’t even.
9. The consigning of medication administration. Now just hear me out. I totally get that certain meds are high risk, and it’s more appropriate and safe to have the dosage checked by a second RN. I get it.
What I cannot understand is how this is determined. I mean what decides which ones are really dangerous? Aren’t they all? I know that data studies and cases of medication error across the country drive the decision, but it still seems kind of hokey, like maybe somebody is just making this up as they go.
How else can you explain why I require a co-signature to administer 2 units of insulin, but I am allowed all the freedom in the world to titrate as I please the dosage of dangerous, cardiac medications administered through a central venous catheter? Think about it. I can’t even.
10. The little things. Yep. After all that other stuff it’s the little things that make me want to jump out the window. It’s like after ten hours of co-signatures, double charting, and condescending doctors I can’t even. At all.
The build-up of not being able to pee or not having the supplies I need drives me bonkers. When eleven blood sugar checks are due at 11:30 and the machine needs to have controls done, I can’t even.
When I don’t have a scheduled med available, and it’s been ordered for three days now, I can’t even.
Little things like forgetting my password (because I’ve had to reset it 1,627 times since 2004), or the inability of my fingerprint to scan, these things make me mildly irate. No, just irate. And I can’t even.
Just when I think I can’t even any longer I am confronted with the reality that my shift is almost over. So even though I will probably receive a new admission twenty minutes prior to shift change I am reminded that I will eventually leave.
I know I’ll be back, and by then I’ll be more mentally prepared, and even looking forward to practicing my skill in the field I love. But until then, I can’t even.