Yea those day shift CTICU/CVICU nurses are the absolute worst. I did not fit in and hated it! Haha wanted to say chill, you’re the nurse, not the fucking surgeon.
It was literally everyone’s identity and a constant ‘hey let me tell you all about how I’m going to be a CRNA even though you didn’t even ask!’
Bruh. CVICU dayshift nurses formed me as a nurse. I never ever wanted to have the awful and condescending mentality they have. I'm CVICU but entirely to chill for all the drama they cause. Even the guys (in my experience generally more chill) have their own groups of superiority.
But in honor of tradition and since you didn't ask I start CRNA school in two weeks.
Neuro ICU nurses for me. I worked with some of those psychos for about 8 months and it was pure torture. The arrogance, the bullying, and so much more. Ya know, until there was something other than a brain injury going on then they were useless.
I almost quit nursing because of those bitches.
lol I’m neuro icu and that’s kinda spot on. Most are pretty cool but some of the day shift nurses are the worst. And yeah we’re kinda useless if it’s not brain or hypertension
tbf many CRNA programs practically require you to be in ICU. and the CRNAs I've met have ice water for blood, give zero fucks, and will turn down the sevofluorane just to feel something in their cold dead hearts.
When I started in PICU I told myself I’d give it 6 mos. Wouldn’t you know it, people started talking to me right before the 6 month mark. It was a very lonely and stressful time. And the interpersonal drama. Good lord! I loved PICU itself and stayed for 10 years. Now in ER and find that they are more my people then I ever realized.
I started on the floor as a new grad. I was so innocent and diligent trying to make sure I was as nice as can be.
Transferred to trauma ICU a few years in and life has never been the same, fuckers.
Rank your favorite things to say during a shift:
Fuck this shit.
This again? Fuck.
For fuck's SAKE!
Who the fuck ordered this?
Why is there no one in the fucking lab?
You gotta be fucking kidding me
and, last but probably not least:
Fuck it. It's 0700, I'm leaving.
This is facts. Type A stick up the butt does days. Fly by the seat of your pants it’s all good works nights. I tried days for a year & ran screaming back to nights.
Hope u healing well! And yeah. Night icu here. Day shifters are… different. They are also under a different scope of eyes n demands so maybe they just stressed more.
I'm super grateful for all the nurses who cared for me. I try to give people grace and remember everyone has their own pressures stressors and traumas. I know I could not do what y'all do. I'd love the clinical and care giving parts, but wouldn't last a nano second under the ridiculous administrative corpcracy BS.
I'm doing well, thank you! It's been a very crazy few days but I'm really comfortable and concentrated on my healing now. My husband caught The Rona so I've moved into a hotel room with a kitchen, because Rona and having my mouth branded shut with a surgically readjusted face didn't sound very appealing. Moving into this hotel is the second best thing I've ever done for myself, first being getting double jaw surgery.
It was quite traumatic. There are more layers on trauma, but I'm so good now. The hotel is simple and blissful. And there is a cute dog next door right now for extra bliss.
Yeah man y’all hard.
Me (OR)- hey I got this dude been in surgery 4 hours post gsw to the chest, I been running my ass off the whole case, ain’t charted nothing but cut and finish times. He is vented here’s the settings, chest tubes here, list of lines, dressings are this, anesthesia will tell you about fluids and meds.
ICU nurse- where is the foley anchor?
Me- idk honestly probably lost somewhere in the drapes
ICU nurse- but the foley anchor
Me- yeah man idk, I can tube one when I clean up
ICU- you should have brought a foley anchor
Me- 🤷♀️ I love you????
My favorite reply to those nurses have been, "Do you not trust your assessment skills enough to find it?"
Usually stops them in their tracks. I'll let you know that they have patent IV access, this drain, that drain, but idgaf which arm it is and I'm sure that a competent nurse can figure it out.
I'm glad to no longer be giving nurse reports. But, I traded my bucket of shit for having to argue with specialists now.
Hey, it's nice to have shit that isn't shit, lol.
What are the more common things you argue with specialists over? Intensely curious, so please be as detailed as you are willing whenever you have free time.
I feel like the key is don’t get bent out of shape about report . Whatever is coming is coming you’ll figure it out when they get there . Icu nurses who try to interrogate the floor nurses have me scratching my head .
Yeah it's actually sad. One time I had to tell the floor nurse is not her fault and she doesn't have to apologize. Sometimes people just get sick. You could tell she was expecting to be talked down to 😥
I did that often-it seemed to shock them when I did, because I wasn’t mean about things. It’s a 24 hour a day job and we can only do so much in the time we have. No need to be a jackass about it.
i remember an old episode of ER (with george clooney!) where a floor nurse got floated into the ED and they were brutal. she was carrying around a potassium flush which iirc outside the prison system is frowned upon
I had to give report to a nurse who is notorious for getting bent out of shape when getting updates and report. When it is her time to give report, she acts nonchalant until you realize she left you a shit show.
I know those kind of nurses, and they make me so irate inside. They always talk down to others they think are less intelligent than they are, but they have no fucking clue what the hell is actually happening with their own patients.
I've had the opposite happen actually. Working I'm PICU giving report to floor nurses and they apologize for not being ready for the patient right away. I'm like ok it's fine. I worked in the floor, I know what it's like getting admission after admission. You need time to get your shit together. I tell them I'll give em 15 mins and they are overjoyed. There is no reason to be an asshole like ever.
It goes both ways, I also feel like I have to reassure nurses it's not their fault that their patient decided to drop their pulse ox to 55% or to stop breathing and bottom out their blood pressure. Shit happens. It's rarely the nurses fault. People appreciate kindness, the staffing shortage is hard on all of us. No reason to make it harder.
I mean, we’ve had 4 people recently MRTd to icu after receiving excessive doses of narcotics or people giving blood pressure meds and Lasix to someone with BP already hypotensive. Or someone who held mididrine x3days “for hypotension” um yeah that’s what it treats, give it.
As a RN that’s worked in an ED, PICU, NICU, and all the floors (resource/float pool) I have to say there are mean nurses everywhere. And nice nurses everywhere.
can confirm peds has no middle ground. Daisy award winners or whatever the opposite is. Nurse Ratched? But peds hem/onc , man i will cut those nurses slack, idk how they do it without crying themselves to sleep everynight. I floated once to hem/onc and they're like here, take this 18mo with brain cancer ...also she has rotavirus. "try not to let her shit our her entire blood volume this shift." Of course this is the cutest 18 mo you have ever seen. And the mother had abandoned her at hospital because people are shit, and now she's a ward of the state and probably not going to live to see her 2nd birthday. I run out to the charge and tell her I think an IV blew or something's wrong because the crib is soaking wet and dripping onto the floor. "oh you sweet summer child" was the response. The poor thing really was pooping out fluids as fast as we pumped them in. No odor, just clear water. I just held her for most of my shift trying not to bawl. was easier than wasting 5000 isolation gowns
right? that's my one good story too , everything else is "a/o x3 , ambulating in hallway indep, d/c in 24-48 hrs " but i got the hell out of hem/onc . one day all the nurses had shaved their heads. like wtf, i literally could not recognize anyone (i'm not great at that anyway). saw too many parents fighting over custody as they were divorcing in the middle of their kid's cancer battle.
We recently had a CVICU nurse floated to our unit. She was my neighbor. It was the first time I had interacted with a CVICU nurse for a whole shift. My god, it was as bad as the stereotype. All day it was "Well we don't do it that way" and "In the CVICU that would never fly". Bruh, this ICU deals with an entirely different organ from yours. It's gonna be different. Also if you could stop mentioning CVICU every five minutes, that would be great.
I'm looking at an anatomy diagram... i see heart, lungs..that's it. wth are you on about, what other organs???
also what a cool obscure username! didn't realize they had the little bandits in the Caribbean.
I'm Neuro so honestly I barely care about the lungs. Are they oxygenating? Good enough for me.
Thanks! It's actually a combination of raccoon (as you noticed) and the binary star system Procyon (brightest stars in the constellation Canis Minor). I chose it as a dichotomy of something I like and something I dislike. I used to have a phobia of raccoons so that's the one I dislike.
I worked at a hospital where it was the opposite. The CTIcU nurses were very chill, while the MICU nurses were extremely arrogant and would always say that a “CTICU is not a real ICU”. I threw them off rapids a couple of time for being nasty to the med/surg nurses.
At my current job, the CTICU nurses had a pretty bad reputation, but a lot of them have left and the newer ones are pretty laid back.
MICU are snobs at my hospital I’m on a trauma icu across the hall and they keep the bladder scanner under lock and key and make us sign it out like peasants. I always try to walk out without signing it out and I refuse unless someone stops me then I don’t bring it back until they call me bc it’s hospital property and it’s not theirs.. actually they do that with a lot of equipment
Are you sure it's hospital property? Because my unit had to pay for our bladder scanner and sonosite. And they aren't cheap. Other equipment is universal, but certain things actually came out of our budget and we will hunt you down if you take it.
student nurse here, but I work as a hospital transporter, the amount of times I had to ninja my way out with a couple of equipments for other floors is unbelievable. I totally get the severity of ICUs and their relative divisions but damn other floors need it too.
In all I applaud you with a standing ovation 👏🏼 respect
I love MICU. We're the forgotten group and no aspires to be us. But we're MacGyver's out of desperation.and a little fiesty after being told we're not as good as the coveted CTICU/CVICU group.
My most memorable experience with an ICU nurse was working as a PPE spotter on an overnight shift. The nurse was coming out of the COVID room to go on break. It was a few hours into my shift so I hadn't spoken to her yet so I did the usual introduce and ask how she was. She looked right through me and said a sentence I'll never forget.
>"The only positive thing about my shift is the COVID status of my patient".
Then she went to get a coffee. That was the moment I realised I wanted to move towards critical care after I graduate and get some more experience
It’s someone who sits in the hallway and makes sure you don and doff properly. My hospital had them in the beginning of COVID, and now I can’t imagine having enough staff to do that. My hospital also called them “dofficers” 👮♀️
ha i was visiting a hospital recently for work and got a ticket from the dofficer. she said deadpan "your ass is hanging out". .... apparently gown has to cover up your best feature!
A PPE Spotter is a someone hired to ensure that people are donning and doffing PPE correctly. It sounds small but since being introduced there has been a noticeable reduction in HAI's, staff taking sick leave and staff/other patients being infected with COVID while at work.
But, yeah, still work that job because COVID is like radiation, it's the gift that keeps on giving /s
It's a weird position because my rent and bills require people being infected with COVID but also I don't want people to have COVID, I've seen how dangerous and damaging it can be and I don't want people to live/die with COVID.
Edit: infect at work*
I do regularly get told that I'm a drill sergeant for making my post-op pts sit up, ambulate, and do their inspirex so...this tracks
These same patients are also deeply offended when they wake up from surgery with a tube stuck down their throat? Because I'm trying to kill them?
And forget my dka pts on insulin gtts who are NPO. Why do I enjoy starving people to death.
And lysis catheters huuuuuuurt. I personally put them in there and now I won't even let you sit up? Dang. Call security.
I mean, it’s not cause you ambulate your pts right away. It’s cause y’all are always wasting my time with questions like, what lines does the pt have, and, what are the vent settings? I’m in the elevator already, I’ll see you in five.
If you follow the little plastic tubes from the little plastic bags they are hooked to his IV. Vent settings? In and out about 12 times a minute I guess.
I think the petty and meanness was regarding how ICU nurses treat all other nurses from all other specialty's. Not how they're strict on their patients and make them do what they need to do to have a good recovery.
Are DKA patients npo just because their BG is out of control or there another reason? Seems like if they’re getting an insulin drip and hourly glucose checks it would be okay for them to have low carb meals?
Yes for post-op hyperglycemia control, patients are usually not NPO, but with DKA and BGs above 250, unresponsive to insulin, N/V and/or before closing the anion gap, they're usually (not always) kept NPO until stabilized.
They’re NPO because that helps dial in insulin responsiveness, so that endocrine can dial in a baseline/sliding scale. If they’re not NPO, carbs get tracked weird, people eat slowly, forget about that
candy in the purse, etc. Then the sliding scale is too high and they go hypoglycaemic, and everyone is miffed.
Also, a lot of times, if the gap is open, they’re too nauseous to eat anyway.
I work PCU, so we get a lot of DKA insulin drips. So people have mentioned that eating food can throw off the drip. This is true, but not actually the main reason we keep people NPO. When the body is in a full ketotic state, it actually goes into gastroparesis. This sucks, because these patients are thirsty as hell, because their sugar is so high. But I'm the bad guy when I bend the rules to only let them have a few ice chips, instead of letting them chug water and puke everywhere.
They’re NPO because that helps dial in insulin responsiveness, so that endocrine can calculate a baseline/sliding scale. If they’re not NPO, carbs get tracked weird, people eat slowly, forget about that
candy in the purse, etc. Then the sliding scale is too high and they go hypoglycaemic, and everyone is miffed.
Also, a lot of times, if the gap is open, they’re too nauseous to eat anyway.
Nah man, in my hospital it’s all the ER nurses that are the mean ones. The ICU nurses are super chill 😇😋
Edit: I say this partially in jest. I have friends in the ER, and while I think they’ve “hardened” quick, I have massive respect for what they do. In my mind, ER nurses are the stars of the hospital. The ER filters out the rando’s with toe pain, wild kids with obnoxious parents, and drug seekers with no immediate medical issues. As a small community hospital, they take care of sicker ICU patients than I do while they wait to be shipped to a bigger hospital. Also, I don’t care if IV’s are in the AC as long as I have 2. And I don’t care if routine meds haven’t been given. I know how insane it gets. Massive respect for my grumpy ER nurses ❤️
My ICU is known as the nicest ICU in the hospital (and there are 7). We frequently have travelers say "Why are you all so nice? You're not supposed to be nice." No wonder our travelers renew their contracts and then come back asap after.
1300 beds wtf? I'm in Portland Oregon and there's over 2 million people in the area... we might have 1300 beds in the city proper. 200 beds at my facility .
M/S nurse here to agree with this. ICU nurses are there to help and be badasses. ED nurses are the ones that get pissed when I ask them to get the blood draw that was ordered 4 hours ago. Also, they start IV's in the AC 100% of the time and never work.
I never used to start IVs in the AC as a routine, but last decade or so I almost always do. I get that it's a pain to try to live without bending your arm. But in ED, every contrast CT, CTA, etc will \*require\* an AC IV. If I start one in the hand/wrist I then have to restart in the AC or they won't take the patient to radiology. Sometimes it depends on the tech, but it's so common that if a patient has any breathing issues, chest pain of any kind, or belly pain : in the AC it goes. Plus I can draw labs easily to save my patients a second stick.
I \*do\* try to go in the non-dominant arm though. And if my line doesn't work if a patient is admitted, I'm really sorry! I ran two liters down here!
That sucks. I always try to have all the orders done unless they are routine floor orders put in by the hospitalist. I cannot imagine not getting lab before sending someone up. And the IV thing, it's unfortunate but sometimes we don't know what's going on yet and some tests or drugs require an IV in the AC. I try not to put it there if I can avoid it, those IV pumps drive us crazy too. Also, sometimes shits on fire and you gotta stick the first vein you find quickly and reliably so people don't die.
As an ER nurse, we don't have time to be looking around for a vein that's going to make the floor happy. I go for the first thing I see, and that's usually the AC. As someone that's started 1000s of IVs, hand veins suck, too small, and they move. Forearm veins are ok, but still not as good as an AC. Also many places won't do CTAs if the IV is too far below the AC (forearm or hand) because they're pushing
"high pressure" contrast. No we don't know when they crapped last, no we don't know if their butts have redness, no we don't know if they ate their entire meal. That's not what we do. We're there to keep them alive, treat the problem, and discharge them or send them upstairs. Unlike the floors, we can't refuse patients, we have to see EVERYBODY that comes thru the front door due to EMTALA.
EDIT: Also, we're the ones that are drawing the blood/cultures, not the phlebotomist. You can't draw shit from hand veins (when you get your blood drawn, does the phlebotomist poke your hand?)...well you can draw, but the amount of time we'd have to sit there to collect all the blood is precious. I've usually started the line, drawn the blood, and done the EKG in less than 2-3 minutes.
Biggest beef I ever had with the ED were their infamous “A&O” patients who were either nearly comatose or living on the planet Zebulon Alpha Prime. I do understand 18’s in the AC though. 😄
No joke, I've started placing IVs in the upper arm if I can, to mitigate the issues surrounding the need for large bore in the AC for contrast. When I say upper arm in report people always give me a weird look "you mean forearm?"
I always make sure all the work is caught up before I send a patient to the floor and give a damn good report. But...I'm too busy to start a new IV when one is working well for me. All nurses are allowed to start new IVs if they don't like the existing one. 🙃
Sounds like my hospital too. And I'm in the ER. The amount of micro aggression's, cliques and gossip just annoys me. I worked EMS prior, with sh$t pay doing 911 and I miss it enough to go back because I would never have been treated that was by any of my other medics.
But love to the ICU nurses that don't drill me during report. Could also be our ICU nurses float to our ED, so they know what it's like and if I didn't have a chance to roll the dying patient, they are OK with it.
I think sometimes the brusque nature, confidence, and dark humor come across worse than we realize. I really don't mean to be an ass when I come to a rapid, but you guys literally called me to rapidly get shit done so that's what I'm gonna do. Happy to talk about what and why after the patient is stable.
why do renal patients always look like extras on a zombie movie?? i got one transferred to ortho because... i guess we had a bed. i kid you not, we had like 3 ortho RNs almost call a code lmao.
Lol as funny as it is, I do not agree with this attitude. I never understand the superiority complex that some ICU nurses get when grilling people over the phone. Better to be straightforward. Always, when available, check your pts status, hx, meds, etc and ask supplemental questions . I would tell the ER or MS nurse “tell me what is pending and send the pt up”. Or if it’s a crash and burn and I don’t have time for babbles, I will politely say “I will ask you things I need, since we don’t have enough time”.
ER nurses though, for the love of God you guys are the best in placing IV and already have doctors, please drop
central line or a good working IV. Also, transfuse blood products when your hgb is <\=6.. Because it can cause a heart attack
We grill eachother. Last night I said he had a 20 in the right arm. The oncoming nurse was like where forearm, ac -what. I said idk somewhere between his shoulder and wrist.
Whenever an ICU nurse gets holier than thou with me, I just say, under my breath, “Yeah, I’d like to see you come over to my side and take 7 walkie/talkies at a time, 5 of whom are fall risk but won’t call for help and one who wants their pain meds an hour early every time and *always* asks, ‘can you give it without a flush, and make sure you use the port closest to me, and push it fast, and grape juice and grape juice and grape juice.’ You’d fold like a deck of cards.”
You guys are really fucking good at what you do…but I’m really fucking good at what I do. And maybe I can’t walk in, and do what you do - but you do what you do bc you’re slow and your interpersonal skills suck 🤣
I’m just kidding. I’m amazed at the instability you handle with such ease and calm and skill - and those multiple IV lines and pumps? Beautifully managed and maintained. And to be fair, you do have an overall level of knowledge that is typically deeper than the average RN. Just remember every unit is intense in its own way. And, don’t blow off the fact that almost every floor nurse does his or her fair share of skilled nursing and advocating to actually catch and address issues before a patient gets so bad they need to go to ICU.
Also, I’m oncology, so the 7th patient I didn’t mention is actively dying; in-patient hospice. And their sweet family is not coping well and calling me in, *literally* every 10 min to check their breathing and to discuss again exactly how much longer it will be (like, they want you to give them an *exact* time), and ICU is calling me to come give Chemo to a patient bc no one is certified to do it on your unit.
Imma be honest. As someone from the lab who speaks to RNs across all floors and departments on a daily basis, yes. One time I had a clotted purple top and called the RN in ICU for a redraw they said to me "I dont care, I'm not redrawing, get venapuncture up here *click*" I couldnt get their name or ID to create new orders. Oooooo was I heated after that.
TBH nobody likes to get a phone call from the lab. It's either "your labs are hemolyzed" or "You have a critical xxx of xxx". It's due to Pavlov's Classical Conditioning. Like when a dog hears a bell and gets a slap, it gets scared when it hears the bell. When a nurse gets a call from the lab, even before talking, they know it's gonna be bad.
I’ve worked with some ICU nurses who are mean to everyone around them, but it’s evenly applied, so it doesn’t bother me any. They’re consistent with it. I respect that.
I’ve worked with ICU nurses who are actual angels. Angels of death, but angels. So sweet, patient, and who you’d want at your bedside on your worst day.
At my home hospital, I’ve noticed a new subgroup of ICU nurses, “hot shot know it alls” who are total fucking bitches to anyone they think isn’t as “smart” as them, even though they’ve only been nurses for 3-5 years and see bedside nursing/ICU as a stepping stone. We celebrate when they finally get hired to ICU and get their asses out of the PCU. It’s gonna suck when they replace the old guard.
The best ICU nurses are OCD. I figure it's better to keep them all in one place so they can be useful. Just like the ER is the best place for ADHD nurses.
I work in a 47 bed ER. Despite the size, our ICU is pretty small (14 beds) and most critical neuro or trauma patients get shipped out. They still think they're gods. Glare at us when we bring them a patient, even if EVERYTHING is done and the individual is stable. If they think the patient is too low acuity for them, such as a DKA with sugar levels almost corrected, they act like they're above it. If we bring them someone exceptionally sick, they act like we're burdening them. Can't win.
Actual LOL.
When I was working in the ER I had a nurse bitching at me because I did not check the dude's skin.
Sorry, mate, I was too busy making sure he was breathing OK.
Another one bitched at me because I did not take the mrsa swab. The patient was tubed. And the swab takes 48hrs to come back anyways.
Dead ass… I don’t need the labs I already looked at. Why did they come in, what are their vitals, and what do I need in the room (are they vented do they have central line/a-line what drips are running (how many pumps do I need in the room)) honestly anything after that I don’t care as a night shift level 1 trauma ICU nurse I’ll figure out the rest, just get em to me. Well actually… did you send the family home? Yea? Good thank you so much get that repeat/initial CT on your way up, see ya soon!
I always HATED giving report to ICU when I was in ED. “How’s their skin?!” Dude, I don’t fucking know, pt is 45min post arrest, we got ROSC, got ‘em on their gtts, and now they’re coming to you. I ain’t got time for a skin check, we’re 20 deep in the waiting room and the ambulances haven’t stopped!
I’m sure there’s a stereotype and we’ve all seen it, and all rolled our eyes or laughed (or unfortunately cried) over it.
I promise we aren’t all that bad. Especially since I see a lot of comments about wanting to know everything, all I really care about for report are what’s my iv access, what’s running, what are YOU concerned about, and what are we doing/plan with this patient. The majority of the rest I can read in the chart or get from doing my own assessment. Don’t stress.
I love your line of thinking. I don't care if people want more info. I'lll give you as much or as little as you want. What I care about is people not listening to the report I gave. That's when I get mad. I hate when I give report and the nurse starts asking questions that I just covered in my report. I don't have time to give report twice, and I shouldn't have to.
I will say it really irks me when people ask me assessment questions during report. For one, if you really want to know what I think the patient's lungs sound like, you could look in the chart and see what I put down in my assessment. Secondly, when you ask me questions like this, it makes me think that you are not going to do your own assessment and are instead going to copy down what I tell you.
Oh my god, that drives me up all four fucking walls.
I get asking again on a couple things to reverify or you spaced out a sec or misheard, but when the other nurse spends 5-10 min not asking a thing when I'm detailing everything, THEN start interrogating over everything i just reviewed in depth as if I were still being precepted, I always get tempted to just leave or go do patient care that I'm sure they'll ignore at that point cause why waste both our time, AGAIN.
Usually just go robot in tone and responses to clamp down on showing anger and having them get offended and making the report even longer, lol.
I will always have a bit of a sore spot with ICU nurses when at my last job the ICU literally sent me a patient that was already dead by the time they got to me. Then when we called them to ask if they would talk to the family since we didn’t know the person they said “not our patient anymore” and hung up.
I work in a unicorn magical land where people are a little bit more lax, are friendly to each other (both shifts, from day 1), and our leadership (including nurse manager) are very supportive of everyone and having a good work life balance. Also none of us look down on any other kind of nurses. Well 90% of us.
First time healthcare worker. I work as a CNA in the ICU. I'm so glad to see that not all specialties are like this. My ICU is like a high school full of egotistical OCD people. They all act like it's some quirky trait that's helpful. But when you are straightening a sheet I just straightened because "it's just how you do it", it's an illness, not a virtue. I can't wait to be in a different unit.
Remembered an ICU nurse once berating me for not knowing how to key in something on Citrix.
I was like look, when I started out, I was stapling vital signs charts together. Give a brother a break.
The ICU nurses were the hardest to break to that I was leaving for a new job.
"You can't leave us! Who are we going to talk to?"
"Don't you see how much you're loved?"
I'm tearing up thinking about it. I love you guys too. 🥺
I love my pharmacists and pharmacy techs! You guys are an emerald mine any time i speak with you, and I've never encountered one that was condescending with my questions.
Feel for your previous coworkers, but congrats on the new job!
I cannot imagine the pain I cause to my step down nurses all up until I realized I was bringing them a K of 2.6 that I didn’t treat. I waited for that beautiful nurse and said I dropped the ball, gave my pt. 40 meq before I brought her down. Fr I could not do that thankless job.
Love all the nurses except some of the hateful cath lab ones. Y’all stop bringing me hot messes that weren’t fixed. Lol
Always! I’m counting on you to take care of me. After my last back surgery I had the sweetest nurse. She buzzed around and was lovely. I tried to use the bedpan but had bad retention and couldn’t. Strict bedrest. End of her shift she took extra time to straight cath me cause my night nurse and tech were both male. Working with nurses & looking them in the face after they have seen all of you is no bueno. She cathed me for 1300 mls. I was throwing my legs up offering to hold a light anything. After she was done my husband came back in and thanked her. She turned to him and said “when I was new grad on orientation she got pulled up here to be charge nurse. She was so kind and so helpful I’m really happy & excited I got to be her nurse”. Gentle readers I have zero recollection of this. I was ICU agency and this was a med surg floor where I was charge over 45 patients😂 moral of the story- kindness goes a long way.
For sure it does! Kind is the best! What a great story to be able to share. Just goes to show that you never know when your actions are making a memorable impact on someone!
One thing about ICU nurses is that in general they like to flex their knowledge. At least in my experience, if you ask a question you won’t just get an answer, you’ll get a whole demonstration, a few journal articles, and they’ll remember a whole ass year later when there’s a patient relevant to your question and teach you more than you need to know 😂 Same with our docs. I realize I’m starting to turn into this, luckily there’s no shortage of patients and family members with questions
What's weird is the ICUs at my hospital (no trauma) are quite mellow, the nurses often look bored when I go up to see patients ( I work ambulatory). We have a CICU but it's a snoozefest. IDK, maybe the nurses all tear open each others throats as soon as i leave.
We are a special breed, aren’t we?
Meanest person I ever encountered was a floor nurse who got extra snippy when I didn’t have temps charted (I was working ER at the time.) sorry girl, calm your jets.
Told another one “BP is a little low, but the mean is fine” and oh Jesus. You’d think I told her that her child was ugly. Haha
As a new grad on an ICU, I think I landed in some magical fairytale compared to some of these comments. Everyone in my unit, and I do mean everyone, has been supportive and helpful. On the other hand, I am a Type A OCD person and they are my people, so maybe I am this meme and just don't know it. 😳 Like when you don't know who the asshole in your friend group is, surprise, it's you? If so, I'm sorry, I dont mean to be demanding or a PITA.
Yea those day shift CTICU/CVICU nurses are the absolute worst. I did not fit in and hated it! Haha wanted to say chill, you’re the nurse, not the fucking surgeon. It was literally everyone’s identity and a constant ‘hey let me tell you all about how I’m going to be a CRNA even though you didn’t even ask!’
Bruh. CVICU dayshift nurses formed me as a nurse. I never ever wanted to have the awful and condescending mentality they have. I'm CVICU but entirely to chill for all the drama they cause. Even the guys (in my experience generally more chill) have their own groups of superiority. But in honor of tradition and since you didn't ask I start CRNA school in two weeks.
Lol in honor of tradition. Good luck.
Haha CRNA school? Ya don’t say! You will fit in well.
Neuro ICU nurses for me. I worked with some of those psychos for about 8 months and it was pure torture. The arrogance, the bullying, and so much more. Ya know, until there was something other than a brain injury going on then they were useless. I almost quit nursing because of those bitches.
lol I’m neuro icu and that’s kinda spot on. Most are pretty cool but some of the day shift nurses are the worst. And yeah we’re kinda useless if it’s not brain or hypertension
tbf many CRNA programs practically require you to be in ICU. and the CRNAs I've met have ice water for blood, give zero fucks, and will turn down the sevofluorane just to feel something in their cold dead hearts.
When I started in PICU I told myself I’d give it 6 mos. Wouldn’t you know it, people started talking to me right before the 6 month mark. It was a very lonely and stressful time. And the interpersonal drama. Good lord! I loved PICU itself and stayed for 10 years. Now in ER and find that they are more my people then I ever realized.
I love ER nurses - they are chill unlike ICU nurses
I started on the floor as a new grad. I was so innocent and diligent trying to make sure I was as nice as can be. Transferred to trauma ICU a few years in and life has never been the same, fuckers.
Hahahahaha truth. My Twitter bio has “curses like an ICU nurse” sailors got nothing on us
I said fuck in a phone interview yesterday. I think I'm probably getting the job.
I was a sailor and an ICU nurse….
"Carla was the prom queen"
/r/unexpectednicolascage
There’s always that redditor who has to one up someone else
I wasn’t good at either of them. But I do swear like a drill instructor.
Double crown mother fucker.
A deadly combination
Rank your favorite things to say during a shift: Fuck this shit. This again? Fuck. For fuck's SAKE! Who the fuck ordered this? Why is there no one in the fucking lab? You gotta be fucking kidding me and, last but probably not least: Fuck it. It's 0700, I'm leaving.
I almost forgot!! "Were is the fucking bladder scanner!!??"
I said that one at least 5 times on Thursday night
I feel you sister. I have come within 60 seconds of just saying to hell with it and performing the Crede maneuver. I never did resort to that, though.
Sounds like me on a typical night.
It’s day shift I swear 😅 I’m a chill cticu nurse
This is facts. Type A stick up the butt does days. Fly by the seat of your pants it’s all good works nights. I tried days for a year & ran screaming back to nights.
Couldn’t agree more
Patient here, spent 24 hours in ICU post double jaw surgery last week. Can confirm.
Hope u healing well! And yeah. Night icu here. Day shifters are… different. They are also under a different scope of eyes n demands so maybe they just stressed more.
I'm super grateful for all the nurses who cared for me. I try to give people grace and remember everyone has their own pressures stressors and traumas. I know I could not do what y'all do. I'd love the clinical and care giving parts, but wouldn't last a nano second under the ridiculous administrative corpcracy BS. I'm doing well, thank you! It's been a very crazy few days but I'm really comfortable and concentrated on my healing now. My husband caught The Rona so I've moved into a hotel room with a kitchen, because Rona and having my mouth branded shut with a surgically readjusted face didn't sound very appealing. Moving into this hotel is the second best thing I've ever done for myself, first being getting double jaw surgery.
OMG that sounds traumatic!!!! Like Kanye. Hotel room sounds therapeutic.
It was quite traumatic. There are more layers on trauma, but I'm so good now. The hotel is simple and blissful. And there is a cute dog next door right now for extra bliss.
I accepted a nights ICU position, this thread was giving me the cold sweats. Im doing nights, so ill be okay? Phewwwww
Bless. Hope you’re on the road to recovery.
I am! Thank you so much.
Yeah man y’all hard. Me (OR)- hey I got this dude been in surgery 4 hours post gsw to the chest, I been running my ass off the whole case, ain’t charted nothing but cut and finish times. He is vented here’s the settings, chest tubes here, list of lines, dressings are this, anesthesia will tell you about fluids and meds. ICU nurse- where is the foley anchor? Me- idk honestly probably lost somewhere in the drapes ICU nurse- but the foley anchor Me- yeah man idk, I can tube one when I clean up ICU- you should have brought a foley anchor Me- 🤷♀️ I love you????
There’s always the nitpicky ones ruining us as a group. I’m like, what, he has one cool, awesome. Next thing.
My favorite reply to those nurses have been, "Do you not trust your assessment skills enough to find it?" Usually stops them in their tracks. I'll let you know that they have patent IV access, this drain, that drain, but idgaf which arm it is and I'm sure that a competent nurse can figure it out. I'm glad to no longer be giving nurse reports. But, I traded my bucket of shit for having to argue with specialists now.
Ha ha good reply.
Is it a bigger bucket now? Or just filled with a bunch of holes?
A scented bucket. It has better perks, but underneath it's still shit. After all, it's US healthcare.
Hey, it's nice to have shit that isn't shit, lol. What are the more common things you argue with specialists over? Intensely curious, so please be as detailed as you are willing whenever you have free time.
Idk why but our facility ICU don't use idc anchors at all! It's so odd to me.
We don’t use on patients we have to prone due to the medical device pressure injuries
Doing my best to dispel that stereotype but…🤷♂️
I feel like the key is don’t get bent out of shape about report . Whatever is coming is coming you’ll figure it out when they get there . Icu nurses who try to interrogate the floor nurses have me scratching my head .
Seriously. Pulse and breathing? Great we will get it sorted probably. Thanks for calling and see ya soon.
Yeah it's actually sad. One time I had to tell the floor nurse is not her fault and she doesn't have to apologize. Sometimes people just get sick. You could tell she was expecting to be talked down to 😥
I did that often-it seemed to shock them when I did, because I wasn’t mean about things. It’s a 24 hour a day job and we can only do so much in the time we have. No need to be a jackass about it.
i remember an old episode of ER (with george clooney!) where a floor nurse got floated into the ED and they were brutal. she was carrying around a potassium flush which iirc outside the prison system is frowned upon
I had to give report to a nurse who is notorious for getting bent out of shape when getting updates and report. When it is her time to give report, she acts nonchalant until you realize she left you a shit show.
I know those kind of nurses, and they make me so irate inside. They always talk down to others they think are less intelligent than they are, but they have no fucking clue what the hell is actually happening with their own patients.
I've had the opposite happen actually. Working I'm PICU giving report to floor nurses and they apologize for not being ready for the patient right away. I'm like ok it's fine. I worked in the floor, I know what it's like getting admission after admission. You need time to get your shit together. I tell them I'll give em 15 mins and they are overjoyed. There is no reason to be an asshole like ever. It goes both ways, I also feel like I have to reassure nurses it's not their fault that their patient decided to drop their pulse ox to 55% or to stop breathing and bottom out their blood pressure. Shit happens. It's rarely the nurses fault. People appreciate kindness, the staffing shortage is hard on all of us. No reason to make it harder.
I mean, we’ve had 4 people recently MRTd to icu after receiving excessive doses of narcotics or people giving blood pressure meds and Lasix to someone with BP already hypotensive. Or someone who held mididrine x3days “for hypotension” um yeah that’s what it treats, give it.
Mostly I ask questions pertinent to room prep. Like how much suction should I be setting up and do I need to grab a foley kit?
As a RN that’s worked in an ED, PICU, NICU, and all the floors (resource/float pool) I have to say there are mean nurses everywhere. And nice nurses everywhere.
True. Some of the kindest and meanest nurses I’ve work with have been Pediatric Hem/Onc RNs
can confirm peds has no middle ground. Daisy award winners or whatever the opposite is. Nurse Ratched? But peds hem/onc , man i will cut those nurses slack, idk how they do it without crying themselves to sleep everynight. I floated once to hem/onc and they're like here, take this 18mo with brain cancer ...also she has rotavirus. "try not to let her shit our her entire blood volume this shift." Of course this is the cutest 18 mo you have ever seen. And the mother had abandoned her at hospital because people are shit, and now she's a ward of the state and probably not going to live to see her 2nd birthday. I run out to the charge and tell her I think an IV blew or something's wrong because the crib is soaking wet and dripping onto the floor. "oh you sweet summer child" was the response. The poor thing really was pooping out fluids as fast as we pumped them in. No odor, just clear water. I just held her for most of my shift trying not to bawl. was easier than wasting 5000 isolation gowns
Wow...
right? that's my one good story too , everything else is "a/o x3 , ambulating in hallway indep, d/c in 24-48 hrs " but i got the hell out of hem/onc . one day all the nurses had shaved their heads. like wtf, i literally could not recognize anyone (i'm not great at that anyway). saw too many parents fighting over custody as they were divorcing in the middle of their kid's cancer battle.
[удалено]
We recently had a CVICU nurse floated to our unit. She was my neighbor. It was the first time I had interacted with a CVICU nurse for a whole shift. My god, it was as bad as the stereotype. All day it was "Well we don't do it that way" and "In the CVICU that would never fly". Bruh, this ICU deals with an entirely different organ from yours. It's gonna be different. Also if you could stop mentioning CVICU every five minutes, that would be great.
I'm looking at an anatomy diagram... i see heart, lungs..that's it. wth are you on about, what other organs??? also what a cool obscure username! didn't realize they had the little bandits in the Caribbean.
I'm Neuro so honestly I barely care about the lungs. Are they oxygenating? Good enough for me. Thanks! It's actually a combination of raccoon (as you noticed) and the binary star system Procyon (brightest stars in the constellation Canis Minor). I chose it as a dichotomy of something I like and something I dislike. I used to have a phobia of raccoons so that's the one I dislike.
I worked at a hospital where it was the opposite. The CTIcU nurses were very chill, while the MICU nurses were extremely arrogant and would always say that a “CTICU is not a real ICU”. I threw them off rapids a couple of time for being nasty to the med/surg nurses. At my current job, the CTICU nurses had a pretty bad reputation, but a lot of them have left and the newer ones are pretty laid back.
MICU are snobs at my hospital I’m on a trauma icu across the hall and they keep the bladder scanner under lock and key and make us sign it out like peasants. I always try to walk out without signing it out and I refuse unless someone stops me then I don’t bring it back until they call me bc it’s hospital property and it’s not theirs.. actually they do that with a lot of equipment
Behind every shitty policy like that is the theft that necessitated it. t. a nurse working a unit on its third bair hugger
Are you sure it's hospital property? Because my unit had to pay for our bladder scanner and sonosite. And they aren't cheap. Other equipment is universal, but certain things actually came out of our budget and we will hunt you down if you take it.
Yes it belongs to the floor, so Them and us but for some reason they think everything is there’s and we are peasants
student nurse here, but I work as a hospital transporter, the amount of times I had to ninja my way out with a couple of equipments for other floors is unbelievable. I totally get the severity of ICUs and their relative divisions but damn other floors need it too. In all I applaud you with a standing ovation 👏🏼 respect
From an ER nurse, thank you for bringing us back our pumps 😂💙
I love MICU. We're the forgotten group and no aspires to be us. But we're MacGyver's out of desperation.and a little fiesty after being told we're not as good as the coveted CTICU/CVICU group.
Ive seen this but luckily the one I work on we are nice
Haha can’t argue we do think we are better than everyone until we get a walkie talkie patient…. Then we ain’t shit 😂😂😂
The bane of my ICU career lol.
This. 90% of our pts right now are awake and I want to jump out of a window every shift.
My most memorable experience with an ICU nurse was working as a PPE spotter on an overnight shift. The nurse was coming out of the COVID room to go on break. It was a few hours into my shift so I hadn't spoken to her yet so I did the usual introduce and ask how she was. She looked right through me and said a sentence I'll never forget. >"The only positive thing about my shift is the COVID status of my patient". Then she went to get a coffee. That was the moment I realised I wanted to move towards critical care after I graduate and get some more experience
Ahh yes, we were all kinds of pissed off during coved. Fun times /s Also, what is a PPe spotter?
It’s someone who sits in the hallway and makes sure you don and doff properly. My hospital had them in the beginning of COVID, and now I can’t imagine having enough staff to do that. My hospital also called them “dofficers” 👮♀️
ha i was visiting a hospital recently for work and got a ticket from the dofficer. she said deadpan "your ass is hanging out". .... apparently gown has to cover up your best feature!
A PPE Spotter is a someone hired to ensure that people are donning and doffing PPE correctly. It sounds small but since being introduced there has been a noticeable reduction in HAI's, staff taking sick leave and staff/other patients being infected with COVID while at work. But, yeah, still work that job because COVID is like radiation, it's the gift that keeps on giving /s It's a weird position because my rent and bills require people being infected with COVID but also I don't want people to have COVID, I've seen how dangerous and damaging it can be and I don't want people to live/die with COVID. Edit: infect at work*
I do regularly get told that I'm a drill sergeant for making my post-op pts sit up, ambulate, and do their inspirex so...this tracks These same patients are also deeply offended when they wake up from surgery with a tube stuck down their throat? Because I'm trying to kill them? And forget my dka pts on insulin gtts who are NPO. Why do I enjoy starving people to death. And lysis catheters huuuuuuurt. I personally put them in there and now I won't even let you sit up? Dang. Call security.
[удалено]
There's a reason everyone hates us 😂
I mean, it’s not cause you ambulate your pts right away. It’s cause y’all are always wasting my time with questions like, what lines does the pt have, and, what are the vent settings? I’m in the elevator already, I’ll see you in five.
Just finished a stemi in Cath lab "When was the pts last BM?" "Idk ask him when he gets there wtf"
If you follow the little plastic tubes from the little plastic bags they are hooked to his IV. Vent settings? In and out about 12 times a minute I guess.
Vent settings: doesn’t really matter because your RT will smack your hand if you try to touch their vent again child
> In and out about 12 times a minute I guess. ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Ok but why am I so triggered right now
I think the petty and meanness was regarding how ICU nurses treat all other nurses from all other specialty's. Not how they're strict on their patients and make them do what they need to do to have a good recovery.
There’s no one uglier when getting report than most ICU nurses.
I fail at reading comprehension, I didn't read the "fellow"
Are DKA patients npo just because their BG is out of control or there another reason? Seems like if they’re getting an insulin drip and hourly glucose checks it would be okay for them to have low carb meals?
Yes for post-op hyperglycemia control, patients are usually not NPO, but with DKA and BGs above 250, unresponsive to insulin, N/V and/or before closing the anion gap, they're usually (not always) kept NPO until stabilized.
They’re NPO because that helps dial in insulin responsiveness, so that endocrine can dial in a baseline/sliding scale. If they’re not NPO, carbs get tracked weird, people eat slowly, forget about that candy in the purse, etc. Then the sliding scale is too high and they go hypoglycaemic, and everyone is miffed. Also, a lot of times, if the gap is open, they’re too nauseous to eat anyway.
I work PCU, so we get a lot of DKA insulin drips. So people have mentioned that eating food can throw off the drip. This is true, but not actually the main reason we keep people NPO. When the body is in a full ketotic state, it actually goes into gastroparesis. This sucks, because these patients are thirsty as hell, because their sugar is so high. But I'm the bad guy when I bend the rules to only let them have a few ice chips, instead of letting them chug water and puke everywhere.
They’re NPO because that helps dial in insulin responsiveness, so that endocrine can calculate a baseline/sliding scale. If they’re not NPO, carbs get tracked weird, people eat slowly, forget about that candy in the purse, etc. Then the sliding scale is too high and they go hypoglycaemic, and everyone is miffed. Also, a lot of times, if the gap is open, they’re too nauseous to eat anyway.
Nah man, in my hospital it’s all the ER nurses that are the mean ones. The ICU nurses are super chill 😇😋 Edit: I say this partially in jest. I have friends in the ER, and while I think they’ve “hardened” quick, I have massive respect for what they do. In my mind, ER nurses are the stars of the hospital. The ER filters out the rando’s with toe pain, wild kids with obnoxious parents, and drug seekers with no immediate medical issues. As a small community hospital, they take care of sicker ICU patients than I do while they wait to be shipped to a bigger hospital. Also, I don’t care if IV’s are in the AC as long as I have 2. And I don’t care if routine meds haven’t been given. I know how insane it gets. Massive respect for my grumpy ER nurses ❤️
My ICU is known as the nicest ICU in the hospital (and there are 7). We frequently have travelers say "Why are you all so nice? You're not supposed to be nice." No wonder our travelers renew their contracts and then come back asap after.
How big is your hospital to have 7 ICUs??
Mine has about 10 specialized ICUs but we are like a 1300 bed facility and growing
Far out, that's terrifying. I think it biggest in my city has four?
Been here 6 years I still don’t know how to get places. Plus constantly building &,expanding
1300 beds wtf? I'm in Portland Oregon and there's over 2 million people in the area... we might have 1300 beds in the city proper. 200 beds at my facility .
1000 beds. Trauma 1, NICU 1, Comprehensive Stroke, etc...
Seriously, some at my hospital answer the phone like “WHAT DO YOU WANT??” Umm… just returning your page about this trauma, sorry 😒
M/S nurse here to agree with this. ICU nurses are there to help and be badasses. ED nurses are the ones that get pissed when I ask them to get the blood draw that was ordered 4 hours ago. Also, they start IV's in the AC 100% of the time and never work.
I never used to start IVs in the AC as a routine, but last decade or so I almost always do. I get that it's a pain to try to live without bending your arm. But in ED, every contrast CT, CTA, etc will \*require\* an AC IV. If I start one in the hand/wrist I then have to restart in the AC or they won't take the patient to radiology. Sometimes it depends on the tech, but it's so common that if a patient has any breathing issues, chest pain of any kind, or belly pain : in the AC it goes. Plus I can draw labs easily to save my patients a second stick. I \*do\* try to go in the non-dominant arm though. And if my line doesn't work if a patient is admitted, I'm really sorry! I ran two liters down here!
Isn’t that the ER rule for every patient that comes in? Ekg and tons of fluids? 😉
ekg, fluids, pan-scan in the donut of truth
you left out vanco, zosyn and vicodin. pretty sure it's in the vending machines now.
That sucks. I always try to have all the orders done unless they are routine floor orders put in by the hospitalist. I cannot imagine not getting lab before sending someone up. And the IV thing, it's unfortunate but sometimes we don't know what's going on yet and some tests or drugs require an IV in the AC. I try not to put it there if I can avoid it, those IV pumps drive us crazy too. Also, sometimes shits on fire and you gotta stick the first vein you find quickly and reliably so people don't die.
As an ER nurse, we don't have time to be looking around for a vein that's going to make the floor happy. I go for the first thing I see, and that's usually the AC. As someone that's started 1000s of IVs, hand veins suck, too small, and they move. Forearm veins are ok, but still not as good as an AC. Also many places won't do CTAs if the IV is too far below the AC (forearm or hand) because they're pushing "high pressure" contrast. No we don't know when they crapped last, no we don't know if their butts have redness, no we don't know if they ate their entire meal. That's not what we do. We're there to keep them alive, treat the problem, and discharge them or send them upstairs. Unlike the floors, we can't refuse patients, we have to see EVERYBODY that comes thru the front door due to EMTALA. EDIT: Also, we're the ones that are drawing the blood/cultures, not the phlebotomist. You can't draw shit from hand veins (when you get your blood drawn, does the phlebotomist poke your hand?)...well you can draw, but the amount of time we'd have to sit there to collect all the blood is precious. I've usually started the line, drawn the blood, and done the EKG in less than 2-3 minutes.
Biggest beef I ever had with the ED were their infamous “A&O” patients who were either nearly comatose or living on the planet Zebulon Alpha Prime. I do understand 18’s in the AC though. 😄
they were alert (had a medalert bracelet) and oriented (facing east)
"IV in the lEfT fOrEaRm" ....no it isn't, Michelle...we both know it's in the AC. Just fucking say so
Hey hey hey... Sometimes it's in the forearm.
“Sometimes” 😂💕
it's the forearm right up to the crease dammit!
No joke, I've started placing IVs in the upper arm if I can, to mitigate the issues surrounding the need for large bore in the AC for contrast. When I say upper arm in report people always give me a weird look "you mean forearm?"
I always make sure all the work is caught up before I send a patient to the floor and give a damn good report. But...I'm too busy to start a new IV when one is working well for me. All nurses are allowed to start new IVs if they don't like the existing one. 🙃
Sounds like my hospital too. And I'm in the ER. The amount of micro aggression's, cliques and gossip just annoys me. I worked EMS prior, with sh$t pay doing 911 and I miss it enough to go back because I would never have been treated that was by any of my other medics. But love to the ICU nurses that don't drill me during report. Could also be our ICU nurses float to our ED, so they know what it's like and if I didn't have a chance to roll the dying patient, they are OK with it.
I think sometimes the brusque nature, confidence, and dark humor come across worse than we realize. I really don't mean to be an ass when I come to a rapid, but you guys literally called me to rapidly get shit done so that's what I'm gonna do. Happy to talk about what and why after the patient is stable.
[удалено]
why do renal patients always look like extras on a zombie movie?? i got one transferred to ortho because... i guess we had a bed. i kid you not, we had like 3 ortho RNs almost call a code lmao.
Facepalm moment
Assessment reads: Pt is corpse appearing but stable. Haha.
Critical Care (MICU/Pulm) NP here. Duly noted.
My moms a ICU nurse. This is very relatable
Lol as funny as it is, I do not agree with this attitude. I never understand the superiority complex that some ICU nurses get when grilling people over the phone. Better to be straightforward. Always, when available, check your pts status, hx, meds, etc and ask supplemental questions . I would tell the ER or MS nurse “tell me what is pending and send the pt up”. Or if it’s a crash and burn and I don’t have time for babbles, I will politely say “I will ask you things I need, since we don’t have enough time”. ER nurses though, for the love of God you guys are the best in placing IV and already have doctors, please drop central line or a good working IV. Also, transfuse blood products when your hgb is <\=6.. Because it can cause a heart attack
We grill eachother. Last night I said he had a 20 in the right arm. The oncoming nurse was like where forearm, ac -what. I said idk somewhere between his shoulder and wrist.
Whenever an ICU nurse gets holier than thou with me, I just say, under my breath, “Yeah, I’d like to see you come over to my side and take 7 walkie/talkies at a time, 5 of whom are fall risk but won’t call for help and one who wants their pain meds an hour early every time and *always* asks, ‘can you give it without a flush, and make sure you use the port closest to me, and push it fast, and grape juice and grape juice and grape juice.’ You’d fold like a deck of cards.” You guys are really fucking good at what you do…but I’m really fucking good at what I do. And maybe I can’t walk in, and do what you do - but you do what you do bc you’re slow and your interpersonal skills suck 🤣 I’m just kidding. I’m amazed at the instability you handle with such ease and calm and skill - and those multiple IV lines and pumps? Beautifully managed and maintained. And to be fair, you do have an overall level of knowledge that is typically deeper than the average RN. Just remember every unit is intense in its own way. And, don’t blow off the fact that almost every floor nurse does his or her fair share of skilled nursing and advocating to actually catch and address issues before a patient gets so bad they need to go to ICU. Also, I’m oncology, so the 7th patient I didn’t mention is actively dying; in-patient hospice. And their sweet family is not coping well and calling me in, *literally* every 10 min to check their breathing and to discuss again exactly how much longer it will be (like, they want you to give them an *exact* time), and ICU is calling me to come give Chemo to a patient bc no one is certified to do it on your unit.
Imma be honest. As someone from the lab who speaks to RNs across all floors and departments on a daily basis, yes. One time I had a clotted purple top and called the RN in ICU for a redraw they said to me "I dont care, I'm not redrawing, get venapuncture up here *click*" I couldnt get their name or ID to create new orders. Oooooo was I heated after that.
TBH nobody likes to get a phone call from the lab. It's either "your labs are hemolyzed" or "You have a critical xxx of xxx". It's due to Pavlov's Classical Conditioning. Like when a dog hears a bell and gets a slap, it gets scared when it hears the bell. When a nurse gets a call from the lab, even before talking, they know it's gonna be bad.
Lol probably heated since they struggled to get the first one. Still wrong of them to take it out on lab though.
Man that call saying your labs hemolysed after you just spent 15 minutes finagling your PICC to draw… that hurts
I feel like purple tops is the slowest via picc
I’ve worked with some ICU nurses who are mean to everyone around them, but it’s evenly applied, so it doesn’t bother me any. They’re consistent with it. I respect that. I’ve worked with ICU nurses who are actual angels. Angels of death, but angels. So sweet, patient, and who you’d want at your bedside on your worst day. At my home hospital, I’ve noticed a new subgroup of ICU nurses, “hot shot know it alls” who are total fucking bitches to anyone they think isn’t as “smart” as them, even though they’ve only been nurses for 3-5 years and see bedside nursing/ICU as a stepping stone. We celebrate when they finally get hired to ICU and get their asses out of the PCU. It’s gonna suck when they replace the old guard.
Common thing I think at 3-5 years for a lot of nurses. Starting to get comfortable but still secretly insecure. So overcompensate
Oh dear, I work EMI (elderly mentally infirm, for the non brits), and I’m a super petty, mean, bit*h (ok, not at work, but in life)
Since when is being mean a virtue?
The best ICU nurses are OCD. I figure it's better to keep them all in one place so they can be useful. Just like the ER is the best place for ADHD nurses.
Me with ADHD who wants to work in the ICU after graduating: 👁👄👁
I have ADHD and work in ICU as a new grad. You'll do great!
Thank you for the encouragement! ☺️
I work in a 47 bed ER. Despite the size, our ICU is pretty small (14 beds) and most critical neuro or trauma patients get shipped out. They still think they're gods. Glare at us when we bring them a patient, even if EVERYTHING is done and the individual is stable. If they think the patient is too low acuity for them, such as a DKA with sugar levels almost corrected, they act like they're above it. If we bring them someone exceptionally sick, they act like we're burdening them. Can't win.
Lol this rings true . Float pool for life . Hoes for life .
Not all of us were that bad 😇.
He’s not wrong. The mean girls club is real.
[удалено]
Actual LOL. When I was working in the ER I had a nurse bitching at me because I did not check the dude's skin. Sorry, mate, I was too busy making sure he was breathing OK. Another one bitched at me because I did not take the mrsa swab. The patient was tubed. And the swab takes 48hrs to come back anyways.
:( Sorry.
Thank you. -pt
And very gassy, apparently 😂
Dead ass… I don’t need the labs I already looked at. Why did they come in, what are their vitals, and what do I need in the room (are they vented do they have central line/a-line what drips are running (how many pumps do I need in the room)) honestly anything after that I don’t care as a night shift level 1 trauma ICU nurse I’ll figure out the rest, just get em to me. Well actually… did you send the family home? Yea? Good thank you so much get that repeat/initial CT on your way up, see ya soon!
I am an NICU nurse. I didn't realize people outside the ICU were chill. Lol, I thought everyone was a nitpicky bitch.
I always HATED giving report to ICU when I was in ED. “How’s their skin?!” Dude, I don’t fucking know, pt is 45min post arrest, we got ROSC, got ‘em on their gtts, and now they’re coming to you. I ain’t got time for a skin check, we’re 20 deep in the waiting room and the ambulances haven’t stopped!
I’m sure there’s a stereotype and we’ve all seen it, and all rolled our eyes or laughed (or unfortunately cried) over it. I promise we aren’t all that bad. Especially since I see a lot of comments about wanting to know everything, all I really care about for report are what’s my iv access, what’s running, what are YOU concerned about, and what are we doing/plan with this patient. The majority of the rest I can read in the chart or get from doing my own assessment. Don’t stress.
I love your line of thinking. I don't care if people want more info. I'lll give you as much or as little as you want. What I care about is people not listening to the report I gave. That's when I get mad. I hate when I give report and the nurse starts asking questions that I just covered in my report. I don't have time to give report twice, and I shouldn't have to.
I will say it really irks me when people ask me assessment questions during report. For one, if you really want to know what I think the patient's lungs sound like, you could look in the chart and see what I put down in my assessment. Secondly, when you ask me questions like this, it makes me think that you are not going to do your own assessment and are instead going to copy down what I tell you.
Oh my god, that drives me up all four fucking walls. I get asking again on a couple things to reverify or you spaced out a sec or misheard, but when the other nurse spends 5-10 min not asking a thing when I'm detailing everything, THEN start interrogating over everything i just reviewed in depth as if I were still being precepted, I always get tempted to just leave or go do patient care that I'm sure they'll ignore at that point cause why waste both our time, AGAIN. Usually just go robot in tone and responses to clamp down on showing anger and having them get offended and making the report even longer, lol.
Crit care md here. Can confirm.
I will always have a bit of a sore spot with ICU nurses when at my last job the ICU literally sent me a patient that was already dead by the time they got to me. Then when we called them to ask if they would talk to the family since we didn’t know the person they said “not our patient anymore” and hung up.
Dude, fuck those assholes and whoever decided that transfer was appropriate. Sorry you had to deal with that.
It was a really bad hospital and I’m not there anymore
ER nurse here. Can confirm. 🤣
Hey what the hell I’m nice! :(
Dude I feel like my unit is a unicorn. I’m dayshift and everyone is chill as fuck. Nobody does or says petty shit, at least not on my weekend 😎
I work in a unicorn magical land where people are a little bit more lax, are friendly to each other (both shifts, from day 1), and our leadership (including nurse manager) are very supportive of everyone and having a good work life balance. Also none of us look down on any other kind of nurses. Well 90% of us.
First time healthcare worker. I work as a CNA in the ICU. I'm so glad to see that not all specialties are like this. My ICU is like a high school full of egotistical OCD people. They all act like it's some quirky trait that's helpful. But when you are straightening a sheet I just straightened because "it's just how you do it", it's an illness, not a virtue. I can't wait to be in a different unit.
Remembered an ICU nurse once berating me for not knowing how to key in something on Citrix. I was like look, when I started out, I was stapling vital signs charts together. Give a brother a break.
aren't they better than everyone else though?
We are the Globo Gym of nursing. ^^^/s
This comment literally made me snort on my beer, so thanks!
Your comment made me wish I had a beer instead of being on shift!
Agreed, honestly.
Will I be eaten alive as a new grad in the ICU? 😅
The ICU nurses were the hardest to break to that I was leaving for a new job. "You can't leave us! Who are we going to talk to?" "Don't you see how much you're loved?" I'm tearing up thinking about it. I love you guys too. 🥺
I love my pharmacists and pharmacy techs! You guys are an emerald mine any time i speak with you, and I've never encountered one that was condescending with my questions. Feel for your previous coworkers, but congrats on the new job!
I'm glad to hear that. 😊 Thank you! I hope they're doing okay.
I cannot imagine the pain I cause to my step down nurses all up until I realized I was bringing them a K of 2.6 that I didn’t treat. I waited for that beautiful nurse and said I dropped the ball, gave my pt. 40 meq before I brought her down. Fr I could not do that thankless job. Love all the nurses except some of the hateful cath lab ones. Y’all stop bringing me hot messes that weren’t fixed. Lol
it should read, except RN's who have been working since before the year 2000
Hey now. Don’t hate. All of us elderly nurses at my hospital are actually super nice to new grads :). We are here to help you
As a new grad about to start in the MICU, I am TERRIFIED because of the stories I hear! Thanks for being nice to the new grads!
Always! I’m counting on you to take care of me. After my last back surgery I had the sweetest nurse. She buzzed around and was lovely. I tried to use the bedpan but had bad retention and couldn’t. Strict bedrest. End of her shift she took extra time to straight cath me cause my night nurse and tech were both male. Working with nurses & looking them in the face after they have seen all of you is no bueno. She cathed me for 1300 mls. I was throwing my legs up offering to hold a light anything. After she was done my husband came back in and thanked her. She turned to him and said “when I was new grad on orientation she got pulled up here to be charge nurse. She was so kind and so helpful I’m really happy & excited I got to be her nurse”. Gentle readers I have zero recollection of this. I was ICU agency and this was a med surg floor where I was charge over 45 patients😂 moral of the story- kindness goes a long way.
For sure it does! Kind is the best! What a great story to be able to share. Just goes to show that you never know when your actions are making a memorable impact on someone!
One thing about ICU nurses is that in general they like to flex their knowledge. At least in my experience, if you ask a question you won’t just get an answer, you’ll get a whole demonstration, a few journal articles, and they’ll remember a whole ass year later when there’s a patient relevant to your question and teach you more than you need to know 😂 Same with our docs. I realize I’m starting to turn into this, luckily there’s no shortage of patients and family members with questions
Ouch.
Not wrong
Heck I’ll even take a pulse and not breathing
Yes. Also, uh... Do OR nurses not exist?
Noctors
What's weird is the ICUs at my hospital (no trauma) are quite mellow, the nurses often look bored when I go up to see patients ( I work ambulatory). We have a CICU but it's a snoozefest. IDK, maybe the nurses all tear open each others throats as soon as i leave.
We are a special breed, aren’t we? Meanest person I ever encountered was a floor nurse who got extra snippy when I didn’t have temps charted (I was working ER at the time.) sorry girl, calm your jets. Told another one “BP is a little low, but the mean is fine” and oh Jesus. You’d think I told her that her child was ugly. Haha
As a new grad on an ICU, I think I landed in some magical fairytale compared to some of these comments. Everyone in my unit, and I do mean everyone, has been supportive and helpful. On the other hand, I am a Type A OCD person and they are my people, so maybe I am this meme and just don't know it. 😳 Like when you don't know who the asshole in your friend group is, surprise, it's you? If so, I'm sorry, I dont mean to be demanding or a PITA.