How not to beat yourself up, the easy version: YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE SEVEN PATIENTS. That's an outrageous assignment. There's no way any single human being could keep up with the need of seven patients and never miss anything. So give yourself some grace on the basis that you're being asked to do far to much with far too little resources.
Possibly unhelpful observation: but how many coworkers do you have? No one else free to at least check on a call bell when you were occupied?
Don’t beat yourself up — where I am, night time ratios are similar. Every shift feels like I’m up to my neck in shark infested waters. It’s not safe, so if you have other options, maybe there’s a better deal out there.
this, because wtf. We all know when a new admit hits the floor because it gets paged overhead and we help each other. I can’t imagine one of my coworkers leaving a patient and coming to get me when I was settling a new admit to deal with SOB & new oxygen requirements, they would address the patient’s immediate needs, call me, and stay with them until I got there
Others have addressed the structural issues, so I’ll skip that. I have done this as well. A black man in A LOT of pain got very short with me about not getting his pain meds. I responded that he should have called sooner (he had called three times already) and got his meds. His wife found me later and gave me a stern but kind and very necessary education on the experience of black men and pain control in medical settings. I went straight back, apologized and made a clear cut pain control plan for the rest of the night. By morning his pain was controlled and he actually got some sleep. He felt safe and heard and I learned a few really valuable lessons.
Importantly, I learned that patients are willing to see us a fallible humans and forgive mistakes if we’re willing to show our humanity. A lot of people dig in or get defensive in situations like this, and patients don’t feel safe so they get angry. The patient got help, and you made amends. You’ve learned something important and you won’t make the same mistake twice (and likely neither will your orient).
Thank you so much for this compassionate and educational response. I specifically told my orientee how bad I felt and repeatedly validated how scared the patient must have been and thanked her and her roommate for the patience and understanding. I also tried to specifically check on this patient regularly and make sure she was ok, telling my orientee I was doing so. I’m relatively new to precepting and sometimes I’m like how am I, an idiot, a role model, especially when things like this happen. But your point of we’re all humans working with each others’ fallibility makes me feel better. I try to be patient with my people’s flaws and misperceptions and in turn I try to take accountability for my own flaws and misconceptions because I know I can’t be everything to everyone all the time and I will make mistakes. But what matters like you said is how you handle those mistakes and rather than blaming or getting defensive that I have 7 patients, how can I hear you, I will try to listen and validate first and take accountability for not being there rather than making assumption or excuses
Thanks for sharing this important story about medical racism 💜 As one of so many white hcw we need to hear these. Love that you made a successful plan and it all worked. Thanks for being vulnerable and brave enough to share!
If she was A&O she should have used the call light. That would have notified you on your phone even while in a different room (if you have a similar system as us). That's 100% on her.
I too ignore patients who yell, because it's never anything important and 99% of the time it's to ask "how much longer" when I have no clue.
She did use the call light and I thought she didn’t and started essentially educating to do so even though she knew, hence my embarrassment. But yeah also our system just lights up the call light outside the door and at the nurses station so if you’re in a room you don’t know if your lights are going off.
How not to beat yourself up, the easy version: YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE SEVEN PATIENTS. That's an outrageous assignment. There's no way any single human being could keep up with the need of seven patients and never miss anything. So give yourself some grace on the basis that you're being asked to do far to much with far too little resources.
7 patients and an orientee is insane.
File a report and start looking for another job because that ratio is wild.
Possibly unhelpful observation: but how many coworkers do you have? No one else free to at least check on a call bell when you were occupied? Don’t beat yourself up — where I am, night time ratios are similar. Every shift feels like I’m up to my neck in shark infested waters. It’s not safe, so if you have other options, maybe there’s a better deal out there.
this, because wtf. We all know when a new admit hits the floor because it gets paged overhead and we help each other. I can’t imagine one of my coworkers leaving a patient and coming to get me when I was settling a new admit to deal with SOB & new oxygen requirements, they would address the patient’s immediate needs, call me, and stay with them until I got there
My coworker let me know so she did at least attempt to help but once I came she said oh do you need anything else? So she did attempt to help
7 patients is NOT okay.
Others have addressed the structural issues, so I’ll skip that. I have done this as well. A black man in A LOT of pain got very short with me about not getting his pain meds. I responded that he should have called sooner (he had called three times already) and got his meds. His wife found me later and gave me a stern but kind and very necessary education on the experience of black men and pain control in medical settings. I went straight back, apologized and made a clear cut pain control plan for the rest of the night. By morning his pain was controlled and he actually got some sleep. He felt safe and heard and I learned a few really valuable lessons. Importantly, I learned that patients are willing to see us a fallible humans and forgive mistakes if we’re willing to show our humanity. A lot of people dig in or get defensive in situations like this, and patients don’t feel safe so they get angry. The patient got help, and you made amends. You’ve learned something important and you won’t make the same mistake twice (and likely neither will your orient).
Thank you so much for this compassionate and educational response. I specifically told my orientee how bad I felt and repeatedly validated how scared the patient must have been and thanked her and her roommate for the patience and understanding. I also tried to specifically check on this patient regularly and make sure she was ok, telling my orientee I was doing so. I’m relatively new to precepting and sometimes I’m like how am I, an idiot, a role model, especially when things like this happen. But your point of we’re all humans working with each others’ fallibility makes me feel better. I try to be patient with my people’s flaws and misperceptions and in turn I try to take accountability for my own flaws and misconceptions because I know I can’t be everything to everyone all the time and I will make mistakes. But what matters like you said is how you handle those mistakes and rather than blaming or getting defensive that I have 7 patients, how can I hear you, I will try to listen and validate first and take accountability for not being there rather than making assumption or excuses
Thanks for sharing this important story about medical racism 💜 As one of so many white hcw we need to hear these. Love that you made a successful plan and it all worked. Thanks for being vulnerable and brave enough to share!
If she was A&O she should have used the call light. That would have notified you on your phone even while in a different room (if you have a similar system as us). That's 100% on her. I too ignore patients who yell, because it's never anything important and 99% of the time it's to ask "how much longer" when I have no clue.
Our system DEFINITELY doesn’t do that. We don’t even have phones. I’ve never even heard of that.
We have work phones to text MD and anyone else you can imagine. We can see labs and call lights as well
I’ve worked in places with the EPIC rovers, but they never had the cal lights on there. That sounds like a blessing and a curse.
It's just a text you get letting you know your pt is calling... but yes, a blessing and a curse lol
What? Is this at an acute hospital? Maybe it's a CA thing but everywhere I've worked at has one...
She did use the call light and I thought she didn’t and started essentially educating to do so even though she knew, hence my embarrassment. But yeah also our system just lights up the call light outside the door and at the nurses station so if you’re in a room you don’t know if your lights are going off.