“Why is she on contact?” I’m asking the young Nurse at the station just outside of my patients room. She’s standing just to the right of our patient’s room.
The Nurse responds, “I’m not sure, why do you need to know?”
“What do you mean, why do I need to know?
She’s serious, and so am I. I’m very serious.
Mine was an honest question. Maybe hers was too. All I know is that seeing that sign with the familiar stop sign symbol at the top and the words “Contact Precautions” printed across it always stops me before I enter the room. A cart holding various sizes of gloves and an additional cart holding gowns typically accompany it. They’re there for a reason, I suspect.
I ponder several alternate responses:
“Well, because I’d like to know.”
“Because I have small children at home that I’d really prefer to not expose to anything, not to mention the triplets I’m pregnant with…”
“Because I’m going to be sitting in the back of an ambulance for the next hour or so and…”
“How can you NOT know? You’re her Nurse, right?”
“Well, I have to decide if it’s going to be myself or my junior partner taking patient care.”
“Because Acinetobacter is the one square open on my Multiple-Drug Resistant Enterococci bingo card and the pot is HUGE, Yo!!!!”
And my favorite… The blink, followed up by the blank stare. The look that I’ve mastered thanks to working private EMS in my hometown.
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If you have any other suggestions, please let me know. I’m quickly running out of responses.
I go through this every day… What even worse when they tell you that you can’t look at the chart for HIPPA reasons…. My response is always “then just call a cab, I’m a licensed health care provider contueing care, If you just want a cab, then call one!” They don’t like it but they can’t fight it. JS
They don’t get it, do they, JS? It shouldn’t surprise me anymore, but it still pisses me off.
That’s nurses for you. I know– I’ve worked as a CNA almost five years.
My best advice is to always gown, glove, and mask…when in doubt.
“I’m taking over her care. That means I need to know.”
Epi…just kick em and tell and tell them they are POO POO heads that’s why….Mkay
Its strange that they can’t see it!
Congrats on the triplets!
Totally kidding about the triplets girl! :)
Stick with the blank stare, only make sure you hold the stare with silence for an uncomfortably long time. Most people can’t handle being stared at silently and will end up caving.
I use the stare a lot because I ride a motorcycle *every day* from April to November in Upstate NY. People will walk into the office, see my helmet, then ask me “Did you ride in today?”. The stare coupled with silence chases them out in short order.
I would much rather they tell us about precautions prior to giving report to us – those are the ones I will listen to. And I can’t stand ignorance in nurses, especially when they don’t think we need to know. Then there are the ones who still call EMS providers “ambulance drivers” – I think we all react the same way to that….
Blank stare and tell em to call a cab…
I *love* the Acinetobacter response! You must use it!
WOW. Having the audacity to actual respond with ‘why do you need to know’ – is beyond words.
I would have responded, ‘WHY WOULD I NOT NEED TO KNOW?!’
Hehe, I was thinking it was a bit of a random way to tell us all the good news!
“I’m paid by the hour. Until I know which boogie monster is riding home on my boots, I’m staying right here. Feel free to call another truck if you’d rather not do your job”.
And that is a direct quote.
;)