Going to HR:
Human Resources is available when things don’t feel right in the hospital. Do you have a bad feeling about one of the nurses? Has someone been treating you unfairly or do you feel threatened by your current work environment? Take a trip to HR.
But how do you know when a gut feeling is warranted and not just indigestion? Your body’s physical messages should be “dear and neutral,” say researchers. And they caution never to act on impulse, as if you’re feeling particularly emotional, it could be fear and not intuition.
An exception to this would be in times of sexual or verbal harassment. If this is happening to you, be sure to contact your HR person after the first offense. If someone is targeting you, they’re most certainly targeting others who may not know (or be brave enough) to speak up.
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10 easy ways to improve your bedside manner
I had a strong feeling one night approx 7 years ago in a small rural hospital on the med-surg unit . This patient was in for azotemia. He was hemodynamically stable and the only thing that was “out of sorts” was his cognition which goes with the territory.
I went out on a limb and called his doc about 1am on this gut feeling that this patient was circling the drain. I anticipated a butt chewing because I had nothing on paper to go by.
He was obviously very skeptical and just said if I started to see any clinical signs of deterioration to call back.
So after that phone conversation, I continued to do 15 min checks because of this gut feeling. My co-worker was understanding how I was feeling and was hoping I was wrong but was starting to feel the same way. On my 45 min. check post phone call , I walked into the patients room to recheck v/s and see if I was missing something and I witnessed his “arrest”.
Because I was in the room when it happened and proper ACLS algorihthyms, we saved this patient’s life that night. He went on to live a few more months and succumbed to liver failure. but not before he had the opportunity to say good bye to his family.
And after that incident, I bonded very much with that doctor, and he believed and took serious every phone call I ever made to him in those dreaded early hours. This was one of those “remember when” ‘s !