Smoke Breaks

I consider myself a team player.  I'll jump in and help you if I see you're drowning as long as I am available.  I don't expect you to reciprocate, especially if I'm already familiar with your work ethic (most of my coworkers become extremely frustrated if I ask for help, even if all they have to do is discharge a patient and send them home).

There are some things that are beyond frustrating that have happened lately while trying to help.  The one that pushed me over the edge was a smoke break.

Here's the situation.  I'm working the the "urgent care" section of the ED (Rapid Medical Evaluation in my hospital, sometimes known as Minor Care).  One of my coworkers in the acute side of the ED receives an ambulance (respiratory distress) and has 2 other patients, one of whom they are trying to determine if he has a heart attack.

The Charge Nurse asks me to leave my area and help my coworker.  I get there and she is taking care of the respiratory distress. I'm asked to watch her other two patients. The rule out heart attack needs a second IV started along with a heparin drip (blood thinner) and a nitro drip (vasodilator, makes blood flow easier).  No problem.  I get that going in less than 10 minutes (including all the documentation and explanations to the patient).

Because I am who I am, I take over the care of her other patient as well.  I make sure they are situated, comfortable, and I explain what is going on with their care.  Time passes (about 30 minutes from when I get there) and she steps out of the room she has been frantically working in.  I give her updates on her other patients.  They are settled, just waiting for admission orders (heart attack) and discharge orders (the other patient).  I'm told to stick around for a while until the respiratory distress is more stable. No problem.

More time passes, the doctors involved with the heart attack patient continue to ask me for updates and I continue to help.  I discharge the other patient.  The next time I see her she is grabbing her cigarettes and leaving on a smoke break.  I ask her who is going to watch her patients (remember, this is not my assignment, I'm supposed in the "minor care", just keeping her afloat so she doesn't come back to a nightmare of orders).  She rambles off that someone else is going to watch her people and runs off.

Seriously?  I've been watching her people for 45 minutes at this point and she suddenly have enough time for a smoke break? I still haven't given her report on her other patients so she can officially resume care of them.  I am still answering questions from the doctors for her cardiac patient yet she has enough time for a "breathing treatment"? Unbelievable.

The worst part of this situation is reporting this incident.  It's beyond ridiculous that she did this. Unfortunately the charge nurse is in no position to help because he was a substitute.  Even so, our current boss doesn't know how to confront people (instead of writing people up for playing Pokemon in the ER he sent yet another reminder we aren't supposed to have cell phones, easily narrowed to 2 people on the overnight shift).

So what about confronting the person who went to smoke? Can't bring it up to her because in her mind her people were covered so she did nothing wrong.

Honestly by the time I'm writing this I'm mostly over the situation.  Obviously it still bothers me a bit but for the most part I'm over it.  There's nothing I can do and at this point it's far from everyone else's mind.

Life goes on.

They asked me to stay late that night to help relieve lunches.  I agreed to remain long enough to transport the patients that were admitted but did not want to do any lunches, especially my smoking friend.