Nailclipper Debacle

Well, only the third day of my orientation and I was left on my own for 4 hours. Well, technically, there was an RN down on the south wing that was supposed to help 'orient' me on my tasks and all, but she never came around to see how I was doing. Mind you, I was glad she didn't come around, she seemed clueless.

Speaking of this particular nurse, we have our first nickname of the new job! Granny Spacey seemed to not know any of the patients on the north hall, where I was working, or the south hall, where she was working. Of course, being left by myself for 4 hours one would expect something unusual to happen, and of course it did. This sweet little resident was spotted by the CNA attemting to amputate her toenail with contraband nail clippers. After assessing the damage and cleaning the wound, I contacted the doctor's office. Par for the course, her doctor was out of town and being covered by another doctor. I called the covering MD and left a message for him to contact me with an order for treatment of the wound. After never hearing back, this is the conversation at shift change:

McNurse: "I think I filled all the paperwork out correctly. I have the non-breakdown wound form, the incident report, I charted the findings in the nurses' notes and I called the doctor, but he hasn't called back yet."

Granny Spacey: "Oh, there was a a call from some man about 30 mins ago, I couldn't understand him at all. He had such a horrible accent, you know those foreigners."

McNurse: "He should have asked for me, I'm pretty sure almost any accent can pronounce my first name easily."

Granny Spacey: "Oh, he did say that, I'm sorry, I forgot your name."

McNurse: Well, did he ask for the North wing?"

Granny Spacey: "Yes, but he couldn't tell me the name of the resident, so I hung up."

McNurse: " Let me get this straight; He said my first name and asked for the the North wing and you didn't page me?"

Granny Spacey: "Well, he couldn't name the patient, so I thought it might be a Hippa violation to connect him."

McNurse: "Well, I guess I'll have to call him back."

Granny Spacey: "Twice."

McNurse: "What twice?"

Granny Spacey: "I hung up on him twice, he called back."

McNurse: "?????"

I was speechless. At least now I know why the DON walks around with such a miserable look on her face. Granny Spacey works there.