Unwritten Rules of the Hospital - Part 1

Unwritten rule for ALL staff: never speak poorly of your colleague or another department/specialty in front of the patient. Always promote trust and teamwork within the medical team to patients and families!!!

All of these rules are unwritten because no one can find their pens

Thank you for saying that nurse's assistants are worth their weight in gold, cause we are, and no one seems to appreciate how hard we work

House keeper here. I prevented so many falls. Caught medical signs. Found people on the floor. And house keepers talk to the patients a lot more than you may think. I do clean up after staff more that patients most times

When examining a patient before a group of medical students/interns, greet the patient and present him/her to the students by name. Otherwise, the patient feels like a zoo attraction.

Unwritten rule: NEVER say it’s been slow, quiet, or not busy!!

Don’t be embarrassed to ask about something. A little humility goes a long way

Unwritten rule: Bring your own pen. Its your most valuable resource.

Thank you for bringing up Nurse Assistants (CNA's)! I am a CNA in an orthopedic unit, and sometimes I feel invisible to other team members. CNA's can use all the help we can get!

Rule: If you didn't chart it, IT DIDNT HAPPEN Unwritten Rule of night shift: If you finish the coffee, brew another pot Unwritten Rule: Never promise a patient a second pillow

For med admin: if the doctor's writing is illegible on a script always confirm the medication and dose don't assume or guess-ask for clarification. Your patient's life depends on it.

it made me almost tear up when you said us nurse assistants are worth our weight in gold. so many residents and 3rd med students have been so respectful and it’s only my first year in healthcare. it means the world to us knowing we are all a closer team than most people think! :’-)

Possible unpopular opinion on 'patients come first'-- Absolutely yes, patients come first, however, manage your priorities. I've worked too many shifts myself where I haven't gotten to eat or take any sort of break, or where I've stayed late at work and it's been a detriment to me more than a help to my patient. Obviously, critical care comes first before anything, but nonurgent or routine things can and should be worked into caring for yourself also (eating or taking a 10-15 minute breather). You cannot fill a cup from one that's empty, and you'll provide your patients better care when your needs are also met. I read a quote that I remembered when thinking about this topic- Some people wear their burnout, hard-core work ethic, etc., like a badge of honor, but at the end of the day, admin can replace you. Don't sacrifice your own care or time with your family constantly for the sake of work ethic alone.

I am a physician as well (18th year of practice, mostly as a rural GP but also time as a focused practice ER physician and hospitalist in Medium sized community hospitals). Things like respecting nurses and other staff are spot on but some of your other ideas like never handing over to the next team always staying late are inherently destructive and lay the foundations for the epidemic of physician burnout we are now facing. Trust me, I have usually been the guy staying late, giving up holidays and basically tossing myself on the sacrificial altar. I have had to work through at least two major episodes of burnout to this culture and the one I’m working through now has cost me essentially three years of life that I will never get back (I’ve worked through my burnout but that has harmed my health further and made me miss so many critical moments in my life including my mothers death during the pandemic). We have to change these “rules” now if we are to have a sustainable health care team in the future. So good work but it needs some tweaking to really be of value.

Unwritten rule: Do not lose sight of your pen in the hospital.

Please respect laboratory workers as well! We are not "just techs", we are board-certified health professionals that play an integral role in patient care

My OB used to stay behind after births to help the nurses and custodian clean up. She got mad respect from me for that.

I was going in for surgery and I heard a surgeon for another patient berate the staff because the operating room wasn’t completely ready for him yet. I felt embarrassed for the staff and thought “what a jerk”. Never yell at staff.

One example that really chokes me up inside is when my mother was first diagnosed with cancer, the doctor that found it knew me because I worked with him several times. He blatantly told me that he was going to get the best care for my mother because since we work together we are family and we take care of one another. He then put my mother at the top of his list for referrals to the best doctors in town. I never once asked for special treatment. Tbh, I didn’t even think he knew me because I kept quiet in his cases. When I found out he did that, I was overwhelmed with gratitude. He will forever hold a special place in my heart for taking such amazing care of my mom. Because of his fast response, my mother is alive today and cancer free. ❤️

So glad you mentioned the custodial staff. They’re so important but also never mentioned