Respect the Reps!

Okay, so are any of you familiar with those little caps with alcohol in them that screw into the end of any IV insertion site, as well as any y-sites on the tubing? (If not see illustration) My per-diem job is to travel around to hospitals and educate the nurses on them. Ive only done 3 hospitals so far, and I find it so very frustrating.

First of all, these caps are awesome, and I'm not just saying that because I work for the company. You put them on and when you're ready to give an IV medication or hook up IV fluids, you don't have to scrub the hub with alcohol. It also keeps any lines completely disinfected...how many times does your central line end up in the patients armpit? Unless you're scrubbing with alcohol for a full 30 seconds, germs can still get into their blood stream. These stupid little caps are saving so many blood stream infections!!

Going to the units to educate the nurses on them is super frustrating. I get it. I'm a nurse. We're busy. And you hear "nurses come to the desk for a quick in-service" and the eye rolling starts. I've heard all the excuses on why they feel like they're too busy or don't need to listen to the rep. "My patient is leaving AMA" "I'm never going to use that" "I just have so much charting to do" My whole spiel takes literally 3 minutes. I want to tell you about it and answer any questions you may have, because most likely your hospital has already signed a contract with us requiring some compliance percentage from the nursing staff. 

I've had nurses this past week yell at me because they "didn't have time", and when I came back later, I was ignored. I've had nurses yelling at me about how stupid and costly this was, and that they should get a pay raise instead of buying this product. At this hospital, we were implimenting a new size variation that now fits on the ends of IV tubing, as well as syringes. I've had nurses yelling at me because they weren't all rolled out at once.

None of this falls on me. I am here to educate you on something your hospital is mandating you use. And realistically, you're saving you and your hospital lots of time and money. But all that aside, why aren't nurses more respectful? 

I think I get so frustrated because I hold others to the same standards in which I work. Unless I was with a very unstable patient, there is nothing I am doing that cannot wait three minutes. The reps/educators that come to the floors are just doing their job, and really whatever product they come around with is designed to help me do my job more efficiently, no matter how insignificant it may seem at the time.

*Side note* I find it interesting that the units that give us the most respect, and are receptive to the education are the ICU/critical care and the ancillary units (endo, IR, etc.). Medsurg/telemetry units seem to give so much resistance for a 3 minute speech. (seriously people. THREE MINUTES)

So I beg all of you. When reps/educators come to you unit, please be courteous of them. If they show up at your 8 o'clock med pass, ask them to come back at 10 when things slow down and I'm sure they will comply. Ask them questions related to the product. Don't bitch about how stupid it seems, or how upset you are without hospital policies. Don't roll your eyes. Listen to them and move about you day. They're just trying to do their job to help you do yours.

TL;DR. Respect your reps, reduce blood stream infections!

-K