I need everyone to know that our night unit secretary on med-surg is the actual charge nurse and we're all just pretending otherwise. She knows which doctor is on call before the doctor does. She knows which family member is going to call at 3am asking for an update. She found a missing patient belongings bag that three of us had been tearing the unit apart for.
Tonight she looked at me when I walked back from a room and just said 'bed 12's daughter is coming up and she's mad about the dinner tray, go hide.' And she was right.
She's paid a fraction of what I make and the place would collapse without her. Does every unit have one of these people or did we just get lucky?
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Post replyThe pay gap is the part that gets me. Ours does bed huddles, transport coordination, half the family calls, and covers the monitor tech on breaks. She makes less than the parking attendant. Then they wonder why nobody stays in that role.
The 'go hide' part sent me. Do you guys do anything for her? Nurses week gets all the attention and our secretaries get a pizza if they're lucky.
Gonna be the odd one out. We had one like this and she was amazing right up until she decided she was actually in charge and started telling new grads what to do clinically. There's a line and some of them cross it.
Every unit has one. The trick is making sure admin knows it before she gets poached by the ED, because they will absolutely come for her.
Ours retired last spring and we still haven't recovered. Three replacements so far and none of them know that the hospitalist on nights will only answer pages if you put a callback number AND the room number.