agency nurse asks..how to deal with difficult staff nurse

[Kashia]

What is best way to deal with a staff nurse that is increasingly becoming

difficult. We each have assigned team. This nurse started friendly, extremely talkative on noc shift.

Then began establishing her own policies and insisting I adhere to them. When I found out it was her thing ( adding more work and unnecessary) and not hospital policy I stopped doing it. My big mistake!! Now....she is on me about everything. Looks for mundane things, criticizes me in front of other staff - not in a productive way

but demeaning. Interrupts when I am talking with my CNA's. When I was returning from lunch, she says she is giving my patient some tylenol because he has been in pain ( like I was neglecting). I said I just gave him some 20 minutes ago. Her reply is "well how am I suppose to know" and I remind her that is what MAR's are for...then she starts dissecting looking for my entry. Girl is a nightmare and has worked there for years. I had already accepted another month of work before her personality shift and now I am absolutely dreading going.

I do not know if I should talk to her privately, tell her to stop it! because it does feel like harassment really. or bullying. its very stressful on top of already stress. the word is dread.

I would like to know the most professional way to deal with this if anyone has ideas. my agency has policy once you accept shifts there is no turning back. Thanks

[momof2guys]

Talk with your clinical coordinator he/she will usually schedule a meeting with all parties to hash out problems. If diff ulities can not be solved then u should be able to break your contract w/o any serious consequences. Wishing u the best of luck.

[dance4life]

I worked for an agency that didn't do anything with a hostile nurse. lmao! Luckily I was there long enough for her bosses to appreciate when I was there, so I was able to report it directly to the facility. I never went back.

As for travel, my recruiter is pretty good about fixing things. I am having problems with a charge nurse like this. She just gave me a bad evaluation. o_O lmao! I was going to confront the Manager, but you know I think I will let my recruiter handle this.

[bigboi]

She is a bully! The is first thing I would do is go through the proper chain of command. If that doesn't work, then you'd have to result to more confrontational methods. Theres a reason why she is only picking on you. You need to put her in her place or find somewhere else in the facility to work.

[LaRN]

I have no advice, but it seems like there are more nurses in the workforce with personality disorders than there is in the general population. i've seen a few crack up over little or no reason.

[nurselabrat]

Sometimes staff nurses have a resentment for agency nurses. I guess there are plenty of reasons why, but it doesn't make our jobs any easier. I would tell her that I respect her position there and appreciate any useful help she has to offer. I would try to turn it around so that perhaps she would not feel threatened by me. This gesture would be an attempt to try to calm the situation and improve the working relationship. I would try to take a different approach than an all out confrontation. If you have to work with somebody you don't want them trying to stab you in the back at every opportunity, and if you make her mad, she will. I would also let my agency know what was going on, perhaps they could intervene. The agency should be made aware of the working conditions for their nurses. I had a terrible time recently at a facility and I decided that I would not go back. It was obvious to me that the other nurses didn't want agency nurses there. During my time there I was polite and courteous. I didn't cause any conflict and I removed myself from bad situations at every opportunity. That is the good thing about an agency nurse, you don't have to take a bad assignment.