Should I talk to my manager about an RN?

[omarosa47]

I'm struggling with whether or not to approach my nurse manager about my shift tonight.

To give you some background I have been an aid on one of two oncology units in a very large hospital facility for about 9 months. I love my job, and at the risk of sounding boastful, I'm good at. I'm a med student, so I have a good understanding of the care my patients need and I bring my concerns to the RN's attention. Because of my educational background, the nurses put more trust in me and have higher expectations than they do of other aids. Which is fine, when I'm not there I want people to talk about how good I am not how much they're dreading my next shift, but I think is coming back to bite me in the butt.

I work the 3-11 shift while RNs work 7-7, so I work half with day nurses, half with night nurses. Today I picked up a shift on the other oncology unit, I do this fairly regularly so I know everybody very well there. I am the only aid with 9 beds and 7pt. and 3 RNs. The first 4 hours of my shift were great, busy but I could manage. I knew that if I needed lifting help or if I was busy in a room the RNs would cover (i.e. grab a drink, empty a urinal, ect.) But as soon as shift change came all hell broke loose. We got two admits from the ED, spiked 2 neutropenic fevers, and had a couple incidents with an incontinent pt. who just got Lasix. The night nurses would not get off their butts to help me, one in particular. She had one of the ED admits, who had an altered mental status and was a fall risk. Transport brought the guy up she hands me the slide board so the guy from transport and I can transfer by ourselves! I spent the next 45 min (time I should have been getting vitals) getting him settled, she didn't come in at all. Then I spent the next 2 hours running around like crazy trying to get vitals, clean people up, get drinks, finish I/Os all while the three nurses are sitting there not doing a thing, except for reminding me so-so needs their urinal emptied or a drink or complain I haven't charted yet. I ended up taking no break and staying an hour late just to get everything done, something that almost never happens no matter how busy I am.

I love busy shifts, but that was out of control because nobody was willing to help me. I'm struggling with whether to talk to my manager about this or not. I don't want to come off as a whiner but I felt that I was so overloaded with work and the nurses were doing so little it was almost dangerous. What would you do? Approach the manager? Not? What would you say?

P.S. I should probably mention that two of the nurses, the two doing the least to help have a reputation for sleeping on the job and not being team players.

TLDR; Night nurses don't do anything while aid runs like crazy.

[hookyarnandblanket]

There is no easy answer to this, unfortunately. If the nurses are relaxed about not helping, and one is notorious for sleeping and not helping out, management likely already knows and won't do anything to correct it. The only solution I would do in that situation would be to not pick up any more shifts in that department.

It's highly disturbing that the RN didn't come in to help with the admission to do a cursory assessment and get some sort of brief report from transport.

[Nobody00]

I feel your pain...

When my ward is overstaffed they send CNA/nurses off to other wards. Some of them are known for nursing staff not helping and suffering from RNitis... Its so bad that some people would rather use up leave hours and drive an hour back home instead of going to those wards. Unfortunately that's the culture of those units/clicky shifts and management cant/wont do anything about it. If you think the management will listen to your concerns you can approach them, however don't expect much to be done.

I've stopped staying after time. If i stay, they better pay me. There is only so much a person can physically do. If the shift is busy and it's the nurses i know and love working with i don't mind working through break and after time to get things done for them but in RNitis cases who sit down and ignore 5 bells going off,no thanks, i'm finished therefore i'm out of there. Perks of having paper charts and charting at the bedside throughout the shift.

Enjoy being back on the good shift and with nice staff :)

[ZoeFrecn]

I've worked with nurses who feel that it is beneath them, or not their job to do CNA work. It can lead to a toxic and unsafe work culture if is allowed to continue. Don't let nurses delegate tasks to you out of sheer personal convenience. When I've been in your situation and the nurse asked me to do something they can do themselves and its very clear that they are not as busy as you I would say "sorry I'm really busy doing xyz, can you empty that urinal for me? Otherwise its going to be a long time until I can get to the patient."

Nurses, CNA or LPN's are all part of the caregiving team. We have to work together to help ensure patient safety and that we are giving the highest level of care we can possibly give. You don't want to be putting your patients' at risk because a nurse is too lazy to do something. If talking to her doesn't work, then I would start working your way up the management chain.