[mich_01085]

I have been a nurse for all of 2 months. My problem is the experienced nurses who work the day shift. If I miss the smallest thing they run to the DON screaming! They have refused to give med's to a patient because I didn't write the entry into the nurses notes, it was written in 5 other places as protocal requires. I don't run screaming when I catch thier mistakes ( and they do make them). I get short inaccurate reports at shift start, (I once was told a pt was doing fine, walked into his room and found him Cheyne-Stoking), they start admission paperwork and leave it to me without telling me where they left off. I don't want to run to the DON, even my shift supervisor has noticed this, they have even complained that I get testy when they correct me (this after 4 weeks of constant complaints, including calling me on my day off to complain. They spend more time reviewing my work than thier own. My Supervisor is pleased with my work and has stated to me and the DON that it is petty stuff they are complaining about. Any tips how to back thenm off without running to the DON and making myself look bad??

[prmenrs]

I think you're in a hostile work environment! I don't have any specific words of wisdom, but since you are in communication w/your supervisor, ask him/her for some more specific advice besides reassurance that you're doing fine.

Keep a little notebook and document--esp the worst offenders.

Hang in there. Try to stick it out for a while, but you may need to seek other employment.

[GrnHonu99]

Originally Posted by mich_01085

I have been a nurse for all of 2 months. My problem is the experienced nurses who work the day shift. If I miss the smallest thing they run to the DON screaming! They have refused to give med's to a patient because I didn't write the entry into the nurses notes, it was written in 5 other places as protocal requires. I don't run screaming when I catch thier mistakes ( and they do make them). I get short inaccurate reports at shift start, (I once was told a pt was doing fine, walked into his room and found him Cheyne-Stoking), they start admission paperwork and leave it to me without telling me where they left off. I don't want to run to the DON, even my shift supervisor has noticed this, they have even complained that I get testy when they correct me (this after 4 weeks of constant complaints, including calling me on my day off to complain. They spend more time reviewing my work than thier own. My Supervisor is pleased with my work and has stated to me and the DON that it is petty stuff they are complaining about. Any tips how to back thenm off without running to the DON and making myself look bad??

ugh how frustrating...what does your DON say?? I would just tell them that you have discussed your work with your supervisor and if they have any more problems to take it up with them. Sorry you having such issues

[mich_01085]

My DON wants to know why the nurses aren't handling this with the Shift Supervisor or me as they should. And she is concerned at them reporting me for being "testy" when they inform me of what new thing I missed or did wrong by thier standards

[NebbyLPN]

When I read your post I knew you were working in a nursing home. What is happening to you is not all that uncommon. My advice to you is to make a decision as to whether these people are being more of a hindrence to you than a help. Then, what you are going to have to do is work up the nerve to confront them and do to them what they are doing to you. I'd let the supervisor know what you are planning to do so she can back you up. When they leave you admission paperwork, especially if the admission was early in their shift, all you need to do is make sure the new patients are getting their medications and treatments which may mean writing out the MARs and TARs. Do the required charting in the nurses notes and that's all. Leave all the various assessments for them to fill out the next day. I would also make a quick body check on the patient just to make sure you're not missing a skin breakdown which you would have to attend to. If you get flack from them about not finishing the paperwork you simply tell them you had a very busy shift and all you could get to was the most important things. So sorry. You really have to tell them exactly that way. When they tell you you are getting testy with them you have to be ready to speak up back to them and say something like, "Well, don't speak to me so disrespectfully and I won't." You are going to have to start standing up for yourself or they are going to walk all over you. With regard to the constant complaints to the DON you just have to take each of the nurses doing that aside and tell them individually that if they have a complaint about something they think you're doing wrong you'd appreciate them talking to you about it first instead of running to the DON. If they do it again, tell them that you asked them once before to come to you first and ask why they didn't. Just keep after them. The idea is to make it as uncomfortable to them to have you do these little things to them as they have been doing them to you. That is the only way they are going to learn to respect you. What is happening, I think, is that these other nurses are detecting your niceness and some indicision on your part and going for you jugular. You have to start fighting back. Your shift supervisor might be nice, but she is not doing her job by intervening with these idiots and putting them in their place.

[toadie]

hey mich 01085 i read your post and understand your frustrations. the truth is nurses who have been nurses for a while are often convinced that there is no way a new nurse can be right. i even had a preceptor when i first started who tried to convince me that a fentanyl pca bag didn't need to be wasted by us because we didn't hang it anyway, the way that i would handle these RN's would be to ask specific questions in shift report. " oh, so mrs. smith was admitted today. Is her admit assessment done in the chart?"
this way if they say yes and its not then they are lying and you must tell on them. and i don't think i would fix any of their mistakes. for instance, if they don't do the admission paperwork that means that their mars aren't done. i would make it known that i finished the mar on night shift. which means that if meds were given on days they were not checked with the mar or signed off. these nurses arepointing out your errors to cover their own.