[firstyearstudent]

Originally Posted by sweetpea123

Well, I gotta agree with you...the other student/CNA shouldn't have talked. It should have been your choice to share/not to share what happened. However, there are a lot of people out there who love drama and will use gossip to make themselves the center of attention. I don't believe in growing "thick skin" but I do believe you can learn to alter your own perception of these situations. Instead of burning up over her talking about your business, own up to the error and tell everyone who will listen what really happened and how you hope they can learn from your mistake. Hopefully, your labs will be normal and this needlestick will not be a HUGE deal in the grand scheme of things. I don't think you owe her an apology for calling her at home. She turned this into a school-related (not employment related) situation the minute SHE started talking about it AT SCHOOL. But, in order to put it behind you, why not just write a letter apologizing for contacting the student directly and not using the appropriate reporting chain for privacy violations? Word it so you're not apologizing to the student directly...you're just apologizing for not reporting her to your faculty.
Good luck! And in regards to the needlestick, I'll tell you what a friend/mentor told me when I made my first (and only so far!!!) med error..."You know what the best thing about this is?...You'll never do it again!"

Great post!

[JBudd]

Originally Posted by Diahni

Hello All,
Thanks so much for all the feedback. Can anyone tell me...
1. Can you grow "thick skin"? The personal qualities required for a nurse are a real conundrum - nurses should be very sensitive to the needs of patients, and overlook some real nasty stuff thrown at us.
2. I thought "harrassment" means "the repeated taunting" of another person.
About gossip - I thought the privacy agreement we all have to sign is as important as HIPPA, though it is not a federal mandate.
Some pals who are nurses at the hospital told me I oughta report her, but I chose to contact her directly. I just don't see how it is harassment.
Diahni

IMHO, the harrassment comes from you using a personal venue (student listing) to contact someone about a professional incident (she wasn't acting as a student at the time, but as a hospital employee). Same as if a patient's family were to call me at my house instead of going to my nurse manager. Yeah, she gossiped. It happens. The thick skin part is not that we do not remain sensitive to our patients, but that the picky little pushy tacky backbiting garbage that some people love to spread should not go home with us nor be allowed to upset our personal equilibrium.

If you want the truth, I would probably have gone to her myself, except I'd've done it face to face: because anytime there been a personal issue at my work, the question tossed at us was always "did you try to work this out with the person first?". However, again, it is the two different venues that make this case different.

Apologies don't hurt the person giving them, (unless done is such a way as to assume a lot of guilt that you do not have or deserve). Apologies are simply the social oil that keeps us rubbing along together without blowing up or grinding to a halt. Saying "I'm sorry you feel that way, I did not intend it in that manner" is simple, straightforward, assumes no guilt, but allows both parties to go on. Whether or not she apologises, is on her soul, not yours.

[rn undisclosed name]

I had always been told that before you need to follow the chain of command you need to start with the person involved. Then if you're not happy start using the chain of command. If I went to my manager over every little thing she'd say "well did you talk to that person already."

While I wouldn't have called this person at home I may have talked to her if our paths crossed. If it was another CNA you wouldn't have had her phone number. It probably would have been better to just say something when you had seen her the next time. Sure she got defensive when you said that little comment about how you should report her. Who wouldn't? It's just human nature.

Take this as a lesson learned in more ways than one. The best thing to do I believe at this point is to clear the air with her. A simple apology wouldn't hurt and saying you just want to clear the air with her etc. Also maybe she's really not a bad person and you can both find a way to get along. As hard as it is sometimes it's better to just be the bigger person.

[Angie O'Plasty, RN]

I think you should count your blessings. If I stuck myself in clinical, I'd have been kicked out of the program, no exceptions.

It's nice to see that nursing school is getting a little more realistic about these things, but as with any incident, it should NOT be discussed, especially in such detail.

And I do hope you filed an incident report with the hospital. MRSA and VRE are nothing to sneeze at and I am glad you reported it immediately and are being treated.

As to whether you should have called this CNA/fellow student, I agree that no, you should not have. Neither should she--or anyone else--be discussing (or gossiping about) this matter and pointing fingers at you. It's a mistake. An embarrassing and potentially dangerous one to you, to be sure, but still a mistake that could've happened to anyone. I do hope you've learned how not to make the same mistake again.

As for us nurses, we do discuss mistakes made by students, but only in general terms and only relating to patient care. As in, when getting Report, "Mrs. So&So was sent up to the Unit last night because one of the students gave her Dig with a heart rate of 40."

I hope the situation resolves soon.

[morte]

not harrassment....that would req repitiveness....and in my personal, not paricuolarly prof opinion, the little twerp ought learn to keep her mouth shut.....and no, not every mistake becomes the talk of the floor, or hospital...we were taught that only those who had a prof/legal need to know were to be informed of any error..EVER......if nothin else she has violated prof ethics..and unless every word that she stated was true, she has lied and maligned you.... i would guess this not not new behavior for her, and she is used to getting her own way....the instructors need to rein her in, or can her

[augigi]

Originally Posted by Angie O'Plasty, RN

I think you should count your blessings. If I stuck myself in clinical, I'd have been kicked out of the program, no exceptions.

Are you serious? Who penalizes students for accidents?

[mamason]

Originally Posted by augigi

Are you serious? Who penalizes students for accidents?

Unfortunatley this happens at some nursing schools.

[kadee7]

God says, that when you are in the right, you should apologize first. Even though you have despise for this CNA you will need to come to standards with this problem. I have had to suck it up and do the right thing even though the other person is in the wrong. Your apology should also be one that to my opinion be in front of other's or someone that can over hear your apology to her, and you need to say it some how that people knows that she is in the wrong. Don't make it an angry one but one that states that you are disappointed that she would a fellow collegue would do that. I think she is jealous of you because she is only an CNA and you are working on to be an RN, and that you might just one day be her boss looking over her. She has done a no no Good luck with your career.

[ortess1971]

I can see why you were aggravated with this CNA/fellow student..It's obvious that once she becomes a nurse, she's going to be a gossiper. Also, she evidently thinks she is perfect but she'll mess up someday. I also don't think you should have to apologize. Who really needs the thicker skin here? She got upset because someone actually called her on her inappropriate, mean spirited behavior. Students are routinely thought of as "guests" but they do the grunt work for free- the hospital I did clinical for in my last semester, the CNA's would disappear if they knew their patient had a student. You evidently have a backbone and that's good- you'll need it in this profession! Your instructor is behaving unprofessionally also, I think you're getting the short end of the stick, because she knows this person. Maybe the one think I would have done differently was not go to the hospital-I would have complained to your Dean of Nursing.

[Marie_LPN, RN]

Just because people talk doesn't mean that they should.

I agree. Any needlestick i've dealt with (2 suture sticks so far) was kept private, as it should be.

I don't believe she was out of line in confronting this CNA in what ever capacity she was in when this incident took place.

It's not the matter of confronting her that i see the problem with, it's the matter that she called her at home to do so.