Employee Complaint

Nurses General Nursing

Published

So I've been an RN for close to 2 years now and while the hospital I'm working at has a lot of faults, I genuinely like my coworkers and enjoy working with them. I get along with everyone and I always try my best to stay positive and helpful. I've always prided myself on never bringing a sour attitude to work. Thats why I was shocked and very surprised when the director of my unit contacted me stating that she had received a complaint concerning my attitude at work.

The complaint hadn't even came from one of my fellow nursing coworkers, it had come from a phlebotomist. I was very upset by this because the phlebotomist who had complained was someone I had held in high regard and liked. She was always very cheerful and likable and I always initiated conversation with her since she was easy to approach with her bubbly personality. She was the very last person I had expected to complain about me so it sort of felt like a betrayal.

The complaint itself was something so trivial it felt unjust. She had complained that when she asked me to draw from a PICC line that I had presented myself as annoyed and irritated and asked rude questions. I remember that day clearly and while it was busy, I didn't mind drawing from a PICC line. It was my patient after all. She was mostly offended when I asked why phlebotomists at our hospital weren't allow to draw from PICC lines and if other Phlebotomists at other hospitals could do it. Having never worked at another hospital I was genuinely curious regarding our hospital policies. She didn't seem to take offense and even answered me cheerfully stating that they weren't even allowed to carry NS flushes.

I honestly meant no offense when said I thought it would be pretty cool if they started training the phlebotomists at our hospitals to draw from PICC lines. I just wanted her to know that I knew how inconvenient it must have been for her to have to hunt down an RN every time she had to draw from a PICC when were always so short staffed. I spoke from experience of the frustration I often had trying to find help changing a patient at busy times of the night when it was hard to locate another nurse for help. She even laughed and agreed that it would be easier. I just wish she would have gone to me with her problem and told me to my face about how I had offended her instead of going behind my back and taking it to the director.

I can't change anything and what frustrates me the most is that the complaint was uncalled for. I had no negative feelings towards her, I wasn't annoyed at the situation, and all I wanted to do was initiate small talk like we always did when I saw her drawing blood. I never felt like I had deviated from a professional manner for after all, I was wondering aloud ways we could improve our hospital and the quality of our patient care. How are her feelings regarding the situation and genuine questions in any way my fault?

My main question is, will this complaint be considered a write up and stay permanently on my record? The director did have me sign the copy of the email she received as evidence that I had received it and she had spoken to me about it. what happens next?

Are you usually good at reading and interpreting body language? Or was this a one-off misreading on your part?

In either case, now you know who you can't trust.

I personally despise that grin-to-your-face-complain-behind-your-back backstabbing crap. Especially because she ran to your supervisor to "tell".

From now on keep your interactions with her to a bare minimum. She's especially dangerous because she doesn't give off accurate visual or verbal cues that you can assess your interactions with her by.

The supervisor may have touched base with you because of facility policy.

I worked in a facility where all employee complaints had to be followed up somehow.

So the one day, Nurse Nancy comes in for report and the nurses station was very messy (it had been one of THOSE kind of shifts), I was trying to get the paperwork together so I could give her report, and she took it into her head to huff and puff and race around frantically cleaning the nurse desk. I knew she was trying to guilt me into frantically cleaning alongside her, but I wasn't going to be played like that, so I let her act the fool a few minutes, then she suddenly rushed out of the station and came back a few minutes later . She fumed all through report then grabbed the cart to start med pass. I cleaned up the nurse desk and headed towards the door.

The day supervisor stopped me on the way out, half apologetically, half trying not to laugh and she tells me that by company policy says she had to relay to me the other nurses' complaint that I left a messy desk and *didnt even help her clean up!*

This nurse was known to have violent mood swings.

PS she got fired two weeks later for hollering at a resident...

Stupid stuff like this is why nurses get burned out.

I have such people to thank for my NP career!

OK, been there, done that. Your question obviously pushed her buttons. And phlebotomists are not allowed to draw off PICC lines anywhere I ever worked. Pretty sure this is a no in every state.

Nurses earn a lot more than phlebotomists. Much of life comes down to economic insecurity and jealousy.

If this is "going in your file", I would request a sit down with the phlebotomist and the unit manager.

Otherwise, let's say a year or two from now, someone else misunderstands something you say, and now suddenly you have a "a pattern of not getting along with other employees"

Don't think things like that don't happen.

It's so strange/unsupportive of your manager, it may even be tomorrow, the next day, next week or the week after that, or a month... very crazy-making, unsettling, and disheartening to say the least. Start finding a place you might like better with a more supportive professional manager not a bully dictator. I know of one, a manager, who actually sought out complaints from others including from other departments. Kind of comical when she got told no actually. :happy: There are some good people left. :up: There will always be biters though.

She'll go low and find someone eventually. You go high and say bye-bye. Doesn't that sound like a bumper sticker? Maybe not.

Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
It's so strange/unsupportive of your manager, it may even be tomorrow, the next day, next week or the week after that, or a month... very crazy-making, unsettling, and disheartening to say the least. Start finding a place you might like better with a more supportive professional manager not a bully dictator. I know of one, a manager, who actually sought out complaints from others including from other departments. Kind of comical when she got told no actually. :happy: There are some good people left. :up: There will always be biters though.

She'll go low and find someone eventually. You go high and say bye-bye. Doesn't that sound like a bumper sticker? Maybe not.

I had a nurse manager who used to troll for complaints against nurses. I went into a patient's room once soon after I saw the manager coming out. The patient was very upset because it was apparent to her that the manager was soliciting complaints to use against nurses. Unfortunately the patient insisted that I not take the situation further.

I found the patient credible because it was the third instance I'd heard of the manager doing this. One nurse encountered a former patient in her church who told her the manager had been trying very hard to solicit complaints. I did inform the union but not much they can do without cooperation from more nurses.

After I left that unit I finally quit going to their baby showers and retirement parties because I kept running into that manager.

Specializes in NICU.

Sorry OP that this happened to you. I agree with OldDude's advice though.

This kind of dumb stuff happened when I worked as a bedside nurse to me and pretty much everyone on the unit. IMO, it's a cancer and creates a toxic work environment. I am so thankful that the amount of drama I deal with as a NP is light years below what I saw that happened to others as a nurse.

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
Sorry OP that this happened to you. I agree with OldDude's advice though.

This kind of dumb stuff happened when I worked as a bedside nurse to me and pretty much everyone on the unit. IMO, it's a cancer and creates a toxic work environment. I am so thankful that the amount of drama I deal with as a NP is light years below what I saw that happened to others as a nurse.

And I am thankful to be retired and away from this kind of nonsense! GADS!

At the ER where I work, lab techs aren't allowed to draw from a regular peripheral IV, let alone a PICC or port. It will be your hospital's rules and regs that will determine if that complaint is a write-up or if it stays in your record.

I had an ultrasound tech complain to my manager. I was " abrupt" with her while she was doing the scan. It was " get outta my way, that patient can't breathe ". Manager listened to MY side of the story and the complaint went to File 13. That should be all it takes , YOU are the professional in this situation. Only your manager knows if this is considered a write up. If it is... start the plan to get outta Dodge.

You will receive many uncalled for complaints...you must let them roll off your back.

The main thing that drove me to become an NP was this type of nonsense. It is least 98% better, mostly because when you have NP after your name, there is some respect.

I agree it is unlikely this will be your last complaint. Not because you are doing anything wrong.

Specializes in SICU.

This is totally something that I would have said too, if I didn't already know that PICC line use was reserved for RNs. Sometimes people's sincere desire to inquire becomes misinterpreted, either because questions may make the other feel threatened, annoyed, or that you are "pushing back." In the professional world, it should be reasonable to ask questions without having someone assume that your intentions are bad, especially given the fact that she knows you to be pleasant and cooperative. In my opinion, this situation highlights a failure by her (and many) to understand one another in the setting of two different viewpoints.

Never heard of any hospital which allows NAs to draw from PICCS & seems trivial for a write-up but now you know she is a back stabber. Going forward I would be cordial but cautious as I would be with anyone who ran off to management over relatively benign encounter.

I'd just be professional but not engage in any chit-chat with her.

As the song goes "Smiling faces sometimes they don't tell the truth."

I wouldn't have any conversations with her about this unless your manager feels you should and wants to be present.

Forget that. Next thing you'll know you'll be accused of bullying her and seeking her out and making her uncomfortable because she complained.

Nope, no way. Similar to "fool me once...."

Unless it goes the other way and you get in trouble for not apologising

Either way sounds like we are definitely in special snowflake territory here.

Are you a newer nurse but she's a very experienced phlebotomist ? If so she might of felt 'threatened'by your question, even though there was nothing inherently wrong with it .

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