How do you deal with lazy co-workers?

frustratedRN · Aug 25, 2001

we don't seem to have a team at our hospital. While there are some nurses that will answer call lights most will let them ring if they are not theirs or will tell you that YOUR call light is ringing.

My second night off orientation one of my patients went into respiratory arrest. I was fortunate to have noticed an irregular breathing pattern and notified the house doc immediately.

I was tied up with this patient for nearly three hours. This left my patient load backed up. I also had a complicated post op who called for morphine every hour and for more things in between. Along with that came two admissions. My call lights were going off like crazy but this patient was so unstable I couldn't leave the room unless the doc was right there. At one point I had to fight with the nursing sup to get a bed in intensive care. she said she had two patients that qualified for the only bed and the other might be more ill than mine. doc picked up the phone, called ICU and told them he was bringing a patient down NOW. that was that.

and all the while this was going on the other nurses were sitting chatting at the desk. one of them said...im glad thats not my patient.

im to the point where im not going to help anyone anymore. only those that help me.

its sad tho because its always the patient that suffers

ohbet · Aug 25, 2001

I work in a hospital,mostly long term care,however,we are receiving residents with a higher acuity,which brings in more money.

With the higher acuity resident,more skill is required,skills that I havent used for say 10 years. I want to get into a more skilled clinical nursing but am rusty.

I have asked the inservice for a refresher orientation on specific skills ,as well as code drills for our hospital staff but I havent got the inservice that I requested.

Does any one have any ideas on what other steps I can take to this inservice started?

longforseaair · Aug 27, 2001

canoehead and kday,

It really does help to know someone hears and knows. I chose nursing as a second career because the not-so-many nurses I knew were such great people. And because in other work situations I failed to engage in all the monkey-business and was usually unhappy. I often saw through people and didn't always stroke everybody the right way, because it be so denigrating. Oh well!

Now, I see nurses who are mean, or don't care and am disillusioned again. Oh well, again.

I look for a mentor and there are none I would trust, and some who would volunteer, but who already find fault with any little thing they can already, to the point that other co-workers encourage me to tell them to take the big flying leap!

I didn't know I was so naive to think that nursing would be fun, because everybody would be caring.

It's the most stressful and demanding thing I have ever done. And I can relate to the aching hips and sometimes after working so many shifts in a row, I lay on the couch for at least one full day and just feel ill myself.

One recent night, when they kept calling for beds and floated our only aide to another floor. I tried very hard to shut out the thoughts that admin or whoever honestly didn't care about anyone, about anyone's health or that they were stretching us so far until everything broke or someone died and they would roll us out of the way and wave new staff and new patients in, and it is only about filling beds as full and as often as possible.

Why don't they just go back to using prostitutes and criminals as nurses. I wonder how those nurses would respond when the patient got mad because they called for a soft drink fifteen minutes ago, while you were scrambling with resp distress or some such, and you hadn't eaten or emptied your bladder for ten hours.

It scares me that I have only been a nurse a short while and feel like I'm getting burned out already. :eek:

frustratedRN · Aug 27, 2001

tomorrow i am bringing a baseball bat to work with me. i want to introduce it to some of the people on my floor.

lol

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Aug 27, 2001

I absolutely could not work somewhere if we never answered each others bells, and never offered to help each other. I would quit, and I think I would have to go into a different area of nursing or find another job. I cannot stand that. Hell, come to think of it I have quit a job where there was a lot of backstabbing, no help from coworkers etc. and went to a smaller hospital with less pay and more teamwork.

As a new grad I felt so behind, worked so hard, and accomplished so little that I feel for anyone going through that today. However your coworkers should support you by answering questions, help out with paperwork, answer bells when you are completely bogged down and they are sitting at the desk chatting etc. Eventually I think that almost 98% of new grads become adept, and within a year are not considered "green" anymore.

lucieRN. · Aug 31, 2001

I'm a new grad working in Oakland. It is next to impossible to handle six patients on a surgical floor here- they are very acute patients. We see ortho, GI, respiratory (head and neck), GU, GYN- basically every kind of patient one can have. I'm finding that the sea of endless paperwork is really socking away our time, plus the fact that our acuity system does not provide didly for "unexpected events", such as changes in status, or untoward reactions to meds, or equipment failure. But the one thing that truly gets me is LAZY BRAINLESS UNCARING PEOPLE who are getting paid to frustrate those of us WHO CHOOSE TO WORK!!!

A good example is one night when I had five pts, three fresh post-op, two aides distributed over three RN's with 18 pts. I had to get my non-ambulatory pt OOB. Whenever I called for the aide she would disappear. All the RN's were desperately busy. Finally when I got her help, she was pathetically unhelpful and full of attitude about how much work she had to do, and how the RN's act like they're too good to help do the dirty stuff. As I got the pt up, he peed on my foot ( my shoes weren't waterproof!) And to top it off, the aide asked me to go get new linens and a new gown for the pt. Boy, I was irate! As we attempted to get him situated, we soon realized the bed was broken, to a point where we really had to wrench our backs to get him back into bed.

Ever since I've started here I've noticed most NA's are pitifully worthless, and some of them do more harm than good! On our floor, They are the real slugs- they sit and chat all day at the nurses station, then take long breaks off the floor without telling us they're going for break.

I really loved the idea for salt- tape for the nurses station to prevent mollusks or brainless creatures of any type from remaining and oozing noxious body slime into the environment.

At our hospital management strategically provides a maximum of 4 chairs on day shift, when the number of professionals and staff on the floor on any day around 1000 can reach 25, or more. Snail Death, available at Home Depot, may also work.

I don't mean to blame the aides everywhere. Some are very good. But I find I'm wasting precious time redirecting aides who either don't know what they're doing, or who havent bothered to do basic things like taking vital signs, or turning pts q2 hr if on bedrest. AM I ALONE IN THIS? CAN ANYONE ELSE OUT THERE RELATE?

HELP!

-Going schizo in Oakland,

Lucie, NewGradRN:eek:

mcl4 · Sep 1, 2001

Originally posted by lucieRN.
I'm a new grad working in Oakland. It is next to impossible to handle six patients on a surgical floor here- they are very acute patients. We see ortho, GI, respiratory (head and neck), GU, GYN- basically every kind of patient one can have. I'm finding that the sea of endless paperwork is really socking away our time, plus the fact that our acuity system does not provide didly for "unexpected events", such as changes in status, or untoward reactions to meds, or equipment failure. But the one thing that truly gets me is LAZY BRAINLESS UNCARING PEOPLE who are getting paid to frustrate those of us WHO CHOOSE TO WORK!!!

Do the CNA have a certain assignment for example, do vital signs, stuff charts etc.....?

I work on a very busy surgical floor and it seems similar to the one you've detailed above. We generally do not have CNAs and rely on each other for turning patients etc. on the floor. Six patients with three post op was my assignment the other night and it was an average assignment. We don't utilize IV pumps, unless it has been a must, so this has been an added responsiblity with checking IVs constantly. I've have had eight to ten patients and it was a busy shift. My suggestion is to learn to manage your assignment (with the exception of turning or other jobs which requires two persons) by yourself. This really push me to be highly organized, but honestly, we rarely get a break.
When we do have a CNA, I continue to do all my own work and ask for help only if I really need help. I've this mainly since the charge nurse, who also has a full assignment plus other responsibilities, has a greater need to utilize the CNA. If anything, I've seen the opposite, where the nurses get a break and the sole CNA has been so busy with several nurses requesting them to help them, not receive a break.

My friend, who works at another hospital, states that several CNAs are little help and she has no longer depends on them.

tonchitoRN · Sep 1, 2001

You all have named every reason that I have never liked team nursing. There is always someone is does not pull there share of the work and gets away with it. I'd rather work in an area where I know what I am responsible for and that is it. Get a grip. You cannot be everything to all patients. It is impossible to clean the patient, the room, bedpan duty, med duty, chart and more charting. Let admin. you are not going to do it anymore. :cool:

longforseaair · Sep 3, 2001

These are great to read these everybody! And thanks everybody for the great words! I laughed and laughed about the slug salt and the snail death! Maybe that is what I needed- a good laugh! I know that is how I usually get through a shift, by laughing a lot.

Sometimes it can be depressing to swap all the negative stories, but tonight it has been great fun to read all these.

I just worked my three twelves, had an invite to a party tonight but was too tired to go,

Have to work another three starting tomorrow night.

Got a good raise after my first year of nursing, but is the money worth the feeling of great weariness, I'd like to have more time with my family, and more energy to do things with them and my friends.

I am so tired, my bones ache, and my left eye won't quit twitching. I am a runner, swimmer, bicyclist, weightlifter, and do Tae-Bo, but I can barely get off of the couch some days. That's not how I want to live. I'm barely into my mid-life era.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day! And I am sending you all some pizza and bbq chicken, cole slaw, Pringles, seven layer salad with lettuce, cheese, and sweet peas, carrot cake, watermelon, cookie dough ice cream, hot fresh coffee, Southern sweet tea, and reeeeeal Coke in a frosted glass!

Smiles to you real laborers!

longforseaair · Sep 3, 2001

These are great to read these everybody! And thanks everybody for the great words! I laughed and laughed about the slug salt and the snail death! Maybe that is what I needed- a good laugh! I know that is how I usually get through a shift, by laughing a lot.

Sometimes it can be depressing to swap all the negative stories, but tonight it has been great fun to read all these.

I just worked my three twelves, had an invite to a party tonight but was too tired to go,

Have to work another three starting tomorrow night.

Got a good raise after my first year of nursing, but is the money worth the feeling of great weariness, I'd like to have more time with my family, and more energy to do things with them and my friends.

I am so tired, my bones ache, and my left eye won't quit twitching. I am a runner, swimmer, bicyclist, weightlifter, and do Tae-Bo, but I can barely get off of the couch some days. That's not how I want to live. I'm barely into my mid-life era.

I hope everyone has a great Labor Day! And I am sending you all some pizza and bbq chicken, cole slaw, Pringles, seven layer salad with lettuce, cheese, and sweet peas, carrot cake, watermelon, cookie dough ice cream, hot fresh coffee, Southern sweet tea, and reeeeeal Coke in a frosted glass!

Smiles to you real laborers!

RNforLongTime · Sep 3, 2001

Thanks for the great food bbqchick! I am off today, labor day but only because I requested off. We do not get paid holidays at my facility. IF you work the holiday, you get paid time and a half, that is it! So why work it? I have 4 more days to go before my weekend off.

Ms Carole · Oct 22, 2009

There is a book called "the Chronicles of a Hardworking Slacker" that addresses this very question. I know because I am in a similar situation and was seeking some practical guidance. Here is the link if you are interested: http://www.hardworkingslacker.com/landing_page/default2.asp