HUH???...This Nurse Would Not Treat Me...

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

There is a new LPN working with us that is a nightmare. Friendly guy on the surface, but is someone who is always kissing the rear end of our grimy ADN. The ADN sends him to the store on company time to get her food, pay her bills, just the basic flunky stuff. This guy is a know it all, who can't be corrected. When he started orientation, he was pulled out in the middle of a class to be the errand boy, and missing very pertinent information for his position as a new grad nurse on the first job.

Anyhow, a patient was newly diagnosed with Diabetes Type 2, and at this time, the only prescription the doctor wrote was for Metformin. No previous prescriptions noted in the chart (again, a newly diagnosed diabetic). And, there is a language barrier, to boot. Anyhow, this bright nurse started teaching him how to inject insulin. One of the RNs walked in and asked him "Why are you teaching him to self administer insulin?" and he says "Because he is diabetic, he is prescribed a diabetic medication, so he has to be taught (with a smug attitude, no less)". The RN then asked him if he looked up the drug to see how it works, and if the patient, in fact, needed this teaching at this time. He gets an attitude and says there was no need to. The nurse had to ask the patient to excuse himself while she spoke to this guy and said that this shows her he does not take the initiative to look up any information or ask if he is not sure of something. Explained that when a person is newly diagnosed with something, he should not be overloaded by learning a skill that he may not have to do. If anything, he should be teaching the patient how to check his own glucose and to document his readings each day, to bring back to the doctor and how to treat himself if he is too high, too low, etc...

A few days later, there was a conversation about bloodwork being done (*please note that this same genius was a phlebotomist for 10 years), and he asked what color is blood. So, do ya think that I would trust this guy with my cockroaches?:bugeyes:

This is a joke right????

Specializes in LTC.
So, do ya think that I would trust this guy with my cockroaches?:bugeyes:

That all depends on how much you like your cockroaches.

It definately needs to be reported to someone that he is leaving and doing favors for another employee while he is on the clock.

The part of this that bothers me is that he doesn't take direction very well. Why on earth is he allowed to "teach" a patient about insulin if the patient isn't going to be taking it?

If he is stupid enough to be the ADN's flunky, then so be it. I wouldn't be nearly as upset about that as about the patient care issues and the fact that he doesn't feel the need to look stuff up about medications. He is a disaster waiting to happen and no I wouldn't allow him to work with or on my cockroaches or anything else for that matter.

It makes me wonder if he actually has a license.

Specializes in LTC, office.

He sounds like an over-the-top version of several know it alls that I have worked with over the years. Can't tell them a thing and when you try they get snotty. I have never worked with one quite so incompetent. He sounds frightening. :uhoh21:

Specializes in EMS, ER, GI, PCU/Telemetry.

wow. he sounds scary. he is a huge boo-boo waiting to happen.

"What color is blood?"????????

Are you serious???

Specializes in Ortho, Neuro, Detox, Tele.

"I think blood is blue and red, right????" However, same people wonder why it's red when we get the flashback in a IV......O2 people!!!!

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

He does have an actual license for practical nursing...saw it myself. I am not too interested in the fact that he is cozying up to the ADN, either, because he will be her downfall, eventually. However, I don't think that reporting his disappearing acts will amount to much, because this ADN is grimy, herself and is sanctioning it. She is very smart, politically. I think that she manipulates herself around by learning compromising things about others and holds it over their necks. In terms of that, I am not wasting the energy or the time. It just ain't worth it. I have no personal troubles with management and don't want to invite it into my life. But, he is an accident waiting to happen.

The RNs are saying that they are scared to death of this person working with and under them, and I can't blame them. I am too afraid to not look up medications. I have seen many things happening not to. Once, a doctor prescribed Keflex to a patient with known allergies to penicillin, and if I had let that slide, being the last person to review the chart before the patient leaves the clinic, my rear end would have been on the line. Since he is in orientation, he will be rotating to another clinic next week. Maybe we can breathe a sigh of relief, and the word is passing along about him already.

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
This is a joke right????

Sigh...I wish it was...:o

The fact that word is getting around will actually help protect pts and other nurses, because the people at clinics where he is yet to go will know ahead of time not to trust him, rather than finding out over time like you did. They can take steps to protect themselves before he does anything.

We had a CNA tech like this, who was a been there/done that/know all type of person. We were the first unit she was assigned to orient to, and word got around very quickly. She didn't last long.

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