One of *those* nurses....

[Shenanigans]

Annnnd its finally happened. I've finally seen what so many had warned me about and so many complain about. The nastiness that can weasle its way into our nursing teams.

Long and short of it, there's a particular nurse on my ward who is very nasty, she's mean spirited and reports every little hiccup someone makes to the manager. And they're the kinds of hiccups you could just address by talking to the person who made them.

Because of her actions, any my complete naive nature that "everyone is good and no one is every nasty, really" HR has gotten their sticky beaks involved. I told my manager I had tried to avoid it by doing what they said, by changing what parts of my practice (evidenced based but not practiced at that particular hospital) and playing by all their shaming rules, but no, they kept pushing and pushing and pushing, and a particular person in HR said they were going to report me to Council and I'd loose my rego, because I'm dyslexic... actually, she used the words "cognitively deficient" and unsafe. Despite the fact I have never made a drug error. My Union rep (yeah, union's involved now too) says that individual HR is a spiteful banshee who reports everyone and Council gets angry at her.

Funny, well, annoying thing is, I had a dyslexia test done which came back in all its eight paged glory saying I was safe to practice and my cognitive skills for nursing were superior. But HR got their doctor to answer some loaded questions saying I was unsafe! They wanted me to have this dyslexica test done, and obviously they weren't happy with the results that said I was fine.

When I told someone who used to work there as a doctor about the situation, they guessed right away which ward and which person was pushing the things. Everyone else just looks at me blanky and states "who did you **** off?"

The other thing is, another nurse, who is high up the food chain, is also dyslexic, but I don't see them going after her. And she's made drug errors!

So, yeah, turns out some people aren't nice deep down. Turns out some people are just plain ****** and mean. My last job, there were some people there who were really ******, but they'd never go after your job or rego.

Basically, according to the Union, a human rights group, lawyers and other nurses I know who work for council and union are saying my employer don't have a leg to stand on. Of course, its still a royal pain in the orifice to have to wait for them to sort their crap out.

I don't see the arrogant schmucks backing down, and that's what really burns me. Gone are the days when people can take responsibilty for their actions, admit their wrongs and apologise.

Its a mountain out of a molehill and I tried to stop it getting to this, but this particular person decided they didn't like me for some reason.

Seriously, I wish people, nurses especially, could just get on with the job at hand and put a stop to this horrible workplace bullying and clichyness. Its pathetic. And it impacts on patient care!

Sorry for the rant, I just needed to rail. Feel free to post your equally annoyed ramblings about peopel who are just mean and petty.

[BedsideManner]

For whatever comfort it's worth, these people come in every occupation, not just nursing. They're motivated, imho, by power and the ability to control/harm others.

You've got that completely correct. It doesn't matter what job you're doing, there's always someone out there who feels that whatever hardships they've had in their lives, it "justifies" being a twit to others. Sadly, I've had some experiences with these bullies and came to the conclusion that they are just not happy unless they make someone else miserable and the worse the misery caused, the better the bully feels. It's a disturbing cycle. Hang in there, when karma hits them in the face, hope you have enough warning to sell tickets for the event.

BedsideManner

[Shenanigans, RN]

Thanks for the advice, people!

I got pulled into the manager's office and she was rather annoyed that I had a union rep and that the rep didn't take cr@p. Its almost like people there think I'm just going to roll over. I actually thought the manager didn't mind me and was kinda on my side, or at least tryign to prevent taking sides, but I think she's getting annoyed with all the "tattling" the other nurses are doing in regards to me.

I'll be honest, there were some things I did wrong, but instead of just coming to me and teling me up front or explaining to me how to do it, they went straight to manager.

I've heard a few more interesting things about this work place, that a nursing authority is aware of the bullying and is not impressed. That major bullying incidences have occured and other nurses have left because of it.

But what I'm slightly worried or annoyed about, is I don't do well with such callous supervision, I feel like everyone is looking for me to screw up, even just ever so slightly and when I am making mistakes, not life threatening ones, not "termination" type mistakes, just mistakes that when they get added too all the lies and bullocks its making me look incompetent.

I just wanna work, I just want to do nursing and look after people and not have to deal with such bull poopies. Its so pathetic!

Its actually very hard in my country to fire people. And if they do report me to the nurses' council, at least I will get a fair hearing.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I'll be honest, there were some things I did wrong, but instead of just coming to me and telling me up front or explaining to me how to do it, they went straight to manager.

If your workplace is as bad as you say, they may not feel safe talking to you directly. The problem with trying to handle a problem like an adult is that the other person may not respond like an adult. If it happens enough times, "tattling" becomes the default.

At my old job, approaching co-workers about problems was a good way to get your tires slashed. The worst workplace bullying I ever experienced started when I asked a co-worker not to leave trash on my desk. I'm still extremely reluctant to approach people about problems. At least my supervisor won't slash my tires.