Rant: 11-7 Chg Nurse Looks for Reasons to Write Up Day Shift

[KaroSnowQueen, RN]

We come in every day and things aren't done: the desk is a mess, the break room is a mess, the blood draw trays are NEVER refilled, many times the LPNs pts have NOT gotten their push drugs, which the Charge RN is supposed to do. Usually the Charge Nurse does not take a team.

Friday, I had a terrible day. A pt admitted for dehydration after a day long failmly outing suddenly has elevated cardiac enzymes, is in acute MI, MD takes sweet time, suddenly it's do this, do that, take him to the unit, run run run!!! Get back to the floor, another pt crack addict in 4 points coming down off 3 day high, case mgmt says get him out of the restraints, take him out, situation deteriorates from there, guy and wife finally escorted from the building by security. THINK I'm FINALLY going to sit down and chart, and another pt's family is there, wants me to know about pts narcotic habit and how it could be affecting his illness and treatment and don't want the pt to know they are telling all this.

FINALLY do get to sit down and chart and her comes my charge nurse with an orange sheet - write up.

Karo, what do you know about this?

The night shift charge nurse ran user reports on the Pyxis (there were no discrepancies showing up, she just did it on every single day shift nurse), and I had a pt on Keflex, which the night shift had scheduled on the MAR for 9, 1, 5, and 9. I changed the times to 6, 12, 6, 12 but gave the first dose at 9 to get the pt started. I had taken out....GASP!!!.....TWO Keflex in two seperate instances within 2 minutes on the first dose. The first one was busted inside the package, so I got a second one out and documented IN THE PYXIS that I wasted it due to manufacturing defect and that I had gotten another one out!!!!

And STILL this hag writes me up!!!! I will add she is NOT the usual charge nurse, she was a regular floor nurse put in charge because the usual charge was off. She is sweet as cake to your face, but does this rather frequently. Once she wrote me up in a generic "did not change pt's dressing to coccyx". The pt had a COMFEEL which is only changed every 3 days and had been changed on the shift previous to mine. She did not write that the dressing was soiled, rolled or in any other way NEEDED a change, just that I didn't do it, without mentioning what kind of dressing was.

My charge nurse threw out both of these incident reports, but it just ticks me off that this woman does this. I did see that my charge had a big stack of the write ups, so at least I know she's not singling me out for special torment, but this just makes me so freaking mad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And there were so many things she could have done to help BOTH shifts, stuff charts, hang extra IV fluids, stock the blood draw trays, stock the med rooms, inventory the stock pyxis so we could get refilled, etc. Nope, got to write up people for things that are EXPLAINED in the Pyxis!!!!!!!!!!! I could see it if it had been OxyContin or Demerol that I got out, or if it was a pattern of doing this with narcs, but a Keflex ,and a low dose (250 mg) at that??? Come on!!!!!!!

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

I'd probably write her up for "false allegation." Put "wastes everyone's time" as the reason, because that's the truth.

[jemb]

Write her up for harrassment.

[mattsmom81]

Every once in awhile someone gets a charge position and thinks its their job to be writeup queen of the opposite shift. The best way to handle these things is charge nurse to charge nurse in my experience, and try to problem solve instead of place blame...but many don't work that way do they. I'm sorry you are dealing with this and I too would go to my manager with my charge nurses' support and ask her to intervene. Work is too hard without putting up with this.

One of many reasons I left my last job was we got a new EMAR system dumped on us without adequate preperation and debugging. The opposite shift kept running these 'reports' on us too showing how we weren't complying with the system. Nobody wanted to deal with the fact it was not working in our critical care area . But these reports were a way the hags could punish the opposing shift and believe me they used it...then left it out for everyone to see who the offending nurses were. Sure can make for a hateful workplace.

[MrsWampthang, BSN, RN]

Why can't shifts just get along?!? This weekend was a perfect example of why there is conflict between our day and night shift. We came in at 7p Say and was told that day shift had voiced several complaints about the way some of the rooms were left from the night before. Some rooms were low on linen or laundry bags had some laundry in them, and in one case, a room was had no adult ambu bag (which the nurse that needed it, did not discover UNTIL she needed it). Now, I'm not saying that rooms don't need to be kept stocked, but...when I worked days and I found rooms that way, I just stocked them! We are supposed to check our rooms at the beginning of the shift for that very reason and interestingly now that I am on nights, I check my rooms as they come empty at the start of my shift. It is amazing how often I find things that need stocked! Point being, both shifts need to worry about themselves and not worry about what the other shifts do or don't do. Both shifts are have busy times and down times so neither shift can accuse the other shift of "doing nothing." Sorry just had to vent! :angryfire

Pam

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

She has waaayyy too much time on her hands - maybe she should take patients.

[Agnus]

FINALLY do get to sit down and chart and her comes my charge nurse with an orange sheet - write up.

Karo, what do you know about this?

The night shift charge nurse ran user reports on the Pyxis (there were no discrepancies showing up, she just did it on every single day shift nurse),

I will add she is NOT the usual charge nurse, she was a regular floor nurse put in charge because the usual charge was off. She is sweet as cake to your face, but does this rather frequently. Once she wrote me up in a generic "did not change pt's dressing to coccyx". The pt had a COMFEEL which is only changed every 3 days

My charge nurse threw out both of these incident reports, but it just ticks me off that this woman does this. I did see that my charge had a big stack of the write ups, so at least I know she's not singling me out for special torment,

My guess is your charge recognizes what is going on. However, she still has to check out each write up. What if one is legit and about a serious issue? If she threw the stack out without carefully going though it she could miss something important.

My guess is your charge is even more disgusted than you. She is the one being bombarded with all these write ups and has to sort though them to find the truth.

The good thing is she is filling in while the real charge is gone. Consequently since she is very temporary everyone is just putting up with knowing it will be for a short time.

Don't worry too much it is unlikely she will be asked to do this again as she is making more work for the other charges, and lacks insight as to what she should be doing.

[leslie :-D]

it's funny how this thread coincides with another thread here on the bb; op and i were just discussing tonight on this other thread, the toxic effects of passive-aggressive behavior, and how it makes for a toxic work environment.

unlike the op who has an edge on how to deal with these types, i do not have any input or advice.

but this is an example of definite passive/aggressive behavior and the underlying causes should be further investigated so a stop can be put to destructive behavior.

and i agree with agnus, in that the other charge nurse is certainly not reveling in this laborious task of separating the chaff from the grain.

leslie