The Slipshot Nurse

[Tait, MSN, RN]

**Disclaimer: Yes I mean slipSHOD, however I can't edit the title of the thread**

Ok, without going into too many details I just need to vent, a tiny bit. We have a new nurse from another state, and I just don't know how to help her/help the patients I get from her.

Her personality is a bit hard to swallow (nervous laughter/odd habits). Her reports are a disaster (no flow sheet just this hack and stack sheet of boxes with random things written in them at odd angles), her handwriting is atrocious, she has hard core tunnel vision and tends to only do what is in black and white and not work with the patient.

I have tried numerous times to offer her report sheets, flowsheets, gentle reminders to chart SOMETHING on the new PACU patient that came up over shift change.

I am at a loss. My manager is aware, and has asked us to keep prodding her to change her habits, and she generally picks something up for a time, and then it just seems to "fade". (Like the new report sheet she was so excited about and then seems to have misplaced).

I feel like I want to grab her by the shoulders and say "XX Nurse, we like you, everything is ok, but good gracious you need to get organized or someone is going to get hurt!!"

Any advice or little nuggets of wisdom appreciated. I know my manager should be dealing more with this, but it just doesn't seem like it is going to happen, and patients are still coming in the door and being taken care of her.

Tait

[RN1982]

I like the idea of grabbing her by the shoulders and telling her to get a hold of herself and her lack of organization. Maybe pull her to the side and just say you are concerned that she's not adjusting.

[RN1989]

This is not your responsiblity. Your manager should be speaking privately with this nurse and coming up with an action plan to address the issues. It is the manager's responsibility to ensure that this person is given the education needed to perform safely and efficiently.

[TazziRN, RN]

No, it's not her responsibility, but if the manager won't do it then SOMEONE has to.

[nightmare, RN]

I work with someone like that as well,it's like working with Roadrunner on speed!!She is quick but very disorganised and we are all trying to organise her.Maybe some people just are not capable of learning organisation!She is ,BTW excellent with the residents,just not a 'team' player.

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

gosh last sunday i was such a mess by the end of the shift , i didn't know if i was coming or going .. i was exhausted and i was that slipshot nurse... my papers were all mixed up , i lost my report sheet , i couldn't remember why this man was admitted , because i had so many transfers and admits at the sam time , ugh... the nurse i was giving report to kept rolling her eyes at me and it was horrible... somehow my control slipped out from underneath me ,,, and report was a disater... i left there a mess and went home and cried because i felt so unprepared. for report and was so tired i couldn't think anymore, it was horrible ... i am hoping for better things next week....

sometimes things happen in a shift and you just can't remember it all and become disorganized .. i feel sorry for the poor nurse , maybe she had a bad day ...

[leslie :-D]

i can tell you right now, this nurse has ADD.

scattered thinking and disorganization are the prototype of ADD nurses.

time for staff development to get involved?

leslie

[RN1982]

I hate when I give report and the oncoming nurse rolls their eyes. To me it just means that she doesn't really seem to care about what I am telling her. Have a story...

My friend works contingent in psych so he's well experienced with disorders. He worked at his full-time job which is on a progressive care unit. He received report from ER about a patient he was getting. When the patient arrived, he could tell something was a miss about the patient. Anyhow, he's up at the desk and the aide comes to him and says "your patient's I.V. came out". He says ok, goes to the room, places another I.V. then goes back to the desk.

30 minutes later the aide comes to the desk and says "your patient's I.V. came out". He says ok, goes to the patient's room, places another I.V. Forgot to mention, this patient is alert and oriented x3 and acting as if everything is dandy. So my friend tapes down this new I.V. really really good, then goes back to the desk to finish his paperwork. 30 minutes later the aide is at the desk "Now don't kill the messenger, but your patient's I.V. came out again."

It suddenly occurs to my friend that his patient possibly has borderline personality disorder. So he and the aide go down to the room, sure enough, I.V. is out. He asks the patient "how did your I.V. come out", patient says "It just came out"..My friend looks at the aide and tells her to leave the room and shut the door. My friend approaches the patient and says, "listen I know you are pulling out your I.V.s. They DON'T just come out. Now knock it off". Patient has this wide eyed look on his face and for the rest of the night he behaved.

The reason I told you that story was to tell you this story...

When my friend was giving report to the oncoming nurse, he went on to explain that he had a rough night with this patient and just as he was about to go into the I.V. situation, the nurse puts her hand out and says "I don't want to hear about your drama"...My friend is kind of irritated but decides to leave report at that and goes home.

So the following night my friend comes into work and asks how the day shift nurse's day went. They went on to tell him that the psych patient gave her a run for her money and pulled out all of his I.V.s and even made it down the stairwell to the hospital lobby and security had to go after him.

That day shift nurse profusely apologized to my friend saying that she didn't know that my friend had psych nursing experience and that she was sorry...

I'm sure there's a moral to this story but I'm not gonna go into that. My hands hurt from typing.

[Tait, MSN, RN]

gosh last sunday i was such a mess by the end of the shift , i didn't know if i was coming or going .. i was exhausted and i was that slipshot nurse... my papers were all mixed up , i lost my report sheet , i couldn't remember why this man was admitted , because i had so many transfers and admits at the sam time , ugh... the nurse i was giving report to kept rolling her eyes at me and it was horrible... somehow my control slipped out from underneath me ,,, and report was a disater... i left there a mess and went home and cried because i felt so unprepared. for report and was so tired i couldn't think anymore, it was horrible ... i am hoping for better things next week....

sometimes things happen in a shift and you just can't remember it all and become disorganized .. i feel sorry for the poor nurse , maybe she had a bad day ...

Thank you for the story, and yes we definitely all have these days, but not this nurse. For her it is a bad day, every day, and it has been months since she came off orientation.

After my shift this morning (and after talking to my manager at length) I took some time to talk with her about expectations for a change of shift admit. I got a lot of excuses, mid sentence, about support from other nurses during her shift. I reminded her to make sure that if she wasn't getting enough help, that she should use our manager as a resource.

I discussed with my manager the conversation I had had, and we both agreed that she needed more organization to manage days. She made a comment about sending her to our night shift to work on time management, and I thought it was a great idea, though who knows if that would work with this nurses schedule. (She worked nights before she moved here and just isn't adjusting well to this very busy day shift).

I have faith in this girl that she just really needs a strong hand and some help with organization and speaking up for herself. I really want to help her, and I hope it works out.

Thanks for the responses, stories and letting me vent a bit!

Tait

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

Tait, it sounds like you're doing a fine job of handling the situation.

[JaneyW]

Great thread with good comments and support. I just can't let it go--it is "slipshod". OK, my anal mind can let it go now. Thanks for putting up with me.

[RN1982]

Maybe it would be better for her to go to night shift for a bit then come back to days.