New Grad LPN causing problems

[Lovely_RN]

This is pretty long because I've got some things on my chest and I've had a very rough shift today. I tried to talk to my spouse but of course he isn't a nurse and just doesn't get it so I am venting here.

We have a former CNA who is a newly graduated LPN working days at our facility. I really liked this young lady and I even encouraged her to apply for the position when she graduated from school rather than go elsewhere. The problem is that in the three months she has been working her floor she has done some unorthodox things and has turned into a conniving wench. Some of the things that she does cause problems for me when I work after her or relieve her on her days off and it seems like she tries to make other people look bad on purpose.

A few examples and these are things that have all happened this week.

Tuesday it's doctors day and the doc is at the nurses station signing orders and writing out triplicates. I'm coming on for 3-11pm and the new nurse is finishing up her paperwork. The doc asks her about something that didn't get done on the weekend and she simpers at him. Oh Dr. ______ I didn't work this weekend and you know how it is when I don't work the weekends. When I come in on Monday this place is upside down and it takes me until the middle of the week to get it back to normal. Uh she is such a little liar because she did work that weekend from 7-3pm and way to go for throwing the 3-11pm and 11-7am nurses under the bus.

On Wednesday I'm not working "her floor" so she comes to visit me and pi**es me off again. She starts in on how disorganized this particular floor is compared to her floor and she criticized the two day shift regular nurses pretty badly. She really ****** me off. One of these nurses has been working at the facility since 1986 and the other one has been there for 30+ years! First as a CNA, then LPN, and finally as the RN floor manager. I told her that while I think they are pretty mean (and they are tough ol birds who take no crap) that they have been doing this since she was a baby and that I do have respect for them. I also told her not to worry about them because they run that floor and will be there long after we youngsters move on! I didn't say much else to her and she left a minute later.

On Thursday I worked 3-11pm (after her 7-3pm) and while hanging a feeding the resident gets mad with me because I don't have bottled water for her feeding!? The new nurse told the resident that we have bottled water for her enteral feeding so the resident became annoyed with me and demanded that I provide her with bottled water when she saw me running the tap. We don't have any bottled water for enteral feedings at our facility! I don't understand why this LPN even gave her that impression but when I asked her about it she told me that when she works 3-11pm she just takes the bag and fills it up at the sink at the nurses station. So she is being deceptive with the woman and of course this lady thinks she is wonderful and that I suck.

Now lets move on to my Saturday (today) shift.

She leaves medication for a psych patient who is notorious for being non-compliant with her meds at the bedside so you know what happened to me today when I didn't do the same? Again, I had an annoyed resident who told me "but the other nurse does it what's your problem? and so on and so on"

She allows the CNAs to order Chinese food for an uncontrolled diabetic with a recent Hab1c of 9.4% who is non-compliant with taking her medication or following any sort of diet. Now I know I can't stop the resident's family from bringing outside food for her but I'm not going to be the one to push her into her grave. The residents blood sugar was 325 before lunch today and she refused to eat the lunch the facility provided for her. The resident gives a CNA $10 and tells her to order a bunch of junk from the local Chinese take out. The CNA comes to me and I said no you can't do that. First of all our facility has a strict policy about handling the resident's money. We are NOT supposed to take money from residents to buy them things from the outside. Second this woman's blood sugar was already 325 before lunch (and this is with skipping breakfast!) I'm not going to participate in ordering her a bunch of greasy Chinese food and letting her wash it all down with a Coke. Of course the new LPN lets this happen on a regular basis so once again I am the b*tch.

The icing on the cake today was a resident wanted to go out on a pass with a responsible party. Ok so the person calls when they arrive and says they can't find parking (this is typical where my facility is...there is very little parking) so could I be nice enough to bring the pass downstairs for her? So I agree because it was after 3pm and I was leaving anyway. Little did I know that it a common practice of the new LPN to sign the pass and give it to the resident to take downstairs w/o laying eyes on the responsible party or having them fill out the pass or sign it in her presence. So I go downstairs and this resident and her responsible party are waiting for me fuming mad because I didn't just sign the pass and give it to the resident. The responsible party is talking trash with the resident saying how I must not trust her and the resident tells her that the other nurse does it for her but "this one" (that would be me) is a pain in the ass. I got so mad I wanted to explode and I know I shouldn't have said anything but enough is enough. I told them that I was doing them a favor because my shift ended over 20 minutes ago and that I should really let them go upstairs to deal with the 3-11pm nurse who is not obligated to leave the unit. Yeah I know I shouldn't have said anything but by this time I was completely feed up.

I don't see why I should be put in a position of being told off multiple times during one shift for simply doing my job the way it's supposed to be done and the new nurse who is not doing things properly looks like an angel. It sucks that you can get away with not giving good care and people don't have enough sense to know the difference.

I really use to like this young woman and I think that maybe she is under a lot of stress in her new role and is trying to compensate for it in some way. I can't tell maybe she is just showing her true colors and is really a b*tch who can tell for sure?

[Di Deanna]

wow, this girl is a little nightmare. ok...maybe not a nightmare..but a huge huge huge stress!

i know there are some of us who don't like to say anything...tell on the new nurse..be firm...let the nurse fall...and i wish it didn't have to be that way..but i think for your own good, you better cover your back because if it comes down to it, no matter how nice you think she is, i guarantee she will burn you.

i would be discreet about it...but tell your don, boss, etc. tell them nicely that you are concerned about the new lpn and would like to know what you can do to "help". this way there is record of it. i seriously wouldn't help this nurse at all or associate with her if she is already displaying this type of shady behavior. let her struggle...let her suffer for her own mistakes...force yourself to have a selfish attitude when it comes to that. just think about yourself and what you can do to make things less stressful for you.

i know i'm not one to preach about this..because all too often, i just want to be human with people. i wish i could be nice, personable, helpful and trusting with them...but more than not, it ends up "screwing" me. forgive the lango.

you sound like a really great person and an awesome nurse, so i would hate to see you take the suffering for her mistakes. i don't want to make a general stereotype..but i have seen this kind of behavior all too often amongst women.

i'm sure you are not offended by that because....well...you're a female..and i think all of us, as females, understand how working with other women can be. unless i'm the only one that can barely stand it. and look...i'm dying to be a nurse! lol. oh boy..what i'm getting myself into .

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

BTDT....these type of nurses normally dig their own hole. I've been at the same place for years, but only work part time. I tend to be more "by the book" but also have learned to pick my battles too.

I would probably have to say something to the DON and ask if there has been any P and P changes because XYZ nurse has been doing things this way and the residents don't like it when I'm doing it the old way (proper procedure)

[Cherybaby]

wow, this girl is a little nightmare. ok...maybe not a nightmare..but a huge huge huge stress!

i know there are some of us who don't like to say anything...tell on the new nurse..be firm...let the nurse fall...and i wish it didn't have to be that way..but i think for your own good, you better cover your back because if it comes down to it, no matter how nice you think she is, i guarantee she will burn you.

i would be discreet about it...but tell your don, boss, etc. tell them nicely that you are concerned about the new lpn and would like to know what you can do to "help". this way there is record of it. i seriously wouldn't help this nurse at all or associate with her if she is already displaying this type of shady behavior. let her struggle...let her suffer for her own mistakes...force yourself to have a selfish attitude when it comes to that. just think about yourself and what you can do to make things less stressful for you.i know i'm not one to preach about this..because all too often, i just want to be human with people. i wish i could be nice, personable, helpful and trusting with them...but more than not, it ends up "screwing" me. forgive the lango.

you sound like a really great person and an awesome nurse, so i would hate to see you take the suffering for her mistakes. i don't want to make a general stereotype..but i have seen this kind of behavior all too often amongst women.

i'm sure you are not offended by that because....well...you're a female..and i think all of us, as females, understand how working with other women can be. unless i'm the only one that can barely stand it. and look...i'm dying to be a nurse! lol. oh boy..what i'm getting myself into .

i agree with most of this post...except for what i put in larger font. (bold didn't work! :))the nurse is not going to be the only one to "suffer for her own mistakes". the patients will suffer in the end. the example about the chinese food and the coke is a prime example. i think that the rn has a certain obligation to those patients. sure, she may be the favorite nurse because she bends the rules to make the patients love her...but that's not really what we're here for.

i would definately be in the don's office and (tactfully) suggest that this nurse needs a bit more training in protocol.

then, i would make a voodoo doll of her and stick pins in it when i got home...you know, just to make myself feel better!

[missyd1991]

Wow I feel for you, this girl needs to get a grip. What goes around comes around so she will get whats coming to her. I would keep eerything documented that involves you so you can cover your self when things start to hit the fan. I would also report what she is doing with the residents, this can really put them in danger. Good Luck.

[Di Deanna]

i agree with most of this post...except for what i put in larger font. (bold didn't work! :))the nurse is not going to be the only one to "suffer for her own mistakes". the patients will suffer in the end. the example about the chinese food and the coke is a prime example. i think that the rn has a certain obligation to those patients. sure, she may be the favorite nurse because she bends the rules to make the patients love her...but that's not really what we're here for.

i would definately be in the don's office and (tactfully) suggest that this nurse needs a bit more training in protocol.

then, i would make a voodoo doll of her and stick pins in it when i got home...you know, just to make myself feel better!

:nurse:definitely! i should have specified that this should not be at the patient's expense .

lol @ vodoo doll! i wish those worked...i would have a few...perhaps a nice collection?

[sasha2lady]

I had a similar situation. We had a cna 2 who was in nursing school.....the DON just ate her up and was convinced that she would be the most excellent nurse.....yea...right. I got wind of how slack she was one day when I found a dsg not changed on one of my residents..it was nasty and it stunk....that shouldnt have happened since it was a daily dsg change. So here she was....up at the desk chit chatting and laughing and I look at the tx book....she signed out that she changed the dsg..I called her out on that one and her jaw hit the floor. Once she passed boards...she worked with us on 2nd and while a very friendly person...and smart....she is one of the worst nurses Ive worked with. Lazy doesnt begin to describe her.....she was always on her phone texting the entire time, she barely got any meds passed, her charting was a joke, she didnt do any other paperwork that the rest of us do, and she called in alot. I cant tell you how many skin issues were on her hall that she just fixed and did NO documentation whatsoever on. Then we'd get grilled by families wanting to know why that dsg was on moms leg and how it got there. On top of that...she would disappear for an hour or more at a time...now shes just prn and doesnt show up when she volunteers to work as do 3 out of the 4 prns we have. Id say document your findings and notify your superior. She wont last long with the way shes going . She is headed for a major med error...let state walk in and watch her do what shes doing...she sounds just dumb enough to do it in front of them.