Another nurse makes me feel insignificant.

Nurses LPN/LVN

Published

So, does anyone else struggle with fellow nurses intimidating you?

I have a co worker who is a strong personality. She is always negative and believes she is a better nurse than everyone else. I have had meetings with managers and her about this and nothing changed. She is so intimidating that I forgot to report a small med error once because I was so worried about her writing me up for not cleaning off our med cart. (Again) She also went 2 shifts without talking to me because I left the cups in the dishwasher and another time went almost a week with minimal communication because I called her out on reporting me for something I did not do.

Our facility is is extremely short staff...to an almost dangerous level and I spend a lot of my day assisting HCA. I am at a loss of what to do. I went to the union and they can't do much for me either. It is extremely stressful working with her because I spend a lot of time making sure everything is just perfect so she can't report me. I have worked extremely hard to improve our working relationship and now I am scared to make a mistake because of how she has acted in the past.

Some examples of things she wrote me up for

i used a different tape on a wound than her even though nothing specific was specified on the wound care sheet.

I completed neurovitals on a resident and she felt it was unneseccary.

Multiple time for leaving the dishes in the dishwasher or not completely refilling med cups.

Changing saturated bandages

ect...

i hate ate not being able to sleep because I forgot to do something and she is going to report me. Any advice on where to go from here is greatly appreciated.

JKL33

6,768 Posts

What is happening with her reports/write-ups? If no one cares about them then let her have at it. However, if they're making it to your personnel file then I would find another position ASAP. Remember, the individuals to act this way aren't your major problem; it's the people above them who decide whether or not to actually make trouble for you.

If her reports have no teeth (admin doesn't care about them) then you need to refuse to focus on her and instead focus on taking excellent care of patients and pay no attention to her. If you can't do that, or if you're actually getting in trouble for this pettiness, then leave.

srpotter1212

2 Posts

Oh I wish it was that easy. I am desperately trying to leave but I live in a small community and there are not a lot of nursing jobs . I even picked up a temp line opposite her. Some of the reports get filed into personell and some are not done anything with. It all depends on the type of report she fills out. The managers don't seem that worried, however I am concerned that my file will be big and make finding another position increasing difficult.

I want to also say that I am trying to leave my job for a lot of significant reasons. She is not the only one.

Specializes in LTC.

Yes, I dealt with someone like this on my last case. She was part of the reason I had a mental breakdown. She was the day shift nurse for my patient.

I really hate people like this. The nursing profession is plagued with bullies sadly.

Alex Egan, LPN, EMT-B

4 Articles; 857 Posts

Specializes in Home Health (PDN), Camp Nursing.

I just left a similar situation. It job was just ok, but not worth the stress my coworker was inflicting on me. If this coworker had not been there I would absolutely still be working there. The hardest part is when you start to feel like the crazy one. You're working on leaving, that's my advice. Magement is kind of stuck with these folks. They are tough to fire as their performance is usually good, but they have very poor and maladaptive people skills. They are generally cancer on an organization driving over employees out and making themselves even more difficult to replace because of the short staffing.

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