bad mouthed by another nurse to my patient !

Emergent, RN · Sep 18, 2016

That's obnoxious and utterly unprofessional.

Mightymouse1212 · Sep 19, 2016

I know! I have had a headache all night and day just thinking about it. I have never done such to a coworker no matter what they've done . I explained to my pt that I would not have put her in harms way had I thought for a minute that not putting it on would hurt her . I'm simply disgusted .

caliotter3 · Sep 19, 2016

Your boss is related to that nurse? Tells you what you need to know if you need this job. Can you transfer to another unit? Maybe start looking for greener pastures?

Mightymouse1212 · Sep 19, 2016

I wish . I make really good $ there. Plus I'm the only working person in my household right now with 2 kids. I think karma will bite her where the sun don't shine eventually . She is a really haughty person by nature. I've approached my boss 2x about her in the past 6 mos and of course nothing was done. So..I just do my work and stay low and out of the way. I'd love to confront her on this but I'd be the one in trouble.

cookeelena · Sep 22, 2016

I would gather all your documented info on this nurse and take it to HR.

Parklean · Sep 23, 2016

If they are related she should not be working under her. Go over your boss head since you already talked to her about this problem nurse.

Mightymouse1212 · Sep 24, 2016

I totally agree on that one. She's worked there longer than me. She thinks she's invincible . A few mo ago we were accused by a unit mgr of not giving schedule narcotic cough syrup . The liquid is ALWAYS over because of the bottle shape and size. This same nurse trashes the syringes we use to draw the doses up . I reported that 2x and she's still doing it. I even told the boss about her bragging to staff that she got me booted off the hall one weekend so she could get ot. Still didn't listen to me. She defended her instead. That's when I said f it and I just been keeping my own notes of what I find behind her .

Nursekrn7 · Sep 25, 2016

UGH! sounds like a real DIRT. there are no other words to describe a Nurse like this! i have come across many! unfortunately, there are nurses like this BUM out there and i wonder where in the name of FFFFFFF did she go to nursing school? Maybe she got her nursing licence from a cereal box! First of all, not only are you neglectful of patient care, but UNPROFESSIONAL to discuss you to a patient! I would in a professional way CONFRONT her!!! I totally respect you for not being a "snitch", but enough is enough... unfortunately we all have to clean up after ourselves, and noone should ever have to clean up CONTINUOUSLY after an offgoing! disrespect, i cant stand when you walk in, dont even take your coat off , and they are like rushing you just start giving you report while your trying to like lock up your belongings and take a damn sip of your coffee!! and labeling bags is just a careless lazy person, one in a while everyone is entitled to a bad day, and everyone had a fast-paced crazy day, we are all not perfect, but hunny, i would totally talk to her about this in a respectful way. and if she gets defensive and raises her voice than i would go above that. Its not fair that shes related to the boss, thats bull. I hope it all works out! ooooo that got me mad

>.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 25, 2016

I was told by my pt last night that the nurse who works opposite nights of me had talked bad about me to her. My pt is completely oriented. I have an excellent relationship with this pt.. but I am so bothered that another nurse would talk bad about me to a pt and try to make me look stupid and incompetent which I am NOT.
Last week this pt refused to have another fentanyl patch put on. So I documented her refusal and didn't put one on her. Pts have the right to refuse. We all know this. So..thus nurse goes in the following night telling my pt that "she knew better than not put one on you. What's wrong with her!?" ...
Now. Me and this particular nurse do not really see eye to eye...we work opposite nights and don't work together . I clean up her messes that she leaves thru the week . I know for a fact she doesn't do wound care because when I come in on Saturdays I find MY dressings still on pts...I've not thrown her under for that. She also never dates anything including fentanyl patches. She throws out oral syringes I use for liquid narcotics as well and has even tried to claim they aren't given on my shifts ...total lie .
I can't go to my boss because she won't believe me. My boss is related to this nurse.
So...what would you do?
I don't want my good pt relationships destroyed based on someone who is so lazy and ignorant .

First off, patients lie. It's entirely possible that your patient is engaging in the time-honored ritual of staff splitting. Even an alerted and oriented patient with whom you have a good relationship may be enjoying the game of staff splitting, so never EVER take a patient's word as gospel without some sort of corroboration.

If you are routinely finding that the other nurse isn't changing her dressings, have you checked her charting. Does she chart that she's changed the dressings? If so, you need to bring this issue to management. It's false documentation and besides being ethically wrong, it's illegal. If she's not doing the dressings and not documenting that she did, talk to her. You owe it to your patients to stand up for them. Not dating Fentanyl patches is unsafe. That needs to be documented and she needs to be spoken to about this as well.

Give your boss the benefit of the doubt and approach her with your concerns. You want to keep it on the professional basis of patient safety and not go in complaining that "this nurse was mean to me" or even accuse her of badmouthing you to your patients. Keep the conversation on a factual level about things that you can document. If you truly find that your boss won't listen to you because she's related to the offender, then you have a choice to make. You can go over her head, but that is unlikely to result in good working relationships with your boss and her relative. Or you can start looking for another job.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 25, 2016

I wish . I make really good $ there. Plus I'm the only working person in my household right now with 2 kids. I think karma will bite her where the sun don't shine eventually . She is a really haughty person by nature. I've approached my boss 2x about her in the past 6 mos and of course nothing was done. So..I just do my work and stay low and out of the way. I'd love to confront her on this but I'd be the one in trouble.

Disciplinary measures are confidential, which means that even if your manager IS doing something about this nurse, you aren't allowed to know about it. She may be gathering documentation and escalating the disciplinary process toward termination, and you wouldn't know about it. If you're approaching your boss with FACTS rather than FEELINGS, you've done your part.