How do you deal with lazy nurses??

Nurses Relations

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One of my pet peeves is lazy nurses! They are nearly useless! They sit and gossip half the night and complain about their patients are pressing the call light. Some making so much money per hour it's sickening. All ages.... mostly younger ones... alot of agency nurses! Just my opinion. No, just the nurse I had to work with the other night!

Sorry.... I know of many young nurses that are hard workers... that don't act like the world owes them something, or they are spoiled brats. And YES, I know alot of hard working agency nurses that get crapped on.

But goodness, this young thing the other night we had was something else!

Thanks for letting me vent....

I just have no patience (or use) for a lazy nurse... for as much as they pay us we should put in the work to earn it.

What makes me crazy is when we walk in at the beginning of our shift and the previous shift are all sitting at the desk, reading the paper, rubbing their pregnant bellies and eating, talking about how busy they were with three times the staff that I will have on my shift - and then the list of things they just never got too is revealed :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

Then there's the half eaten food left on the table in the break room and empty (or not so empty) pop cans, coffee cups, candy wrappers, etc... left all over the nurses station:angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

Then one nurse has the gall to say, 'I know she likes to stay busy on nocs, so I just left it for her to do':madface:

Then to top it all off, they do not restock delivery rooms and I get a labor pt. without all the necessary supplies at my finger tips. I have quit writing up incident reports because they don't help. Thank heavens for good co-workers on my shift and bulliten boards to help vent!!

But, I really do love what I do;)

I hear what you're saying!! I get fed up with the slobs on other shifts too.:angryfire

I refused to clean up the breakroom after the previous shift - I never used it, and the one time the nurse manager told me that I should, I told her that I wasn't these girls mother, and they needed to clean up after themselves.

I always clean up the area when I'm done - it takes hardly any time at all.

i am only a student, and when i saw this for the first time i was appaulled. this young, pregnant nurse just sat there the whole time eating and talking to the techs. the other nurses around her were busting their butts and her call lights were going off like crazy. the nurses would tell her that her call lights were flashing but she just made some stupid remark and just sat there. i asked the nurse i was working with about her and she said that this is the same old story with her, pregnant a lot and lazy. i just didn't understand what she was even doing there. i am younger, but i promise that i will always try and work hard!!!

Specializes in Education, Acute, Med/Surg, Tele, etc.

I guess I am rather lucky because most of the nurses I work with are certainly not lazy! The place where I am working "Rent a scrub" has excellent team work and team work ethics! That is why I only work for that particular hospital! Finally a team that works together and truely helps eachother!

But in the past I have worked with lazy co-workers and I typically will ask them for help because they aren't busy and I keep busy! Yeah it ticks them off, but I usually respond with a "oh I am sorry, I saw you sitting there and thought you could lend me a hand for a moment". That usually gets them to realize if I see them idle, I will ask for some help if I need it!

Again I am just so pleased with the staff at the hospital...team players all the way and are always available to lend a helping hand when it is needed!

One thing I have seen with agency nurses is that many times they aren't sure of what to do. I appreciate it when someone asks for my help, or gives me a task! Sometimes I get done quickly dependant on pts, and they are doing a-ok leaving me with little to do...so I always ask, but some won't...ask them for help doing things...you may find that helpful!

i don't know about you all but i also believe in 100% team work. i know you don't always fine 100% .

I guess I am rather lucky because most of the nurses I work with are certainly not lazy! The place where I am working "Rent a scrub" has excellent team work and team work ethics! That is why I only work for that particular hospital! Finally a team that works together and truely helps eachother!

But in the past I have worked with lazy co-workers and I typically will ask them for help because they aren't busy and I keep busy! Yeah it ticks them off, but I usually respond with a "oh I am sorry, I saw you sitting there and thought you could lend me a hand for a moment". That usually gets them to realize if I see them idle, I will ask for some help if I need it!

Again I am just so pleased with the staff at the hospital...team players all the way and are always available to lend a helping hand when it is needed!

One thing I have seen with agency nurses is that many times they aren't sure of what to do. I appreciate it when someone asks for my help, or gives me a task! Sometimes I get done quickly dependant on pts, and they are doing a-ok leaving me with little to do...so I always ask, but some won't...ask them for help doing things...you may find that helpful!

triage i want to work with you, work for you whatever is available.

Im a nurse and only 21. I know there are a lot of young nurses that tend to be lazy but where I work we have a lot of older ones that are lazier then the young ones. The older ones feel that they shouldnt have to do anything and put it all off on us younger ones. As for call lights and such, our techs generally get them but if we know, or at least if I know, that they are tied up in a room I'll go answer the light. Im not one of those that will walk right past a light or if I go into the room its not just to see what they want so I can tell the tech. If they need something I do it. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I teched a couple years before I became a nurse so I know how it feels.

Specializes in Long-term care.
One of my pet peeves is lazy nurses! They are nearly useless! They sit on their AXXeX and gossip half the night and complain about their patients are pressing the call light. Some making so much money per hour it's sickening. All ages.... mostly younger ones... alot of agency nurses! Just my opinion. No, just the nurse I had to work with the other night!

Sorry.... I know of many young nurses that are hard workers... that don't act like the world owes them something, or they are spoiled brats. And YES, I know alot of hard working agency nurses that get crapped on.

But goodness, this young thing the other night we had was something else!

Thanks for letting me vent....

I just have no patience (or use) for a lazy nurse... for as much as they pay us we should put in the work to earn it.

Hey, LouisianaNurse...I know there will probably be a reply like "oh, I didn't mean it that way"...but your post is degrading to the younger generation of nurses. In your post, let's take out your "young nurses" and "this young thing" and try replacing it with, oh, I don't know, "this old thing the other night" or "nurses over 40".....it's age discrimination...it goes either way...heck, you could put "this gay thing the other night" or, I don't mean to say all black nurses are this way but "this black thing the other night. Think about it.:angryfire

You guys are great! I was venting.... now I feel better. Actually what I did do was to bug the sh*t out of her until she went to check on her patient. I knew her patient needed her. I am new on the floor so I did not want to start anything, so every 15 minutes or so I would "remind" her that one of her patients was waiting on her pain medication (that was well overdue). Finally she stopped gossiping long enough to go give her pt the medication. This is how she did it.... the nurse goes into the room and says (very sternly) "here's your pain pill, open your mouth", the poor elderly lady is lying flat on her back moaning in pain. The nurse sticks the pill into the lady's mouth and grabs the cup of water sitting on the bedside table with a straw in it and says, very sternly, "now suck!" Never raising the head of the bed at all! Then without saying another word she turns on her heels and back to the nurses lounge she goes! I stayed with the patient a little longer and made her comfortable. When I went back an hour later the patient was sleeping, for the first time that night, and it was 2:00 in the morning. I just felt so badly for the lady. I know I am new to nursing and only in orientation, but I hope I never get that uncaring, lazy attitude this sorry nurse had.

Hey, LouisianaNurse...I know there will probably be a reply like "oh, I didn't mean it that way"...but your post is degrading to the younger generation of nurses. In your post, let's take out your "young nurses" and "this young thing" and try replacing it with, oh, I don't know, "this old thing the other night" or "nurses over 40".....it's age discrimination...it goes either way...heck, you could put "this gay thing the other night" or, I don't mean to say all black nurses are this way but "this black thing the other night. Think about it.:angryfire

Nope, I meant it just the way it sounded. That one particular nurse was lazy and young. Sorry if you are offended. She also acted like a brat and that we should all kiss her a**. And she was a gossip. I know you are not trying to start something when a fellow nurse is venting. I also know a couple of old nurses that are lazy, it is just that the other night THIS one pissed me off.

Specializes in Trauma/ED.
Oh Larry you nut! You must be familiar with a monster medical facility that starts with a "K" eh? One point of contention regarding us "rent a scrubs"... yes it probably is easier to "get rid" of us over lazy union workers, but PULEEZE let staffing know it is the individual nurse who didn't work out as opposed to the agency personnel in general.

I'm a nut? Did you even read my post, I said and I quote, "Just tell the powers that be how lazy she was and they can request SHE not come back to your facility" I in no way said anything about banning that agency in general. Give me a break and please don't throw out names!

I actually have liked almost every agency and traveling nurse I have worked with and have never labeled them as "lazy". It's much easier to be lazy when you are union and it takes an act of congress to fire you IMO.

Oh Larry you nut! You must be familiar with a monster medical facility that starts with a "K" eh? One point of contention regarding us "rent a scrubs"... yes it probably is easier to "get rid" of us over lazy union workers, but PULEEZE let staffing know it is the individual nurse who didn't work out as opposed to the agency personnel in general.

Why would you call someone a nut? I did not take Larry's post to be that he wanted to let staffing know that agency personnel was at fault. What I got from reading his post was that if it is an agency worker, then it is easier to ask staffing not to assign the particular person to come back to work at the facility vs. the union or staff worker that would need countless documentation and write-ups to get fired.

What staffing director would even consider a complaint that generally, the agency personnel is bad and not to ask anyone from their agency to come back? Each worker is unique and should and would be considered as such.

You guys are great! I was venting.... now I feel better. Actually what I did do was to bug the sh*t out of her until she went to check on her patient. I knew her patient needed her. I am new on the floor so I did not want to start anything, so every 15 minutes or so I would "remind" her that one of her patients was waiting on her pain medication (that was well overdue). Finally she stopped gossiping long enough to go give her pt the medication. This is how she did it.... the nurse goes into the room and says (very sternly) "here's your pain pill, open your mouth", the poor elderly lady is lying flat on her back moaning in pain. The nurse sticks the pill into the lady's mouth and grabs the cup of water sitting on the bedside table with a straw in it and says, very sternly, "now suck!" Never raising the head of the bed at all! Then without saying another word she turns on her heels and back to the nurses lounge she goes! I stayed with the patient a little longer and made her comfortable. When I went back an hour later the patient was sleeping, for the first time that night, and it was 2:00 in the morning. I just felt so badly for the lady. I know I am new to nursing and only in orientation, but I hope I never get that uncaring, lazy attitude this sorry nurse had.

Being new to a floor is hard, as I am new with only a couple of months on my floor. I know it is hard to walk that fine line of doing your nursing and not interfering with the way another nurse is doing her nursing. But, when you see blatant disregard for patients and their care, there will come a time in which you will have to do something about it--either by writing her up, or by having a chat with her or your manager. Let's imagine this patient was our mother or grandmother. Would any of us want her treated in this manner? What if she had choked on her pill, aspirated water, or had the pill lodged under her tongue or inside of cheek, only to choke on it later? The sad thing is that many of the other nurses on the floor have probably seen this many times and have not addressed this because they do not want to interefere in the way another nurse practice or do not want to be on the S#$t List of that particular nurse.

One thing that might be helpful to say to her next time you see something like that is to talk to the nurse in private, and ask her, "Would you want your mother treated like this?" I'll bet she would never act that way in front of the family or higher up management. If we tolerate this, then it just gets worse.

Maybe she is having a bad day, and maybe this is her style, but it is not acceptable.

Any action you take should be documented thoroughly by you.

Unfortunately, she probably is getting away with this because she has coworkers who she may be friends with. Be very careful in how you approach this, but do not let this behavior continue--for the patients' sake.

If you find that you will be cleaning up after her each time she does something like this, then you may find yourself exhausted--and that is doing no favors to yourself.

I am glad that you see something wrong with this scenario, and your approach may be better received if you talk to the nurse in private and objectively state your viewpoint. It could start with, "Imagine if the patient were your mother and another nurse treated her in that manner? How would that make you feel? And, then point out the possibilities of what could have gone wrong with making her swallow the pill in that manner.

If she keeps practicing that way, she will probably end up with serious problems legally, but it will be too late for the patient.....

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