Mean and Ruthless Nurses who are receiving your report

[romie]

I need to vent a little bit because my otherwise perfect day on the unit was ruined by a mean and ruthless nurse who engaged in the following behaviors while I was giving report: Shaking her head, sighing, making faces, more sighing. Me: A nurse of three years giving report to a nurse who was at least a decade older than me. Me, male, her female. I'm trying to let this go and remember how much I helped all of the other RNs on the unit throughout the shift and remembering that I Actually AM A Good Nurse!.

Patient was a transfer from ICU s/p small bowel resection and has hx of Acute Renal failure. Patient was incontinent with me once during my shift. Patient has been seen by Nephrologist twice since his transfer to my unt. The nurse I was giving report to engaged in the typical eat your young behavior, sighing, shaking head, asking tremendously challenging questions---Yes, I read every single physician and consultant note, you are working night shift and have eyes and a brain so you can read for yourself whatever I couldn't recall verbatim. Thank god we use EPIC and everything is right there.

I noted her behavior and I queried, " You seem frustrated". She stated "yes". I asked further, "what could I have done better?" She responded, "you could have followed up on this patient's out put."

I think I responded in a professional manner. I do not appreciate nurses who sigh, grimace, groan, or give you the thrid degree and expect you to know the name of every surgeon who ever did any procedure on the patient.

She asked me the creatine and BUN. I always have my labs available. I simply stated his BUN and creatine are within normal limits. Why was she having such a fit?

My effort to correct the situation: I went to the slightly confused patient and asked him to urinate in the urinal. He immediately put out 150cc. Not great, but not bad. I palpated his bladder and detected no distention. Patient denied pain in pelvic area. There were already numerous studies on his kidneys that have reviewed by the nephro.

I documented my findings, educated the patient on the need to void in urinal so we could measure. I reported to the oncoming nurse and she still seemed disastisfied. Does it matter that she was a 11-7 nurse who has most of the evening to comb the charts.

I read my physician and previous RN notes. I spend my entire shift prepping for for report. I just felt like this woman was unprofessional and rude and engaged in behaviors that did not benefit our mutual care of the patient until I took a step back and ask her some very objective questions and acted based on those responses.

It is not appropriate to sigh, groan, grimace, moan or otherwise engage in behaviors that are intended to make you feel superior and the observer of your behavior feel inferior or that they gave bad care!!!!

Lord and everyone here knows how many shoddy reports we have recieved. I don't use this as an opportunity to bring a nurse down, I say, don't worry about it, I'll follow up on it. Hey , we all have brains and eyes and ears. We are sisters and are suppose to be looking out for the patients. It's not a ******* match at who is the better nurse.

I will often arrive at least a half an hour early to work to read H&P, consults, results and what not and may be knowledgeable about some of that background info about a patient. But I don't hold it against the nurse caring for 6 patients, hanging blood on two patients, admitting two, discharging one.

NOw that I am in my third year of nursing I think it is even more important to foster an environment of respect that is often violated during report. This is the key moment that nurses eat their young. Stop it stop.

I tell myself, tonight, I helped another nurse clean up her incontinent patient, I did glucose checks for other nurses and I passed meds for other nurses who were swamped. I cannot let this one mean nurse get me down.

Thank you.

[Brea LPN]

All I know to say is overlook her, you're a good nurse!

[TheMoonisMyLantern, ADN, LPN, RN]

Sadly, nurses like the one you had to give report to are too common. Some people simply want you to bow down and kiss their ring and give their egos a nice Swedish massage, and yes it's endlessly irritating. It's small comfort to know that this type of attitude rarely has anything else to do with other people and more so with themselves as they usually have one the following two problems:

A) Horrible self esteem and feed off the negativity they poison the environment around them with.

B) Are miserable/burnt out/etc. and need an extended vacation or professional help.

Either way I've found it's best not to enable the crappy attitude. Be blunt (but not abrasive) and call them out on the behavior. For example, I've said before when someone copped an attitude because I couldn't remember someone's Chloride level that was WNL;

"I'm sorry you feel so upset, but all this patient's information is right here in the computer and once I finish my report, you can feel free to browse through it at your leisure like I did today during my shift so that you can have all your questions answered. Let's continue please."

If it continues notify your manager, we all have bad days but continuous negativity does nothing but bring down morale for everybody. And remember, you're a wonderful nurse so don't beat yourself up over her issues.

[romie]

Thank you Brea and TheMoonisMyLantern. You are so right and I know this. I was thinking about how miserable she must be on my walk home. I will focus instead on the joy my patients gave me and the gratitude of my coworkers when I helped them out. She can wallow in her own misery and I can only pity her. It is not a reflection of my skill as an RN but more of a reflection of her outlook on life. Thanks again guys.

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

Don't let them get to you....I know that's hard (and I'm pretty sure all of us have come across the b*$#hy nurses that should really go plant dandelions somewhere). Just keep going, and don't ask what else you could have done- if you could have done it you would. You're 3 years out- enough time to know the drill. The idiot you dealt with must feel pretty lousy about herself to chew you up. If your manager has complaints, they'll talk to you.

Picture her in some embarrassing position:eek: during your next report....mentally, even the playing field. You do your job to the best of your ability, and rest assured, one day, she'll have to deal with her own version of herself.

Nasty people make nasty nurses...

[romie]

Ha ha, I loved the image of her planting dandylions. What a catharsis. Thanks again. We have all been there. Even three years out I'm stunned at times. When I grill the newbies during report, I simply say, don't worry about it, the chart is right here on the computer and I'll follow up on it. You've been here all day and you need to go home and get some rest. I'll follow up on it. But hey I'm a nice guy and I know that there are lots of nice nurses out there

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

I hope tomorrow is better :)

[I<3Nursing]

I feel your pain. I wish we could work together. You sound like a great guy and an amazing nurse.

[Mgrn123]

Politely interrupt her behavior and say " let me finish report and I can try to answer your questions" after which you will advise her to look at the chart and read her labs more specifically if she is not satisfied with wnl. Seriously what is she trying to be a nephro and who in what state of mind would even provide care just by taking someone's word

Of labs etc....... Like judge Judy says" I want it in writing" so she should already have to look more specifically herself.

[sasha2lady]

You did your part. Now, the one you reported to is on her own. I have the same problem at work with 3 different nurses.

nurse A-always late, walks away from me during report, puts on makeup, eats brkfst, starts conversations or goes off with the cna's while I try to tell her about the pts---then she goes and "tattles" to the DON or whoever in mgmt she has her nose stuck in for that day that she didn't get report...didnt get this or that in report..and my reply to that is SHUT UP, STAY PUT, ASK ?'S AND FREAKIN LISTEN

Nurse B-similar to nurse A, A&B are best buds, always late, listens to report better but gives a whacked out report that usually indicates that 99% of the pts are in some weird condition-usually not even true b/c she doesn't know them that well-is sloppy to come in behind

Nurse C- (Ugh)-comes in with a chip on her shoulder every time she works, is a know it all, everybody but her and her 2 bff's are stupid and she makes it known to everybody around-very negative, never smiles, unfriendly, slams things around, undoes everything on the med cart after I clean it and refill everything, her face is always blood red (cuz she's ****** off 24/7), she rolls her eyes, tries to get argumentative when you tell her things she doesn't 'agree" with cuz she's a God apparently.

These are the kinds of people I HATE working with, near, before and after.

[morningland]

This has ALWAYS ALWAYS annoyed me, but the OP sounds like an objectively "good" nurse.

For me, I've never quite understood the whole point of a lecture in reporting.

I have trouble remembering multiple things at once (it is one of the reasons why floor nursing is not something I will retire into), so I just wanna know the importants: Why are they here, what have we done for them, whats the plan of care, any recent pain meds, accu check, ect ect ect.

I dont' need to hear about every little detail; I don't need to know about the dump they took back in 1989, I don't need to know that they didn't like there dinner tray (but still ate it). I need to prioritize the IMPORTANT information so that the NON-VITAL information doesn't get in the way. Just keep it simple!

I remember once, I forgot to write down an accu check but it was around 190. When I was reporting, I was nervous and said "it was 190 or 193" and she was like "well, which one is it?!?!?" Well, who gives a sh-t, because it doesn't make a difference! They are still well within the sliding scale on our unit to give two units of insulin. I'm not saying it wasn't wrong for me to wing it, but the point is that she was making a big deal on something that IN NO WAY was going to impact what I needed to do.

It really sucks to get mad dogged in report, but at least you can hang your hat on all the good you did. I have a hard time with that. I can do so much for my patients and forget about all of it because I let a jerk beat me down

[micstn]

feeling upset for you having a non-professional coworker like her, avoiding her will make you feel better.