Nurse Mobbing/bullying

[LuciGirl]

:balloons: I am new to the forum and would like to get feedback from others who have experienced mobbing/bullying/harassment in the healthcare field. Please share so others might learn more about this issue that needs further exploration.

[alatta58]

I was working in a wound care center. I was just hired and 2 months later found out that I was pregnant. The director of the center was very supportive. Until it came time to work of course. The clinic hours were 800-1530 now we had patients scheduled every 10 minutes. Every wound was to be measured and cleaned and lido applied for debridments, and if bioengineered tissue was to be applied that was to be prepared. As soon as the doctor arrived to start seeing patients she took off to go and gossip with all of the directors. I ran my A*@ off, in the beginning it was not that bad. As I got to 5 months and 6 months I could not take it anymore. I am asthmatic and you all know how asthma flares when you are pregnant not to mention smelling nasty wounds all day did not help. The director would leave me there with the CNA that was lazy as all hell. I for one am not lazy. No breaks at all, and I couldn't just leave the doctor there by himself to take care of the patients. I also had to do all of the front desk work because she refused to pay someone to come in and help. AGGGGHHHHHH sorry my blood starts to boil. The CNA hardly spoke any english so he could not answer the phone not to mention that he was not the sharpest tool in the box. So there I am 6 months pregnant running all over the damn place I could not freaking breathe and ny feet hurt I wasnt gaining any weight. I would not get a break until 3 pm and then I still had charting to do. If she did see any patients she would not chart on them. AAAAAAGGGGGGHHHH I had to call in a couple of times because of asthma attacks, she was pissed, talking all kinds of crap about how I called in sick to everyone in other departments (she used to be house sup.). Anytime that I has trouble breathing she would say well I can't breathe either, because she also had asthma!!!!! I swear SATAN was my freaking boss. God made her my boss to test my patience, and I would have to say it worked. She was horrible the director from the ED would come in because at 3:00 the ED used our center for fast track. My director would scream at the ED director to get out, we are not finished yet. She talked crap to everyone!!!! I go to the doctor because I also start experiencing contractions. I started getting sharp abdominal pains. I started crying in the OB's office I can handle alot of crap but this lady was driving me crazy. I did everything!!!! When I was not at work she would call me at home because she did not know what the hell was going on. So my OB tells me that I cant go back to work. "you are having premature labor, your stressed , your fibriods are getting bigger." I had about 5 fibroids and they were quite painful. So he took me off work. I walked over to the clinic to give my director the papers for my release from work. SHE WAS ANGRY!!!! What she told me was SH*# now I have to cancel my vacation, and I had false labor too and my doctor did not release me from work, see if you can't talk him into letting you work part time. I wanted to punch her in the face as hard as I could. This woman did not care about me or the saftey of my child. She was suppose to give me a review , never did. She told me that if I wanted my review I would have to get the doctor to release me back to work. I could not belive it!!! We once had a meeting and the CNO was very impressed with how I turned everything around in that clinic, the bills were all screwed up, the CNO told &*$% to give me a raise and of course she never did.Two weeks before I was to return to work I called and she told me that she did not have a position for me. I was so relieved but pissed at the same time cause where the hell was I suppose to go. I ended up working in the ED running fast track so I still had to see her ugly face. Everyone has complained about her but they will not fire her because she runs the wound center which is an out patient clinic that rakes in money for the hospital. So everyone has to deal with her crazy a#$ because she makes money for the hospital. I bet if you asked ten people if they liked her 10 would say no!!!!! :angryfire :angryfire :angryfire

--This is why I don't work at a Hospital anymore. I would take this kind of CRAP for 5 minutes. I work now in Home Health doing visits, Make much more money, am independent, less stress. Try it-maybe you will like it. Miake from Miami. Have a good day and I hope your pregnancy goes well:)

[virmm1, LPN]

Whats a 35 weeker?

[virmm1, LPN]

I too learned the hard way about how mean other nurses can be. I worked in an office where one of my co -workers ws given the job of lab person. This person was not above discarding pts blood specimens, getting rid of lab requistions and anything else she could do to make it look like the other nurses were making mistakes. She would then run to the office manager to complain about our mistakes.

But even w/ computer documentation, meaning we had two computer programs, one proved that a lab requision had been printed 3 times on the same pt whose requision mysteriously disappeared and the other one was like inter office e-mail where she admitted that she tampered with my work . I gave this documentation to the office manager and our head nurse, both who saw nothing wrong w/ what was done. I would have turned them in to HR but I wasn't ready to leave . The other thing is this person and I eventually got on polite professional ,fake friendly terms, We had a yard sale w/ some of the other ladies in the practice and she gave me a small tape recorder tht she had used in school w/ a teaching tape in it. One day I decided to listen to the tape and she had taped a conversation from her previous job where she was being fired for stealing time. She is the nastiest piece of work I have ever encountered. I have since moved on to better things but I am a lot more cynical of managers than I used to be. Its almost like lawyers you know they're lying if the mouth is moving.

I now work Baylor in LTC and the other nurse I work with is wonderful.

[Thunderwolf, MSN, RN]

"Mean" nurses, "eating their young", "catty nurses", etc. This is the ongoing black eye nurses give themselves and their own profession. It has been going on forever. But, I think it is a symptom of nursing in general...sort of like an adolescent teenager who refuses to get his/her act together. Nursing as a field has been trying for years, and I mean years, trying to discover itself. It is not limited to nursing, however. Corporate management and business, and the key word is corporate, also fosters this mentality...who can back stab who in order to shine better for the boss. Look for more and the same as hospitals and units become more places of "business" than of healing. When you work in a medical facility and verbal abuse from other professionals (doctors and nurses) is present on an ongoing basis, look at your hierachy. What happens at the top often becomes the rule for the bottom. A good example I can give you is my working at one hospital where doctors, as a norm, screamed and yelled at the nurses on an ongoing basis, with nurses left in tears and belittled in front of patients and families. Nursing as a field in this facility was accorded less respect than what was given to the janitor screwing in a light bulb. What was interesting here is that working at another hospital not 10 miles away, the same doctors (who had priviledges at both facilities) did not display this behavior. Nurses at this other facility were given respect for their skills and the care they provided for their patients. The point here is that management, and I mean the higher management, allowed it as the cultural norm in their facility...and the other did not. If you are caught in a facility that allows abuse of its staff from other staff who are in a higher position of power...if you can't change it, leave it. Why do I say this? Because, the culture will probably not change until the management does. And why do I say this? Because, higher level management will probably not change unless you are in a position of power to change it. Management 101. Believe me, the grass IS greener somewhere else.

[pickledpepperRN]

A good example I can give you is my working at one hospital where doctors, as a norm, screamed and yelled at the nurses on an ongoing basis, with nurses left in tears and belittled in front of patients and families. Nursing as a field in this facility was accorded less respect than what was given to the janitor screwing in a light bulb.

What was interesting here is that working at another hospital not 10 miles away, the same doctors (who had priviledges at both facilities) did not display this behavior. Nurses at this other facility were given respect for their skills and the care they provided for their patients. The point here is that management, and I mean the higher management, allowed it as the cultural norm in their facility...and the other did not. If you are caught in a facility that allows abuse of its staff from other staff who are in a higher position of power...if you can't change it, leave it.QUOTE]

I found the same working registry.

I am SO blessed to have the privilege of working with my coworkers. We have outlasted many CEOs, DON to VP of Patient Care, and TQM, Patient Focused Care etcetera...

WE together will assure safe care. WE insist the nursing process and nursing staff are respected. WE together insist on provinding the finest possible nursing care. WE do all WE can to acheive this.

SO WHAT is management only cares about the bottom line or tries to divide and conquer? Are they going to have most of their critical care staff give notice at the same time? We have never done this. We do communicate togethern ot as individuals. BUT in the background we know we WILL advocate for our patients or go elsewhere.

So far with much education and planning we prevail.

[mattsmom81]

Sad it is so difficult to find an environment of solidarity in nursing. We could accomplish soooo much if we could stick together.

[DZcarrie]

after going to HR and my NM , i finally got a response about what to do about me being bullied. in short, i was being accused of neglect by fellow coworkers....which was cruel and totally false. i did not take this lightly.

my NM wrote it off saying: did you ever hear the saying "nurses eat their young?"

i put in my 2 weeks immediately and she was curious why! shortly thereafter we got a newsletter asking if we had any suggestions to keep other aides from leaving the facility!!!

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!

sad and pathetic!!!

[VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN]

"Mean" nurses, "eating their young", "catty nurses", etc. This is the ongoing black eye nurses give themselves and their own profession. It has been going on forever. But, I think it is a symptom of nursing in general...sort of like an adolescent teenager who refuses to get his/her act together. Nursing as a field has been trying for years, and I mean years, trying to discover itself. It is not limited to nursing, however. Corporate management and business, and the key word is corporate, also fosters this mentality...who can back stab who in order to shine better for the boss. Look for more and the same as hospitals and units become more places of "business" than of healing. When you work in a medical facility and verbal abuse from other professionals (doctors and nurses) is present on an ongoing basis, look at your hierachy. What happens at the top often becomes the rule for the bottom. A good example I can give you is my working at one hospital where doctors, as a norm, screamed and yelled at the nurses on an ongoing basis, with nurses left in tears and belittled in front of patients and families. Nursing as a field in this facility was accorded less respect than what was given to the janitor screwing in a light bulb. What was interesting here is that working at another hospital not 10 miles away, the same doctors (who had priviledges at both facilities) did not display this behavior. Nurses at this other facility were given respect for their skills and the care they provided for their patients. The point here is that management, and I mean the higher management, allowed it as the cultural norm in their facility...and the other did not. If you are caught in a facility that allows abuse of its staff from other staff who are in a higher position of power...if you can't change it, leave it. Why do I say this? Because, the culture will probably not change until the management does. And why do I say this? Because, higher level management will probably not change unless you are in a position of power to change it. Management 101. Believe me, the grass IS greener somewhere else.

Excellent post; couldn't agree more. The culture of a unit comes from the top. The manager/ DON/ CNO will often try to shift the blame elsewhere, but if the event occurred on his or her watch, then the person at the top is ultimately responsible!

[VickyRN, MSN, DNP, RN]

I found the same working registry.

I am SO blessed to have the privilege of working with my coworkers. We have outlasted many CEOs, DON to VP of Patient Care, and TQM, Patient Focused Care etcetera...

WE together will assure safe care. WE insist the nursing process and nursing staff are respected. WE together insist on provinding the finest possible nursing care. WE do all WE can to acheive this.

SO WHAT is management only cares about the bottom line or tries to divide and conquer? Are they going to have most of their critical care staff give notice at the same time? We have never done this. We do communicate togethern ot as individuals. BUT in the background we know we WILL advocate for our patients or go elsewhere.

So far with much education and planning we prevail.

Excellent post, spacenurse, and thank you for being such a positive example. I totally agree with Mattsmom81, if we nurses exhibited solidarity, we would be an invincible force!

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

I have tried to be a reasonable, contributing, hardworking teammember at most, if not every facility, I have ever worked. In the last 5 years I have picked up vibes from other coworkers, I was respected, I was chosen to precept, I was sent to special classes, but I was not always included in the unit click. That was ok, I was older, more focused on family than partying, and I have a full schedule most of the time. Lately, I was told that I am very formidable to deal with. Now, I asked myself, what are you attempting to say, but just not speaking plain English. Well, it seems that a certain bully or two at the new job has found my "look you in the eye and tell you just exactly how it is", a little different and difficult to deal with. If I say "NO" then I mean it and I usually have a good reason for saying it. I do not accept the excuse "everyone" does it this way. I want it done right, so if you have a problem, just say so, we can discuss it, we can even agree to disagree, but if it is not policy, not done with the best interest of the patient, then I will still say NO. After all of the wordy garble, what I am trying to say is, if you bully me, I WILL have an answer, an action, and remedy. Sometimes it is just a misunderstanding, sometimes its real trouble, sometimes it means a new job for one of us, but end the end, don't bully me unless you can take some of the same medicine. After 25 years I am no patsy, so don't come here if you can't swing the bat.

[elnski]

I used to feel angst and disgusted by the people who love to make themselves appear better in expense of others, even it means causing harm inside and out..and feel oh so sorry for those who cant defend for themselves..all they can do is cry,rationalize things up 2 d point of blaming themselves.. i just cant stand these miserable people who find joy harassing and even planning evil to their colleagues for the sake of their selfish interests..whether its for their id or ego, i am not capable of understanding it...

but i guess these days i feel saddened when i hear these issues..saddened by the thought that these offenders will have their own dose when the right time comes for them to pay off.. nuthing is void in this world.. surely, those innocent, helpless cries will continue to reverberate together with all the negative energies these offenders has attracted and regenerated...unconsciously consumed they will be, and until at the point of death will remain unhappy...

know thy self, love ur self....it wont hurt!!!

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

I agree that so many religious people have a huge problem with 'seeing the speck in another's eye while ignoring the log in their own'. I no longer am active in the church because of some of the same things you describe...as I tired of the hypocrisy.

Halleleuyah! My late mother, who was very active in our church until I was twelve, tore up her membership letter right in front of God and everybody for the same reason you no longer go to church. My son, who attends chruch regulary, is petrified that I won't go to Heaven because I don't go. I have to remind him that I know where it is!