I am a fairly new nurse, but can't help but want to speak up when I see something unfair. I am rather annoyed with something that goes on regularly on my floor. We have one nurse, lets call her Nurse K. She has worked on the floor for 3 years. She refuses to float. They tell her it is her turn, she throws a tantrum, they move on to the next person and that person gets stuck with the float. Why Nurse K doesn't get in trouble or stay at the top of the list, I have no clue. Nurse K also refuses admissions regularly. Some nights we will all have 5 or 6 patients, and get a 7 when she still has 4. She refuses to take an admission, they move on to the next person in line. No way in heck am I taking 6 or 7 while she has 4. Why does she always get a walk in the park? Bad behavior should not be rewarded. Last night this is what happened. She started with 4, we all started with 5. She gets an admission, refuses, they try to give it to me. I said no. They moved on and gave it to the next person. Eventually we all had an admission and I did accept one and go up to 6 and people started getting 7, while she had 4 and was sitting around. I spoke with the charge nurse and she explained that they are all sick of fighting with her, she has been reported for all of her refusals and behavior but if our manager chooses not to do anything, it is out of their hands. This is obviously a non union facility. But she always has the nice easy small assignment while we run around like fools with a higher patient load. No one wants to work with her. People talk, and people notice. But she has been doing this for 3 years, obviously it is not going to stop.
Would you speak up? Or would you just start refusing to float and take admissions while working with her? Unless we all do it, it is not going to accomplish anything.
