so eager to report coworkers!

[IHeartPeds87]

I am a prenursing student, hoping to gain admittance to a nursing school in my area this year.

I have to say, that one of the "worst" things to me, about the field of nursing is the punitive culture and coworkers high tendency to report their fellow coworkers! I have worked other (less stressful) jobs before and this punitive culture isn't as rampant to say the least!

Why are nurses/aides/caregivers so eager to report each other to supervisors? ''

I mean look, if someone is INTENTIONALLY harming a patient then by all means report report report! But for things that can be changed, often by talking to the coworker directly, why report them? Why not give your coworker the benefit of the doubt?

Case in point: I worked at a group home type facility where we had a new bed alarm thing for one of the patients . A coworker kept "setting" it wrong. It did have kind of a weird set up, and when my supervisor was explaining how to work it I had to have her show me three times before I could do it. A coworker kept setting it wrong. The repercussions of this could have been horrible: the patient could have gotten up and been severely injured. It was a serious issue. However, the coworker WAS NOT setting the bed alarm wrong on purpose . She didn't know she was doing it wrong and didn't know that it wasn't set right when she left the patient's room. I saw this happening one day, talked to her about it in private. She was shocked and genuinely seemed upset by what had happenned. I taught her how to set the bed alarm properly. She emailed our supervisor and at the next meeting our supervisor ran through how to set the bed alarm with everyone again. Many people were doing this wrong. Still, a fellow coworker who ALSO saw that coworker set the bed alarm wrong emailed our supervisor and reported her, resulting in a write-up. I felt bad for the mistaken coworker, and would not have reported her UNLESS even after I talked to her she continued to make the same mistake. I try to give my coworkers the benefit of the doubt.

I am just curious. I was always nervous about being written up for things. Why are nurses/aides so eager to report their coworkers??

[Divine intervention]

If you think its bad now wait until you're a nurse. Nurses can be so cruel towards one another, so nasty. Doctors treat us like dirt, managers treat us like dirt, we treat each other like dirt

[C-DIFF PHIL RN]

when you start youll soon find out what nurses have the more malignant type of nursing personality, youll be able to spot the "know it all done that before and you are doing it wrong again" type nurse. It will not take you long to become aware of the different nursing styles that nurses have and you will be developing your own style. i have found out that no matter how large the hospital is 50 beds to 400 the word travels fast to what kind of nurse you are and the type of good nurses or idiots you work with. good luck

DIFF.

[PAROPPY, BSN, RN]

Speaking as a nurse who has been reported in the past to a manager I can say that I would have much rather had the person come talk to me instead of running right to the manager. I was particularly upset one evening and I cursed in the hallway and went on to tell a coworker that i was really angry with a patient's family member over some behavior that he had exhibited (yes I used some pretty harsh language). A CNA that overheard me went to my manager and relayed the whole conversation and that I had cursed. I almost lost my job but was suspended for two weeks because of my hospitals strict no cursing policy. I was devaststed. I would have much prefered if the CNA had just come to me and said that she didn't appreciate how I was acting. To make matters worse I had just found out I was pregnant, I had just bought a house, and I am the sole supporter because my husband was finishing school at the time. I would have been ruined if I had lost my job. Please think hard before reporting someone to management, especially if it is something that can me solved by correcting someone or making your concerns known to that person. On the other hand though it made me appreciate my job 100x more :)

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

Reporting isn't always punitive. It's often to look for patterns in errors. If the bed alarm thing keeps coming up, maybe another inservice will be done.

Our computer order entry system was completed changed because of one pattern of errors that was consistently repeating itself.

Yes, I realize that saying error reporting isn't punitive is a bit rose-lensed, as obviously it is sometimes punitive, just pointing out that I HAVE seen changes from it.

[nursel56]

She got written up after she stepped up and e-mailed the supervisor about the bed-alarm problem, which led to another training session which revealed that several more employees weren't setting it properly? In other words, she did exactly what a responsible nurse should do, and then the supervisor wrote her up when someone else reported her for the same thing? Wow.

I look at it this way. The incident reports SHOULD be done. The goal being, as someone else stated, improvement in procedures etc. I don't get upset or angry because I might need to make an incident report. Bad things do happen sometimes.

What you are describing is a pattern of petty and vindictive behavior, that is directed in the effort to destroy someone, not make things safer. Obviously, there are times when you have to report someone. This one co-worker I had was stealing hemostats and selling them as roach clips I reported this person, who also falsified vital signs on a q two hour patient- so I felt like I needed to let them know. But it's a decision never to take lightly.

Not all facilities have the back-stabber mentality, thank God. I just resolve not to be that kind of person and have the judgement to know when it's time to move on.

[IHeartPeds87]

Incident reports don't equal the same thing as being written up, atleast in the facility I used to work for. An incident report was for special things like patient's falling, patient's trying to elope, patient's who got abusive toward staff/other patients. Incident reports aren't what I was talking about.

Somebody (I think it was Ruby) cited examples where patient's died due to a nurse's mistake. I know that is the extreme of what can happen, and it's indicative of the important job that nurses have. However, we need to remember that our coworkers are PEOPLE too. Our aim should be to reduce errors without being punitive. I think a lot of the time if things weren't so "punishable" that people would be more willing to seek help.

I remember working at a facility and being unsure of how to use the van "special safety belts" to transport patients. I was scared of having backlash, but being responsible I bit the bullet and asked for help. I WAS tempted not to ask for help however, and the repercussions could have been bad if I didn't.

Of course there are situations that require reporting, but nursing just seems to be a field where people exercise that option more as a plan a. For example, I wouldn't report a coworker for venting about a patient AWAY from the patient...if we were in the break room or something and a coworker was venting (as was mentioned in a previous post) I wouldn't report it. If a coworker was saying it in front of a patient, I would have been mortified and would have talked to her about it once. If I saw it again, then i'd probably report. I'm just saying, there's a line and there's a difference between being reported for things like that versus medication errors.

All i'm saying is give your coworkers the benefit of the doubt!!

[nursel56]

Totally agree!! And yes, Ruby's example, the nurse basically killed the patient, is about as bad as it gets.:imbar Worst one I ever saw, a nurse gave an infant 10x proper dose of epinephrine. Baby did OK, but I can tell you those minutes were the longest in her life, and she was a great nurse. I work with a supportive group of people now, it is sooo nice after some of those steaming cauldron toxic environments.