Accepting Responsibility (to or not to)

SnowShoeRN · Feb 24, 2016

I think you may be missing the point of the question. The question isn't designed or written to mean "Is your student comfortable being a scapegoat for other people's mistakes?" Its meant to ask if you take responsibility for things that are your fault or if you have a tendency to blame other situations or people in a misguided attempt to appear flawless.

An example of something like that would be the following:

You come on shift and it's crazy busy. You have 1 guy with new onset acute chest pain, 1 guy with a GI bleed, a woman who just had a pacemaker placed, and a woman who was just started on a diltiazem drip. Your charge asks you to get a BP on the last patient since her BP's have been erratic, but right then you feel like your chest pain person is more important so you get a ekg. 2 hours later, you've gotten another admission and you still haven't managed to get a BP.

When you are called in to explain yourself, your first defense is "It was so busy. I didn't have time." or "I didn't want to interrupt the other CNA's or RN's who were also really busy" or "I couldn't find anyone to help me." These are all wrong answers. They may be partially true, but the fact remains that it was ultimately your fault. You should have prioritized better or found a way to do it. Because you didn't, it lies on you. No bullying. Just the concept of accountability.

Experienced nurses and management tend to be very suspicious of applicants who can't admit their own weaknesses. They want nurses with some flaws. Perfect nurses don't exist and if you sell yourself as one, no one will believe you. Most importantly, they are looking for candidates who can tell them instances of when they did something wrong and how they have grown from their mistakes. In fact that's a pretty common interview question. Your ability to take blame when you mess up shows responsibility, accountability, ownership, and humility on your part. Your ability to fix the problem or prevent future instances shows motivation, interest, and teachability.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Feb 27, 2016

I noticed that on surveys that were sent out, they specifically asked my references (while on the job hunt) if I accepted responsibility or tried to blame others.
This is a constant battle emotionally because the problem is that you feel like YOU HAVE TO accept responsibility even when it wasn't yours these days. Otherwise you are seen as someone that does not accept responsibility, or blames others - its a form of bullying.
I've seen it get used to trap nurses into "accepting" even when mgmt. KNEW who was really responsible.
It just feels like because of this trend, and pressure to accept responsibility and not say ANYTHING else, that we're being bullied to into things.
So, if you want to get ahead, or get a new job etc - you have to be somebody that agrees it was their fault all the time. That isn't right at all! Apparently standing up for whats right, or for yourself in a situation isn't what they want. That's not right!
I don't like it.

They're looking for someone who accepts responsibility when they screw up, fail to prioritize correctly, experience a failure in critical thinking, are late to work, etc. It has nothing to do with accepting blame for someone else's screwups nor does it have anything to do with bullying.

Farawyn · Feb 27, 2016

It's called being accountable. Grown ups do it.