Nurses setting up other nurses!

[gerotina]

I would really like to know if other nurses working LTC have ever heard of nurses setting up other nurses in LTC facilities? Is this a common practice if the nurses who have been there do not welcome the idea of new nurses being hired. I must be out of the loop or something, but I just heard about this happening in a Cleveland facility from a reliable source. I am appauled that this goes on. Any one experience this happening to them? What are your thoughts. Can this really happen without the DON and/or the administrator not really being aware? After all, are they not suppose to know what is going on in their facility?

[bethaj17]

YES!!! I believe it is true!!!!!...I'm a newbie...got hired at a LTC Rehab facility...and got "let go" I found out all the nurses (who have been there for years) they were backstabbing me..like in seconds...To my face everything was gravy..but it was when i got pulled in the nurse managers office...I found all this out...I was shocked!! Yeah the load was big..But I thought I had a pretty good hold on things..and they made me think I did too..until the big "let go" Makes me never want to trust another nurse again..

[AddisonLawrence03]

is this happening only in LTC facilities or in hospitals too?

and what type of poeple are they likely to target? because at one point they were new nurses too, what did they do to become part of the in crowd so they wont get the boot?

[ktstato]

Yes it does happen. A lot.

[grahajas]

I refused to be let go and gave notice at a ccrc tired of being miserable because of harassment. Being the lone natural born american at time didst help. I was surprised because I thought it was going to be really great all the diversity. It took me 3 month to find another job but having peace of mind is worth it and a 45% pay raise doesnt hurt.It's sad the culture that prevails in LTC.

[RHope]

I worked on a hospital floor that was very clickish. Half the nurses had no clue in hell what they were doing or how to be a nurse. I never bragged or put myself on a pedestal. I was nice and helpful to everyone. The new doctor and the NP were horrible along with the nurse manager who cared nothing about the patients or the unit. The manager would just sit in her chair all day and eat. When you're working under a poor management with poor staff, what can you do with that? I did not have to report most of what happened because the things they did were out in the open. Management was already there to witness and knew what was going on. I had no desire to try to get others in trouble anyway. But I wish we could have worked together to improve patient outcomes. A patient fell and bust her head open do to the blatant neglect by the day shift staff who was in the click that she was the ring leader of. Thus, she did absolutely nothing about it. Another patient had severe signs of a UTI that the nurses in her click neglected. These nurses actually told the patient that she was faking her pain. The physical therapist who knew everything told her to quit winning and stop trying to avoid physical therapy. When I encountered this patient, I immediately got an order for urine C&S, collected the sample, & sent to lab and addressed the pain. She was treated successfully and was so thankful that she and her family invited me to their home for dinner. The manager was aware of all this and turned on me rather than discipline those who neglected her for days. There were other patients who deteriorated in a room all day with no one to notice or care until I came to work. Supposedly the nurses and doctor had gone in to see them. Supposedly they were fine all day, but soon as my shift started, I would notice things like sudden lethargy, hypotension, tachycardia, signs of sepsis, hypoglycemia, chest pain, shortness of breath. I was extremely good at what I did. But because I did not fit into the click, the manager and those she used to work with her, went on a witch hunt to bring me down. She would find any little thing she could, blow it out of proportion, switch it around to make me look bad to human resources. She knew she could get away with it because HR really has no clue in hell about being a nurse or what it really even consists of. Never did I ever do anything on that unit to harm a patient. A lot of times I was the only thing standing between them and death, even though most of them and their families mistreated and humiliated me. I have barely even touched the surface of what was going on at that unit. What a circus. The mental and emotional pain I endured on that unit has left scars on me. I really set out to do something good and it ended so bad. I find that a lot of nursing jobs are the same or worse. So then I'm asked, "Do you like being a nurse? Do you like your job? I'm supposed to like that? Knowing the truth about nursing and healthcare like only a nurse can know, I must tell you: try your best to avoid getting sick or having to go into the hospital. The golden years may not glitter much at all. Please follow up with a primary doctor, and take care of yourself as best you can if you can help it. Do not get caught up in this healthcare system. It only gets worse every year. I don't want to think about what its going to be like in another 10 to 20 years. I hope to be out of it by then.