So, I get a "note" from management. Yes, the policy was technically broken and I take full responsibility (and it had been my first time doing this procedure since starting my new shift). It had to do with dual sign offs (I'll leave it at that). To get some perspective, I asked ta couple more seasoned nurses/mentors for their insight because I was flabbergasted. They are shocked that this coworker went up to management about this issue and have even stated that they couldn't believe this coworker went to management over something extremely petty.
And then I find out that she was apart of a really bad sentinel event (d/t negligence) not too long ago (think loss of limb). APN confronted her and she took a blase attitude over what happened and even defended her actions (in front of someone she was training!) and that is when APN took it up the chain.
It kills me. I admit that I am not perfect, but to have someone with a stye in their eye complain about the speck in mine gets me. She not only made this mistake, but she didn't care. She reminded me of the policy (which, at the time, totally left my mind) and I thought it would be left at that.
To seasoned nurses, how does one deal with a person like this? I am fighting the immature urge to confront her...but how do you deal with someone who throws people under the bus not for patient safety (b/c her sentinel event was enough to get her license tossed), but to make themselves look better? I have never had any negative instances with her before and I wasn't aware of her history, but this has thrown me off guard and ticked.
I take responsibility for my actions and going forward will not make the same mistake again and will keep my distance away from this one.
Thanks for all the replies and putting it in perspective for me.
You are right, Ruby. It is about my practice and I do want to be the best nurse possible as I love bedside care and helping patients. I would be devastated if I harmed a patient, and I need to own up to my mistakes.
I agree with everyone who has said she probably has a guilty conscious, especially since this patient died soon after this sentinel event (for something else). I am trying to come from a place of understanding and not anger and revenge (because that will make things worse).
After she reported me, she wouldn't even look at my direction all day. My inner five-year old wanted to let her have it!
Double helix, if you knew what happened, you would know it was directly a result from negligence. Trust me....it was really bad.
But you're right. It doesn't excuse my mistake and as I said before, I take full responsibility.However, I am just not the kind of person who believes in running to management for something that my mentors agree was trivial. My first reaction was anger towards myself and shocked towards her but I hoped she had reported it because policy. But then I hear about her history and among other things and I realize that her intentions were out of malice and pettiness...and that is what gets me.
And no, I'm not making this up to justify my anger. I want to believe she didn't do it to out of spite but...it seems unlikely. To quote one of my mentors, the girl is not well-liked.
You deal with people like that by icing them out. Do not let her help you or observe you at work and do not speak about anything work related in her presence. Avoid her and only speak the minimal amount required to be civil, other than that she gets silence.
So you made a mistake, we have all been there and that's how we learn. It appears this mistake was not severe because you only received a "note" from management. What is most disturbing for me, is that it appears you somehow got your co-workers involved. This has escalated to them sharing with you that "informant" had been partially responsible for a patient losing a limb (c'mon). Now it appears you are repeating this information about "informant" based on hear-say and now you want to confront "informant." This is exactly the type of behavior that needs to be STOPPED in nursing.
If you want to be a trusted/respected nurse - do what you are supposed to do and don't feed into the sewing circle. If you are reprimanded, keep it to yourself, correct it and keep it moving. If you stay out of gossip-central, there is a good chance you may win over some of these "informants", If not, who cares?!
So you made a mistake, we have all been there and that's how we learn. It appears this mistake was not severe because you only received a "note" from management. What is most disturbing for me, is that it appears you somehow got your co-workers involved. This has escalated to them sharing with you that "informant" had been partially responsible for a patient losing a limb (c'mon). Now it appears you are repeating this information about "informant" based on hear-say and now you want to confront "informant." This is exactly the type of behavior that needs to be STOPPED in nursing.
If you want to be a trusted/respected nurse - do what you are supposed to do and don't feed into the sewing circle. If you are reprimanded, keep it to yourself, correct it and keep it moving. If you stay out of gossip-central, there is a good chance you may win over some of these "informants", If not, who cares?!
I am definitely not going to confront her.
I asked a couple of coworkers who I consider mentors insight as I really didn't know what to think of this. It was then they told me the information about her. I knew this incident had happened, but I didn't know she was the one behind it.
Not sure what the "c'mon" was about, but again, if you knew her error (and were familiar with the specialty I work in and the equipment I work with) you would know it was definitely negligence. I don't want to go into too much detail about that.
I do agree that I should stay out of the drama, and I do when it doesn't involve me. And I shouldn't stoop to her level, but it is hard. However, if someone is going to run to management over pettiness, that person better have her/his stuff down pat.
I am not a seaonsed nurse, but...if all you got was a note for the breach in policy then just move on, do not confront the person who "tattled," do not compare your mistake to hers, do not talk about it, etc, etc. It sounds like your admin was reasonable with you. They notified you of the mistake, you were educated about the policy, they have done their follow-through. Whatever is in someone else's background doesn't have anything to do with it, as unfair as that may seem. Keep it neutral and keep it moving. If you see her, say hi, move along. If others try to stir the pot and say they can't believe that she tattled on you, smile, change conversation, etc. It will go away faster if you don't add any more fuel to the fire.
I am sorry if my comment came off as harsh, that wasn't my intent. I am drawing from my own experience - from a nursing and management perspective. Just be careful, sometimes the co-workers who appear to be confidants, end up being the most underhanded types of informants. You are better off saying nothing. Management is fully aware of these people who "run to management over pettiness", but they are not going to openly discuss it, and it is their job to follow-up either way. There is a chance your manager didn't think your incident was a big deal because you were only left a note vs being called into the principals office. Don't take it personally and try to be less reactive ----
A month from now, none of this will even matter. Again, I apologize if my previous comment came off harsh.
Am I the only one who wants to know what the error is that you're essentially seeking advice about? Like, did you not double check heparin and it was infusing at the wrong rate for a long time? Did you fail to double check subq insulin and gave the right dose but didn't have 2 RNs check it? There are a LOT of things that can fall under 'breaking a policy, having to do with double checking' which range in severity from not that serious to incredibly serious. If you want us to give you advice, I think it's reasonably prudent to tell us the details behind what you were accused of doing.
And no matter who reported you, or what their motivations were, they're your co-worker, you still have to work together and be professionals. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt. She made some kind of error in the past. She was disciplined and no doubt felt guilty and horrible about causing a bad outcome for her patient, regardless of what her attitude seemed like at the time. Is it possible that she doesn't want you to make a mistake like that in the future? That she sees something in your practice that could be unsafe? She has a different perspective about patient safety/errors, if she has been through that entire disciplinary process.
I agree that for something minor, I would typically approach a co-worker directly before reporting something to management. That said, what was your relationship with this person like before she reported you? It seems like you and other co-workers have formed quite a negative opinion of her. Is it possible that she knows everyone hates her and talks about her behind her back? Because if I didn't feel comfortable approaching my co-worker, then I'd go straight to management.
Again, this is all speculation because I have literally no idea what we're talking about here except that you were reported for something that you think is minor (but won't tell us what it is), by someone who made a mistake that you see as major (but won't tell us what it is). So, with that limited information, these are the thoughts that spring to mind.
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Double helix, if you knew what happened, you would know it was directly a result from negligence. Trust me....it was really bad.
But you're right. It doesn't excuse my mistake and as I said before, I take full responsibility.However, I am just not the kind of person who believes in running to management for something that my mentors agree was trivial. My first reaction was anger towards myself and shocked towards her but I hoped she had reported it because policy. But then I hear about her history and among other things and I realize that her intentions were out of malice and pettiness...and that is what gets me.
And no, I'm not making this up to justify my anger. I want to believe she didn't do it to out of spite but...it seems unlikely. To quote one of my mentors, the girl is not well-liked.
You made an error, you owned it. Should have been the end of it. But she ran it up the chain of command. It was petty and malicious and has nothing to do with your practice. She really has a lot of nerve. Management has their own part in it. By making an issue of a one-time error, that you already owned, they are encouraging petty tattling.
This one is not to be trusted. If she tries to ease her own conscience by throwing others under the bus, she has issues that she is not addressing effectively. Not your problem.
No. It was not heparin. It was not insulin. It was not chemo. Nor was it a cardiac drip, a PCA pump or blood. I wish I could go into more detail into what it was.
She reminded me of the policy and I thought that that was that, but literally, two minutes later, management comes to me while I was caring for a patient to tell me that they were going to put this incident in my file.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Thanks for all the replies and putting it in perspective for me.
You are right, Ruby. It is about my practice and I do want to be the best nurse possible as I love bedside care and helping patients. I would be devastated if I harmed a patient, and I need to own up to my mistakes.
I agree with everyone who has said she probably has a guilty conscious, especially since this patient died soon after this sentinel event (for something else). I am trying to come from a place of understanding and not anger and revenge (because that will make things worse).
After she reported me, she wouldn't even look at my direction all day. My inner five-year old wanted to let her have it!
But your outer mature and professional nurse didn't.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Am I the only one who wants to know what the error is that you're essentially seeking advice about? Like, did you not double check heparin and it was infusing at the wrong rate for a long time? Did you fail to double check subq insulin and gave the right dose but didn't have 2 RNs check it? There are a LOT of things that can fall under 'breaking a policy, having to do with double checking' which range in severity from not that serious to incredibly serious. If you want us to give you advice, I think it's reasonably prudent to tell us the details behind what you were accused of doing.
And no matter who reported you, or what their motivations were, they're your co-worker, you still have to work together and be professionals. Let's give her the benefit of the doubt. She made some kind of error in the past. She was disciplined and no doubt felt guilty and horrible about causing a bad outcome for her patient, regardless of what her attitude seemed like at the time. Is it possible that she doesn't want you to make a mistake like that in the future? That she sees something in your practice that could be unsafe? She has a different perspective about patient safety/errors, if she has been through that entire disciplinary process.
I agree that for something minor, I would typically approach a co-worker directly before reporting something to management. That said, what was your relationship with this person like before she reported you? It seems like you and other co-workers have formed quite a negative opinion of her. Is it possible that she knows everyone hates her and talks about her behind her back? Because if I didn't feel comfortable approaching my co-worker, then I'd go straight to management.
Again, this is all speculation because I have literally no idea what we're talking about here except that you were reported for something that you think is minor (but won't tell us what it is), by someone who made a mistake that you see as major (but won't tell us what it is). So, with that limited information, these are the thoughts that spring to mind.
I don't think any of us really needs to know what happened. Princess Bride made an error or breached protocol, but evidently it wasn't a serious error or breach. The important thing here is that she's taking responsibility for the error, feels horrible about having made it and has learned from it.
We don't need to know anything about the sentinel event in which the other nurse was involved, either. I believe the original post was a vent because PB felt as though someone who is responsible for such an enormous error that it rose to the level of being a sentinel event has no business running to management when someone else makes a smaller error. We've all been in that place -- someone reports us for something we're already in the process of educating ourselves about and we feel as though we've been thrown under the bus. If I'd had AN when I was a brand new nurse, I might have fired off a bunch of "vent" posts and outed myself for the ignorant donkey that I was.
The one thing I will say to Princess Bride is that none of us, the AN members responding to your post, you, your mentors, your management -- no one knows what was actually running through this nurse's mind when she brought up the issue to management. We don't really know her motives, and it doesn't really matter because she's not your friend. She's a co-worker that you don't particularly like but have to work with anyway. Since we don't know her motives and you have to work with her, why not just do yourself the favor of pretending (outwardly and inwardly) that she had only the most benign and good-hearted of motives? There's a chance (perhaps a small one, but still a chance) that she had good intentions. And if not, why drive yourself crazy by dwelling on it?
ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP
1 Article; 2,594 Posts
Thanks for all the replies and putting it in perspective for me.
You are right, Ruby. It is about my practice and I do want to be the best nurse possible as I love bedside care and helping patients. I would be devastated if I harmed a patient, and I need to own up to my mistakes.
I agree with everyone who has said she probably has a guilty conscious, especially since this patient died soon after this sentinel event (for something else). I am trying to come from a place of understanding and not anger and revenge (because that will make things worse).
After she reported me, she wouldn't even look at my direction all day. My inner five-year old wanted to let her have it!