advice for dealing with slacker co-workers

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Psychiatric NP.

Hello everyone,

Two questions, how do you all deal with people who consistently slack off, whether it be fellow nurses or aides? And What would you do in this situation:

Today our floor was fully staffed an each nurse was supposed to have 5 patients. Nurse B discharged a pt in the early morning and was to admit one later that day, but she told the charge nurse that the patient who was to be admitted "did not like her" and convinced the charge nurse to have me take the admission for her in exchange for one of my patients (whom I had already charted on and already given the meds for that day). The admission comes 1 hr prior to change of shift and I'm scrambling with no help from Nurse B. She did not even check on the patient of mine whom she was supposed to take in exhange for the admission?:trout:

What would you all have done in that situation? I really wanted to say no to that admission because I knew I wouldn't get any help with my other patients, but I didn't know how to say it without getting in trouble, or pissing off everyone.

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Specializes in orthopaedics.

Give me a break the patient did not like her. Does she know that 25% of the people we enounter will not like us. Boo hoo! Suck it up and deal with it. Unless this patient is causing her undo harm the charge nurse should have put her foot down and said he is your patient but we will be glad to help you with him if you have problems.

Every place has slackers you have to lead by example and be ready to stand your ground.

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Specializes in OB, M/S, HH, Medical Imaging RN.

I used to do charge and could never give a new admit to this one particular nurse. She always said I still have 6, even though she had one or two discharges, they were still there because of waiting for rides or other such similar situations. One day I thought I'm going to investigate this. I went and talked to one of her discharges and asked them when their ride would be arriving. "oh I don't know, I haven't called yet to let them know I've been discharged". I asked why? "well the nurse told me I needed rest and peace and quiet and my daughter needed time to herself as well and since my room was paid until midnight I might as well relax and watch TV and have a nice dinner before calling my daughter to come pick me up". :angryfire She had been pulling this with every discharge that she could.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Tele, ER.
I used to do charge and could never give a new admit to this one particular nurse. She always said I still have 6, even though she had one or two discharges, they were still there because of waiting for rides or other such similar situations. One day I thought I'm going to investigate this. I went and talked to one of her discharges and asked them when their ride would be arriving. "oh I don't know, I haven't called yet to let them know I've been discharged". I asked why? "well the nurse told me I needed rest and peace and quiet and my daughter needed time to herself as well and since my room was paid until midnight I might as well relax and watch TV and have a nice dinner before calling my daughter to come pick me up". :angryfire She had been pulling this with every discharge that she could.

Yikes.

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I am dealing with a similar problem. There are a lot of very lazy/uncaring nurses working with me. It would be much easier to pick out the few good ones. It is disgusting to me b/c it is not JUST your coworkers suffering, but also your PATIENTS!!! I feel that I really have no say right now b/c I am relatively new to this facility and it seems that the powers that be are not too concerned either. This is not a short staffing problem but rather a crappy staff problem. I don't know what to tell you but all I can do right now is try my hardest to pick up everyone elses slack so the patients are more comfortable. (not sure how long I can continue smiling and helping while being worn out and frustrated)

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Specializes in neuro, med/surg/, cardiac care.

people are people, and unfortunately we don't all have the same work ethics. I don't get involved with their workday, unless of course it is affecting my workload. Some people just don't get it , that they should be offering to get up and help you , answer a bell, insert an IV or whatever it might take to get you to break or off on time. Finally realized you can't change them, they have likely been this way a long time. I have swapped off patients with people before, but if I initiate it I always let them give me their choice. We work in a high turnover area, where it is sometimes difficult to see who has what. You just hope co-workers are honest enough to take their fare share of the workload.:lol2:

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Specializes in Cardiology.

I was in a similar situation. They wanted to take one of my stable pts to give to a nurse who didn't feel like taking an ICU pt that was being moved down to tele. My suspicion was because he was an isolation pt and was having issues with hyperthermia... but I digress. I said no I'm not going to do this just to convenience someone else. End of story.

Stand up for yourself. No one else will.

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You probably know the answer but are just afraid to do it. You will be walked on as long as you continue to let others walk on you.

I know it can be scary but you must speak up. Do it nicely but do it. Whatever excuse the first nurse gives, you use it, too. Tell the boss the pt won't like you, either. Also, point out that your other patient was not checked on as had been promised, the other nurse did not help you in any way with the new admit or with other patients, and you have paid your dues, and you are not going to take a patient when it is not your turn to do so.

You might want to have this talk before much time goes by.

Write it up if you think you need to.

Talk directly with the liar nurse of yesterday's little charade and ask her about it - you promised you'd help but you didn't. What happened? How can I trust you in the future, etc.

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Some people just don't get it , that they should be offering to get up and help you , answer a bell, insert an IV or whatever it might take to get you to break or off on time.

Why do you think they should offer? Why should they necessarily know that you want or need help? Why not just ask them to do this or that?

A supervisor once told me I should, as a supervisor, anticipate the staff's needs. I told her I made rounds to every nurse q 60-90 minutes, offering help, actually helping, whatever they needed, but that I was not a mind-reader. How in the dirty dog doo doo am I supposed to know what someone needs or wants if they don't tell me, straight up, straight out? :uhoh3:

Please don't expect your coworkers to automatically know what you need or even that you need anything at all. Just speak plainly, courteously, clearly and ask for what it is you need.

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Specializes in neuro, med/surg/, cardiac care.
Why do you think they should offer? Why should they necessarily know that you want or need help? Why not just ask them to do this or that?

A supervisor once told me I should, as a supervisor, anticipate the staff's needs. I told her I made rounds to every nurse q 60-90 minutes, offering help, actually helping, whatever they needed, but that I was not a mind-reader. How in the dirty dog doo doo am I supposed to know what someone needs or wants if they don't tell me, straight up, straight out? :uhoh3:

Please don't expect your coworkers to automatically know what you need or even that you need anything at all. Just speak plainly, courteously, clearly and ask for what it is you need.

I do let them know when they are growing moss on their butts and my pants are on fire from running around. I agree there is no ESP factor, but you usually know when 1person is particularily busy and should not be sitting on the computer reading your e-mail, at least ask "do you need anything done?" That would at least be courteous!:lol2::lol2::lol2:

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Specializes in Emergency Room.
Why do you think they should offer? Why should they necessarily know that you want or need help? Why not just ask them to do this or that?

A supervisor once told me I should, as a supervisor, anticipate the staff's needs. I told her I made rounds to every nurse q 60-90 minutes, offering help, actually helping, whatever they needed, but that I was not a mind-reader. How in the dirty dog doo doo am I supposed to know what someone needs or wants if they don't tell me, straight up, straight out? :uhoh3:

Please don't expect your coworkers to automatically know what you need or even that you need anything at all. Just speak plainly, courteously, clearly and ask for what it is you need.

I work in the ED, and as a very teamwork oriented environment, we all expect everyone else to look at the computer, realize Nurse X has 6 patients, but Nurse Y has 2 and will then be taking the trauma. We also expect the other nurses to not sit there, looking at the monitor station, and not come into a room when they see a BP of 70/30. When triage calls a pt directly into a room w CP, it is expected that a nurse will go into that room, and if anyone has a minute, he/she will also go into start the IV, put the pt on the monitor, etc.

It isn't mind reading, it is just being a good nursing coworker. This nurse (the one who shirked the admit) should have stepped into the room at least and asked the nurse if she needed anything. Like I said, it isn't magic, just good simple cooperation and people skills.

Of course, if someone doesn't come in to help and you need help, it is your responsibility to find someone who is available (hmmmm maybe the nurse that has 1 less pt than everyone else?) and get her to help you.

With respect to the OP's questions about what to do now, I would try to actively engage her in the coming weeks. If she is sitting at the desk reading a magazine and you need help getting someone up, grab her instead of a tech. Just keep pulling your load and she will eventually get weeded out.

Good luck!

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Specializes in Case Management.
I used to do charge and could never give a new admit to this one particular nurse. She always said I still have 6, even though she had one or two discharges, they were still there because of waiting for rides or other such similar situations. One day I thought I'm going to investigate this. I went and talked to one of her discharges and asked them when their ride would be arriving. "oh I don't know, I haven't called yet to let them know I've been discharged". I asked why? "well the nurse told me I needed rest and peace and quiet and my daughter needed time to herself as well and since my room was paid until midnight I might as well relax and watch TV and have a nice dinner before calling my daughter to come pick me up". :angryfire She had been pulling this with every discharge that she could.

This is not only morally wrong, but she is incorrect. The day of discharge is not charged to the insurance company. So the hospital is eating the cost of the meals and not to mention the fact that they could lose money since they are unable to fill that bed all day.

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