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.
I was once hired to replace a slacker. It didn't take me long on the job, observing her behavior to see why the DON wanted to get rid of her. We were on night shift and she spent an average of 6 hours sleeping every night. What I could not comprehend was why the supervisors did nothing about the situation. I also never understood why the day never came that she was outright fired. She certainly deserved it. Sometimes it would curdle my stomach so much that I would have to go around the corner to keep her out of my sight. The CNAs noticed and commented and would talk to me with their eyes. They got into the habit of coming to me with concerns about all the residents because I was awake and they knew that I cared. But it did get old.
Specializes in ICU;CCU;Telemetry;L&D;Hospice;ER/Trauma;.
don't give the slackers the option of saying "no" when you ask for help....
Instead of saying, "will you help me in room 12?"
say, "I can see that you are not busy right now, and you need to come into room 12 and help with this admission".....
This does two things: it shifts the power from them to you, (you are in control) and it acknowledges in a straight forward non-judgemental way that they are not too busy to help you.
If they still refuse to get up off their butt to help you, you can then, I believe, unload with:
"Ya know, there's an evidenced based study out there that shows that nurses who sit more than one hour a day have bigger butts than those who don't, what say you work on that girth of yours and come help me in room 12??"
If that seems to fly right over their little head, be direct: "You are lazy. Get up and help the rest of the team here, or you won't be getting help from any of us when YOU need it."
Yeah...it works.
People will continue to do whatever they please, as long as you allow it...
If charge nurses won't grow a spine and stand up for their co-workers, then they should not be a leader....allowing one to mis-behave or mis-treat is wrong. crni
caliotter3
38,333 Posts
I was once hired to replace a slacker. It didn't take me long on the job, observing her behavior to see why the DON wanted to get rid of her. We were on night shift and she spent an average of 6 hours sleeping every night. What I could not comprehend was why the supervisors did nothing about the situation. I also never understood why the day never came that she was outright fired. She certainly deserved it. Sometimes it would curdle my stomach so much that I would have to go around the corner to keep her out of my sight. The CNAs noticed and commented and would talk to me with their eyes. They got into the habit of coming to me with concerns about all the residents because I was awake and they knew that I cared. But it did get old.