I was orienting in ER today, really enjoying myself by the way. An agency nurse came early to orient before her first shift ever in our hospital which was to start when I left at 3.
She had a swaggering manner as she attempted to establish her vast experience to our staff within the first minute of her arrival. Then she came in a room of mine to do some things, she did something incorrectly and proceeded to critisize our hospital in front of the patient. Then she went out and argued with one of the ER nurses about what she had done incorrectly, then she got on the cellphone and had some loud conversation with someone. Then, when I proceeded to hand over the patient to her who was to be admitted as a stepdown for a PE (I had already called report) I explained that the patient could be transported without a monitor if they were a stepdown, per our policy, and she proceeded to do some long exasperated sighs and a few eye rolls, and ask me if this was really true, and could I please tell her where the portable monitor was.
Then she got on the phone with her son who had lost his backpack and had a loud conversation, so I went in to help another nurse put in a foley on a broken hip lady. I went down to my regular unit to kibbitz and then went back to chart something I had forgotten and the agency nurse had already totally alienated the unit secretary.
She'll most likely be placed on the "DNR" (do not return) list, and may not even last the entire shift. She's cutting her own throat--the agency might terminate her, too. She needs to make nice if she wants to make $$.
I love my unit. It's my unit. Maybe that comes from 28 years in the military, I don't know. But the PRN nurses who don't have a unit seem to be more susceptible to bad attitudes about my unit. Maybe it's because they're perpetual outsiders, but they tend to assume they're being singled out for unfair treatment, rather than that they just happened to get a miserable assignment by luck of the draw, so I can see how it might be with agency nurses. Also PRNs and agency nurses frequently have adversarial relations with their managers or agencies, and that might flavor their general outlook. Floats aren't like that. They have a home unit, and they try to contribute as best they can. I think it's good for my sustainability in nursing to have a unit. I've heard from many from other units that my unit is considered the worst in the hospital, the hardest on nurses. But I know they have their problems, too. I think they've learned to cope, just as we have, so their problems don't seem so severe to them. And they have a place to call home. I don't take it for granted. It must be hard on PRNs and agency nurses to feel all alone in a team environment.
I talked to the ER unit secretary yesterday. She said that the nurse continued to be on her cellphone throughout the shift, even in the patient rooms. I'm sure they complained about her to the house supervisor.
prmenrs, RN
4,565 Posts
She'll most likely be placed on the "DNR" (do not return) list, and may not even last the entire shift. She's cutting her own throat--the agency might terminate her, too. She needs to make nice if she wants to make $$.