Aggressive Nurses

[Moneypitt]

I must be getting old. I think I may have been that nurse. Impatiently listening to report, flipping thru the chart or the computer, gathering info, not waiting to hear it. Interupting with my most important questions. Feeling ticked off at the start of shift over the incompetancy of others.

Now I am so put off by this behavior. It makes me nervous, rankles me and makes me feel less confident in the nurse who acts this way. I find it destructive and kills any team building. I work with some very aggressive nurses now.

Your thoughts and experiences regarding this?

[truern]

When someone interupts me, thats when I realize they are idiots and they can go read thru the chart and figure it out. I hate when you have to spoon feed nurses with info that you yourself learned my researching it. I don't play that game anymore.

I've had nurses want me to be able to tell them what meds are due on THEIR shift so they won't have to check the MAR themselves. Heck, nobody tells me those things...I look at every MAR at the beginning of my shift to see what meds and what times.

[steelcityrn, RN]

thats what im talking about.....:wink2:

[CathyLew]

oh yea, I have had nurses give me a text book report... and when I asked if the patient needs one or two assists to the bathroom. (since when I worked nights, that was a huge deal!) they looked at me with that blank stare. They had never actually seen or participated in any of the patient care.

but.... after being charge on a busy MSP floor... I can say that there were days that I hadn't a clue how some of my patients ambulated or transfered.

a bad report, a bad shift, a bad night, a bad first impression with a newbie on the team. It all boils down to what happend before that encounter.

[Moneypitt]

I am so glad to hear all the responses to this thread. For my part I admit that my agressive behaviour was unacceptable and I am sorry that I did it. At the time I felt frustrated. We had nurses on the floor that failed to rescue patients in respiratory distress, or other types of distress and this was acceptable on my floor. Management changed frequently and patient care suffered. I felt like I was drowning early in my shift as I had to send patients to ICU, or perform EKG's, draw blood, and do emergent patient care tasks for my critically ill patients, and expected to care for a full team as well.

I took PRN work at other facilities, and was the new kid on the block. This was humbling, and I was reminded what it was like to be new and vulnerable. I relearned humility, and also was reminded that I could perform nursing elsewhere, and at different capacities. I changed as I grew.

Nursing is a challange. We are fortunate to have this board to exchange experineces and ideas. I have learned that if you find yourself on a bad unit or hospital then you can try to change your place of employement or your expectatations. The choice may be difficult, but for me it was worth the risk as I found a better position for now. What the future holds for me is unknown at present. But I am glad I took the risk to get out of my familiar environment and to change my role.