Am I a backstabber or just a concerned co-worker?

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 17, 2009

Good question. Tough dilemma.

Is there anyone at your institution you can talk to discretely? ... someone outside the daily interactions of your peer group ... perhaps the nurse recruiter or someone else in HR ... perhaps an educator in a fairly high level position ... maybe the head of the intern program.

You might go to them in private and say that you heard someone (don't mention any names or details) say that they had lied on their application about something very signficant. Say that part of you believes you should report it ... but that you are afraid of retaliation or of being labeld a trouble-maker if you do. That person may have some good advice for you based on his/her knowledge of your particular employer.

That person should (no guarantee they will) help you take it further without exposing your identify to people likely to gossip about it. People in high-level positions don't gossip about that sort of thing to your co-workers as much as people closer to the actual people involved. I can imagine lots of ways the higher-ups can address this problem without involving you.

Unless you want nursing to be a profession in which people turn a blind eye to ethical misconduct that might endanger the patients, you have to report it. Sometimes we all have to do what's right, even though it might not be easy. Just exercise a little caution in how you do it.

Any "good guys" in the education department or management or HR will want to get rid of this person before she causes real harm. They will be angry at HER, not you. Just take a little caution to approach a "good guy" and not just anybody.

Dramqueenie1 · Sep 17, 2009

That is a great response. :yeah: It was full of ideas that I didn't even consider, (so much for critical thinking on my part). I am worried about backlash but that doesn't outweigh the responsibility I feel towards the patients that come to our hospital. Soon we will be on our own and making critical care decisions on these patients. We are in a critical care program. I don't want this new program to suffer and have the administration think that is wasn't worth the effort to train us with her being the end result. I just want to be sure that I don't have the managers turn a blind eye to this and think 'well I'm not going to admit that this nurse pulled the wool over my eyes.'

Sparrowhawk · Sep 17, 2009

That was probably illegal what she did. Report it somehow..and it definately wasn't very nice for those of us that DO have ADD and work really reall really hard to do a good job *fumes*

llg, PhD, RN · Sep 18, 2009

In most institutions, if you lie on your application, it is an automatic termination. Even if she didn't lie on the application itself, she will probably be terminated or they will find a way to get her to leave that is less likely to raise any questions. For example, they could talk to her about her problems, point out that things are not going very well and ask her for documentation of her ADD so that they can develop a detailed learning plan for her. Having to provide documentation might encourage her to resign before she gets caught.

Similarly, they could ask for documentation of her medication as her sleeping in class indicates that her current medications might interfere with her abililty to do a job. Right now, they are cutting her slack because they believe she is handicapped. However, if they doubt her handicap is real, they may tactfully ask her to document it -- giving her no reason to suspect that anyone reported her -- and again encouraging her to resign before she gets caught in her lie. They may give her such an opportunity to resign rather than face an ugly scene having to accuse her. But they might not do that if they have no reason to suspect that she has been lying.

Dramqueenie1 · Sep 18, 2009

WOW. All of these responses are excellent. I am so glad I asked that question here. I appreciate your time in this matter, I wanted to run it by good nurses before I go and report her. I do not want to seem petty. She is messing up her asignments all by herself and the managers are really watching her closely. She did apply for the same position I did but it was one of many that I am applying for now and I withdrew my name from that job posting only because I want nights and not swing shift. I thank all of you for your help it is not falling on deaf ears!!! :yeah:

I do feel as though people with ADD get a bad rap and it's because of people like her. It feels as though she is using a wheelchair for a good parking space while she has two perfectly good legs...pretending to be handicap with any condition is disgusting to me.

I_LOVE_TRAUMA, RN · Sep 19, 2009

I would just leave it alone. It really doesn't concern you. If you just let her be, she will soon enough drown herself, if you get involved it will somehow come back to hurt you. You are not her boss, and it will be her word against yours. Just worry about you, you do not need to babysit another grown up. Just my :twocents:

BabyLady, BSN, RN · Sep 19, 2009

I'll tell you what you do.

If she told you, regardless of what she says, she probably told someone else.

Hospitals are the worst sort of hen house that there is on the planet when it comes to gossip.

Don't say anything...things like this have a habit of getting back to management.

MissBrittanyRN · Sep 19, 2009

I am concerned that this person will be caring for patients that deserve the best care, and I don't like the idea of waiting for her to mess up (which I believe she will) while caring for clients. I don't want to be the patient that she is caring for when she makes that big mistake, or the ones that she is making the smaller but still serious mistakes on during the time leading up to the big mistake. You may not be in charge of her, but safety is everyone's responsibility.

Has it been obvious in class that you have been trying to cut her slack, and that you had put forth the effort to befriend / help her? That may help with your concern about what administration may think, but I think and hope that they will appreciate your integrity and professionalism. Good luck to you, and I am sorry about your situation.

NC Girl BSN · Sep 19, 2009

I would just leave it alone. It really doesn't concern you. If you just let her be, she will soon enough drown herself, if you get involved it will somehow come back to hurt you. You are not her boss, and it will be her word against yours. Just worry about you, you do not need to babysit another grown up. Just my

I agree. Stay out of it. She will destroy her own self in the end. It is not your battle. Concentrate on your duties and responsibilities.

MissBrittanyRN · Sep 19, 2009

And I agree with what BabyLady said about the gossip. She probably has told others, and you may be surprised when you go to management, as they may have already heard from another employee, but I would not count on that, and risk patient safety. Again, good luck to you.

I_LOVE_TRAUMA, RN · Sep 19, 2009

All I'm saying is that unless you've SEEN her provide unsafe care, there is no way for you to know that she will. And her comments about chest tubes and stuff makes her sound like half the new grads I precept-some learn slower than others, but they get it. You will find after you have been around awhile that there are nurses and even NM all over the hospital who don't know what they are doing and don't care to learn. If you are not her boss, who are you to judge how good she will become. I see this in new grads all the time, and no offense please, but it usually has to do with someone trying to make their self look better equipt for the job. Almost all new grads 'get it' soon enough, Some of the ones that appeared to be inadequate or uncaring in the beginning I would trust my kids to now. Get yourself some good experience during this time and let the proper people worry about her