An LVN yelled at me yesterday...I'm only a student.

TallGirlAni · Jul 14, 2006

Those types of things should be reported to your clinical instructor immediately so that your clinical instructor can decide with you how this should be handled. Your clinical instructor has probably been involved with these situations in the past and will be more saavy in how to handle these things. It seems that the LVN is acting this way because she has been allowed to. It does not make it right, for anyone involved--you or the patients! If you do not report this to your clinical instructor and make your clinical instructor aware of what is going on, this particular LVN may one day make a complaint about you, of which your clinical instructor may pay heed to. If your clinical instructor is aware of this LVN's behavior because you have told her ahead of time, then she will be able to better counter any future complaints the LVN will have about you. Let your clinical instructor intervene (by talking to the floor manager or the LVN herself) and get this behavior stopped once and for all--for your, your fellow students', and the patients' sake. Get used to standing up for yourself, you will need this very important skill in the world of nursing. Good luck and you do not deserve to be treated in such a disrespectful manner, nor should you turn a blind eye to how badly a patient is being treated. You are their advocate, as well.

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jul 14, 2006

Was the CNA waiting in the room all that time to help you with a linen change? She may have been irritated because of the thousand other tasks waiting for her. Students usually take about three times as long as experienced staff on the same task, so if she was waiting for you to make a trip for linen and you ended up going to see another resident, then all the way to Florida and back for linen it would be irritating. If you called her to the room because you were concerned, and then disappeared for 30 minutes or so, well, she had plenty of time to stew, didn't she? Remember you have 2 residents, and probably she has 10+ to take care of.

Obviously I wasn't there, but it sounds like she really flew off the handle, and was inappropriate. Yelling at you, and doing so in front of a patient is completely uncalled for no matter what you did. But reporting her will not make your life any easier, (harder actually) and you will rotate out of there as a student in time. Take it as a learning experience, but also know that her reaction was over the top.

As a student nurse we were warned before our very first clinical to get on the floor 15 minutes early to check for changes overnight, but mostly to gather our linen before report because there was never enough to go around. Grab what you need and put it in the room before the big rush and you will save yourself a few steps.

NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN · Jul 14, 2006

I would say something to your instructor, because next time she/he can avoid assigning students to the patients of that nurse. My instructor always assigns us to nurses that she had a good experience with in the past, and avoids the others.

rninme · Jul 14, 2006

It is unfortunate that the LVN yelled at you....I wouldn't take it personally since the CNA you were working with stated that LVN is always in a mood!

What concerns me is the fact that she yelled at a resident!! That IS reportable! All residents have rights...one of them is the right to be treated in a respectful manner. :madface:

PiperLPN · Jul 14, 2006

Explaining yourself will make that LVN think twice about blowing up. And I agree with the others - report the situation. She sounds like a bully. :madface:

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Jul 14, 2006

hi, cmele86. what a terrible demeaning thing to have happened to you. i see that you are still very young. and, please don't take that in the wrong way. i just mean that your experience in the world is not as extensive as someone like me who is nearly been around 3 times longer. you have chosen a profession where you are going to be working closely with people. not just patients, but other nurses and healthcare people. you are going to see and experience a lot of behavior from people. some of it will warm your heart and make you feel good. some, like what happened with this nurse, will make you feel small and question your self worth. this is one of the great challenges of life and of the nursing profession. you need to understand that many people behave out of a need to serve their own purposes first. we are not all saints, believe me. yelling and acting out are inappropriate ways that some people express their emotions about situations. is it the right way? of course not. however, what you need to realize first is that these persons are acting for their own benefit first without any regard to you. therefore, you can't take it personally. can you do something about it? sometimes. when you are in a subordinate position such as a student, or the kind cna who was training you, your choice of actions is limited. there is good reason to just listen to this fool and not aggravate her further. if a drugged up addict waving a gun and screaming at you confronted you, i guarantee you don't want to aggravate them any further! she should also be reported to your clinical instructor because your clinical instructor is your immediate supervisor. if you take a course in assertive behavior you will learn how to respond to people who lash out at you like this. however, like anything, it takes practice to master confronting people effectively. i spent many, many years of my career learning to deal with unwanted and inappropriate behavior from people. it's easier to stick a needle in your eye (i'm kidding). it's something that nursing schools don't teach enough. it's something that, unfortunately, you will most likely need to learn on your own as you make your way through life. i had some help. i was required to take a course in communications when i was in a university where we had a "lab" where we role-played incidents just like what happened to you and how we should deal with them. as you go into the higher tiers of any profession, the more likely you are to have to deal more with people on a behavioral level rather than with just hands-on physical work. if i were you, i would find humor in this and tell people you got your first initiation into getting a tongue lashing from a crabby old nurse. make a promise to yourself that you will never treat anyone that way and you will be making the world a better place in your very own special way. i'm a big believer that people come into and go out of our lives for the reason of steering us into directions we are supposed to go or to help us learn important lessons. i think this was one of those defining moments for you. make it work for you in a postive way.

squeakykitty · Jul 14, 2006

I'm a CNA student who just finished up Day 5 of clinicals. To make a long story short (sorta), I was assigned 2 residents for the day. One is bedridden, the other is pretty much independent. I was taking care of the bedridden patient first by feeding her breakfast. She then started to cough abnormally. I called the CNA, who was training me, for help, then, she called the LVN. The LVN decided that the patient has had enough to eat, so she told me to get started with the morning routine with the resident.
I wanted to go see how the other resident was doing and I wanted to explain to her that I was taking care of someone else. So I went to see resident #2 for a minute. After that, I tried to gather up all the linens I needed in order to take care of the bedridden resident. The problem here was that it took longer than anticipated because I had to run up and down the halls to different linen carts to look for certain linen. Every cart I went to was missing something that I needed.
I returned to the room and the LVN started to lash out at me. "WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN? NEVER LEAVE A JOB UNCOMPLETED!...YOU'RE TOO SLOW. NEVER LEAVE THE PATIENT WITHOUT COMPLETING YOUR TASK..." and blahblah blah. She didn't give me a chance to explain what I did. How am I supposed to attend to the resident's needs if I don't get all the materials I need? Anyway, I kept my mouth shut. She kept on shouting at me to a point where I wanted to break down and cry. It was that bad.
The resident on the other side of the curtain then asked for the LVN's help, and then the LVN started to yell at the resident. When that happened, the CNA who was training me wasn't in the room to hear what she said. She (the CNA) returned later on and told me not to take it personally and that the LVN is always in that "mood". I personally disagree. She has no right to yell at me the way she did. Do you agree with me?
I told a fellow student, and she told me to report it to my clinical instructor, but I didn't. What good will that do? I'm not the type of person to talk back or make snappy comebacks. What should I do if another situation like this happens?

This never should have happened, that LVN was out of line and inappropriate. Go ahead and talk with your instructor, and since yelling at a resident is verbal abuse, that LVN needs to be reported. There is a good website about bullies, called www.bullyonline.org.

Marie1205 · Jul 15, 2006

Thanks a lot for all of your feedback! I will take this situation and turn it into a learning experience. I know what I should and shouldn't do. I understand the LVN's perspective thanks to all of your explanations. Of course I will never act the same way she did towards other people because I know first hand on how it's like to be on the other end of the conversation. Next time, I'll try my best to do things in a timely manner so that I can avoid getting other people mad. Thanks everyone!!!!