Backstabbing in the ICU (maybe a little venting!)

[luckynurse_1234]

I have had a very bad experience this week (not sure if qualifies as bullying or just back-biting) and am hoping this is not common in the ICU, or nursing in general.

I had a demanding, substance-abusing patient who made for a busy shift. I survived said shift and transferred care to the next nurse (I will call them Nurse A). Several days later, the nurse who took over the patient from Nurse A on the next shift (Nurse B) informed me Nurse A said I left a lot of things undone. Apparently Nurse A also told the patient that too, because the patient allegedly said to Nurse B they felt Nurse A was unnecessarily rough with them because they were mad about the things I hadn't done. Addressing the validity of these accusations, I double-checked all my charting and I can honestly say that if it wasn't perfect, 90% of the things that were supposed to be done were done and I worked hard and diligently to have everything done for the next shift.

I feel this is an example of "nurses eat their young," that is not supposed to exist anymore (I am new to the ICU). I had a similar experience on while on Med-Surg: I missed a minor piece of charting as a new nurse when overwhelmed with my patient care load and an older nurse with more seniority took it upon themselves to yell at me at the nurses' station in front of everybody and then tried to have me written up. I was hoping that was an isolated incident, but I am beginning to wonder if this kind of thing is common in all nurses' work environments?

[LindseyRN86]

Yeah that sounds like it sucks...but really let it roll off your back...now with the nurse taking her anger out in the patient I hope nurse B reported nurse A for her behavior.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

You relate two incidents in two different nursing units and you think you've been bullied, back-stabbed or that nurses eat their young? Perhaps this is just an example of two very difficult shifts where you've neglected a few things (we've all had those days) and the oncoming nurse had a bad day, too.

You may have done 90% of what you were supposed to have done, but the 10% of things you didn't get to happened to be the things that Nurse A was particularly tuned in to. One of my colleagues is into mouth care, and she finds issues with the mouth care of every nurse she follows. Another is a constant tidier -- no one could possibly tidy a room to her standards. Whatever it was, it may have been Nurse A's particular thing. Then she had a rough day, and she griped about it at change of shift. It happens, it even happens to those of us who have been nurses for longer than you've been alive. Let it go.

The other thing here that you may be missing: even after you're off orientation, your more experienced co-workers (nurses, CNAs, RTs, PT's, whoever) are going to find things that you've missed or not done correctly. They're going to tell you about it -- at least they will if they care about you and helping you perfect your practice. You WANT them to tell you about it, or to pass it on to you through some other means. If they don't, you'll keep making the same mistakes over and over and then they'll land on your manager's desk. Enough things land on your manager's desk instead of getting to you so you can correct the issue, your manager is going to (perhaps correctly) assume that you are unapproachable. That's a problem for you. Some experienced co-workers are more tactful than others in letting you know about your mistakes; that doesn't mean that anyone is "out to get you," is backstabbing or is eating their young.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

I don' think it is NETY....Some people just don't know how to behave. If you forgot something the professional thing to do would be to tell you the next time you worked.

My approach...Hey...the other day when you gave me report on the patient that was a pain in room 2. There were some things I noticed that you need to do ....I know how overwhelming being a new nurse can be. I finished them up but I want you to know so that we can work on you becoming more and more independent. Here is how I handle these situations.

Some people love to complain and have no people skills. ((HUGS))

[Nalon1 RN/EMT-P, BSN, RN]

...

Some people love to complain and have no people skills.[.../QUOTE]

And some people take any criticism, even constructive, as complaining (not pointing fingers at the OP, just saying).

But like was said, almost every nurse has their "thing" that they notice, but some take it further and if not done to their standard (and it almost never is) will gripe about it. Usually it is just that, griping and does not go any further, but sometimes it does, but those are usually known by other co-workers (and managers) as well.