Please bear with me as I vent! Sorry so long! Over the last couple of weeks I have had to work with a certain nurse that just loves to sit on her butt and let you do all her work and frankly Im tired of it. Here's what happened... This nurse has a long history of being "Hurt" any time she is given a patient assignment she doesn't like. She hasn't been able to get a doc to give her restrictions but tells administration she feels like she's going to hurt her back or her wrists or her legs and so on and so on... anyways, the other staff that are scheduled end up taking care of her patients as well as the 5-6 patients we are already responsible for. Then at the end of the shift (Nights) when the clinical director comes in the AM this nurse is just an eager beaver and offers the CD her help relentlessly. No problem lifting, pulling, pushing, anything when the CD's there! To top it all off she makes comments like, "I went into 21 and silenced the IV, maybe you should check on your patients." UGHHH... Maybe I would have more time with my patients if I wasn't constantly toileting yours. I asked her to please sit in HER patients room (needed his sats watched) while I assisted my own patient to the bathroom and she threatened to report me because it's hard for her to sit for long periods of time and she could get hurt. Well I had just had it... I'm tired, MY back hurts, My arms hurt, MY legs hurt, and I WOULD LOVE TO SIT FOR EVEN JUST A MINUTE! So... I was kinda naughty and decided that I was going to be her biggest advocate. Yes thats right...Being her coworker I would certainly not want her to do something that would cause herself harm sooooo.... I told her this: "I did you a big huge favor tonight. I went ahead and filled out a safety report for you. I just feel that sitting on that chair for an entire 8 hour shift (minus the 6 smoke breaks) playing on the internet was definetly hazardous as you could hurt your wrists forsure and sitting for that long of time could easily injure your back. After all, your not suppose to sit for long periods of time right, you could get hurt...We wouldn't want that now would we!" She begged me not to send it but the deed had been done. Management approached her the next AM and questioned her about all of her "Down time" during her scheduled shifts. Maybe it was evil but the rest of us could get hurt as well from all of this and I thought they needed a reason to listen to us.
Please bear with me as I vent! Sorry so long! Over the last couple of weeks I have had to work with a certain nurse that just loves to sit on her butt and let you do all her work and frankly Im tired of it. Here's what happened... This nurse has a long history of being "Hurt" any time she is given a patient assignment she doesn't like. She hasn't been able to get a doc to give her restrictions but tells administration she feels like she's going to hurt her back or her wrists or her legs and so on and so on... anyways, the other staff that are scheduled end up taking care of her patients as well as the 5-6 patients we are already responsible for. Then at the end of the shift (Nights) when the clinical director comes in the AM this nurse is just an eager beaver and offers the CD her help relentlessly. No problem lifting, pulling, pushing, anything when the CD's there! To top it all off she makes comments like, "I went into 21 and silenced the IV, maybe you should check on your patients." UGHHH... Maybe I would have more time with my patients if I wasn't constantly toileting yours. I asked her to please sit in HER patients room (needed his sats watched) while I assisted my own patient to the bathroom and she threatened to report me because it's hard for her to sit for long periods of time and she could get hurt. Well I had just had it... I'm tired, MY back hurts, My arms hurt, MY legs hurt, and I WOULD LOVE TO SIT FOR EVEN JUST A MINUTE! So... I was kinda naughty and decided that I was going to be her biggest advocate. Yes thats right...Being her coworker I would certainly not want her to do something that would cause herself harm sooooo.... I told her this: "I did you a big huge favor tonight. I went ahead and filled out a safety report for you. I just feel that sitting on that chair for an entire 8 hour shift (minus the 6 smoke breaks) playing on the internet was definetly hazardous as you could hurt your wrists forsure and sitting for that long of time could easily injure your back. After all, your not suppose to sit for long periods of time right, you could get hurt...We wouldn't want that now would we!" She begged me not to send it but the deed had been done. Management approached her the next AM and questioned her about all of her "Down time" during her scheduled shifts. Maybe it was evil but the rest of us could get hurt as well from all of this and I thought they needed a reason to listen to us.
Thanks for listening! :wink2:
Kudos to you for taking a stand, but what kind of martyr like behavior was occuring on your floor that allowed this person to get away with her most inappropriate behavior for as long as she did? I mean were people really taking care of her patients while she sat at a computer? That's mind boggling.
yeah thats what I thought. I just recently worked with her and I was fed up already. She was scheduled unit secretary work until they figured out she can't do that either so they put her back on the floor. Duh... I think there are several nurses that just don't want to "Stir the pot" but I figured what the hay, I'm not getting hurt over this and if they don't like the way I went about it then my union representative is a great person to chat with. I have no problem helping out other nurses and actually I enjoy being able to help out but this has gone too far. I can't sit back and pretend, so here you are administration, Here's a mess that now has to be fixed. :)
Heres an update: This certain nurse will now spend her time in the administration office alternating her time shredding papers (sitting) and filling mailboxes (standing) he he I guess that gives her a nice combination of both and if she gets SORE she can just revert back to the other activity. LOVE IT! Pretty handy for those higher up folks too cause they can make darn sure she doesn't "Hurt herself" while she's sitting right next to their desks! I give her a week tops.
:chuckle:yeah::chuckle:yeah:
Thanks again for listening! Venting is good for the soul!
Brilliant. Sounds like a scheme that I would have cooked up. Maybe she'll take it as a hint that her laziness isn't going to be tolerated and if she has a real injury that someone will let the rest of your staff know what needs to be done to "accommodate" her.
That is a very good question! One I would love to know the answer to! She was getting her full pay for playing on the internet so I would imagine she is still getting it now.
Kudos to you for taking a stand, but what kind of martyr like behavior was occuring on your floor that allowed this person to get away with her most inappropriate behavior for as long as she did? I mean were people really taking care of her patients while she sat at a computer? That's mind boggling.
We had two pharmacists in my department who literally did nothing on the weekend but sit in the break room and watch sports on TV, while 200 patients were placed in potential danger. Since one of them is a little golden boy immune from disciplinary action (don't get me started ), nothing was done until an employee's relative didn't get an ASAP med for eight hours. At my insistence (I was working that day), the TV was removed but to my knowledge, no further disciplinary action was taken.
We had two pharmacists in my department who literally did nothing on the weekend but sit in the break room and watch sports on TV, while 200 patients were placed in potential danger. Since one of them is a little golden boy immune from disciplinary action (don't get me started ), nothing was done until an employee's relative didn't get an ASAP med for eight hours. At my insistence (I was working that day), the TV was removed but to my knowledge, no further disciplinary action was taken.
:angryfire
It's amazing that it takes that length to get someones attention. Meanwhile, the rest of us are breaking our backs to make sure no one gets hurt or neglected during our shifts. Come on people... What would happen if all the employees acted in these ways and got away with it? There wouldn't be a hospital.
Thanks for listening! :wink2:
chenoaspirit, ASN, RN
1,010 Posts
woohoo, you go girl!