Bullied by Charge Nurse? Or am I taking things to personally?

[mouseynurse]

Hello All!

I first want to say that the majority of the nurses I work with are very kind caring nurses who have done EVERYTHING possible to be helpful and supportive. We are on a VERY busy stepdown unit but we have amazing nurses and I am blessed to have started my career with such a wonderful team. However, there is one woman, a charge nurse, who has seemed to make it her life's mission to ruin my day.

For example: Yesterday we were called 2 new patients, a transfer and an admit. She took the admission and gave me the transfer. Typically on our floor, transfers are ALOT easier to deal with than an admission, so I was kinda surprised that she gave me the transfer. This time the transfer was a train wreck and ended up being transferred to ICU within a few hours of being on my floor. The pt was started on a cardiac drip I'm not allowed to hang. (I can monitor them, but I'm not allowed to start them yet as I haven't finished all of my classes with the hospital, 2 more weeks! :) ) I asked her how we would handle it and she said she would start it and have me monitor, just like we've done several times. The issue? It took her 45 minutes to come start the drip. Normally I wouldn't be too upset about this, we're a busy unit. But I literally had to follow her around while she chit-chatted with dr's (not about anything to do with the patients) and played on her phone. Anytime I asked another nurse to start the drug she jumped up and said she was on her way back, took the drug from me, and sat back down. After 6-8 phone calls I finally got the dr to agree to an ICU transfer and we got her to the unit.

I wouldn't think anything about it, except that later in the day I overheard her telling one of the aides that the patient she was supposed to get from the ER signed out AMA, but that she had expected that, the patient is in the ER frequently and ALWAYS signs out AMA. (her words exactly)

I brushed it off and worked my butt off to get caught back up. With the transfer I had fallen behind on ALL of my other patients. Later in the day we had 2 more patients called, a transfer and an admit. At that time we had an LPN and an RN who were up for patients. In my state, LPN's cannot do the admission assessments. Who does she give the admission to? The LPN. One of my patients rooms was right in front of the nurses station. There were 3 other nurses sitting at the nurses station charting, I was standing outside my patients room getting ready to give meds. She proceeds to ask me to do the admission for the LPN. (To give an example of the wonderful team we have, 2 of the 3 nurses who were charting jumped up and grabbed the paperwork, they had the admission done by the time I had finished passing my meds)

Up until yesterday I had always just brushed it off as me being taking things too personally and told myself that I just need to toughen up and get the job done. But yesterday 3 different people mentioned that the charge nurse was being especially hard on me.

I guess I'm just not sure how to take this. I work my @ss off while I'm there, and yet all I ever get from her is snide remarks. My boyfriend says it's because I'm a super-nurse who is making a name for myself and she's threatened by that. It sounds nice (and made me feel better) but I'm not convinced...

Any thoughts/advice?

[Jules A, MSN]

Without knowing what else might have happened in the past this doesn't sound like bullying. Maybe not being as helpful to you as she could but that doesn't make a bully imo. As a new nurse it will be difficult to get things done as quickly as others but that doesn't mean you won't be expected to carry a full load and some days the luck of the draw just isn't in your hand unfortunately. My thoughts would be that she probably thinks you are competent and able to do the work assigned or she wouldn't bother. FWIW I'd be highly suspect of the "3" people that were stirring the soup by saying she is hard on you, even if it is true.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Up until yesterday I had always just brushed it off as me being taking things too personally and told myself that I just need to toughen up and get the job done. But yesterday 3 different people mentioned that the charge nurse was being especially hard on me.

If you were doing fine until three other people said something to you, just continue to do fine. Sometimes, commisseration is good; other times, it may make one see something that wasn't really there...or something that wasn't as bad as others would like to make it out to be.

Good luck to you.

[mouseynurse]

Thank you both for your comments. I don't want to sound like I'm 'defending' my position or tooting my own horn, but on the days when I work with any other charge nurse I am almost never behind. I just get suspicious when every time I work with her the luck of the draw is against me and only me.

[Jules A, MSN]

Thank you both for your comments. I don't want to sound like I'm 'defending' my position or tooting my own horn, but on the days when I work with any other charge nurse I am almost never behind. I just get suspicious when every time I work with her the luck of the draw is against me and only me.

Kudos for trying to remain objective and there are definitely people that will treat you better than others and vice versa. I have one supervisor that treats me like gold and one that knows I can get the job done and imo dumps on me but it is what it is and I'm there for my 12 hours either way. Just hang in there and keep doing your thing!

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

Sounds like you have two charge nurses, one of whom is a good manager and another who is not. If the problem continues I would discuss it privately with the problem charge nurse, then your nurse manager if no solution occurs. Chain of command, always.

[Katie5]

Sounds like you have two charge nurses, one of whom is a good manager and another who is not. If the problem continues I would discuss it privately with the problem charge nurse, then your nurse manager if no solution occurs. Chain of command, always.

Not really. I wouldn't think too much of it. Being assertive here and there may be needed. But nothing else much.

You do have really great teammates who carry their weight. Ignore the three people who told you she's especially hard on you. You've only had suspicions till it was "confirmed" for you.

Don't let this be a Macbeth situation. Keep doing what you as though for God and not for men. Best of luck to you.

[kelsn]

I guess it sounds to me like a bit of bullying, but I think the best advice is just keep doing your best. If at all possible, pretend not to notice that she is hard on you. She will eventually quit doing it or else you will move on. You can talk to her about it, but that can be really hard to do successfully. One thing to try is to ask her for specific advice, like, "I'm really trying to get better at ......... do you have any suggestions." If she feels she is helping you, then that can help the relationship sometimes. Also, avoid listening to other nurses who bring up that she is hard on you. It just adds to the churn and angst on the floor. If it reaches the point of putting your license in danger or your patients safety, then you have to speak up.

[megamaam]

Too bad you couldn't get that drip going. If that patient really started to tank and your charge was continuing to behave the way she did and/or another nurse couldn't help with it you could always call for a rapid response...as an ICU nurse I certainly don't mind helping the floor out with getting drips or high risk meds going. That would be sure to get her attention. And if she gives you flack for calling an RRT over that with her behavior, go straight to the manager. Someone who prioritizes phone play over starting a drip on a train wreck definitely does not deserve to be charge, shame on her!

[morte, LPN, LVN]

my concern here, is the patient neglect by this charge nurse.....45' to get a cardiac drip going? and then didnt get it done? chatting and playing with her phone?.....and she knew that the transfer was a "train wreck" and that the admit was likely a "no go"? hmmmmm

[mouseynurse]

If I hadn't gotten the okay to transfer to ICU when I did, my next phone call would've been to our RART team. Out of everything she did yesterday, that's what made me most upset. You want to screw with my day, go right ahead, I'm a big girl I can take it. But don't put my patients at risk...