I am writing because I have another nurse that I work with who is very domineering and has an very bossy personality. When she first started in our clinic a little over a year ago she immediately rubbed everyone the wrong way and non of the other nurses liked her. She was very difficult to precept or train and was not open to learning anything new. She would always tell us she has been a nurse for almost 30 years she knows how to do X, Y and Z. She was retired for 6 years and came back to the profession. We all excepted her even though she was very difficult to work with and as time went on she finally joined our group and would engage in conversations.
Approximately 5 months ago our supervisor expressed to her that she needed to watch out on her overtime during one of our morning huddles and to make sure she leaves early that day to keep from having overtime on her paycheck.
The next week the supervisor puts me in charge and we had a nurse who needed to leave early because of a sick child in day care this left a physician without a nurse. I asked her to step into that assignment because she was the only person free that day without an assignment and could fill the hole. I told her not to worry that even though I had an assignment I would help her so that she could leave on time and not have to worry about overtime. After I said that she exploded on me then proceeded to tell me I was being overbearing and disrespectful to her and talking down to her. She wouldn't let me get a word in so I just dropped it.
The next morning I came in and she proceeded to go off on me again and tell me that what I wasn't going to do was ever disrespect her again and she has been a nurse longer than anyone. I normally do not speak up for myself and am pretty quiet but this time I stood up and told her that she was actually being disrespectful to me and all i tried to do was help her. She then went on to tell me that I talk down to the other nurses and she has noticed. I then went to all of the nurses and told them that I wanted to keep that open relationship that we have always had and to please let me know if I have ever disrespected them. They all looked at me shocked and asked where that was coming from that I am the nurse that they know they can always count on to help them or answer a question.
My boss told me that she was giving the role of charge nurse because all of the nurses look to me as a leader and I am the one who precepts and trains all of the new staff and students. She said that all of the nurses really respect me and look up to me so when the nurses all told me that same thing I sat down and thought about it and realized that she may have been saying that just to hurt me because before the incident we had she had been one of the nurses telling me before that I am a great teacher and mentor to the students and nurses. She said that one day she was listening to me train one of the students and how well I relayed the information to the student nurse about breast cancer.
It has now been 5 months since that incident but she has made it her mission to essentially bully me at work. I have been focused on school and graduating because this was my final semester in NP school and I was finishing my last clinical hours preparing for graduation and preparing for boards so I have tried to just ignore her but the tension and her actions make it really difficult to go to work everyday. My boss allowed me to go down to part time to give me time to study for the boards and during those weeks up until test day it felt great not having to be at working so I worked myself up and stressed myself out and put so much pressure on myself to pass boards to get away from the job that I failed my boards last week.
My work is a toxic environment and one of the cleaning ladies even stated to me that she knew I was being bullied because the nurse told her one morning that she makes it a point to **** with me. She told the housekeeper she doesn't like me because I don't say good morning when I come in in the mornings! None of the other staff cares that i come in in the mornings and sit at my desk quietly not talking. I am not a morning person and most of the mornings when I come in I am working off of 2-3 hours of sleep because I have been up all night studying. I sit quietly at my desk to get my thoughts together and prep for the day ahead of me.
I have always been nice to her just like I am nice to all of my other colleagues and as of right now she is the only one I do not speak to. I go in to work and go on as if she does not exist unless I have work issues to discuss with her.
I have spoken with my supervisor about how she treats me and how disrespectful she is to me and she acknowledges that this nurse is toxic and does not communicate with the staff in a positive manner. How do I continue to go to work everyday and get through the work week and what is this nurses problem with me what did I ever do to her
