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Discussion

Bully Nurses

Hi I have been a nurse for around 2 and half years.. I am only 22 years old and I try to do everything by the book. I worked for a LTC facility for most of my nursing life. Well a little back ground i worked 3-11 shift Mon-Friday and around 5 months ago I took the 7a-11p doubles on the weekend so i could pursue my RN degree.

Well after training most of the nurses that have come thru the 3-11 shift and the 7-3 shift on my hall that I have been on for so long we finally had 2 nurses stay. One only had around 3 months of LTC exp. and the other was an agency nurse before.

Well needless to say that when those two was when the bullying started. I started getting reports from residents that they were not getting their medications(Not all on my hall are dementia most are pain management or psyche). I immediately reported this to the staff development(my direct supervisor).

After I did this several residents requested copies of their drugs they received of course them being of sound mind I obliged and gave them the lists and even wrote down shape and color of pills for them.

I thought nothing of it at all because it was their records and they have a right to know.

(also most medications have not been given as the cycle medications have been building up and liquids not running out on time.)

After an incident occurred(long story) I had to come to the facility on a Monday afternoon to finish some paperwork. I sat down at the nurse's station with the RN supervisor and finished my work.

It was 330ish so both the other nurses were there and they called me to the medication room to "talk".

I have no issues with anyone or really anything I'm pretty laid back unless it comes to residents so I went into the med room with them. they closed the door behind us.

One stood in front of the door and one stood behind me. both are taller than me I'm only 5'2. the one in front of the door started asking "What are you playing at by giving her that list?" several other questions were asked. followed with me being called a "*****" and a stupid white *****. granted both these nurses are black. I did not say anything besides I stated 5 times that I had to go please move and they didn't finally i had to push past them and walk out the door.

Unfortunately I gave my 2 weeks notice to facility I came to love with residents I love because I feel that it is unsafe for me there (I am only white nurse and have been for a long time).

I feel like the administrator and DON should know all the grizzly details but I don't want it to effect my career. The RN supervisor thinks I should write a letter after my last day and give it to them.

I have never experienced anything like this and I hate confrontation.

I don't know what to do.

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    • Featured Replies

    When residents make accusations against other nurses your first step ought to be discussing it with the nurses in question, not staff development. That is a basic professional courtesy.

    Even the relatively alert and oriented residents in LTC are of... iffy reliability when it comes to whether or not so-and-so shift gave so-and-so meds.

    Maybe Nurse-A gives Mrs Smith her little green pill with supper, while Nurse-B gives it shortly before bedtime. So Mrs Smith creates a load of drama and intigue by telling Nurse-C (on a totally different shift) that Nurse-B "isn't giving me my little green pill I get with supper". This sort of thing happens ALL THE TIME in LTC.

    Maintaining any sort of "on the dot" medication schedule in LTC is completely impossible. This leads to confused (and even not-so-confused) residents to claim nurses aren't giving them their pills.

    If I worked with you, and you brought such an accusation to our superior without coming to me first, I would be upset. And rightfully so. You would be on my you-know-what list and I would not trust you and I would advise the nurses I do trust about you, likely resulting to you being ostracized to some extent. Call that bullying if you want, I call it how the real world works.

    Now, with all that said, what those two nurses did to you in the med room is clearly unacceptable. No matter what you did they had no right to swear at you or to intimidate you in that fashion. That was bullying.

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    • Experts

    The DON needs to know of these two nurses behavior. THIS is an example of lateral violence.

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    The DON needs to know of these two nurses behavior. THIS is an example of lateral violence.

    Oh, I agree.

    The first part of my post was more of "in general terms" advice about brining issues to your fellow nurses before going up the chain of command.

    What those two nurses did, cornering her in the med room like that, is totally unacceptable in any environment.

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    • Experts

    Your advice was stellar! Brandon

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    My job has plenty of Bully nurses too. I use to waste my time trying to discuss things with my fellow bully nurses. Why bother? They are just going to become defensive and start being verbally abusive towards me. These Bully nurses are just looking for a fight. If I feel strongly about a matter I go to my supervisor directly. I am so sorry to hear that you gave your 2 weeks notice. It sounds to me like you were just concerned about your residents. I also feel sorry for your poor residents now that you are leaving.

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    OP worked w/e, other nurses worked w/d, she wouldn't see them. Also, she had already noted the meds were accumulating, obviously they weren't being given.

    When residents make accusations against other nurses your first step ought to be discussing it with the nurses in question, not staff development. That is a basic professional courtesy.

    Even the relatively alert and oriented residents in LTC are of... iffy reliability when it comes to whether or not so-and-so shift gave so-and-so meds.

    Maybe Nurse-A gives Mrs Smith her little green pill with supper, while Nurse-B gives it shortly before bedtime. So Mrs Smith creates a load of drama and intigue by telling Nurse-C (on a totally different shift) that Nurse-B "isn't giving me my little green pill I get with supper". This sort of thing happens ALL THE TIME in LTC.

    Maintaining any sort of "on the dot" medication schedule in LTC is completely impossible. This leads to confused (and even not-so-confused) residents to claim nurses aren't giving them their pills.

    If I worked with you, and you brought such an accusation to our superior without coming to me first, I would be upset. And rightfully so. You would be on my you-know-what list and I would not trust you and I would advise the nurses I do trust about you, likely resulting to you being ostracized to some extent. Call that bullying if you want, I call it how the real world works.

    Now, with all that said, what those two nurses did to you in the med room is clearly unacceptable. No matter what you did they had no right to swear at you or to intimidate you in that fashion. That was bullying.

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    • Author

    Well see I NEVER see the other nurses and I have tried to remain very polite with them(this is not the first problem I have had and have gone to them every time even coming on their shift or leaving notes). However that being said after months of trying to be very nice and leaving reminders only to be laughed at or made fun of for doing so(I have come to the facility for different reasons during the week, such as resident's birthdays). I thought that going to the supervisor would help things goes smoothly.

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    I would definitely leave a written letter for both the administrator and the DON on my last day of work. These bullies need to be reported.

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    Your facility has to have a policy on workplace violence. Tell your DON immediately. If they did it to you, they will do it to someone else.

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    • Guides
    I have never experienced anything like this and I hate confrontation.

    Well, it's not always about "liking" to do something, but what you should do.

    From what you say, I will bet dollars to donuts that-- had you spoken to them the exact way they had spoken to you-- that they would have been off like rockets yelling "racism!"...

    And rightfully so.

    No one has any business talking to anyone like this anywhere.

    Maybe you could have handled the resident complaints better, but they were waaaaaaaay out of line.

    Report it.

    It's threatening, racist and unprofessional.

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