My wife has been a nurse for over 20 years and is a well-qualified, experienced and competent nurse/manager who is respected and liked in her workplace.... but not by all.
Another nurse recently lodged a false claim of harassment against her. This nurse appears to have a few problems dealing with people and left nursing for a few years after her own harassment of others was addressed. She appears to have now used the same process against my wife that was used successfully by other nurses against her.
Nothing came of the harassment claim. The nurse who lodged the false claim against my wife flatly refused mediation and her claims were proven to be either very trivial or false. She has, however, poisoned the mind of her personal friend in management against my wife. This friend started to bully my wife and exclude her from group activities. My wife was systematically striped of her responsibilities, given bad shifts without any reason, refused leave, and so on. The friend also tries to find fault where none exists. Several other nurses are also being treated the same way for the same reason.
My wife is very strong and can stand up to bullies but when enough was enough she and others reluctantly complained to someone very high in management who was both aware personally of my wife's good qualities and the shortcomings of the other two nurses causing her such grief.
My wife also went to the union and a solicitor and the issues appear to be being addressed. It is, however, only a facade and the exclusion, backstabbing lies, bickering, self-promotion and preferential treatment continue. The good news is that my wife has the support of other nurses and now knows whom to trust.
My wife has been offered better positions at other hospitals but she doesn't want to be bullied out of a job she once loved and leave her friends. She was encouraged that she was offered all of the positions for which she applied and it is likely that she will eventually leave.
Being an outsider and working in another industry, I can't understand why nurses put up with such crap from hospitals and why they treat each other so badly. Perhaps having to constantly complete incident reports and justify your actions make some nurses too autocratic and self-focused. In my organisation, it is a given that we actively promote the people we work with when speaking to people from within and outside the organisation. In other words, we try to support each other.
Other husbands of nurses see the same problems in nursing as I have but some of them perceive that the problems arise because most nurses are women. Please don't jump down my throat as I don't believe that this is the case. I currently work in an area with more women than men and have been the only man in a group of women who all worked well as a team. My current boss is a woman that I have great respect for and I have also managed women in the past without any problems - I'd say with less problems than I had with men.
Also, it seems to me that hospitals are more likely to employ a nurse from outside than promote a nurse already at the hospital. With such a shortage of nurses, why don't hospitals take better care of the ones that they have and try to keep them? Is this the case?
I've been vague about the positions of the people involved and the events, as my wife would kill me if she knew I posted this but I'd like your views, as I'm concerned about her.
I'm also thinking of creating a new forum - allpartnersofnurseswholiketodiscusstheirworkproblemsaftertheycomehomefromaneveningshift.com
