Coworker causing problems...

[2shihtzus]

At the risk of this sounding like high school drama, there is a coworker on our unit that is causing multiple problems.

Although it is not my place to judge, this nurse has been written up multiple times for multiple reasons. The most recent one was when she tried to get one of our CNA's to get a patient to sign consent. Needless to say, the charge nurse found out about it and consqently, wrote her up. This is just one of many incidents that she has been involved in.

Anyways, last night, she called up to the unit to talk to the charge nurse and proceeded to verbally attack her, and was saying things like, "I can't believe how two faced you are, and also 2Shihtzus (me) is just as bad. I cant believe how back stabbing you are"...etc....etc....When the CN tried to get some specifics, she was told, "I am not giving you any ammunition" etc...She would NOT shut up. Finally the CN hung up on her and called our manager to let her know what happened.

Anyways, this nurse is on the rampage. She is supposed to meet with our manager tomorrow, and I just KNOW that she is going to cause trouble. She is a notorious liar. She "used" to be a cop. She lives 5 doors down from me. I have no idea how to handle this situation. I tolerate this woman as a coworker and try to keep my distance as much as possible if we work the same shift, but she is very threatening, and VERY maniupulative.

Any advice?

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Avoid her, and her behavior. If your manager wants to discuss the situation with you- fine, but don't even get into a conversation with her, or with your coowrkers. You don't want to give fuel to her fire, and handling this gracefully will serve you well in the long term.

[Kymmi]

What exactly do you have to handle about this situation...from what I read you wasnt involved in anything that this nurse is upset about or causing trouble over so I think that I would do nothing and not get involved because this situation seems to be between other people and not you.

[cmo421]

I paused before answeringg this one. LOL People have anger management problems. People have MYOB issues. We see this all the time. This nurse might have major issues(in nursing,,,noooo!) . Avoid like the plague. If u have nothing to be worried about, then do not. Trouble seems to follow some,will not change. To call work,when off,and cause disruption is unprofessional and grounds for disciplinary actions. Never feed the fire. Let management deal with it, it is what they get paid for!

[RN BSN 2009]

Yup.. don't fuel that fire, if you are terrorized by this person, then she has reached her objective!!

[2shihtzus]

I wouldnt say she has terrorized me. Shes just a trouble maker in general. No one on the unit likes her because shes so disorganized, makes everyone elses job more difficult, and she makes mistakes all the time. I realize that we are all human, but she does it more frequent than most. I *feel* like I am involved because she specifically mentioned my name when she was accusing the charge nurse of being "two faced". Its all so ridiculous. I mean the woman is over 40 years old and acted like a teenager.....calling up to the unit and being verbally abusive??? I think its uncalled for and I really hope that management addresses it. Her behavior is so unprofessional. This one time, we had a patient on our unit that used to be a nurse....and the nurse that called up here and did the hollering went around to a bunch of staff members on the unit and accused that patient of being a drug seeker. The patient was understandably PO'd (she walked up behind the nurse and heard her talking about it). THis is just a glimpse of the type of crap she pulls. Shes the type of nurse that will come out of a patients room and walk allllll the way down the hall to find the CNA and tell her that the patient needs his/her pillow fluffed. She drives us all crazy.....

I guess my vent is that I know she is going to meet with our manager and lie, lie, lie about anything and everything to retaliate. And as far as I know, I have not done anything to tick her off....

[Katnip, RN]

I'm wondering if she's got some mental health issues. Calling a charge out of the blue on a day off just isn't normal. It should be interesting to see what happens when she talks to the manager. If your manager is worth her salt she'll get start talking to the other staff as well to get more of a whole picture to see what's going on with this nurse.

[RN1989]

If she really is this bad, it is likely that your manager has a paper trail started on her already. Unfortunately you can't fire people for acting like jerks without possible repercussions. You manager will probably get rid of her as soon as HR tells her that the file is thick enough to warrant termination without a big risk of a lawsuit from her or having to pay her unemployment.

[RNAnnjeh, MSN, CNS]

I believe Shakespear summed it up best: "The lady doth protest too much, methinks". Someone who stirs it up, as she appears to be doing, is usually up to their necks in it.

Give this girl a wide radius. If you get called to speak to the manager, just be honest. Most people can see through the BS.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

What exactly do you have to handle about this situation...from what I read you wasnt involved in anything that this nurse is upset about or causing trouble over so I think that I would do nothing and not get involved because this situation seems to be between other people and not you.

Ditto.

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

this woman has some real anger management issues.. she maybe will get fired.. i would ignore her... she should of been fired when she handed the CNA the consent to sign..

[linzz]

I worked with a real jerk who lives near me and has a friend that lives on my street. In one instance the jerk's friend seemed to be trying to be a bit too friendly toward me, I think just to have someone to talk about. I just politely brushed her off and I ignore the jerk. Works well for me. Good luck.