Dangerous nurses

Nurses Relations

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Have any of you ever worked with a nurse you would classify as dangerous ---- dangerous as a nurse and as a person?

It sounds a wee bit personal as well...sorry.. Her conceit is obvious, and she may be getting away with these things because of her personable skillls? idk.

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.

I've been trying to teach this nurse for the past two months and I'm getting nowhere fast. :mad:

She cannot speak English very well and despite numerous complaints from myself and other staff members nothing has been done about it. I have no idea how she's passed the English test that the BON has because no one understands her. We've had several near misses with important specimens because the pathology lab can't understand her when she rings them.

She contaminates everything when she's scrubbed and the scary thing is that someone has to tell her to change her gloves, that the item has been contaminated and can't be used. Goodness knows how many times she's contaminated the patient because we haven't caught her in time. I honestly feel that she's a danger to everyone. And this is a nurse with '10 years' experience in OR as well. She has had orientation and knows about contamination, the problem is she doesn't think about what shes' doing.

No common sense or ability to prioritise care. For example thinking it's more important to hunt for a lost towel clip (the case was laparoscopic so no possibility of it being in the abdomen) instead of keeping a thrashing patient from falling of the OR table. :confused: I actually had to pull her aside and explain to her the importance of patient safety first. She kept arguing that she didn't know the patient was about to fall off the table and in the end I told her she didn't know because she'd turned her back on the patient. She just kept going on about this lost towel clip and in the end I asked her to provide a logical rationale as to why this was more important than someone falling on the floor. She just stood there with her mouth open, in the end I had to tell her that she needs to LISTEN and stop arguing when people try to help her.

The annoying thing is this person gets paid more than me thanks to our stupid system of paying people according to years worked as an RN. It should be based on competence and the role we have.

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Specializes in OB, HH, ADMIN, IC, ED, QI.

Scrubby:

Have you been asked by the Nurse Manager to teach that nurse with poor language skills? If not, I'd advise you not to do it, as it could boomerang onto you. She could say you taught her to do something that was done wrong.....

If you can stomach it, relate to her in a friendly way, say (slowly and facing her with a pleasant expression) something like, "I've noticed that you're having some difficulty. Is there anything you need to know about ____________?" I've found that whenever someone is frantically trying to do something, (like search for the towel clip), they have excessive stress that may or may not have something to do with the task they're freaking out about.

Also, adults and children don't learn when they're stressed and fearful. Anything you say won't be perceived, other than that you're displeased with what is happening. You need to wait until her stress recedes, then gently and nicely tell her that the priority in the OR as in every other work area, is patient safety.

The same thing happens when those whose primary language isn't English. The more stressed they become, the less intelligible their speech is. We have to assume that she wouldn't be working in the OR if she hadn't passed the language test. Also, she must have had some level of success working in one for 10 years.

Now don't take this as criticism of you.............. My experience with O.R. nurses (not a considerable amount), is that they are so knowledgable about their work that they speak to each other with a minimum amount of words, and have remarkable intuition. The result of that is the expectation that everyone should be like them, and immediately get their drift. I have become absolutely tongue-tied when speaking to them, as the sense I had is that they expected me to know everything without being told, and I was told that the less said the better, since speaking spreads germs.

So when you have a point to make with this nurse, it's best to do it outside the surgical suite and ask her after each point you make, to tell you what she heard (nicely, gently, and with a friendly smile). That should improve the communication. :nurse:

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Specializes in Operating Room Nursing.
Scrubby:

Have you been asked by the Nurse Manager to teach that nurse with poor language skills? If not, I'd advise you not to do it, as it could boomerang onto you. She could say you taught her to do something that was done wrong.....

If you can stomach it, relate to her in a friendly way, say (slowly and facing her with a pleasant expression) something like, "I've noticed that you're having some difficulty. Is there anything you need to know about ____________?" I've found that whenever someone is frantically trying to do something, (like search for the towel clip), they have excessive stress that may or may not have something to do with the task they're freaking out about.

Also, adults and children don't learn when they're stressed and fearful. Anything you say won't be perceived, other than that you're displeased with what is happening. You need to wait until her stress recedes, then gently and nicely tell her that the priority in the OR as in every other work area, is patient safety.

The same thing happens when those whose primary language isn't English. The more stressed they become, the less intelligible their speech is. We have to assume that she wouldn't be working in the OR if she hadn't passed the language test. Also, she must have had some level of success working in one for 10 years.

Now don't take this as criticism of you.............. My experience with O.R. nurses (not a considerable amount), is that they are so knowledgable about their work that they speak to each other with a minimum amount of words, and have remarkable intuition. The result of that is the expectation that everyone should be like them, and immediately get their drift. I have become absolutely tongue-tied when speaking to them, as the sense I had is that they expected me to know everything without being told, and I was told that the less said the better, since speaking spreads germs.

So when you have a point to make with this nurse, it's best to do it outside the surgical suite and ask her after each point you make, to tell you what she heard (nicely, gently, and with a friendly smile). That should improve the communication. :nurse:

I talk to this nurse during breaks and when we're not working in an attempt to get her to open up and establish rapport. I know she's afraid of me and all the other nurses because we're pretty much constantly having to fix her mistakes and she knows it.

The accent is such a huge issue, it's very hard to understand her even when she's not stressed and when your dealing with here and now situations she's quite dangerous. Are we supposed to hire a translator? I have no faith in the IELTS system that the BON goes by because it's picking up on nurses with language difficulties. Communication is essential.

I understand completely what your saying about OR nurses. The nature of our job requires that we have to think on our feet constantly. This may sound a little harsh but in all honesty we don't like working with nurses who require 'spoon feeding' all the time. It makes our working life incredibly frustrating. Imagine-being the scrub nurse and having to constantly instruct your scout while trying to anticipate instruments. Now it's understandable with someone new to the area, but after 12 months if someone doesn't 'get it' then the OR really isn't the place for them. We carry so many people who don't get it and never will.

This particular nurse has been in several different clinics and has had many complaints about her and some people just won't have her in their clinic. I don't care how many years OR experience she's had because it's clear that she's not learned very much at all and does not know the basics. I work with nurses who've had 4 months experience who are miles ahead of her.

Because I'm in charge of a clinic I have no choice but to teach her. I've made my concerns about her incompetence known, I refuse to have her as the only scout nurse during riskier operations because she can't work independently.Shes' leaving my clinic soon to rotate in another area. I'm so glad. I've given it my best but she's just not suited to the OR. We can't afford to keep babying people like this. It's unfair to the nurses, surgeons and most of all to the patients.

Anyway thanks for the advice. :)

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oh another thing that happened last night, (not exactly dangerous but this was my face when I saw her :eek:!) she was sitting at the nurse's station as usual, chitchatting with a respiratory therapist..I am charting when I hear her logging into our VoiceCare system on speaker phone..She says to the RT "wait until you hear all the stuff that is wrong with this guy!" and proceeds to play,loudly on speakerphone, the patient's name,DOB, admitting diagnoses and past medical history. I was like are you ******* kidding me? Maybe not such a huge deal, but I thought it was so wrong!

We have filed incident reports and gone to our patient care manager numerous times about this girl, and yet NOTHING has been done about her. 2 patients have ended up in the unit as a result of her negligent care..and here is the kicker..everytime she is confronted about anything (chatting on the cell phone while removing and administering meds), she claims that other nurses are targeting her because......wait for it....because she is so pretty and we are all jealous!!!!!!!!!!OMG..she has no accountability for her actions, and it is dangerous and uncomfortable to work with her. The PCM has made the excuse for her that she is a young nurse, which doesn't fly with us..( she has worked at this hospital for almost 2 years...I just graduated from school this past May, and when we are both working, I am put in charge! Still she does not get it!)...ugh I am just disgusted and feel like nothing will be done until she kills someone..Recently in a mtg with another nurse and our PCM, she claimed that she had a legal right to sue for HARRASSMENT if action is taken against her...

sorry for the length of this vent..been building up for 6 months!:nurse:

presuming you are in USA, wouldnt the first highlighted thought be a HIPAA violation!!??

the second highlighted thought, "who is she sleeping with" comes to mind...

how about skipping over the ineffective persons and communicating directly with the risk management folks?

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Oncology, telemetry/stepdown.
presuming you are in USA, wouldnt the first highlighted thought be a HIPAA violation!!??

the second highlighted thought, "who is she sleeping with" comes to mind...

how about skipping over the ineffective persons and communicating directly with the risk management folks?

Yes, I'm in the US, and yes it definitely was a HIPAA violation...after realizing that our PCM was not going to take action, we have recently gone above the chain of command..communicating directly with the Chief Nursing Officer and other Nursing Supervisors..it is a crazy situation and since we are union, we are waiting to find out whether they will protect her or not...such a sad situation when nurses like this are still practicing while plenty of great people are still unemployed.. :(

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Yes, I'm in the US, and yes it definitely was a HIPAA violation...after realizing that our PCM was not going to take action, we have recently gone above the chain of command..communicating directly with the Chief Nursing Officer and other Nursing Supervisors..it is a crazy situation and since we are union, we are waiting to find out whether they will protect her or not...such a sad situation when nurses like this are still practicing while plenty of great people are still unemployed.. :(

i am pro union, but this little twit isnt protectable (is that even a word?)lol......HIPAA is HIPAA....good luck

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Specializes in retired from healthcare.

I have seen girls who slammed a patient's head against the bed board when they pulled her up in bed and then laughed when she cried out in pain.

I saw two separate girls do it to the same lady at separate times.

I reported them and the facility kept them anyway.

There was a girl who when we had a two-person transfer patient leaned up against the bed and it was time to put her back on the bed she went prancing out of the room with the excuse that she had to report the vitals "immediately to the charge nurse."

I flipped out and started screaming at her, a thing I hardly ever do in my workplace. I just got more excuses.

I saw a girl use a wash clothe to clean up a bowel movement and then use it on the patient's face. I reported her to a supervisor and got the comment that she was "good."

I have seen people pick up sheets and towels off the floor and use them on the patients. I have grabbed these things and threw them in the laundry right in front of them.

I have seen girls scrub a washcloth so hard against a patient's private parts that they started screaming. I brought this up in a nurses meeting. I was hoping to talk the whole staff into stopping this because their most popular girls had done it.

Those girls did not get fired. Some of them were experts with a guilt trip.

I have seen girls try to intimidate me into moving patients alone who they know are officially two-person transfers or lift transfers. They got belligerent with me when I tried to reason with them. I reported them. They do not get in trouble.

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I don't know if this was a nurse and never did find out exactly who it was, but at my old hospital, an employee in the child psych unit told her family over the dinner table that a neighborhood child was on the unit, and the next day, the kids went to school and told all their classmates about it.

What happened to said employee?

She was told not to do it again.

I also read in a pharmacy trade magazine about a Wal-Mart pharmacist who was blatantly forging C-II prescriptions, and received the same "punishment".

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Wow very nicely put! I have to agree with you!!

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Wow very nicely put!!

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