Do you tattle on your co-workers when you find something missed?

[squatmunkie_RN]

I work in an environment where everyone smiles to your face while they are stabbing you in the back. With nurses who will lie and exaggerate the truth telling the NM on you in emails and phone calls, then smile and joke to your face. How can you work like this? When you're constantly looking over your shoulder worried about what mistake will go in your permanent file? If I find something wrong, something missed by the previous nurse I fix the problem and move on. (the shift is WAY too busy to stop and write emails on what the previous nurse missed by accident) But, now that writing emails and vindictiveness is what the NM wants from his staff, I guess I will give him that.

I learned something last week. Trust NO. ONE. EVER.

Please give me your thoughts! :)

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

Not currently, but this environment was present big time at my first hospital. Nurses tend to have low self esteem and are bent on "one-upping" each other in order to make them feel better about themselves. This is due in part to the fact that a higher than average percentage of nurses originate from low socioeconomic backgrounds, in contrast to most other professionals. Within the hospital, this behavior is characteristically nurse-like. Truth. Do you ever see pharmacists, MDs, or RTs doing "write-ups" on each other? Hardly. This behavior is endemic to nurses. Especially sad, lonely, pathetic female nurses. Male nurses almost never behave this way.

probably true, although not pc. and i can feel the flames and tales of trust fund princesses who attended U Penn for their bsn ...........awhile back there was a thread that alluded to this and nurses having the attitude of "high school drop outs" i believe that was in the title. lol. i can say this one upmanship, tattle tale of embellished stories and drama queens was present in my other jobs but they weren't "professional" jobs. the men i have worked with in nursing are either too "cool" or old for this or just as bad and willing to rise to the top of the social hierarchy . these have always been younger

[anotherone, BSN, RN]

Here is an example : new admit with unlabeled iv tubing . now,i would just hang new tubing or knowing that the pt was literally just admited 2 hrs ago ask the nurse (not really needed) and date it myself for when it is to be changed. do we think pt was brought from home with it? but no... the nurse who found this made a big bs "pt saftey issue" mocking session at the desk. where then all those present talked about other errors they found from the same nurse ( who disnt date the tubing). meanwhile , i have picked up some big time errors from those laughing and the one recounting this. lol

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

Where I work, we are supportive of each other on our shifts. There is still that dayshift vs. nightshift "rivalry," however.

A couple of dayshift nurses wrote up a nightshift nurse because their patient was found "dirty" at the start of the shift, even though the nurse and the CNA had just cleaned up this patient by 0630. Some of the dayshift nurses have written up (or at least tried to) night shift staff for trivial little things.

One of my coworkers on nights made a point the other night. There was a patient on our floor, in their 80's, COPD, in atrial fib with RVR. Patient's HR at rest was in the 120's-140's and then after getting a breathing treatment, I saw their HR spike up to the 170's+. Patient was like this ALL day, apparently, and the night shift nurse asked if the doctor knew about it, to which the dayshift nurse said "yes" and we looked at the MAR and saw cardizem IVP was given only once. We took matters into our own hands that night. If one of the nightshift nurses left a patient like that for dayshift, we guarantee that a dayshift nurse would try to write that person up.

[squatmunkie_RN]

Thanks for the comments. I got an completely unfair, one-sided write up based on lies and exaggerations of a co-worker. But, I guess I'm playing the game of let's all tattle on each other. The entire 2 years I've worked at this place I've never written anyone up, never said to the NM "so and so didn't do this and that" I have no time to do such I'm running around taking care of pt's for 12 hours!! Correcting the problem and moving on to the next pt was the norm for me. But if this is the game we're going to play, I WILL PLAY.

Sad it's come to this huh? I like it better when everyone works together. There are no day shift only or night shift only duties. I thought we were suppose to work as a team. But, I guess I was wrong. Pettiness is what the NM wants. So thats what they're going to get.

[Guest343211]

Funny I should read this just as I am dealing with a ludicrous write-up by a charge nurse who wrote a rambling, incoherent complaint to the manager that I was "complaining" about my assignments the other day. No quotes, no witnesses, just her (mis)interpretation of what was said; she never had the guts to confront me with this which obviously bothered her enough to go over my head (like a first grader runs to the teacher) and try to get me in trouble with management.

You want war? Sure, you can have it. But if I made as many mistakes as this so-called charge nurse, I would probably not start this. But I guess some people just can't comprehend that

people in glass houses should not throw stones.

Even the densest among them, however, should understand that

what goes around comes around.

If ONLY this wasn't so typical. . .but it is. I feel like people that go to school for nursing should get a massive indoctrination into what this is like. The job and its demands, ethics, caring, legalities, physical, mental, and emotional demands are MORE than enough compared to many other kinds of jobs. These kinds of issues we are discussing so pushes people over the edge. I know a lot of people that got out of nursing, for these kinds of reasons, before the hiring freezes hit. I understand people need jobs and have to pay back student loans. But people really should do more research about nursing before the go into it. If a person can go into something else, they should, b/c the across-the-board toxicity in nursing adds severe insult to a job that already includes a ton of injury. Darn, and I am someone that has, overall, loved what I have done in nursing----minus the unnecessary toxic BS!

[Guest343211]

Thanks for the comments. I got an completely unfair, one-sided write up based on lies and exaggerations of a co-worker. But, I guess I'm playing the game of let's all tattle on each other. The entire 2 years I've worked at this place I've never written anyone up, never said to the NM "so and so didn't do this and that" I have no time to do such I'm running around taking care of pt's for 12 hours!! Correcting the problem and moving on to the next pt was the norm for me. But if this is the game we're going to play, I WILL PLAY.

Sad it's come to this huh? I like it better when everyone works together. There are no day shift only or night shift only duties. I thought we were suppose to work as a team. But, I guess I was wrong. Pettiness is what the NM wants. So thats what they're going to get.

Again, way too TYPICAL in nursing.

I understand how you feel, but don't get too caught up in that game. I may end up sucking more out of you then it's worth. If you find yourself thinking about this kind of stuff too much (more than just 10 minutes) outside of work, really, you need to re-think and re-group yourself, so to speak. It's not worth becoming one of the "can't beat em, join em mentalities." I mean do what you must, but don't let it suck too much out of it. I am sure you have a whole big life to live outside of work. If you keep seeing this is how things roll at your place, sure, keep your nose clean, do what you must, but on the QT, start looking elsewhere. Seriously. I have seen this kind of junk hurt too many nurses--and even patients. A toxic work environment is BAD news for patients!

[eatmysoxRN, ASN, RN]

Looking at Mircromedex ...compatible in the same line as NS or D5NS with up to 60 mEq/L potassium chloride ...when using an IV infusion pump, administer eptifibatide undiluted directly from the 100 mL vial; the vial should be spiked, within the circle on the stopper top, with a vented infusion set.

Compatibility wasn't my issue. My issue was that it being hung as a piggyback meant that since the clamp was closed, the patient received no Integrillin at all. On meds like that, I prefer to have it on its own module connected at the bottom y-site with NS. It's done that way on my floor. I like to know that drips are infusing correctly whenever possible.

~ No One Can Make You Feel Inferior Without Your Consent -Eleanor Roosevelt ~

[champagnesupeRNova]

Thanks for the comments. I got an completely unfair, one-sided write up based on lies and exaggerations of a co-worker. But, I guess I'm playing the game of let's all tattle on each other. The entire 2 years I've worked at this place I've never written anyone up, never said to the NM "so and so didn't do this and that" I have no time to do such I'm running around taking care of pt's for 12 hours!! Correcting the problem and moving on to the next pt was the norm for me. But if this is the game we're going to play, I WILL PLAY.

Sad it's come to this huh? I like it better when everyone works together. There are no day shift only or night shift only duties. I thought we were suppose to work as a team. But, I guess I was wrong. Pettiness is what the NM wants. So thats what they're going to get.

I've recently been slapped with the reality of nursing. I've read so many threads about this same subject, but never thought it was THAT prevalent that I would actually experience it myself. Well, I did this week. Pretty much the same situation as you. Reported to management for gross exaggerations and lies. I am a new employee and was shocked that this was happening because of how freaking hard I was working and how much I was helping other people on the unit - new as well as experienced. I was so angry/frustrated/beaten down after this happened.

The thing is, this type of work culture is passed down. Someone does it to a nurse, then they get angry and feel entitled to do it to other people - especially new staff. It gets passed down from cohort to cohort until this becomes the norm on the unit. It's like people think, "Hey if it happened to me, that new grad over there sure as hell is not going to get off easy."

That's why I've decided not to participate in this culture. It's disgusting and it's appalling that it is so prevalent in nursing. I'm not passing down any negativity. I will defend myself, of course, but I'm not retaliating. It's not worth it.