but i dont want to be a bytch

[thisnurse]

so i pass the audition and am finally accepted on our unit. battle won but not the war.

now i find myself having to deal with some of the assistants.

i dont want to continually tell them what needs done...they know..i dont want to bytch at them all the time. i dont want the hassle. and i sure as heck dont want to be a tattle tale. not my style.

looks like im going to have to do one or the other soon tho...arghhhh

for the past two days i have had the misfortune to work with one of the worst. kicker is she is going to nursing school. boy i cant wait for her to graduate..lol

she did vital signs and accuchecks and that was about it. never bathed anyone, changed one bed cos i told her to. never sent any specimens. left urine and feces in the bathroom....needed a specimen but she never sent them. pt complained to the mgr. i had to force her to go in and take care of it.

i had to force her to do everything. asked her to run to medical records...was urgent. she told me no...she was charting...lol

i went. god knows i had nothing to do...lol

she looks good on paper tho. she charts every single thing she does so she looks busy.

yesterday happened to be the day the mgr decided to go around and ask the patients how they felt about their care. all the things she did were taken note of by the mgr. of course i am going to hear about them too but its worth it. i wouldnt do her job yesterday. i did it the day before.

yesterday was nuts. i had no time.

the mgr came up to her and told her bout the things she didnt do. she never said a word to me...the assistant says to me "boy are we in trouble" lol

no...i dont think we are.

then we have a clique of assistants who try to run the unit by trying to intimidate the nursing staff and some of them, they do.

in the next day or so im going to be on the shytlist because i did go to the mgr and complained, naming names. and i know they are all going to turn on me and i know that things are going to get very uncomfortable for a while but damn i dont know what else i can do. i tell them whats up and they dont listen. they do this to all the nurses, not just me, but seems like im the only one gutsy (stupid) enough to speak up...

i dont want to be a bytch!

[Tiggeress]

I have only been a nurse for a year now. ( a little late getting started) But when I was in nursing school, and working on Med, Surg, we had some nurse who use to get angry at us for not helping them with pts that we were not assigned. We had NA's that would not help us. So when we went to class the next time, I asked our teacher "what should we do?" She said 1. you are not to help with other pts. 2. No matter that you are a student, the NA's are there to do certain work. 3. You had better learn now how to get other people to work with you. 4. Always remember be professional, be courteous, be aware you might be working with these people one day. 5. Alway do what is best for the pt, even if that means writting someone up, or reporting them.

So when I went back the next day, I politly told the RN "Sorry I am not allowed to touch a pt unless my teacher has assigned them to me, but I will find someone who can help." and to the NA's that didn't want to help, I would go up to them not as a student but as a student "Nurse" and say, "Excuse me, are you busy? I am glad you are not. Can you follow me I need assistance now?" and 9 out of 10 times they did help after that.

After I got my LPN, I went back to that hospital and used some of the people I worked with on Med, Surg as referrences, and got a job there on the Psych Unit. Its not always being a "BEEP" sometimes its just showing authority, and doing what is right for the pt. So keep doing whats right for the pts.:)

[thisnurse]

i used to own a business. i had more than a few jobs in managment. trust me when i tell you that these are the kind of people that you HAVE TO BE A BYTCH TO.

i am going to have to push them to the wall. its the only way they will ever respect me. thats the kind of people they are.

these few assistants have screamed at me when i have ASKED them to do something....

notice the quotes here:

"hey when you get a minute would you mind changing a bed?"

"NO!"

"is that room ready for our admission?"

"how do i know, i dont clean rooms"

"would you please take my patient to xray?"

"no, that's your job"

so you can see these are the kind of people you HAVE to bytch at or write up. ill chose bytching at and writing up as the last resort.

and these arent people having a bad day, this is how they ALWAYS are. if i were the only nurse having this problem with the same assistants i would rethink my approach. im not.

i was sitting at the desk charting one night and one of the worst ones was sitting on the other side. her nurse come up to her and the following conversation takes place...

RN: i want to tell you about the patient in 27

ass: DONT TELL ME I DONT WANT TO HEAR IT

RN: but you need to know that....

ass:I TOLD YOU THAT I DONT WANT TO KNOW, I DONT CARE, DONT TELL ME.

RN: look, the patient in 27....

ass:I TOLD YOU I DONT CARE, DONT TELL ME ABOUT HIM, I DONT WANT TO HEAR IT AND I DONT CARE.

the nurse continued to talk over the assistant and told her about the patient anyway.

what a bunch of crap. no way am i ever going to let ANYONE talk to me like that and get away with it. if i do not set a standard right now they will be walking all over me, just like they do the other nurses. its far more important to me to be an effective manager that provides quality care than to be accepted by that clique of slugs.

[jrmcdoug2]

I'm sick of nursing all together. I'm tired of the call bells, I'm tired of the baby-mama-drama(i work Mother/Baby), and i'm sick of the "just because you are the RN it doesn't mean you can tell me what to do mess". Whatever.

I'm about to quit and become a research nurse.

[Teshiee]

I can really understand what you are going through. When I had to be a charge nurse and have NA's working with me. I came off to the point and serious. I never gave them the impression I was better because I will wipe rear ends in feces in a minute. I am not too far from where I was to do basic care on my clients. I even assist my NA's I don't believe in working someone to death because I am not going to.

Unfortunately you have people that like to try you and see where you are. I had to write up one nurse because she was being straight ignorant. She left a resident in urine til it reaked in the whole unit. I asked her politely numerous times to change the resident and please do it before you go on break. She outright disobeyed me and I wrote her up. If the work was too much I would have been more than happy to asssist her any way I can. But don't disrespect me and my position. The ultimate responsibility falls on my license not theirs! So knowing that already I don't care about bad feelings the patient, client or resident is our priority.

[Teshiee]

Originally posted by jrmcdoug2

I'm sick of nursing all together. I'm tired of the call bells, I'm tired of the baby-mama-drama(i work Mother/Baby), and i'm sick of the "just because you are the RN it doesn't mean you can tell me what to do mess". Whatever.

I'm about to quit and become a research nurse.

"Ignorance is a skill one should never master."

"Ignorance is a skill one should never master."

[Teshiee]

Originally posted by Teshiee

I can really understand what you are going through. When I had to be a charge nurse and have NA's working with me. I came off to the point and serious. I never gave them the impression I was better because I will wipe rear ends in feces in a minute. I am not too far from where I was to do basic care on my clients. I even assist my NA's I don't believe in working someone to death because I am not going to.

Unfortunately you have people that like to try you and see where you are. I had to write up one nurse because she was being straight ignorant. She left a resident in urine til it reaked in the whole unit. I asked her politely numerous times to change the resident and please do it before you go on break. She outright disobeyed me and I wrote her up. If the work was too much I would have been more than happy to asssist her any way I can. But don't disrespect me and my position. The ultimate responsibility falls on my license not theirs! So knowing that already I don't care about bad feelings the patient, client or resident is our priority.

"Ignorance is a skill one must never master."

[purplemania, BSN, RN]

I had this conflict recently. I kept asking her "Are you REFUSING to do what I ask?" After a while she realized I was documenting for possible write-ups (never wrote her up but will if she goes back to old ways). Things got a little better. She also is in nursing school.

[jrmcdoug2]

tshe,

If the ignorance comment was for me.......let me just say this,

I'm smart enough to know when something is not for me. Bedside nursing is one of them. That's all there is to it.

[thisnurse]

i was wondering what that ignorance comment was all about. guess i have it mastered...lol

i was charting the other night and i heard one of the assistants ask another one to help her. the second assistant asked her who her nurse was. she told her and she said...no i wont help you.

and i told the nurse what happened. i am trying like crazy to get my peers to start putting the hammer down on some of these assistants who refuse to work. maybe if enough of us complain they will be forced to do their jobs. even a half azzed job is better than what they are doing now. its the only way a change is going to come. we run around like idiots while they sit at the desk and chat. the new thing now is doing each others hair and makeup at the desk.

[Teshiee]

OH GOSH! Let me be the first to appologize I was trying to place a quote after my comment and I goofed. No way are you or anyone on this thread is ignorant. I am so sorry! It was a general statement no intention of offending anyone. When I realized what I have done I knew someone would take it that I was implying they were ignorant.

Please forgive! Anyone who doesn't like something has a right to choose whatever they want to make their career life easier. Is there anyway I can have it deleted?

[Teshiee]

I am sorry I made an error. I was trying to make a general quote after my comments and somehow I made a boo boo. It was not meant for anyone. I am not oppose to anyone who is unhappy with their surroundings. I wish you well with your research nursing. What area of research are you interested in? Again I am sorry for that. Sincerely Teshiee

[pebbles, BSN, RN]

Do you ever get the feeling that some people (assistants and nurses and doctors alike, sometimes) forget that the reason they are here is for the patients?

Some of this inter-personal squabbling that goes on in the name of doing and/or avoiding work just makes me want to shake people! What do patients think when they overhear all this from the hall or from the doorway of their room? They understand if a nurse is busy doing other important things, but I don't think they are supportive of being told "It's not my job, so you have to wait", or worse...

I find that "asking for help" instead of giving orders is helpful, but that's also the structure of my unit. The aides are more willing to do things for my patients when I am busy if they know that I pitch in to help THEM out when I'm not busy. "It's not my job" goes both ways, and it's a shame either way. There are other nurses who don't get the support from the assistants because they won't do bedpan duty when it's busier on the ward for aides than nurses...