Favoritism in assignments

General E. Speaking, RN, RN · Jan 26, 2011

The assignments should be rotated. Perhaps you could approach it that way. Ask the manager if the assignments can be rotated so the newer nurses can get the "full" ER experience?

As far as getting flexed to go home, there should be a book. Just as there should be a book for who floated last, etc.

Do you have unit council meetings? Is there a suggestion box? Maybe you could implement a suggestion box.. I'm sure others have the same complaint.

I can see why these nurses don't want the change.. they have it cushy.

LegzRN · Jan 26, 2011

This is just a guess,but from my experience in ER... I'd say you work the day shift.

wildlaurel · Jan 26, 2011

I work a weird shift that spans days & nights! But yeah, the assignments are made on day shift. They're great nurses, but I'm not the only person who has noticed this! Maybe I'll make a suggestion regarding a book for float and flex. I know other units use those.

LegzRN · Jan 26, 2011

When I first started out in the ED a few years ago, I worked mostly 7a-7p with a few random variations, but never starting later than 3pm and never leaving later than 3am. I saw the formed clicks and how they treated the other nurses and I figured it was like that everywhere. Somehow, I managed to stay out of the click, but I guess in their good graces because I never got picked on. Sometimes I think that's one of the benefits of being a male nurse.

Then somehow I ended up getting scheduled a night shift on New Years eve. I didn't really care and thought it might even be exciting. That night I witnessed the marvels of the ED night shift crew and how they work like a finely tuned machine. Everyone helped each other and it was great. I guess there's really no time to show favoritism when you're constantly understaffed and always fighting just to keep your head above water.

Needless to say, after that one night shift, I became hooked. 2 years later and I have never worked a day shift since.

Altra, BSN, RN · Jan 26, 2011

Triage is a cushier assignment?? Where I work, we call it the penalty box and no one is forced to work triage for more than 8 hrs. at a stretch because it would violate the Geneva Conventions treaties.

I'm sorry this is happening to you. This sounds like a lower acuity ER with an "in crowd" that apparently doesn't want to get their hands dirty. In every ER I've worked in, if there is any favoritism in assignments, it's that a favored nurse always gets the good stuff - traumas, etc.

wildlaurel · Jan 26, 2011

I don't mean that triage is a cushy assignment, but we have several nurses who prefer to work there because they don't like taking an assignment. My complaint is that despite being trained to triage, I never get to do it. How will I ever get good at that if I never get the experience? It is better on night shift - mainly because we're rarely over/fully staffed!

ObtundedRN, BSN, RN · Jan 26, 2011

Triage is a cushier assignment?? Where I work, we call it the penalty box and no one is forced to work triage for more than 8 hrs. at a stretch because it would violate the Geneva Conventions treaties.

I don't work in the ED, but from what I learned from talking to ED nurses when I worked EMS, this is how the EDs in my area work. Triage, diagnostics, the low acuity beds, etc, are the unwanted assignments. The "good" assignments were working the trauma rooms (level 1 trauma center) and other major treatment areas.

wildlaurel · Jan 26, 2011

We're not a trauma center, but I actually do feel a little better now. Thanks guys! I tend to get a lot of the high acuity pts and at least one of our two trauma rooms. I LIKE those pts too, but I worry I won't be a well-rounded ER nurse if I can't triage.

MntnGirl · Jan 26, 2011

I deal with this on my unit (Med/Surg unit) and there are several Charge Nurses who, when I see are working, I know who's gonna get the "easy" patients and downsize. And yes, this is the day shift that these issues are coming about. So I work the night shift and like a previous poster stated, it's a whole different ballgame on nights. None of the clicky,favoritism situations. We all try to work together and when admits arrive we all try to tag team the patient to get them settled as quickly as possible. I love it, and I will never ever ever work days on this unit because of the clicks and favorites and overall chaotic stressful and often very risky situations that come about on days. I also have to deal with the manager that if you talk to and express any concerns involving other co-workers who goes right to the co-workers and tells them who said what about them, I truly believe that my manager likes to stir up drama and trouble between the co-workers. So I keep my mouth shut and am just waiting for the day that I can transfer (got a couple months before I'm eligible). I want to transfer because Med/Surg is not my ideal type of nursing but I can honestly say that my co-workers due play a small role in why I want out of the unit.

eriksoln, BSN, RN · Jan 26, 2011

i work in an emergency department and have for the past 2 years. i am often frustrated by the favoritism in assignments in our department. a very unfortunate part of nursing indeed. working as a travel nurse gave me new perspective on it too. whoa, i'd have seven patients, everyone else five, and i was on for first admit. believe you me, if you don't speak up, it just goes on and on. people who are part of the "in crowd" get the better assignments - floating, triage, less acute beds. if we are fully staffed and one of them wants to go home, they just tell the charge nurse (most of whom are part of the "in" crowd) and they leave. i asked to leave early once because i didn't feel well when we were fully staffed and the request was refused. of course. who would take the assignments no one wanted if you were gone? again, its an exercise in assertiveness, because if you don't voice your concerns, it'll continue. the thing is, i've heard these same people talk about other nurses or staff who complained to management - because management shares that information with charge nurses - so i'm reluctant to say anything. does she share it because she doesn't know better or because she is part of the "in" crowd? two different beasts there. if it is because she doesn't know better, fill her in and let her know how unprofessional her charge nurses are being. if it is because she plays the game too, go above her head with your concerns. there are committees at most hospitals that deal with ethics concerns or staff complaints. use them. i also feel as though my experiences are being limited because i'm not chosen to do any of these other things even though i've been trained to do them. i'm not a bad nurse and i work really hard. hence you are chosen to be the one they dump on. if you were a "bad nurse" they'd be more careful about how they make assignments. truth is, sometimes you just have to.....ummm....come off as a bad nurse to stop this sort of thing. on an old unit of mine, there was an "in" crowd that never finished their work, took the best assignments and helped one another but no one else. when i had things dumped on me, they remained undone. if they tried to pin it on me, i just played dumb "oh, you mean you never finished that admission paperwork. gee, wish i had noticed that and i could have finished it for you but i was so busy, i do have some pretty needy patients right now, i never even checked. oh well, you are back so you can do it today." i'm chosen to precept new nurses, so i can't be that awful. i'm so frustrated that i'm really considering leaving the department to work elsewhere.
not the worst option, but not the best either. if er is where you want to be, then be there. i left my old unit because i didn't want nights anymore. if i had loved working nights and being on the pulmonary unit, i'd have stayed and dealt with the "in" crowd. its really not as hard as it looks. they'll click their teeth at you when you challenge them and gossip will fly on your "lack of a team approach" or w/e on a daily basis but, eh........are you really that concerned about what they think anyway? when i was a travel nurse, from time to time i'd be handed unreasonable assignments. when i was handed one that was just hard or undesirable, i grinned and bared it. when it was unreasonable, i just simply told the charge the assignment was not acceptable and refused it, wouldn't take report till it was fixed. if they refused, i told them "i'm not taking the assignment, i'll be in the lounge. u can call the supervisor and if they deem the assignment fair, i'll do it, till then, unless it's fixed, sorry, not taking report." now, people will tell you "oh, you'll be fired, you'll burn for that". not so. not only did it make it clear there was a line that could not be crossed, but it made them use more caution with future assignments. like i said, if you are the quiet mouse who takes it and takes it, it'll go on forever.

i've never once been fired, and i've taken on many many "in crowds" face to face.

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Jan 26, 2011

do you work with me??? i have the exact same complaint regarding my current place of employment (it is an er too). i work three times harder then most nurses (those in the in-crowd) every shift and i am given the crap patients. they are either crap because they do not need to be in an er or they are crap because they belong in an icu right now, and yes, i have three others to care for though i should only have 1! when i complain, i get reamed rather then support!!! most will gossip that i am incompetent and get some charge nurses (also within the in-crowd) to fire-off an email to the nurse manager that i am incompetent. they leave out the fact that i was providing care to an icu patient with 3 other patients.

another thing that bothers me, new grads and nurses with little to no experience in the er will be given the prime assignments (traumas and cardiac patients) and receive help because they are known to the in-crowd. while i, working the same shift, will be assigned to less acuity patients. when i work the traumas or cardiac beds i never get help even when i was a new grad. i have to find techs and pull other nurses! in-crowd nurses working the same beds do not have to ask for help; other nurses and the techs will just show up. in additon, after working those beds once in a blue moon, i will go weeks or months without being assigned to them again. i agree with the above poster, you have to speak up but i do not know what good it may do in the end.

i have spoken up for over a year and during the shifts i have gotten situations that no nurse in his/her right mind would tolerate fixed. on the other hand, i have yet to get my crazy charge nurses to stop behaving this way in the first place and i have yet to get them to treat me as a valued team member even though i go out of my way to help them when they are in need!!! moreover, the problem with complaining to management is that nothing changes.

my managers believe the gossip and opinions of the in-crowd even if they see with his/her own eyes that i am a good nurse. in fact, i have been told by the two that work nights i am impressive! may be this is the case because they had low expectations due to the gossip???? plus, i found that it is a waste of time for me to complain because other nurses with way more experience complained, soon became the targets of the popular clique, and are now gone. management informed the complainers that it was they who were the problem and not the floor or the behaviors of the other nurses. therefore, i am leaving...

besides, if i were to complain any further, i'll bet the in-crowd will make something up (like they did about another nurse who is no longer working for my facility) to cover their reasons for the bed assignments and to push me out. i do not need any further drama in my life or a mark against me as a nurse.... i know i can do better career-wise somewhere else. gl!