Feels like I am being used like a slave!!!

[MyPrnPleaseBSN]

Ok, maybe I exaggerated a little guys, but here's the deal. I work on a psych unit that staffs two RNs per shift. A charge nurse and a medication nurse. I have noticed that day shift and night shift do things a little different.

For day shift, the med nurse does exactly what it states - MEDS! , They pass medication to ALL patients on the unit, and patient are always requiring medication all around the clock. The charge nurse does the charting/documentations and admissions, HOWEVER, med nurse can help IF THEY CHOSE TO.

But on nights (my regular shift), the charge nurse wants me to pass all medications, AND chart half of the patients, AND also do admissions. There are have been shifts where I end up doing all or most of the work with little for the charge nurse to do. They make you feel like its an obligation. Mind you, the charge nurse are the one getting the extra pay. IT IS UNFAIR!! By the time I'm done passing medications, documentation and admissions, the charge nurse is just on the computer, chilling.. watching me buss my a$$. I am at the point where I feel like I need to speak up and possibly approach my manager about it without sounding like I am not a team player or a complainer. There is nothing precisely in writing really defining who should be doing what, but I just know my role as a medication nurse as the title states. Even the charge nurses on day shift are saying it's unfair and that I should not be passing medication and doing all the extra unless I wanted to. ..HELP!!

[caliotter3]

One time I was hired to do a four hour "medication pass only" shift at the new facility where a former colleague moved to (as the new DON). She told me meds only. Well, it didn't take long for the other nurses to start twisting my arm to do the "rest of the story", way more than I could accomplish by myself in only four hours. They caught me between my acquaintance with the DON and working alongside them. I decided I could not do the situation justice, so I left. I advise you to do what I didn't do for myself, speak up. Do what you were originally told to do, and don't add to it unless you choose to do so and it doesn't compromise your ability to provide safe care. Good luck.

[dudette10, MSN, RN]

Have you spoken to the night charge nurse about the inequitable sharing of duties?

[MyPrnPleaseBSN]

Thank you so much. I feel like the next shift I work, I am just going to bring it up, I am trying my best to stay calm without my emotion getting the best of me because I know they are aware of what they are doing, and just laughing it off in the back of their head.