Fellow Nurse Goes Off On Me!!!!???

[All4NursingRN]

(VENT) So last shift one of my fellow nurses decides to make a huge scene during change of shift report.

It's about time for shift change and I see her walking into the unit and she walks past me doesn't say hello. I figure she probably didn't see me or was having a bad day.

Rewind back to my night: It was a rough night in the trauma bay, charge nurse finally pulled an extra nurse to relieve me (late around 3pm) and cover the 1 patient remaining in trauma since it was quieting down just so I could take a break, grab something to eat etc..

So now I come back to the unit around 3:30 (cut my break in half because I wanted to make sure everything was ok, etc..) and there's a new patient in the trauma bay who we start working on.

It's about 3:50p when a nurse from the main ER comes in and tells us (the 3 of us RN's that are standing next to one another looking up patient info on the computer) that a patient who recently came from triage will be coming into the bay due to hypotension, tachycardia.

The patient who is relatively stable, yet needs critical observation arrives in the bay around 3:55p close to 4p. We get him undressed and and plug him in, hook him up to the monitor, MD's arent even here yet.

The oncoming RN is now in the bay, she is the only RN for the bay. There are supposed to be 2 RN's in the bay. I finish up drawing labs on the new patient and turn to give her report. I ask her if she's the only nurse for the bay and she says that they always put her in there by herself, she also seemed just less talkative than usual and I change the subject and start to give her report.

I finish giving her report then the other bay nurse gives her report on her patient. I turn around to do something then she walks towards me and (with an attitude) says "Is someone gonna give me report on this guy???!!!) (the new patient in the bay) I quickly apologize as that I thought the last nurse mentioned what the patient came in for.

I then tell her that the patient came into the trauma bay in the last 10 minutes and what he came for and all the info I knew on the patient, but that we didn't have much info on him besides his vitals and his wife's account of what happened.

She then gets mad and asks me if I got report on this patient. I was so shocked by her attitude I said well we all took report on him and that all I knew was what he was here for. She then yells at me to go get the nurse who took report (mind you it's about 10 past 4pm and all the other RNs have left) I again apologize for not knowing more about the patient, but she keeps going off that there were 2 nurses before she came in and that I would here about this the next day.

By this time the MD's are now in the room to see the patient and even the attending had to defend me and tells her that the patient just got here and they didn't know much either. She then stops in her tracks, speechless for a moment then says "yeah but the patient wasn't triaged (which later was found to be not true) Turns out they were going to cardiovert the new patient, plus my original patient who had to be cardioverted, plus the lethargic patient on the other side of the bay. So she was coming onto 3 patients.

I believe she knew she was coming onto a hectic situation and was upset.

Turns out she reports me to her supervisor who tells the charge to speak to me the next day. She said that she recieved absolutely NO REPORT, and that I had left the bay without giving her any report on the patient. The charge (who I'm sure was more than happy to write me up) pulls me aside and tells me she has no choice but to write me up. She then stops herself mid-sentence and says "Oh but let me hear your side of the story first" I then tell her my side (mind you she also happened to walk into the trauma bay at the same time the new patient was pushed in, so she knew the patient came in around change of shift, anyway) She then decides she could no longer write me up.

I'm just shocked because this is a nurse I had sought advice from when I was starting out as a trauma nurse. She was very helpful and guided me. We would even vent to one another. I understand that they threw her in the bay by herself, or maybe she was frustrated that there were some missing pieces but darn, why did she try to get me in trouble? If this was one of the other evening nurses I wouldn't be surprised but she took me by surprise, can't believe she did that. Sigh.

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

You walked straight into someone's bad day and was an easy kill from her perspective. I would let it go as you were never actually written up, but mind you back with her in the future. She clearly has problems. You will never solve them, just understand where you stand with her and carry on doing your job.

[tokmom, BSN, RN]

Yep, she was going to have a bad day and wanted you to have a bad end of the shift. Maybe she will come and apologize. If not, then I would do as taketwoaspirin says and watch your back with her and carry on.

[All4NursingRN]

Knowing her I think she may apologize (let's see), I hate when nurses go off on one another, we're all in this together we should support one another, not look to write one another up.

[workingharder]

You may have witnessed someone reach their cracking point.

[ckh23, BSN, RN]

Tell her to leave her problems at the door and that her problems are not your problems. Just because she was upset for whatever reason, doesn't give her a free pass to act that way.

[RNGriffin]

Take note of this situation, love. The ones you thought you were connected to and would offer mentoring, will be the ones who cost you your job. This nurse should approached with caution, but not to the point where you're walking on egg shells to please her. This patient was a new transfer, and I am sure you all have a system(such as SMS or sunrise) to indicate the patient's transfer to your unit. The fact that she took this to senior management and had this blow out with you on the unit floor is unacceptable. I may be a tough cookie, but I would be speaking with the charge nurse in regards to her my next shift. She obviously brought her personal problems to the job and placed your reputation at jeopardy.

[RNikkiF]

All I can say is that it is great to make friends at work, but don't get TOO close... you never know who is going to do that to you... Best advice I've gotten is go to work , do your job, help other nurses... but don't expect anything in return... and NEVER pay any attention to all the gossip. I don't engage in it and I don't pay attention to it... people ask me all the time how I'm so out of the loop with the gossip... I TOOK myself out of the loop. Its the best thing for everyone. Don't hold a grudge against this nurse, you don't know what she had to deal with that day outside of work... just watch your back... don't trust anyone TOO much. There is a limit.

[wanderlust99]

Write the ***** up for being an unprofessional ****!

[tampasheri]

One of the reasons I don't ever want to work on a "Q-word" floor. Too slow=too much gossip.

[Creamsoda, ASN, RN]

I think I would say, "In response to this allegation, I would like to write up that nurse for falsifying information". And go on the explain what really happened.

Im glad you didnt get "written up". Lord I hate that term. Its so freaken petty. Honestly I would politely confront that nurse in a few days to further explain the situation and tell her you do not appreciate what she did. She needs to speak to you first. You dont need her on your rear in the future, because likely she will do it again. Just because shes annoyed she has to "work", doesnt give her the right to complain for no good reason. Shes just trying to make her self feel more important. I hardly ever complain about someone at work. If I ever do, its for a patient safety concern, or something truly was not right.

[VICEDRN, BSN, RN]

Since it seems like no one else offered the perspective of another ER/trauma nurse, let me. I can see where you were both kind of in the wrong on this one.

First, you already knew she was having a bad day from the minute she walked into the unit. You also know that this patient is critically ill and hemodynamically unstable.

She knew that the patient was new to the unit and that there is no reason to be rude to you (and clearly she was).

As for the BOTH of you, you knew she was to be alone with two patients who would complicated procedures and would require intensive charting. CLOCK watching in this environment is unacceptable. If you are eager to depart your job at the minute you shift is complete, I would suggest trying another unit. If your co-worker is unprepared to accept two critically ill patients, I would suggest she try another unit.

In the interim, she should apologize to you for being rude and for the write up. You should apologize to her for not even attempting to help prior to departing. You could have stayed and at least gotten the patient started, maybe labs and monitor and secondary assessment. (I mean look, you didn't even know that the patient had been triaged.) In this situation, the clock really should have been the last thing on y'alls minds.