I'm a new grad in a large ICU. I recently had my 6 month eval, which was pretty much the typical "keep on improving in these areas" kind of thing. I haven't had any "talks" with management, and feel that I'm starting to gain confidence.
As a nurse, I make every attempt to treat my patients the way that I would want to be treated if I were in that bed. The same for the family. I have been a patient myself as well as family members, so I have first-hand experience of what works and what doesn't. I try my best to ease the stress and anxiety for both the patient and their loved ones.
As far as I knew, I had been doing "fine"... until last night.
I took one of my patients for a walk around the unit, and had another nurse covering my other patient for me. When I got back, the covering nurse informed me that my other patient's family was very upset. When I went into their room, I was bombarded by two new family members who accused me of neglecting their mother. This patient was very fidgetty-- kicking the blankets off, pulling on her gown, taking the monitor leads off, and at one point had a death grip on her ETT despite being bilaterally wrist restrained. Apparently while I was gone, the patient had pulled off her monitor leads, and the monitor was alarming, and the family assumed that I didn't care about her because I wasn't running immediately into the room. I appologized, reconnected her, and stated that she was connected 10 minutes ago when I was last in the room, and had been in my other patient's room. Well, that didn't satisfy them at all. I let my charge nurse (who was also my preceptor before I was cut loose) know that there was some unhappiness, and she didn't have any advice. About an hour later, my educator stopped by the room and asked the family how things were going. Well, they ran out of the room with her to "tattle" on everything I did or didn't do in the 1/2 hour that they had been there.
They accused me of watching their mother fidget due to being uncomfortable and not do anything about it (this was just the way the patient was, and I didn't have any PRN anti-anxiety meds ordered to give her). They also didn't relay their concerns to me. They didn't like the towel that I had drapped around her neck to catch her drool. I hadn't turned her (we had just bathed her, and had been turned then). I didn't jump up when she coughed one time that made the ventilator alarm for 2 seconds-- even though I did poke my head in the room and explain that her coughing was a really good sign. Lastly, I had a nasty, condesending attitude that only got worse with each interaction that they had with me.
I ran into my educator later in the night and asked if I could speak to her. Well, I was bombarded with everything that the family had said about me. My side of the story was never asked for. My attempts at explaining myself were shooed away. I was told that this family has never complained about the care that their mother had received, and that this was significant that they had issues with me. In addition, I heard that I cannot trust my former preceptor, who I thought I could go to with problems, as she repeated everything I had vented to her about. Oh, and the best part? This all happened in the hallway outside the staff room at the end of my shift-- grand central station.
I left in tears. My character has been attacked. And I have learned that I can't trust anyone.
I'm really not interested in stepping foot in that hospital again. The management is so back stabbing and not supportive of their staff. I guess I'll have to learn to keep my mouth shut, and not talk to anyone.
