Unprofessional Behavior

Nurses New Nurse

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How do you deal with, or plan to deal with, unprofessional behavior on the part of other nurses on your unit? I know many of us come to nursing as a second career, and I've read many comments about how nurses do not act as professionally as people in other industries.

I've seen lots of nurses who just keep their head down. That might be okay to avoid stupid gossip. But what about the stuff that borders on malpractice, like not doing ROM on comatose patients but charting that you did, or not taking pain seriously and ridiculing a patient DXed with a bonafide extremely painful condition as "just drug-seeking". Or privacy violations, or racist labelling of certain groups as inappropriately demonstrative in their grief or pain?

I so don't want to become a lousy, unprofessional nurse. But I also have to survive socially. Maybe being quiet and not sitting in the break room/nurse station is the only answer? What are your thoughts?

Specializes in ob/gyn med /surg.

daytonite is correct. i would notify the MD first to clarify the order .. if the matter is still unresolved . you contact your charge nurse or nursing supervisor... let them call the doc... never disobey an order .. never disregard an order... follow up and clarify.. just don't give the med until the order is clarified. you can hold the med ( make sure the charge nurse knows you are holding the med) until the order is clarified. you have to go up the chain of command correctly because it is your license...

Specializes in Pediatrics.

Thanks Daytonite (and everybody else btw) for your reply. I appreciate that you appreciate the difficult social situation of a new grad nurse but don't accept slipping into bad habits.

Like I said (I think), I was just a student in this situation, in my preceptorship. I've accepted a position elsewhere, because I think not only are there some real problem nurses in the unit I was on, there is also a very absent manager.

I can't wait to be assertive, do what's right, and stay out of the break room!!!!

OH, and ty for the critical thinking pathway sheet. Could be very useful for me (I'm such a geek!) to write some of those up for common conditions I didn't already do careplans on and put em in a binder!

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
I can't wait to be assertive, do what's right, and stay out of the break room!!!!

Break room! What the heck is that? No time for breaks. Your first foley catheter is free, didn't they tell you that in nursing school? :lol2: The only time you ever saw me in the break room was during report. Good luck, kiddo!

i highly doubt that you are correctly interpreting what your professors are telling you. part of it is correct, but you are leaving a big chunk of it out--the followup to the action that you take. i've been a staff nurse, supervisor and manager for many years (32 to be exact) and have a bsn myself. no one can refuse to follow a doctor's order and then do nothing to follow up on that action. that, i believe, would be malpractice. there are consequences to all one's actions. you can't refuse to follow the written orders of staff physicians without following the facility protocols for doing so and expect to stay employed for very long. can i remind you that you are posting to a graduate nurse forum--for students who have graduated from nursing school, getting ready to take the nclex and go out into the working world. i'm really concerned that you are not expressing any empathy and follow up for the patient here either. please! print the posts on this thread and show them to your professors and report back on what they've responded. i doubt that they will say that it's ok to disobey a doctor's order in protection of a patient and then do nothing more with regard to the doctor or the order that's being disobeyed. the doctor will report you and the administration will most likely support him because you didn't follow facility policy on the correct way to question a doctor's order. there's still the issue of what is going to be done for the patient. you continually skirt that issue.

no were did i say that i would not follow up.

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
No were did I say that I would not follow up.

Finally! You got it! That's right! No where did you say that you would follow up after you disobeyed a doctor's order. You can certainly disobey a doctor's order. I have no dispute with you on that. But you have to follow up.

Finally! You got it! That's right! No where did you say that you would follow up after you disobeyed a doctor's order. You can certainly disobey a doctor's order. I have no dispute with you on that. But you have to follow up.

I did not say I would not to follow up, follow up is implied, since that is common sense. :uhoh3:

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
I did not say I would not to follow up, follow up is implied, since that is common sense. :uhoh3:
I hope you learned something important from this. And, please do discuss this with your professors so you can develop a good understanding about an RNs responsibility with regard to the actions they take.
I encountered similar problems with unprofessional behavior when I was teaching school. My husband is a teacher and this is apparent to him as well. I think it is because both fields are kind of dominated by women. For some reason, many women love to gossip, tattle, back-stab, etc. Many women also tend to feel threatened by other women for various reasons. Yes, I know this is generalizing and doesn't apply to every every single woman, but "if the shoe fits".... Maybe this takes place in fields where men make up the majority of employees and I just haven't noticed it, but I have not heard as many complaints about those fields. I would like to hear what men who have entered nursing as a second career think about this, especially if you worked in a prior field where most of your peers were men.

When I started my first year teaching, one of my professors gave me some of the best advice that I could have ever received. "Stay out of the teacher's lounge." The point was to not put yourself in a situation where you are privy to gossip or more of a target for the gossipers. Some people just make it their mission in life to find little things to use against you. Of course, some people will do this anyway, but try to avoid it if possible. I tend to do the same thing once I start nursing. Gossiping and talking badly about others is really my pet peeve because you never know what another person has experienced or is having to go through in their lives. I try to be nice to everyone, but my main priority is my job. I have friends outside of work, so I don't have to worry about developing my social life on the job.

Also, when it comes to tattling and back-stabbing, I tend to be very direct. I don't believe in running to management for the purpose of tattling if you are having a problem with someone. I always try to speak directly to the person involved. Sometimes a small miscommunication can be blown out of proportion because some people lack the skills to communicate with their peers. I always appreciate it when people are honest with me and speak to me directly (even if it is something I don't want to hear), and I try to show this same courtesy to others. This doesn't mean that there are not times when you have to go management, especially if it involves a safety or privacy issue, but it shouldn't be for petty reasons.

Overall, I think the others hit the nail on the head when they said that we can only be responsible for our own behavior and professionalism. Maybe those who tend to lead by example and act professionally will rub off on others. I can also see where it would be a good idea to have some professional development on appropriate behavior in the workplace. I wonder how many businesses do this.

Seems like much more tattling going on in nursing than in other professions. It's a rarity for it to happen in most professions. Most people don't want to look unprofessional & whiny in front of their bosses. MD's don't rat on each other either - people cover their own asses and most people do that by NOT tattling. You develop a bad reputation if you're constantly tattling. The only logical reason for doing it in nursing would be if by not mentioning something your license was in jeopardy. Other than that, you just develop a reputation as a whiny trouble maker and you're screwing your own career. In addition, seems odd for a mere work acquaintance to nose into other people's business. We're thrown together as relative strangers & we're here to WORK. I don't really care who's doing what to whom, who is or isn't pulling their weight, etc; I just want to get the job done. Try to save your personal beliefs & emotions for those who are interested, and that's usually not in the work place. Maybe it's the hen house thing. If so, it's no wonder women don't get much respect.

How would you like to hear a paramedic walk up to your desk & say, "How's my ho's doing?" I am 54, 3 other nurses are 24-30, they graduated high school in this small Arkansas town. Their group social norm is cursing, telling their sexual exploits. The paramedic is loud, loves to entertain the females at our desk w/his rank stories, retorts, and cursing. You can hear him down the hall, so can everyone else. No one tells him to stop his verbal tirades, so it is acceptable. I reported it. I hope this will not be the "norm" of future nursing b/c if it is, we make ourselves sub-standard. As family/patients discover thru town "how we are & known" our trust level sinks. A paramedic who portrays himself as 'street thug' w/his hand signals, every statement a curse word included w/sexual overtones of genital parts in answer to the young female members, and known to laugh openly at patients c/o in ER, and making 'fun' of patients (the patients tell when they arrive on floor describing person very clearly) yet he still works here. I reported him twice. My last letter was this: I am mad not only at myself for not having the nerve to stand up to him and his group but they also as fellow nurses who know that the goal of this unit is to set ourselves above standard, failed by allowing this behavior to continue. The result of managers: talk w/him. He still comes over, same talk, same behavior. Reported again. Same behavior, Same talk. Our unit has been warned by Admin to use self-control w/our behavior and speech as we are front line employees, and do have responsibility for our behavior. Sounds like it may be time for us to have the hammer put down on us across the board or our jobs.

Nurses who start with c/o another nurse I am tired hearing (30 years in nsg) so I have a ready reply that stops them cold. "I don't want to hear it! I am sick and tired of hearing nurses put each other down, you think you can do better have the guts and decency to tell her but shut up about putting any one down I am not going to listen to it. And by the way, when someone is downing you I will tell them the same thing!" no more c/o

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