Am I wrong here?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.

Please tell me if I am looking at this the wrong way, because if I am I need to eat my words. We currantly have 2 aides out on leave for injurys at work. We also have a secretary off FMLA. We were already down 2 aides, as one left the area and another was unhappy and went back to the hospital. Now, one aide works all nights and the other aide has been on dayturn to help with bathes. That leaves all RN staff on evening shift. Many times we don't have a secretary at all and when we do they leave at 8pm. Guess when most of our admissions come? Between 2-8pm. So, we now have no aide to answer call lights, admissions coming in and because the one secretary is out on leave, we have been answering the phone most days as well. This is in addition to doing basically primary care on hospice patients. The women I work with are WONDERFUL. I have yet to hear anyone complain about the situation, we just suck it up and take care of our patients.

The night turn aide comes in an hour earlier then the nurses to help cover the floor while we are in report. Now TONIGHT, I had the night turn aide come in and start on me because I haven't emptied my foleys. I explained to her that I have the expectation that she is going to do that when she goes around to get her vitals done. She replied to me that she is the NIGHT TURN aide and that is afternoon's job, not hers. :angryfire ARE YOU FREAKIN KIDDING ME? I run my butt off all night doing primary care on 4-5 dying people. Answer call bells. Do the bulk of admissions. Oh, btw, you see I said secretary, not unit clerk. GUESS who takes off the orders? Answer phones. No social worker on the off shifts, so I also spend A LOT of time with the families. I do my own vitals when I come on. Do post-mortum care on my patients and help out my co-workers with boosts and such. But, because they urinated into a bag between 4-11, it isn't her responsiblity to empty it? When I said, why can't you just do that when your getting your midnight vitals, she came back with, well why don't you do it when you pass your midnight meds? Do I bother going over the six rights of medication administration, is it going to do any good? I feel like if she is punched in at 11, even though my shift isn't over until 12, she should be acting as an aide for MY shift. She pretty much wants to just start getting her midnight work done. She even passed a comment about the garbage cans not being emptied and the linen bags piling up in the soiled utility room cart.

OK, so am I wrong? Do I suck it up and empty the darn bags or should I force the issue? I mean, where do I draw the line and say ENOUGH? I can only do so much and then you have to help pick up some of the slack. Maybe next time the housekeeper should jump down my throat because a patient died on my shift and I didn't have the bed cleaned when she comes in on days:icon_roll

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Emergency Dept.

Sounds in general like poor working conditions. Maybe that is not something that aide is suppose to / required to do - problem is, you are willing to go the extra mile because of the short staffing, it sounds like she isn't. Seems like your anger should be directed at management for putting you all in this position.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I agree, sounds like poor working conditions.

I can see both points. I know that nurses are extremely busy getting meds, answering phones, taking care of whatever problem I let them know about, etc. But aides are busy too. Answering lights, helping pts to the br, with the bedpan, turns, etc. Plus vitals, admits, and gobs of other things. It might be that by adding more to her work load that she felt that she wouldn't be able to turn her vitals in on time. I don't know about your place of employment, but if I do vitals and they are not charted at 1530, then some nurse will come at me screaming. This happened to me, even though vitals aren't due until 1600.

Look at it this way: if the aide had not emptied catheters at the end of her shift, do you think first shift would be mad? Probably. Also, where I work at least, you have to have I & O's in by a certain time. If not, then they don't get on the paperwork we give to doctors.

Sounds like an extremely stressed out place to work.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.
Answering lights, helping pts to the br, with the bedpan, turns, etc. Plus vitals, admits, and gobs of other things.

This is my point. From 4pm-11pm (when she gets there) I along with the other RN on that night do all this PLUS our nursing responsibilities, plus answer phones and take off orders. I don't really see why it is so hard for her to empty a foley bag while she is in taking her midnight vitals. My biggest frustration over the last couple weeks has been she comes in and sits at the desk waiting for report from us, while we run around like lunatics, and has sat at times over 30 minutes without helping under the pretense of "I need report." I am sorry, but there isn't that much that has changed in 24 hours that an aide needs to know that she cannot get up and help out until we have time to give report. I think she really feels like she is there for midnight shift and that is her passive-aggressive way of digging her heels in.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in critical care.
This is my point. From 4pm-11pm (when she gets there) I along with the other RN on that night do all this PLUS our nursing responsibilities, plus answer phones and take off orders. I don't really see why it is so hard for her to empty a foley bag while she is in taking her midnight vitals. My biggest frustration over the last couple weeks has been she comes in and sits at the desk waiting for report from us, while we run around like lunatics, and has sat at times over 30 minutes without helping under the pretense of "I need report." I am sorry, but there isn't that much that has changed in 24 hours that an aide needs to know that she cannot get up and help out until we have time to give report. I think she really feels like she is there for midnight shift and that is her passive-aggressive way of digging her heels in.

You are right regarding passive-aggressive, and she is right. I agree about poor working conditions as well. You stated that you are running crazy trying to get things done, as well as doing other duties that don't fall under "nursing". You are overworked, and feeling the stress. She too could be feeling the stress, and has just had enuff. I definately would go to management. If they can't get another aide, or a secretary or whatever during the evening, then they need to staff another nurse to task and do all that other stuff, including I&O's.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Sounds like everyone needs to stop and take a breath here.

Perhaps you can try to meet with her privately and calmly explain the situation (yeah, I know she knows). Acknowledge her being willing to come in an hour early to help you out and thank her for doing so. Let her know you recognize everyone is stressed but at least during the time you are short staffed, you really need her to help with the outputs for evening shift.

Explain to her that you can give her a more detailed report after you're done, but in the meantime she should go ahead and get started with vs and emptying foleys for evening shift.

Is there any way you could run off a census or report sheet for her prior to her arrival? Pass it around to each nurse and let them fill in a brief report for her--- frequency of VS, activity, diet, I/Os... whatever she would need to know for her shift. Then simply update her on any changes, if any. That would only take a couple of minutes to fill out, and perhaps lessen the stress all around.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Float RN -all specialities.

No, you're not wrong at all. The aide isn't wrong either. Both of you are viewing the scenario exactly the way management wants you to. IF you are both blaming each other, then that will distract you from the real problems, and keep you alienated from grouping together as a unit.

Once you group together, all in alignment then management is scared,,,,very scared.:w00t:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac care/Ortho/LTC/Education/Psych.

Well, I am really sorry for both of you but not even close as I am sorry for the Pt's on your floor.What you are describing as sucking up I am seeing as " I do not want to say a word because I can not change anything" . YOU CAN CHANGE!! Call a supervisor . Tell her what is going on. If she/ he say he can not do anything ask who is next in the line to talk with . If DON can not solve the problem ask if JACHO is your next station? Do not put with this bad organization. I see you frustration about refusing of the aid but she is right!! You need to deal with your problem during your shift. I had similar problem on one of the floor I worked ( evening!!) Horrible it was. I complain to a manager. She said I am idealistic. I complain to the supervisors they say then can not do anything about. Well I did not want to be a whistle blower because I had a doubt that I did not know to organize my job so it was always so frantic. I left it. After me 5 more nurses left it. After that manager left it ( not sure if she wanted or not does not matter!)I got different job and I see I can organize and I can be in good relationship with aids and I can go home before midnight. If it is happening now I would not have a doubt about my performance. Try different approach . Have a meeting with your peers and aids. See what is wrong?? Everybody know what is wrong!!! So you have a right to protect your license, your patients and your healthy relationships . Do not think that a nigh shif aid is a right direction . A big fish is the direction. Good luck.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in RN- Med/surg.

I agree with the general concensus here. I see both sides. But...she shouldn't have to complete the evenings work every night just because they're short. I'm sure if it were occasional she would..but she prabably feels if she does that...then they will never fill the spots.

I hope things change soon.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Maybe I am missing something, but I thought Nursing was a 24-hour job. Why clock in early to get work done that should be done in her original shift time frame. If she clocked in early, shouldn't that encompass the work that needs to be done then and there?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

This sounds like a sentinel event waiting to happen. What if the staff got together and had a meeting or wrote a letter to management ? Why do we continue to work in such conditions and take out our frustrations on each other, instead of the ones that deserve the credit for such conditions? :o

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.

I can see both sides too. Bottom line, you need aides on your shift. Duh, right? Sounds like a horrible situation. I hope it gets resolved soon!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment