Dinosaurs in the unit

Nurses General Nursing

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Yes I am sure in every unit or specialty there is an ancient crabby nurse that rips everyone to shreds. How in the world do you handle such a person w/o going sending them to Jurassic Park?:roll

Luckily, I think anyway, our dianosaur is the kind that will tell you whats up right to your face. she is bossy, nosey and demanding.

i handle her by not taking her too seriously and humoring her whenever possible.i think maybe she deserves our respect. and ill tell you what...whenever i have a question i go to her because she really knows her stuff.

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

I'm not sure I understand your definition of a dinosaur. Want to elaborate? Is it age? Ist it time in the profession? WHat exactly do you mean?

I've seen some pretty up to date oldies and some really stodgey young ones. Everyone needs to be open to change...IF..change is for the good.

These kinds of threads frighten me. Since there is a shortage of nurses, and nurses provide care, then how do nurses hassle other nurses?

How could there be room for yall to be jeering one another? Aren't the patients troubles enough to keep you from traversing your potential energy to each other in an uncool way? Kinda befuddles me. Wouldn't a nurse stick out like a sore thumb if that nurse made other nurses uncomfortable because of the treatment he/she gives others?

Even as we age, and I heard your supposed to get meaner and more ornery, how could a nurse interact that way with the others who wear the same uniform?

Mario,

We need a new generation of nurse. A new breed that can respect others just because they are. I really don't believe there is one person that made it through nursing school that hates other nurses. These souls are damaged from the kind of experience you read about in the thread by Wendy, and a multitude of other rotton things that can happen to nurses. But, if you keep your smile, they will respond. As PRN says, there are good and bad in young and old. They all melt at a smile. A positive attitude is catching.

Specializes in Geriatrics.

We have a pushy, bossy, aging (not old!) nurse who is a total control freak. She does not listen or respect other nurse's opinions, she tells families she is the "head" nurse and not to deal with the other nurses (families have told us this!) as she is the only experienced one there. If we leave a note to call the doctor (this is a nursing home, and doctors calls are done on dayshift), she will only call if SHE feels it is valid. She makes a big deal if she does something extra, where we all just do extra things and not say a word. It is so hard to deal with her. The way I do it, is I do the things I want done by myself. I will call the doctor myself when I get in to work in the evenings, I will implement things and hope she follows them. I feel that this lady is abused by her husband at home and has no control there, so she has to have total control at work and I just try and remember that and bite my tongue.

Mario,

Nurses CAN be an ugly bunch. You will see this for yourself before too long.

I think that some nurses would not be so crabby if there was proper staffing, employers who really care, decent schedules, etc.

Maybe some nurses become control freaks because they feel their jobs and profession is out of control.

How long and how much can we take? Remember these dino's know what it used to be like in nursing.

Just a thought.

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Well although I'm 43, been a nurse for awhile, I still manage to keep current with new er trends/tx, etc.. The new nurses I work with know I'm there for them, I help when I can, support them, etc.. If this means I'm a dinosaur, then so be it!!!

I too agree that now more than ever, we can't be mean to our newer nurses. We have to work with them (and if that means a lighter assignment for now, then so be it).

Specializes in Geriatrics, LTC.

I do know of such a nurse. Back when I was still a CNA there was an elderly nurse, she was just mean to the staff and no thought really to the residents at the nursing home. Literally she lived to try to get the aides in trouble. One night I messed up and missed getting b/p (that was my fault), but when she asked me about it and I explained to her that I would try to get it over the lady's long sleeve night gown as it was too hard to pull the sleeve up, the nurse grabeed me by the arm dragged me into the residents room flipped the overhead, blinding light on grabbed the residents sleeve and shaking her sleeve and ultimately the residents arm proceeded to yell at me "does this look tight? Does this look tight?!" The resident half asleep is looking like a deer caught in the head lights! She used to go around about 1 1/2 hours before shift end and rip the residents disposable liners and then go around an hour later to see if we shanged them, and if the ripped liner was there yell at the aides, nevermind that the resident wasn't changed because the were dry! She has even went around and poured water in the liners to see if an hour later we would change them, which we did, but that pour resident was subjected to this! I came to her with a bloody nose, I'm talking blood gushing out (don't know how it happened) and all she said was, "when are you laying down Mr. ____?" I told her, "ummm when I'm done bleeding!" And she said said nothing just walked away and then later wrote me up saying I was refusing to do my job! She even at one time would get so mad at all the aides and say "I hate it when I ask any of you to do something you say, It's not my resident" (which she is right no on should say that), but when I had a lady fall on the floor and bleeding everywhere she said, "not my resident" and went on she didn't even send help to me I had to sit there cradling this poor lady yelling for help.

Now it's not to say that all older nurses are like this, but there are some out there. And our best bet is too learn from them how not to act, but keep in mind alot of them crabby as they may be do have a wealth of info!

Oh my goodness Greer! How awful for you!

I do have to say though, that some of the "dinosaurs" I have met have been of a younger age. I think that most of them think they are so much brighter and more experienced than us students and they are trying to show off. To whom? I have no idea. But just do as has been brought up before. Just keep smiling and do your job to the best of your ability.

Julie:)

okay noone has answered the original question on how to eal with this type of nurse and I always found that if i ran accross this type of nurse (and I have pplenty of times, esp when I was agency fulltime) was to tell them to go to hell. As simple as that. I have even had to pull a nurse aside before when that did not work and tell them PRIVATELY WHERE THERE ARE NO WITNESSES!!! that if they continue to hassle me or my patients like that I was going to stomp their ass and slit their car tires....she did complain but noone believed her due to they all knew what she was like and she could not provide any witnesses to the fact. It was her word agaist mine and my protestations of innocence held more weight. After that if she ever started to hassle me all I did was point at the linnen closet where the"message" was delivered and she shut up and behaved. I hated having to go to this extreme but my sanity and my patients safety was at risk.

Dave....an evil nurse I guess:devil:

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