Help....I'm being harassed in the workplace

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a travel RN and I began working on this particular med-surg unit in Oct. Around November I was asked if I wanted to sign a new contract that would carry me through Apr. '08 and I said yes. Shortly thereafter, I had a nightshift RN verbally assault me for no reason. I didn't report her but another RN did: nothing was done about it except the am charge nurse asked her what happened and she denied it. However there was a room full of nurses who witnessed this. The next week, the nightshift RN verbally abused me when I asked her which nightshift RN was getting my telephone. She began yelling and screaming at me telling me to find the list myself and this was again witnessed by a room full of nurses. This time no one stepped up. Fed up I went to the clinical team member and reported it. She immediately began defending the RN stating that it's her pet peeve for people to ask this when there is a sheet posted with this info. I began explaining that the sheet wasn't posted that's why I asked. The next week later the CTM told me that a patient had fallen that night and fractured her hip. So i reckon this was supposed to excuse her unwarranted act that night. A few weeks later, I let myself succumb to gossip. A nurse was telling me about her pca which happened to be my pca too. I normally refrain at all costs from gossip and i guess being on this unit was making me miserable and i temporarily lost my mind and told her the issues i was having with the pca (which were the same as her issues). Well the pca overhead us (even though we weren't loud) and came into the hallway and screamed at me then went to the CTM. The CTM was very harsh to me about it and right off the bat began defending the pca and told me i was unprofessional. I told her that if i was unprofessional then she was too because she screamed into the hallway at me and this happened around pt. rooms and everything. Yesterday was the last straw. the nurse manager told me to come into her office NOW. she tells me that 4 pca's have complained about me and that a confused pt. said i was mean to him, transportation was waiting for me for 30min to fill out a transportation sheet and i didn't answer my phone and that the confused pt was laying in a bed of urine saturated. she was very rude to me and i felt like they are on a witch hunt for me. I told her right at the onset "are you asking me or telling me" what happened. She then said i'm asking (although her tone said otherwise). first off i didn't ask this but if 4 pca's were complaining about me why am i hearing about this now (it's like a dumping-effect) why didn't she tell me as it happened? i am never mean to anyone. in fact i feel that people take my niceness as a weakness. i am very passive and people play on that. i told the NM that i am not this person she describes, i'm not mean to anyone. i told her that in fact the pca's are rude to me. when i ask them to do something they don't and i end up doing it. as far as the confused pt., i told her to check my charting. i focused my care with him and i was never rude to him. the pt. was lonely and didn't want me to leave the room. i told her that even though i was overloaded i stayed with him a while longer but he kept pushing the call light the moment i walked out and after the 3rd time, i told him that i had to go see my other pt's and that i would return but that he couldn't keep pressing the call light so frequently. he had issues with voiding freq. so i set up his urinal and told him i'd be back to check it. i also notified the pca and told her we both needed to check him freq. well he knocked it over. also i spoke to the pca about all of this and she told me that the pt said that it wasn't his nurse that was mean to him but the NM confronted me anyways. and about me not answering my phone well it was broke and I had been given 4 different phones that day. i told her that the unit clerks told me my 4th phone was fixed but i was still having trouble and that i didn't hear my name being paged. i also told her that i was at lunch and she said well why didn't you properly hand over your phone and give report to another nurse to cover your patients. i told her, on this floor i was told you keep your pt's and answer your own calls. i really don't want to stay on a floor like this. the NM was definitely trying to find fault with me. Is there any recourse that I have? can I go over the NM's head b/c this isn't right.:nono:

Break the contract and walk.

Good luck.

Ah, you gotta jump through the hoops though. Otherwise you could be looking at having to pay off the contract (happened to a fellow traveler). With my company, the clinical liaison was on call 24/7 and would answer immediately. There should be NO wait when you put a call in to them.

No, as a traveler you contact your recruiter and clinical liaison. Everything should be handled through the agency.

Oh. And document the crap out of all of this...

Yeah, and if the agency doesn't do anything or sides with the hospital?

I would definitely talk to someone else, if not human resources then the CEO.

That is unacceptable behavior regardless of whether one is an employee or not.

Yeah, and if the agency doesn't do anything or sides with the hospital?
If the agency does nothing, then you need to find another employer. Whether they find their nurse at fault or not depends upon the situation.

I would definitely talk to someone else, if not human resources then the CEO.
Not a good idea, but I'll just agree to disagree with you here.

That is unacceptable behavior regardless of whether one is an employee or not.
Of course it is. It just has to be handled the correct way, that's all.

Yeah, I guess we'll have to disagree.

If I was treated that poorly and my agency didn't stand behind me, I would not only find another employer, I would also file a complaint where it would make a difference. Nursing management may not care that agency nurses are treated that way, but I'm sure someone higher in the food chain may think differently.

Specializes in OB.

Work with your agency and clinical liason to make sure that this is noted as well as your efforts to rectify the situation.

A possible reason for the recent onset of this - depending on the part of the country you are in, many hospitals are currently cutting their contracts with travelers because of a lower than usual patient census. They may well be "setting you up" to either quit or be let go "for cause", thereby saving the hospital money for cancelling the contract. Unethical, but does happen, and especially since you mention this is new behavior and you had just negotiated a raise for the extension.

Just be aware of this possibility and be sure you have a little extra money saved to get you by if this does occur.

You need to leave this place as expeditiously as possible whether or not you have the blessings and assistance of your agency. You have described to them a hostile workplace and it is not a good idea to try to stick it out without some kind of assurance that the situation will stop. You can find another agency if the present one will not help you. This is one of the perils of travel nursing, and one of the reasons why I decided a long time ago not to even try travel nursing. Good luck.

Specializes in ER.

Having experienced this myself GET THE HELL OUT! AS FAST AS YOU CAN! My experiece is you are the influx and no one feels they need to pay you any loyalty. Good luck!

There is definitely something wrong on this unit because 50% of the workforce are new grads and the other 50% are travelers/agency. They are interviewing nurses like crazy but I don't see anyone new.

One good reference I do have is that prior to coming to this floor, I was on another floor at the same hospital and never had one complaint. That's why I'm interested in preserving my good reputation and therefore I'm considering going to human resources to let them know of this hostility I face which is totally unwarranted.

I am a nice person, quiet who keeps to herself and someone there has decided that they don't like me and have succeeded at making my workday unpleasant. I already have sick patients to care for and now all of this.:o

p.s. I also plan to leave asap. I just want my name cleared first.

Unfortunately there isn't a union at this hospital. But fortunately for me, my work history speaks for itself and I've never had accusations like these before now.

I've called my recruiter at my travel agency to ask for the clinical liaison. I'm presently awaiting a telephone call back from them.

Thanks so much for your posts. I have contacted my agency but they haven't gotten back to me yet. The thing about agencies is that they are all about the money and I'm hoping that they won't believe/side with the hospital. I am a very quiet person and pretty much stay to myself to avoid getting caught up in clicks and this has opened me up as a target (I presume). Also I'm too busy caring for the patients and I am very thorough with paperwork so I don't have extra time for socializing. But I am definitely going to look up their policies on workplace harassment and proceed from there.

It makes me upset about all of this drama because I had just worked out a pay change with my agency for $4.00 more on the hour which was to begin at the start of my 2nd contract in Jan.'08. But I am thinking of my license and I don't trust the Nurse Manager or the Clinical Team Member here and I need to make a decision accordingly.

I'm sorry to hear that you are having so much difficulty with your assignment. Thing is, many places allow people to act like ---holes without recourse. This is definately a harrassment complaint. Also I have heard from other travelers and agency nurses that they get the same treatment at other facilities and that is why they have difficulty getting help.

Maybe next time, you could post here about a particular hospital before taking an assignment to try and get some feedback before you sign on.

BTW, we are thankful for our agency nurses when we can get them!!

((((((((((((((hugs)))))))))))))))))

Specializes in Transplant, homecare, hospice.

Wow...that's all around bad! Yeah, can you speak to your agency about getting you a new assignment? It might be worth the trouble to be taken off this assignment. That's too much for ANYONE to handle. Get out!:o

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