Nurse with anger management issues/bipolar

caliotter3 · Mar 4, 2015

You will need specifics: dates, times, events, witnesses. You can't just make general statements and expect that to fly. You want to present the best information possible if you are serious enough to want to make this situation known to the Board.

jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B · Mar 4, 2015

If there is a anonymous compliance/ethics reporting system within your parent company, report him.

Mentally ill people are part of a protected class. Therefore, if this nurse is mentally ill (and not just a thought process on what might be wrong with him) then there is a certain protection there for his job.

However, what crosses the line is that your charge is afraid of him. That you all are afraid to the point that you all are. I am surprised that the charge nurse did not report him to the police. If he made specific threats that made her fearful.

What does your DON have to say? If he is monopolizing every situation as a threat, then I would think that the authorities need to be involved in this, that for him to lose his job (which he has a well documented discipline history?) a no trespass order may have to occur. And you security needs to be hyper aware.

In the meanwhile, I may be the first to perhaps transfer to another unit. Or even another facility all together. But if this nurse is unstable, it needs to be reported. How is he with the patients? Goodness, I would be afraid of his interactions with them as well.

Nola009 · Mar 4, 2015

Please gather whatever proof you can. Witnesses, pics of the fb posts, quotes, etc. Take it to HR. Take it to your state board. If this nurse is intimidating to you and your immediate bosses, imagine how he is capable of treating vulnerable patients!

resqbug · Mar 4, 2015

Has he actually made threats to anyone?

Wile E Coyote, ASN, RN · Mar 5, 2015

This needs to be addressed with his boss(es) pronto, like first thing tomorrow. Yes, tomorrow. He may be completely unaware that his behavior is so jarring, or perhaps just not in a state to care. His insight and empathy could be impaired, either through mental illness or he's simply a jerk all the time. :)

nancynurse009 · Mar 5, 2015

No, he is really intelligent. He does yell though and have an explosive temper. He can make people feel scared and threatened without directly threatening to hurt anyone.

nancynurse009 · Mar 5, 2015

Our manager has breast cancer and if out of the office. There has been other issues though like his ex-wife who works on a different floor had to go to management and tell them that he was not to ever come to her floor or she would file a restraining order. Management has done nothing!!! It is like the hospital is so short staffed they will not fire anyone. And there has to be a ton of documentation and no one will stand up or write the guy up because they are afraid of him.

Jules A, MSN · Mar 5, 2015

Our manager has breast cancer and if out of the office. There has been other issues though like his ex-wife who works on a different floor had to go to management and tell them that he was not to ever come to her floor or she would file a restraining order. Management has done nothing!!! It is like the hospital is so short staffed they will not fire anyone. And there has to be a ton of documentation and no one will stand up or write the guy up because they are afraid of him.

Someone will care, the BON, corporate etc. If this is as you portray it I would urge you to continue to report this until someone listens. Complaining about it here isn't going to do anything to protect you or your team. Try using the buzzword "hostile workplace" the uppers don't like to hear that now a days. Good luck.

elkpark · Mar 5, 2015

Someone will care, the BON, corporate etc. If this is as you portray it I would urge you to continue to report this until someone listens. Complaining about it here isn't going to do anything to protect you or your team. Try using the buzzword "hostile workplace" the uppers don't like to hear that now a days. Good luck.

I agree. Talk to HR and be sure to use the phrase "hostile work environment" or "hostile workplace." OSHA regs require employers to protect employees from hostile work environments.

Wihile mental illness is covered under the ADA, all that means is that individuals can't be refused employment just because they have a mental illness, and that "reasonable accommodations" must be made that would enable otherwise-qualified people to do their jobs. It certainly doesn't mean that behavior like the OP describes has to be tolerated.

HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD · Mar 5, 2015

It is true that the ADA is intended to protect people from disabilities from discrimination in the workplace by requiring employers to prove "reasonable accommodation". But this does not seem to apply in this case because the nurse in question does not seem to have his disease under control and therefore is not capable of fulfilling the essential functions of the job. HERE is a specific example of case law that applies to the dismissal of an unstable bipolar worker in the telecom industry. In our industry, lashing out in anger and exhibiting threatening behaviors is even more intolerable. Every employee has a right to a safe workplace.

I would advise OP to utilize the employer's current mechanisms such as the compliance/ethics reporting process and EAP. Compliance & ethics reporting is usually managed by an independent entity that provides information directly to the organization's Compliance and Ethics Officer(s). EAP can provide assistance for any issues that affect an employee's wellbeing... and fear of a potentially violent colleague is definitely one of those things.

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Mar 5, 2015

The management will likely brush this off as an interpersonal conflict between two employees.

If this individual explodes when your are in a pt room use the code blue button. Do not hesitate to do so if you are afraid for your personal safety.

If this person is threatening to a coworker, call the code for a violent out of control person. You have to protect each other.

Don't be the person who hides under the desk or in a patient's room while a coworker is being abused.

Write up every incident and start the paper trail that management needs to terminate this person. If he is unfit to work as a nurse due to mental illness, it is your employer's responsibility to report him to the BON.