Help! Insubordinate Nursing Aides

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I haven't posted many times here, but always receive support & wise advice when I do..so here goes:

I work LTC on the Pacific Coast..and work @ a place where nurses aides are allowed to carry on conversations that are "un-lady-like" while providing care--as if their residents can't hear them...while feeding residents, and while providing all aspects of resident care. Some use "ghetto-talk" while providing care & all attempts to correct it fall on deaf ears--there is no pathway to accountability--and talk about passive-aggressive retaliation once a nurse attempts to reprimand? OMG is putting it MILDLY...to the point where one might fear walking to their car after dark.

Before everyone gets riled up, I've written these aides up, counseled verbally and escorted a few to the manager's office. Behaviors that are unacceptable (by my way of thinking) are overlooked @ this facility.

My only expectation is that the aides provide the care that they are trained and paid to do--and do their best to be a lady or gentleman while on duty. Is this unreasonable? Am I being unrealistic?

Today, after sharing this with the DNS, I was told that I "have a negative effect on the entire building"--I was told that aides "dread working with me" ....and she went on to say that "the 3 weeks I was on vacation were the calmest that the building has been" since I was hired.

------then she threw in ......." now, I don't want you to leave......."...............Hmm. Well, it's pretty clear that you just wish I wasn't HERE, that's crystal.

In the entire time I've been employed @ this facility, I've never once been written up... & never have had any type of evaluation or appraisal of performance.

I attempted to defend myself, inquiring as to whether the DNS saw the "dread" as proof that the aides assigned to my hall knew each day what the expectation would be & simply weren't up to providing quality care---(therefore, making my hall "miserable")----and perhaps the other halls subsequently became "affected" by their complaining about having to do their jobs, as opposed to taking smoke breaks 15 minutes after clocking in, being made to turn their residents, change their incontinent garments, and actually.....hmm...WORK for 8 hours, instead of goof off...or being asked to put a lid on their 'baby-mama-drama' for 8 hours, quit texting while feeding residents & quit talking about their most recent hangover.

I was also told that I was, what the DNS termed (gotta love this) 'a rough B-tch' on the floor. I was too busy trying to see through my tears to even attempt a rebuttal to that. I'm so soft-spoken & mild mannered I'm a cream-puff to many.

Totally don't understand WHERE that could've come from. My 19 year old & husband laughed their heads off at those words ever being tagged onto me.

Before you all start suggesting that I begin walking towards the door, BE ADVISED, I'm already doing it...quickly.

Have any of you ever experienced BS like this? And how in the WORLD did you survive it with your head held high until making a graceful exit?

Please don't respond if you're going to just attack. That mindset solves nothing & offers nothing constructive at all.

Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.
Good morning, allnurses!

I went to sleep last night when my thread had generated 5 replies...eyes swollen from crying...headache-also from the crying.

My husband of 10 years listened attentively through every painful detail of yesterday.

After hearing it all--and seeing the obvious trauma this facility is inflicting on me, he shared his unwavering support in my decision to leave.

Along with his support, he presented me with some surprising options--to take some much needed time off to recover--and he let me know I've got his 100% support to return to school-- be it to pursue additional nursing education, or something altogether different.

I knew I'd get the support I needed here @ allnurses...I always have. ((( hugs )))

I can't help but wonder why we're all scattered to the winds when it comes to struggle--those posting replies are located, literally, all across the USA...I guess God had to sprinkle good nurses all over the place :) and the concentration of us just isn't quite as large yet as the bad seeds sprouting up :)

I do know this, though--there is NO SUPPORT WHATSOEVER at the facility I'm preparing to exit.

I will definitely get that written reference in-hand before departing, though. They OWE ME that much.

Thank you all for the outpouring of support. It helps heal the wound I'm dealing with & makes it easier to walk out with my head held high.

What a wonderful husband!

Do I have to go to the USA to get one of those!

Good luck for the future, you will be OK. Always keep the faith and believe in your own abilities.

wow this also sounds like the place i work at. Such a shame that these little old people arnt treated with the rexspect they deserve. Im on the same boat as you so i definetly understand what youre going through. I work night shift and i have this particular cna that likes taking the easy assignment and leaving the other cna with the harder patients and she'll argue and b*tch when you try and divide the residents to make it fair. None of the nurses wanna work with her because she loves to argue and talk back, and has been written up numerous times and reported to the don but nothing to this day gets done. She also likes to refuse to change residents. Thats what i dont understand if you're gonna refuse to change a resident what the hell are you doing there then????I actually dread working with this woman because its stressful having to do my job then having to have to deal with her complaining and bs. Im sick and tired of grown women acting like children but i know the situation will never improve so i'll try and do my best.

Leave. Find another place. Swimming in a toxic pool will eventually poison you.

Leave. Find another place. Swimming in a toxic pool will eventually poison you.

true that but the bills gotta be paid somehow=(

What a wonderful husband!

Do I have to go to the USA to get one of those!

Good luck for the future, you will be OK. Always keep the faith and believe in your own abilities.

yea im jealous too of her hubby but the good kind og jealousy....i wish i had that kind of support. Good luck in the decision you make=D

marielina85, yes the bills must be paid, as you slowly poison your mind and your body. Been there, done that. Start looking for other employment NOW. Better to become employed while you HAVE a job. Prolonged toxic exposure harms you mind, your spirit, and oops! Burnout.

Specializes in Med/Surg.

It seems once again a facility lowers itself to the lowest common denominator. Manners, professionalism, kindness, educated speaking, critical thinking all get stomped on because of the pandering to the lowest common denominator and it is through out our society. I too see the talking over the patients as if they are not their and foul language. When I call a person on it...they looked shocked! Our culture has made a joke out this type of behavior and it is "acceptable" except to us "old schoolers".

marielina85, yes the bills must be paid, as you slowly poison your mind and your body. Been there, done that. Start looking for other employment NOW. Better to become employed while you HAVE a job. Prolonged toxic exposure harms you mind, your spirit, and oops! Burnout.

i just started this job like a month ago, but i left another facility because of the same issues. Seems its the norm in ltc. I did work prn in another ltc facility that i really liked and the staff and everyone was awesome while i was there, and they offered me fulltime, but i turned it down to go to THAT!!! lol I like my job and everything but its just those issues i have problems with, but thanks for your advice.=D

I worked at 2 places like this in Florida. My last job was for 1 Day and I quite had 30 people had to do laundry none of them were turned all had bruises down there legs laying in stale urine and on Oxygen no depends we had to borrow them from others Private agency work is so much better

Specializes in LTC, Med-Surg, GP Office.

What a horrible experience for you! You sound like a very caring nurse. I thank God that I work in a wonderful LTC. Most of our nurses, CNA's, DON & ADON's have been there for years. They pay the CNA's very well, the older one's make almost as much as a new LPN. Excellent benefits, lots of planned activities for the residents and the staff. Administration really lets us know we are appreciated & often. Nonsense is not tolerated at all, even if it means we may be short a nurse or CNA for awhile. It doesn't happen often, but I've seen a few new people escorted to the door. Good luck to you.

i had pretty much the same situation, except the DON/ADON had encouraged the nurses to start writing these cna's up.

i was the only nurse who did so, while i received ongoing support from the don and adon.

a new don was hired, AND the facility switched hands of ownership.

one time the facility was being investigated, and it was my interview that resulted in the facility getting heavily penalized.

my 100% perfect personnel file (with glowing evals), suddenly started becoming tarnished.

bogus write-ups (from tptb), combined with snarky complaints from the cna's who i had problems with, resulted in my subsequent termination.

suddenly the adon (my personal friend, btw), was supporting the (new) don, and she wouldn't even look at me.

what they didn't know, however, is when the company switched ownership, i had been emailing/phoning one of the bigwigs from corporate...

sharing my background, and concerns with harrassment/bullying.

this guy was awesome...patient, interested, and trustworthy.

so when i was (wrongfully) terminated, ,i got me a nurse attorney, who took my case on contingency- what lawyer does that?

but that was how confident she was in my case.

all the documentation with the bigwig from corporate, knocked the don's socks off.

i had remained one step ahead of her.

the bs was too much to take...to this day, i am still incredulous as to the kind of cna's that were allowed to work there.

op, they sound identical to yours.

and i still feel betrayed over finding out who my true friends were, or weren't.

i ended up settling the case...and they were all on my terms.

the don was fired, i got a pretty penny, and one of the bigwigs personally moved himself from the west coast to the east, to manage/oversee this facility...until he felt it was the crowning glory they had all believed it to be.

this is why, to this day, i emphasize the importance of documentation in everything...

in matters that most wouldn't even think to document.

anyone or anything that can cast a negative light on you or your license, document it.

you just never know when you'll need it.

and more than my saving grace, it was the pts who reaped the most benefits.

finally yadayada, while i understand how difficult it is, to stay true to oneself (in nsg), try to find that balance in maintaining your standards versus not sweating the small stuff.

in a business where it's supposed to be about healing others, ironically it is one of the more backstabbing professions to work in.

best of everything on your new journey.

and thank you God, for providing yada with such a supportive, loving husband.

leslie

Leslie

I'm printing out your post to put somewhere that I can reread it whenever I get particularly discouraged. You're now my hero!

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