How do I deal with "needy" nurses

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So to put it into perspective I am a current nursing student and current nursing assistant. I have noticed that there are a few nurses on my floor that will ask me to do any and every little thing. My second week I was pulled off of my 30 minute break, twice to assist in cleaning up patients. I quickly learned to eat off of the unit. Another nurse asked me to fetch a new o2 sensor for his patient because he "couldn't possibly have the time to do it" even though the supply closet is right door. Mind you he had no problem taking a break to eat pizza after he already took a smoke break and a meal break. Then we have another nurse who has literally had me paged while I was doing patient care, leave that room to see what is needed, only to find out her patient needs a warm blanket or some other simple task. It is frustrating to no end because in all cases these nurses could have done these tasks themselves instead of either interupting my current list of patient care tasks or interrupting my entitled 30 minute lunch. How do I learn to say no? Now please keep in mind the majority of nurses I work with are great! It's just the few bad eggs that seriously make me want to walk off the unit.

[quote name=libbyliberal

Working as a NA is a vocational occupation not a profession. The "Im going to ignore the nurses and do my own thing" mindset is what impedes teamwork, not the nurse who asks a cna to participate in meeting a patients needs.[/quote]

Out of everything I wrote this is what you focus on? Okay, nurse assistants are vocational, but most of the ones I work with ACT professionally. A nurse delegating every last task in the way the OP described is NOT acting professionally. I work with these types of nurses. It makes for a bad shift for me, and I resent the behavior of the "needy nurse".

No one is advocating that the NA ignore the nurse and "do their own thing". Where did you even get that?

Why do you refuse to take the OP at face value? I'd really like to know.

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I do agree it is overwhelming to be in the middle of doing something and have someone stand in the doorway and ask you to go do something else. This happens to RNs too. It happens when you're walking out of a room, about to do something else. Someone comes over and says "Can you do xyz really quick with me?"

It is always the right thing to do to finish your current task with a patient except in extreme cases (someone fell or is coding). I have worked with techs who do not complete tasks because they say they got called away. This may happen but I think it is the safest thing to finish what you are doing and then start something else. I have worked with techs who didn't finish hooking up a patient to the cardiac monitor because another patient called out to go to the bathroom. That is very unsafe to have someone not on the monitor. The other person waiting for you can hold on while you finish your task. Do not be afraid to say "I will be with you after I finish."

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Proper delegation is a necessary and no ones arguing that. But when one delegates everything in the CNAs scope of practice when they are NOT busy and the CNA IS BUSY.. In my opinion that is wrong. We Even had a meeting with the DON because this was happening and it was the patients who reported it. Because when that happens, the CNA has to prioritize and someone ends up waiting for the bathroom. It has gotten so bad at times that I've taken other nurses patients to the bathroom when they were eating chips, because the patient kept calling and was beside herself.. And the CNA was busy doing every other little thing that nurse delegated. I talked to this nurse and nothing changed.. Until that patient complained and that's when the DON had a meeting and said, "if you're time allows, you should be doing basic care, if your CNA is busy." I am not one of the offenders and she knew that but I still had to be present in the meeting. And saw all the eye rolls from the offending nurses.

This has GOT to stop.

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I don't know why you said the first part, was anyone debating that? It wasn't mentioned in the post you quoted. Who here said anything about ignoring a nurse and doing their own thing? You quoted that, but I can't find where it came from...

No one here is complaining about appropriate delegation... They are discussing nurses who abuse delegation.

Again, no one is complaining about or debating appropriate delegation.

My patients will not be receiving optimal care if I have no one to help me turn them, because nurse Needy is having the PCT (who is also assigned to my patients) walk a patient while nurse Needy gossips at the nurses station. Nurse Needy can walk the patient or help me turn my patient, but she won't because she delegates most ADL's. She has about ten other tasks for the PCT after the walking that she considers STAT. So I'm left without help. Does that make sense? Because it does happen. There are crappy nurses just like there are crappy PCT's. It's not fair to me, or my patients that I have to work twice as hard because another nurse is monopolizing the PCT's time and running them ragged.

Can you not acknowledge that there are needy nurses who will unnecessarily monopolize a PCT's time?

If you truly believe the nurse is acting in this way, you don't need affirmation from anyone else here and how can we know what she is doing? You are there, not us. We can't acknowledge anything about her behavior.

If this is happening and creating an unsafe situation for you and your patients, it needs to be addressed by the shift manager. You need to take it directly to them and be able to describe, in a professional way, how this is hurting you at work.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
If you truly believe the nurse is acting in this way, you don't need affirmation from anyone else here and how can we know what she is doing? You are there, not us. We can't acknowledge anything about her behavior.

If this is happening and creating an unsafe situation for you and your patients, it needs to be addressed by the shift manager. You need to take it directly to them and be able to describe, in a professional way, how this is hurting you at work.

Nurse Needy isn't a specific nurse... It's a type of nurse who, in general, is more likely to delegate everything, monopolize the PCT's time, bug the charge nurse all night long, and rarely offer help to coworkers.

My examples were hypothetical, but not far off from reality. I was trying to illustrate an example of how a needy nurse can improperly delegate and how that impacts another nurse and that nurses patients.

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I totally understand where you are coming from , I work as a tech and I'm a nursing student as well. I think you need to be more assertive, especially if you have 20 patients , thats a lot for one person. In my workplace if they are very short staffed and there is only one tech , the nurses have to take on some of the cna duties. I'm fortunate that I work on a floor that most of my patients are self or partial assist although they are still very needy, but there are very few are totals. I know everyone is busy but teamwork is key especially with those total patients. If I'm currently busy with a patient, I let the nurse know I will handle it after I finish what I'm currently doing. Finish you meal time, fetching water or blanket can wait, the only time I end my meal break is when I have a code or new admission. Your going to be working with different personalities and you just need to know how to handle them.

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Specializes in Mental Health, Gerontology, Palliative.

I'm a nurse. I would like to let you know that needy nurses dont just do it to the CNAs/HCAs/techs, they do it to us as well. Case in point. I was filling in an incident form for a patient and my direct boss, arrived down to see me in the opposite end of the facility from where the incident was completed to tell me I'd put the wrong patients sticker on the form and to go fix it.

Sure, my mistake. In the time it took her to come down to the opposite end of the facility to tell me that, she could have got the right sticker herself given how much closer that nurses station was from her office

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The next time they call just say "bye Felicia" :wacky:

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It should be about teamwork. We should have respect for each other's job. You expect the physician to respect you as a nurse and you can't do their job, so respect your techs.

^^^^THIS! We are a healthcare TEAM. I expect everyone-MD, DO, RN, PCA, lab, PT, OT, radiology, ect- to be working for the good of the patient. If we are bickering back and fourth over who is: doing more, busier, more important, nothing good is happening for the patient.

There is no place for power struggle in healthcare. I have seen so many unnecessary issues between RNs and PCAs because someone feels it below their pay grade, not their job, the other isn't busy, took too many breaks, ect. It's not worth it.

You do need to set limits. If there is another aid, that person needs to cover your breaks. If you are doing pt care, the other task needs to wait (unless it life-threatening). If you know that you are going to be indisposed for a while, let the other nurse know. Be clear about your intention to complete the task when you are free (I'm in the middle of a bath for nurse whoever, when I'm done here I will get your patient their crackers) either they take the hint and get their own crackers or the patient wait a few minutes. Make sure you are paid for missed breaks, document your interrupted breaks.

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