How Should I Handle This Situation

[Shortcake_BSn]

I am a Registered Nurse at a doctor's office. The office is comprised up of seven doctor's, two PA's, four registered nurses, two LPNs, and six medical assistants. Most of the doctors have at least two "nurses" working with them. I use nurses in parentheses because the medical assistants are called nurses. We are all used and viewed interchangeably. Anyway, one nurse is usually assigned to do messages, and the other nurse is assigned to bring back and work up patients. I work with a medical assistant that has been working in the office for a really long time. I am fairly new. The medical assistant loves to take messages. That's pretty much all that she wants to do. The doctor that we work for has the highest patient load in the office. We really think that she needs three nurses but that's neither here nor there. After feeling burned out after constantly being the one to run back patients, I asked my nursing supervisor if we could rotate because it really is too much to keep doing day after day. My supervisor sympathized and said that she agreed and would rotate us with running patients. This went on for about a month. This week, I have been scheduled to run patients every day, while the medical assistant does messages. So I was already upset about this. On top of that, the medical assistant gets off of work an hour early everyday (because she has to pick up her child) so for an hour I have to be the runner and the message taker and whatever messages she doesn't get to, she dumps in my box. So today, she left at her time and dumped seven messages in my box. Today was the busiest day ever. Everyone was coming in with some type of respiratory issue. So for an hour I had to bring patients back and work them up. Respond to overhead pages, and do messages. On top of whatever vaccinations and documentation my doctor needed me to do. I don't think that this is fair. Everytime she does this, I'm late getting home to my own children. I want to say something to my nursing supervisor but honestly I'm just over it. Is it even worth mentioning? And if so, how should I go about it? I was so angry that I just left without seeking out my supervisor. I wanted to wait until I got home and cooled off and then called her, but I decided that I will just get to work early and pull her to the side. What's the most professional way to go about this?

[sunset0500]

I feel sorry of what happened to you. It would be great if you approached your supervisor at that time , same day so you will be able to rid off this stress before you go back home to your children. talking to your supervisor face to face much more batter than calling her form my point of view. rotating the tasks between all of you is brilliant idea to feel of each other and build the team work in your clinic.

[compassionresearcher]

Perhaps call a meeting with all concerned parties present so it doesn't look passive aggressive . State your concerns objectively and point out how it isn't good for patient care when you're covering multiple roles.

[Buyer beware, BSN]

This is a fairly common occurance when you work with people who feel they have seniority regardless of their worth to the hospital or practice or fellow workers.

Do not expect the old and in the way medical assistant to change her modus operandi,.She expects you to change yours to be in sync at all times with her needs. This attitude lies at the heart of narcissism and entitlement.

The unfairness of it all is the source of your discontent with the job. Worse yet it seems to be aided and abetted by the boss. That's not uncommon either.

Now you may ask why is the boss promoting behavior that seems to be antithetical to the smooth and efficient running of the practice in regard to profitability, patient satisfaction and good employee relations?

The answer may be found in the fact that she just doesn't care and the doctors are oblivious or don't care themselves. This is why some very smart person coined the word "dysfunctional."

Look, you've already explained to the boss your concerns. Don't keep knocking your head against the wall. Remember the definition of insanity. Leave before you're branded a malcontent because that's one of the oldest dirty deals in the dirty deal playbook. And it's so easy to do rather than dealing with the problem.

Move on ASAP and let the office rats do whatever it is they do. The MA will find another person to exploit until her time comes.

If you do this, the quality of your life will improve by leaps and bounds.

And always remember that your quest for employee fairness whether it's for yourself or others is a big part of what it means to be a RN, a professional regardless of the slings and arrows that go with that territory.