How to tell if you are being targeted at your job by another nurse..

[sasha2lady]

Heres the scenario. I work nights & have been having some trouble from a day nurse. The day nurse has always had a really bad attitude, she thinks she is just perfect. She knows it all, is never wrong about ANYTHING and everybody else is just worthless, lazy, incompetent & stupid.

Each nurse has an end of month assignment for changeover, which is kinda confusing. Night shift recieves the new MARS and we have to separate them. I never can remember which ones go to which nurse so I made a copy of the list which was smaller than an index card and I taped it under the desk where I chart, which happens to be the same place as the day nurse. When i was off and came back to work, she had took it down & threw it away!!! There was nothing wrong with where it was. It wasnt in the way or anything.

She called me at home to try to fuss at me because while I was off for 4 nights, a different night nurse didn't draw blood for a BUN on a pt. It was in the lab book, I had wrote it down on the report sheet for the day nurse to make sure it was passed on, yet it wasnt done. She tried to blame me for that!

She also called me at home to say that i had a narc missing from when me and another nurse had sent narcs back to the pharmacy. Ive never made a mistake when sending narcs, not saying it cant happen but it hasnt yet. So...I got back to work and found out there was no mistake in fact! She overlooked what she was looking for!

I got a ua on a pt one night and she raised the roof about it because I got it at 2400. We are allowed by our hospital lab and outside lab to do this. Urines are good for 24 hrs as long as they are refrigerated, which it was. So, she wrote in huge letters on my report sheet "DO NOT GET UA LABS AT 2400", now mind you she has NEVER worked night shift & she doesnt know one thing about what we do at night. we get uas as early as we can and refrigerate them because the lab comes at 4 am to get them. Shes an LPN just like me, shes not my boss and Im tired of her trying to do smart*** things to irritate me.

Im sick of her ***** attitude and how she complains nonstop. She complained that she didnt like the report sheets that my shift put together. Theres nothing wrong with them! The way I see it, if she dont like our sheets or our urines then she can make her own or recath all the ua pts and send them wherever she wants to.

She constantly tries to make snide comments about me and my night shift coworkers where we can hear her and she conveniently waits til after we've done got report and counted. Shes only in a decent mood when her 2 buddies work with her on days. I think shes miserable and being unrealistic.

Aides have been complaining about her too, they report things to her or try to ask her a question and she jumps allllll over them about it! Shes been snapping and hateful to other nurses as well. I feel like for some reason shes been trying to target me the most since her actions seem worse when i have to work behind or in front of her.

Im not up for an argument but if she doesnt stop, Im afraid she'll catch ME in a bad mood one of these days and Ill end up bringing her attitude down a few notches unexpectedly.

any advice here?

[caliotter3]

Do not do anything with her until you determine whether or not she is the fair haired girl of the DON. Have known more than one just like her, and for some reason, they seem to be right up the DON's rear at all times. That could mean a very bad situation for you in the long run.

[sasha2lady]

oh. shes definitely not friendly with the boss. They have never got along and argue every chance they get. The boss has told me in confidence before that she'd love to replace this nurse but couldnt fire her.

Our mgmt team sucks big time! They never address anything and ignore all concerns from staff. Thats how they handle things.

I dont say anything to mgmt for that very reason. its pointless. I just hate to even look at this nurse. Soon as i go in or see her coming in shes huffing and puffing down the hall to the desk and throws her stuff down slams charts around and papers and gripes nonstop.

She keeps her bad attitude the whole time. Rolls her eyes when I give her report ...for example I had a pt who got choked up on regular water so I had filled out a speech referral to have her checked and she got plum mad about that and said " she dont do that on my shift"...i must not have been too out of check because speech evaluated her and now shes on thick liquids and doing alot better.

All her comments are hateful and snide. She also changes our night time meds around....she marks off meds and changes all the times to hs to make our med passes harder...mind you we have 2 units each at night for 12 hours and they have a nurse on each hall on days plus a charge and a cna 2 that does all the tx's....we have none of the above.

She has also said that my shift "doesnt do anything but chart" .....which again isnt true. We work just as hard as day shift with less than half the staff they got.

It doesnt take but a few minutes around her to totally ruin ones night.

[caliotter3]

The psychiatric profession has a diagnosis or two for her. Just avoid the woman and don't let her upset you any more than necessary. If she changes your times on meds, take the time to change all of them back to when you want them to be. Reverse anything she does that is detrimental to your shift. Yes, it is time consuming and troublesome, but worth it to limit her running your shift from her position.

[sasha2lady]

hmm..maybe thats where she needs to go work? as for the time changes on the meds, Ive done that before, went back and wrote in clarification orders and redid them all....she turns right around and redoes it and puts *do not change times* on them....just to be a pest. I say leave well enough alone. Shes real bad to do that when she occasionally works on the rehab hall that i do..I work with the rehabs every time i work so I get to know them fairly well and what they like and dont like. Then she goes and makes million changes that arent necessary. I think alot of it has to be some kind of control issue? Like...maybe she feels like she cant control certain things in her life so she tries to dominate those of us on another shift or the other staff she doesnt like? Who knows. Thats why I dont speak a word to her except in report and I try to not say anything so she will hurry up and leave...I try to keep my reports to her in the am short for the same reason.

When I restock the cart the way I have done for years with no problem , she has started to just jerk everything off and redo it when she comes in behind me. I always always always leave things better than the way I recieved it. A year ago she didnt do that to me and for the past 8 months she has? Weird.

[caliotter3]

Start giving written complaints to the supervisor if you don't think it will target you as the troublemaker. This person definitely has some loose screws. If she changed things for the better you could say she had initiative, but since she does everything just to throw her weight around, she is accomplishing nothing except creating animosity toward herself. She doesn't earn many points in the "plays well with others" column. Make certain the supervisor knows, in writing, that you don't appreciate her meddling with your shift.

[sasha2lady]

hmmm....that might work....Ive been keeping a log for myself for months now at home. i jot down everything thats an issue. keeps me sane sometimes to just come home and go to town on my lil journal. Plus it helps me remember things. like they say in school, if its not documented it didnt happen right ? lol

[caliotter3]

Your writeups to the supervisor just might be the nudge to get this person in line or gone, again, as long as you aren't perceived as the real problem.

[Blackcat99]

I remember a nurse like that many many years ago. One day, I just stood there and glared at her while she talked. I didn't say a word. I just stared at her with my angry glare. I knew she could read my angry thoughts by looking into my eyes. I was furious and I knew she could sense my intense anger. She started treating me much better after that episode.

[enchantmentdis, BSN, RN]

Don't incite this nurse; just be pleasant and smile. This nurse will dig her own hole--others are reporting her and she does not like the Don. If the Don figures out that she doesn't like her, believe me she will eventually get fired.

[KarmaWiseRaven]

Its clobbering time !! Time to snatch her up by her little scrubs and give her a wake up call like she has never had before. You know i delt with nurses like that ( I'm a guy) the only thing i find that nurses like that understand is pain. So do unto her as she is doing to you but worst start looking for mistakes in her charting and whatever else she touches Put her under a glass and start picking her apart. Get other nurse's who don't like her do the same make it a group effort. And no one and i mean no one would call me at home unless it was Admin or DON and they best be dieing or the place is on fire. Wow you have been putting up with this. I would keep notes Dates and Times what the conversation was about then i would file a grievance with the Admin and DON. And i would tell her and make it clear don't mistake my kindness for weakness because i will get Midevil on you and you won't like me. The only other thing i can say is that after the smoke clears either you or her won't have a job. But to go to war with a co-worker you have to have that attitude ( You came in here looking for a job and you will leave looking for one ) Never let people push you around like that your a better person then i. These are my thoughts use them as you wish...

[sasha2lady]

I guess there one like this in any place we work. Luckily I only have to look at her face 6x per schedule. Still, seems like more. In all my time at this place I think shes has to top all the people Ive met as far as having the worst attitude for absolutely no known reason. Me, personally, if I was that absolutely miserable, Id go somewhere else.

We all have bad days beyond belief but I always try to leave my issues at the door and pick them up when I leave. It rubs off on everybody and makes for an extremely long miserable shift.

Thats why I stay away from the "drama" as much as possible. I do my thing and go home. I listen to what others say but keep my comments short sweet and low profile.

Its usually pretty bad when the aides look up and take notice of this sorta thing though.....its not very often that happens. They are more apt to fuss about other aides rather than nurses. Cant say I blame them though...I wouldnt appreciate getting hit with the "Im already in a bad mood and I dont wanna know" like what she has said to them recently.

What Id LOVE to say to her is :"If you wanna be my boss so bad go get the RN behind your name and take her job, til then back off!" ahh...well....time will tell.