Maybe some of you can help me and some of my colleagues (RN) where I work.
I have been working a number of years in an LTC facility and things have generally run along well with other colleagues. We have had a very supportive team.
Recently two younger but experienced nurses were hired to work on my floor opposite me. I am not sure of their backgrounds, but both have worked fairly extensively in acute care prior to this, but I believe they both have come into their new positions with some LTC experience.
As the weeks and months go by I and a few of the other nurses have become alarmed at the aggressive nature that these nurses appear to display in the way they seem to manage the problems on the floor. There are always a bunch of residents on antibiotics at any one time, a reddened area under a breast or groin will have a request flying to the doctor for an antibiotic, a urine result that is contaminated will do the same, or any cloudy appearance. Lab results are scrutinised and faxed to doctors (who get the results anyway) with remarks and suggestions on what treatment options should be thought of, asking them to initiate certain treatments that we others feel are not necessary and not in the interests of our elderly residents, and are concerned that this approach can undermine our good relationships with our doctors.They do procedures which we others feel,are uncalled for, but get "its the only way to do it." kind of thing. I am not the only nurse that feels this way. I mean, this place where we work are these residents' home, its not a hospital. And its not that we do not want to work and learn new things, and support our colleagues. We generally have had a very supportive team. The problem is that when we have approached these two nurses with some of these issues they become quite aggressive and emphatic. Our nursing manager is very nice and helpful when we need her, but we are getting the idea that we think she doesn't quite know how to handle this, or maybe is unaware of how it is affecting things. We haven't had this as a problem before. The acuity is increasing, the workload is becoming unmanageable and I think its time for us older ones to nip this in the bud. How do you think we should tackle this and still keep the supportive culture in our facility intact??
