How do you work with the "SUPERNURSE"!!!

2008pn · Mar 1, 2009

What is that phrase they tell us in nursing school " use the chain of command" right, did you speak to the charge nurse about this matter

C-DIFF PHIL RN · Mar 1, 2009

your not the only one who has a supernurse in their unit. got one in mine too. she thinks she can do no wrong, she is always right and her **** is gold and dont stink. she is the first to correct you and the last to admit when she is wrong. she takes all the difficult assignments and extra duties but gripes the whole time about how she is the only one qualified (which is bull) and volunteers ( again bull, she always the first to sign-up). she one of those nurses that pulls chart on old pt's and looks at other nurses charting then critiques them, but not for the purpose of learning but to showboat. she is always tooting her horn. but the poor thing is, that she is quite a competent nurse and actually smart, but no one in the unit will admit that to her cause of her attitude. she to will come to work and say things like "i wished i worked else where". well hell no one else will take her cause of her ******* attitude. unfortunatly nursing is full of crap like this. so i feel your pain.

cloister · Mar 1, 2009

Have any of you ever worked with someone who feels like they do everything and everyone else is lazy? I work with a great bunch of nurses. We just have one that thinks she is the only one that works, she's the fastest, everyoe else is lazy, she's the best IV starter, etc., etc.. She has been a nurse for sometime, I would say about 15 + years and tells me (I've only been a nurse sine 06') and another nurse (who has been a nurse just over a year) how lucky we are to be working in our department. We work in the surgery department. She tells us that they rarely hire new grads to the department and we should be grateful to be there. She normally only works the pre op area and gets mad if she does have to float down to post op (which rarely happens) she says she can't stand being in endo (it's gross: per her), the PACU nurses have cake jobs because they only have one pt at a time, I have never seen her do a procedure (chest tube, bone marrow bx, etc.) until the other day when she was made to go in to see how to assist in a chest tube placement. She is really bringing everyone down. We have tried to go to management and they did pull the pre op, post op, PACU, and endo nurses together for a meeting so we could all vent our concerns. We have not seen anything come of the meeting yet and its going on three weeks now. She like to go to our department manager alone and voice her concerns. She can turn the tears on at the drop of a dime. The sad part is that I have really liked her up until the last couple of months. She is always saying she needs a new job...I say GO! I have told myself to just avoid her and only have a working relationship with her but her rude remarks and how she treats us is getting crazy. What to do?

Tough one.

I've worked with (and work with) nurses like you describe. I remember being real intimidated by one I had as a new grad in a neuro ICU, because to hear her tell it, she'd been BORN in the ICU and could do no wrong. She actually went to my nurse manager and told her I was unsafe for not drawing a sodium level on a pre-op pt who subsequently had to have their surgery postponed due to low sodium. Of course, the next night RT caught her after she turned a vent off on a CPAP pt. who was trached. It had been alarming while she was suctioning, and in her arrogance she turned it off, never dreaming she'd forget to turn it back on. We kept mum, but she knew she'd been caught flatfooted. After that, her demeanor toward me changed somewhat. She wasn't God's gift to critical care, and she knew that I knew it.

I work with one now that has much the same attitude, but it's more covert - a look, a sigh, something that tells you that you're not quite up to snuff. She's managed to run off a few of our folks who got tired of dealing with it. Management has been largely ineffective in dealing with it, because it's covert and she results to martyrdom when confronted about any complaints that have been lodged.

I deal with it by gritting my teeth at times and avoiding her when she's on a tear. She's actually an excellent nurse, and she's great with physicians, patients and families. Other staff many times don't fare as well, but it's not clear who she singles out. Once she singles you out, though, it's a real cold ride.

I'm glad to hear that all of you met to voice your concerns, because now management has to realize it's not just one of you who notices the problem. I'm with you - maybe she needs to be strongly encouraged to go get a new job. Her dislike of post-op could also be a cover up for not really knowing jack about what she's doing, so she bluffs and expresses her disdain for the area and the nurses involved.

Try not to let it get to you. Unfortunately, you will probably encounter a few more of her ilk in your career. Just don't let her make you think that you are somehow not a good nurse because you haven't been one as long as she has. A good nurse is a good nurse. Longevity has little to do with it.

Good luck. Let us know how it goes!

C-DIFF PHIL RN · Mar 1, 2009

and in our case, our sorry ass charge nurse wont do crap, cause supernurse does all her performance improvement stuff for the unit...she ******* and complains about it and tells everyone how important she is for doing it also does a half ass job on it, but as long as our lazy charge don't have to do it, well supernurse is here to stay. we could always put rat poison in her tab...

BQueenGirl · Mar 1, 2009

oh i spend my day trying not to roll my eyes at her and gag

ozoneranger · Mar 1, 2009

I think God strategically plants these individuals around the planet so that we all come into contact with at least one in our lifetimes......

2008pn · Mar 1, 2009

I think God strategically plants these individuals around the planet so that we all come into contact with at least one in our lifetimes......

It sure does seem that way....................:smokin:

ozoneranger · Mar 1, 2009

It sure doe seem that way....................:smokin:

Anything less would be prejudicial.

sodacrek · Mar 1, 2009

I would try to go with this nurse everytime i could. Follow her and ask her questions about the right way to do procedures. I would stay in her back pocket until the point where she would get tired of you, or she would know that you are very competent in what you do. I feel that many nurses do this also due to their inadequacies and their self esteem that they feel about themselves as nurses. Is she well liked in the area that she works or does she drive others away? Just show her the respect she wants, and then she will leave her "supernurse" at the door when she arrives to work with you

kellykelly · Mar 1, 2009

I think we all have worked with one of these! Ignore her until the next time she pulls it with you. Then call her on it. I bet she'll back down quickly. Lots of nurses act like this because actually, they are insecure and are missing social skills. Some on the other hand are quite confident but have totally forgotten that at one time, they didn't know it all either, and for whatever reason one of their only joys in their job is putting down others.

I worked with one that had been in the ICU for a few years and then joined the float pool. She had to float to our floor a lot. I had been there a couple years but was new to her, and she decided she'd try to throw her weight around with me--questioning everything I told her in report as though I'd made it up, making a huge show of pulling the chart out to check if the orders I said I'd done were even written, this that and the other thing. I let it slide for two days and on the third day I told her point-blank I was done with her games, trying to trip me up and treating me like I didn't know what I was doing and unless she had a valid complaint she'd best knock it off. Her reply was a wide-eyed "But Kelly, I don't even KNOW you!" I told her, "That's RIGHT you don't know me. But you're about to."

That was the end of her shenanigans with me. She turned on someone else next but that didn't last long either because we all had her number by then. She went on to another position elsewhere not long after. I guess we took the fun out of it for her.

You are your own best advocate! Don't let SuperRN ruin your work environment. :)

Mr Ian · Mar 1, 2009

Over compensation - borne out of lack of security and faith in oneself.

Often found to be living in an oppressive domestic violence situation at home.