i hate to say anything bad about a fellow nurse, but i work with an incompetent nurse. i watch her and listen to her "stories" about why she is doing something and i just cannot believe she was passed through nursing school. to make it even worse she has the personality that does not know how to say "i don't know" so she makes up crazy stories. i thought maybe i was exaggerating her story telling but one day i made up a disease process and she actually started talking about it as if she sees it all the time. aaaahhh! i really do not know how to handle this. i watch her access ports without any caution to sterile technique, give wrong patient education and lie to the don about medication she had given during the day. i reported what i have been seeing to the don, but i felt like a total a**! there was no way i am going to let her harm patients. when i am with her i feel like i have to watch her every second in case she does something stupid and then tries to hide it.
has anyone else had to deal with something like this?
Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
Perhaps she thinks the same thing about you. After all, if one has tunnel vision and looks for a colleague's mistakes, s/he will surely find them, real or imagined.
Ps...I hope I will never become of those "nurses eat their young" types...
First thing I thought of was this graphic:
Why are we beating each other up here? Aren't we all supposed to be on the same side???
a friend of my coined this just right. she says that the offender has obviously gone to the
university of
i know everything
:grad:
these are the hardest to deal with, when they know very little. i've been doing this 15 years... i simply keep asking "why"... ok.... they give you bs... no "why, what standard of practice can you quote or study that backs you up because now i'm interested... i've never considered that myself".... i do the "dumb act" with these people until the are unable to give a rationale.... and then i give them my evidence based knowledge (that you have to gain through continued research and never stop that) and i simply say.... "hmn, i'm not so sure of your decision... let me research it and pull it up, it's new to me"... the dumb act.... and i print out a plethora of information and give it to them.
then there is no excuse for incompetence... next round, we talk face to face and i spill it and call them out politely in private and hand them the articles back for them to read.. assuming this is not the "file the incident report incident" and tell them that they are not current and suggest they hit the computer.
yes, i do this regularly and my peers are challenged by me or try to skate by... in two weeks i know who is who and offer them the paper, or the paper trail.
i have no use for someone with disregard to our patients who can put them at harm due to lazyness and the lack of ability to adapt. luckily, our culture promotes this... you may need help if your union or have non interest from management.
I dont know why but when I read the initial post I felt the same way....btw OP are you trying to tell us you never had one of those "dumb" moments in your nursing career? Also havent you made any mistakes???
Ps...I hope I will never become of those "nurses eat their young" types...
Are you crazy? this nurse went as far as to pretend to know about a fake diagnosis that didn't exist to prove her "competency"... re read the post, this is not about eating the young ... this is I've been there done it all seen it all nurse... that won't learn and grow... you scare me poster that you protect this... it speaks volumes... clarify if you wish, I hope I've misunderstood you, but fear I havent
glad that you are holier than thou! you do not know me and only have a snippet of what has been going on. and yes when i see a dumb nurse i will make sure i watch them like a hawk so they don't kill anyone. it's called patient advocacy.
i was only trying to see if i was really seeing her for what she was or if i was making more of an issue of a problem that was not there. i never mentioned it to anyone (other than allnurses) it was for my own "assessment" to understand the type of person i was dealing with. now if i were to go around and make it known this nurse has seen and treated the made up disease....that is catty.
i never said i know you and thank god for that.
one question.. while you are watching her like a hawk (your words) how many safe, caring, competent things do you see her do?
Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.
Someone sounds more than a little too defensive, if you ask me.
I don't think the OP ever said that the person in question is pure evil -- just an unsafe nurse.
Why on earth would anyone try to justify dangerous care by essentially saying, "Oh, it's okay that she endangered that patient's life, because she was caring enough to refill the patient's pitcher of ice water earlier today."
yikes, again... and again another thread gone too far... shame on us. this is crazy, you people that I love make me nuts some times. This is so simple... why does it need to be so hard?
Can we please all read the OP post and give some suggestions to help them? If you feel the op is wrong here... can you suggest alternative courses of actions that you'd make? do we confront... or deal with a sideline plan here...?
Can we please all read the OP post and give some suggestions to help them? If you feel the op is wrong here... can you suggest alternative courses of actions that you'd make? do we confront... or deal with a sideline plan here...?
Seems to me that the nurses crying about the eating of young are the most defensive and argumentative here lately. And I'm sorry in advance but geez some posters really get there knickers in a twist over a LEGITIMATE concern of a fellow nurse. Patient safety should take priority not who can talk the talk but not walk the walk.
yikes, again... and again another thread gone too far... shame on us. this is crazy, you people that I love make me nuts some times. This is so simple... why does it need to be so hard?
i feel no shame. These threads are my favorite. The culture of nursing is often so passive-aggressive..why is it so wrong to directly challenge each other??
i feel no shame. These threads are my favorite. The culture of nursing is often so passive-aggressive..why is it so wrong to directly challenge each other??
I can't lie, I do read them. BUT I'm trying to better myself (and grow up) as I am far from perfect so I try to refrain from saying something on a forum that I wouldn't say in person. The culture of passive aggressiveness will never change until it's nipped totally in the bud.
Specializes in Cardiology (ITU), Acute Renal/Dialysis.
It is so frustrating when people are overconfident, make mistakes and do not have the sense to admit when they have made a mistake. People's lives are at risk with such nurses
ESPECIALLY AS SOME OF THESE NURSES ARE THE MANAGERS "RUNNING BUDDIES" AND USUALLY GET THE PROMOTIONS! OOPS CAPS LOCK WAS ON
brillohead, ADN, RN
1,781 Posts
First thing I thought of was this graphic:
Why are we beating each other up here? Aren't we all supposed to be on the same side???