I yelled at another nurse.

Published

I'm not proud of it, but I feel it was justified. This nurse is a known drama queen and can't talk about anything unless it is how much harder she has things than everyone else, how everything is about "me, me ,me." She runs around like a chicken with its head cut off. Most people can't stand her, but she has ONE thing going for her: the DON thinks she hung the moon.

We were working 3-11 last night. They were already short one night shift nurse and the other one called in. Drama Queen took the call in, and started carrying on about how she "could" stay until 3 am when the other nurse was scheduled to come in, but she was not going to take the whole building herself and be responsible for all those patients.

So, I agreed to watch my hall and we could both stay until 3 am.

A little while later Drama Queen came over and told me she was getting everyone bedded down "good" and I shouldn't have any trouble out of them. I said to hold on a minute, wasn't she staying until 3AM???

She just gave me this blank look. So I reminded her that if she was going to refuse to work the whole building by herself why should I be expected to?

She stood there a minute and then said, "Ok, you got me."

Later, she came charging up to the nurses station shaking with anger and said something was going on at her house and she was so mad she couldn't stand it and could I call anyone to come in and help.

Being the pushover I am, I told her to just go home at 11.

She calmed down almost immediately.

Later, I saw her chatting with the CNA's, laughing and going out to smoke. This ran all over me and the more I thought about it the madder I got. When she came over at 10:30pm to give me report and leave I couldn't stand it anymore. I told her she had more drama in her life than a soap opera and i just KNEW she was going to muster up some reason she couldn't stay like she promised she would. Furthermore, she expects everyone else to adhere to strict standards but these standards don't apply to her (she leaves two hours early every night, in spite of saying she has too much on her and carries a heavier workload than anyone else.)

Anyway, she gets real quiet and walks away, then comes back and starts making snarky remarks about how I had no right to talk to her that way. I shot back with some remarks of my own while she kept mouthing off and that is where it ended.

I wonder if I will get in trouble for this?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

you had every right to feel betrayed and scammed.

and, had every right to call her on it.

period.

oh...

and, jerk.

leslie

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU/ER.

Good for you...if more people would put Ms.Drama in her place your facility would be a better place.

Once when I was a CNA I had a brand new RN give me a boat load of grief for something so trivial now I cant even remember. Ms New RN was all of 23 and lived at home with Mommy and Daddy and I was in my mid 30s married mother of 4 who had 2 car payments/a mortgage and was in Nursing School which I was paying for. I told her I must respect her because she is a nurse and did just pass her boards, but she in turn must also respect me because I am her elder, and I told her she can no longer call me by my 1st name but can only refere to me as Mrs Racing-Mom.

I was very calm when I told her this and she just gave me this blank stare---but the level of respect amongst us soon changed, she needed knocked off her high horse.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg.

No matter how she got under your skin you shouldn't have attacked her on a more personal level. That's not professional. If I were you I would have loved to have ripped her face off but would have called the DON (whose moon she is hung on) the next morning and filed a complaint. Show her whose the bigger person. But what's done is done. I hope it works out ok for you. Let us know.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Corrections, Cardiac, Hospice.

Your nicer than I would have been:yeah:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg.
Ms New RN was all of 23 and lived at home with Mommy and Daddy and I was in my mid 30s married mother of 4 who had 2 car payments/a mortgage and was in Nursing School which I was paying for.

I don't get it? What does being young and living at home compared to being married and having bills have to do with good patient care? Whether you liked it or not she was the one with the degree and therefore (while not a better or more experienced person than you) she was still your superior at work.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psychiatric Nursing.

Did you handle the situation perfectly..... no. Would I have handled it any differently....I doubt it! That was a really hard situation and I can imagine your frustration for the inconsideration by the drama queen. It always amazes me how people like that get as far as they do in life....

I really hope you do no get called on this one...it would be really sad with the other nurse's poor behavior.... She is the one that needs to be called out! :nono:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I don't get it? What does being young and living at home compared to being married and having bills have to do with good patient care? Whether you liked it or not she was the one with the degree and therefore (while not a better or more experienced person than you) she was still your superior at work.

Simple respect?

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

Reminds me of a screaming match I had with another nurse. This nurse was particularly lazy and refused to help anyone else out and sat at the desk on the internet

I had four patients, one of which was a confused 80 yo man who kept trying to get out of bed. His room was at the very end of the hall. So when another bed in the adjacent hall opened up, I moved him there so he was closer to the desk.

Well, after I moved that patient, another patient went into Afib with RVR, vomited, possibly aspirated and I had been completing a ton of orders while the other nurse ordered her dinner from an outside restaurant and left to go get it while someone else watched her patients.

As it happens, she was up for an admission, that patient would have to be put in my confused patient's former room all the way at the end of the hall. Her patients were in the other hallway where I relocated my confused patient to. She had a fit and wanted me to give up my patient so I could take the admit even though it was 1am and I had not even had a chance to drink water, eat or pee. She didn't seem to care about that she was just concerned about how things were going to work out for her.

I told her off. Quite loudly. Not my most professional moment but she deserved it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
i don't get it? what does being young and living at home compared to being married and having bills have to do with good patient care? whether you liked it or not she was the one with the degree and therefore (while not a better or more experienced person than you) she was still your superior at work.

i suspect it had to do with the relative levels of maturity of the two individuals. and after 30 years as an rn, i'm not sure that i consider the rns to be the "superior at work" of an lpn or cna unless we're deliberately placed in a supervisory role. we each have our own job to do, and the presence of a good cna sure makes mine easier!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
. It always amazes me how people like that get as far as they do in life....

You mean, there are others out there like her???

I'm still fuming over it. It wasn't like last night was an isolated incident. It was the straw that broke the camel's back.

The assistant DON is on the list of people who can't stand her but says she is powerless to do anything about her because she is the DON's pet.

She is also the biggest butt kisser in the nursing home. It's sickening to see how she carries on, really.

She is the one who acts as if everything good that happens is because of her, and everything wrong that happens is because I told you so...she is very insecure and immature. Narcissistic. She is also mentally unstable.

Someone said I shouldn't make it personal but that is kind of hard. It is personal. She has a new and more compelling reason every night that she needs to leave two or more hours early and in the same breath she will criticize others and say they need to finish their shift. This is no lie. The hypocrisy is that blatant.

In retrospect, I wish I had not lost my temper, but again, it wasn't that incident alone. It has been accumulating for a long time. It's funny to see how people walk on eggshells and tiptoe around. They don't want to rock the boat. But now I'm the captain, I guess. If more people would come out...there was a couple of witnesses who cheered me when she left.

I still don't feel good about it. This woman is pitiful. Unfortunately, she is sick, too.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU/ER.
I don't get it? What does being young and living at home compared to being married and having bills have to do with good patient care? Whether you liked it or not she was the one with the degree and therefore (while not a better or more experienced person than you) she was still your superior at work.

Her attitude was outrageouse, and I dont remember what it was she yelled at me for, something trivial though---she had not exp life yet, that was the point, yes she graduated school and passed her boards, but she was clueless in the everyday world. It was not a patient care arguement, it was something like why are you not stocking shelves now vs passing ice water,(and it was not those exact words)and it did include an eye roll and a gasp.. I honestly dont remember the exact situtation, but it was her tone that I had a problem with, not her request.

There is a big difference in being a boss and being "bossy"

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion