incompetent coworker

[ella401]

I have a coworker that has consistently shown incompetence yet our managers have failed to do anything about this despite our documentation of her negligence etc. The most recent incident was when she was the RN in the nursery doing the newborn assessments. During that shift TWO infants she assessed had cleft palates and one had Pierre Robin Syndrome. Both went out to their mother's without the discovery. The Nursing Assistant actually discovered the first cleft palate and then the RN taking care of the patient saw the second one after the mother calling the nurse to report her infant was not feeding right. The infants subsequently ended up in our NICU the following day. Several staff members who were present during her shift reported this to the nurse managers. They spoke to the incompetent nurse and she denied and lied as per her usual responses when confronted. The nurse manager has arranged for this nurse to be "retrained" in the nursery yet this is not anything that will help. The nurse is grosely negligent and incompetent. Any suggestions on what we as her coworkers can do without any management retaliation? We do not feel safe with this nurse.

[Blackcat99]

I would send an anonymous letter to the hospital admininstrator. I would tell the administrator about your concerns with this nurse. I would then mention that if something isn't done really soon about this nurse that you will need to notify the state about this situation. If there's one thing a hospital doesn't like -is an investigation by the state. Good luck

[renerian, BSN, RN]

Actually you can report someone to the board and I believe that maybe your practice act says so, not sure but the state I live in says reporting is required for unsafe clinicians but it says nothing about managers only reporting.

Go for it if you think it is necessary,

Or write the a letter as previously suggested,

Good luck as I know that is a horrible place to be.

renerian

[KMSRN]

You can't just up and fire someone. Maybe they are taking the necessary steps and collecting the documentation to get rid of her.

[purplemania, BSN, RN]

We had a pedi nurse who was just plain stupid and scary. I have no idea how she got her license. She referred to otitis media as otis meatus. We nicknamed her "Otis" after that. She finally made enough documented errors that even she could see the writing on the wall and left before getting fired. I felt sorry for her, because I really don't think she could have done better with training, etc., but she did not need to be a staff nurse.

[Rapheal]

She does not sound like she should be in nursing at all. But in all fairness wouldn't it be wise to wait until she finishes retraining to see if she improves or not? I do not think however, that she should be working unsupervised until her retraining period is over and she has demonstrated competency on the floor.

[athomas91]

i agree w/ the previous post that was saying they cannot just fire someone...

i have actually worked w/ 2-3 people like this...keep documenting it (on paper...) to your manager...just telling them is no good...when they get enough complaints they can take it to administration and then start the process for getting her outta there...

[OCCHCanada]

You are correct. Unfortunately it is very difficult to fire someone unless they have commited a henious crime.

It will take the perserverence of all the staff to document each and every incidence. Termination can only occur after sufficent progressive discipline has occurred.

The manager must be held accountable as well for her lack of involvement.

I would just go straight to the adminstration as two people are not "doing their jobs" - the incompetent nurse and the manager.

[Marie_LPN, RN, LPN, RN]

THis is one case where there's no time to go up the chain of command. Go to the administrator, and do it fast.