just a vent about a nurse brown noser!

Dixielee, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2008

i work with this male RN on my floor, and he totally kisses all of the doctors butts. he's sort of grumpy in his normal state to everyone else, but completely changes anytime a doctor comes around. seriously, i think he would drop down and start doing push ups if a doctor ordered it. on top of that, whenever he talks to a doctor, albeit on the phone or in person, he says "doctor" way too often. "yes doctor, no problem doctor, hello doctor, ok doctor, my pleasure doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor!" I counted how many times he said doctor on his last phone call, and it was 10 times!! i'm not saying this is a bad thing persay, just very, very annoying anytime i have to listen to it.

That is simply nauseating! It is hard to trust a brown noser, and I have little use for anyone who uses this technique. Kinda makes you wonder about his self esteem!

RNperdiem, RN · Jul 21, 2008

To get this out of your system,

1.do a wicked impersonation of him at home where none of your coworkers can see you. Have a good laugh about how silly it sounds.

2. Next time you hear your coworker on the phone, he will sound comical rather than irritating. Try not to snicker.

2bmalenurse007 · Jul 21, 2008

There's one on every job, keep him at a distance.

wino73 · Jul 21, 2008

I think you should approach him on his attitude at work. Not necessarily the brown nosing because if you and others notice it Im sure the doctors notice it and believe me it is not gaining him any points. However, if he is grumpy at work and it affects his working relationship with you and other coworkers, then it needs to be addressed. When teams are not effective it ultimately affects patient care.

oramar · Jul 21, 2008

My hubby and I were just talking about people like this yesterday. They brown nose with people they think are important or have power and treat everyone else like dirt. In a lot of cases they also carry tales to managment about their co-workers. Be careful what you say around him because it will most likely get back to managment. I got bad news for you people like this frequently get promoted so he will end up being your boss in one way or another. Several years ago my niece who is an ICU nurse complained bitterly to me about a nurse just like this. Now he is her unit manager. His brown nosing did not go unnoticed, he was promoted.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2008

His brown nosing did not go unnoticed, he was promoted.

Unfortunately, brown-nosing frequently wins points in the corporate world because some people in authority love to have their egos stroked (and their butts kissed). The disgusting people who do plenty of butt-kissing are often more remarkable than the good people who do their jobs thanklessly for no recognition.

Floridanurse · Jul 21, 2008

Where I work, we would tease him mercilously about it. Maybe he doesn't know he does it so much. Or...perhaps he has learned about the good ol' boys club. Where I work, to get a management position, you are interviewed by the doctors who service the area you are applying for and they have alot of say into who gets the job. I have a friend who had been subbing for a management position while it was posted, the staff really wanted her because she did not know anyone in that area previously to being put in this temporary position and they felt she would be fair and had been fair in her duties so far. At the last minute a former employee the doctors liked applied.. and that was all there was to it..she had the job. The staff was not happy as they knew this person and knew she would be partial to others.

MissPiggy · Jul 21, 2008

Having been a nurse for over 22 years I have seen this only too many times; all I can say is that it is also a reflection upon the self esteem of the "brown-nosee", as if they were as intelligent as they like to think they are, they would see through the act, but, sadly most of them do not. Sad state of affairs...

:uhoh21:

mpccrn, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2008

i've seen male nurses treated differently from female nurses. it's the power of the member. somehow having one makes you more authoritative. they could be the most lazy, uncompassionate nurse ever, but they talk a good game. we occassionally talk about this very issue and the male nurses i work with agree and just laugh. there is a female PAC that often threatens to carry one in her pocket to pull out when she has to repeat herself so many times to be heard. :chuckle

Jo Dirt · Jul 21, 2008

We have a nurse at work who I guess you could call a "princess." Her parents live on a houseboat and she is always going to "Hilton Head" or "Panama City." She tells tales of woe about how her parents had taken the house boat out in the lake and anchored it down and she forgot and went to sleep in her room and had to get up at 4:30am and ride the jet ski to the boat dock and change into her scrubs in the restaurant bathroom...I was getting so sick of hearing how rough life is on the houseboat.

As the nurse leaves she often says, I'm gone, I have to get to the houseboat.

One day, a day shift nurse commented as she left she was going to the houseboat, and we all laughed.

Now, it has become a joke among several of us. We will all talk about our houseboats, and going to Hilton Head, blah blah blah.

So, turn his behavior into an inside joke and it will make it a lot easier to take.

nurseshepherd · Jul 21, 2008

That is a sad commentary about many health care system, brown nosing does work a lot of time. It is often so blatant that the rest of the staff assumes management sees it, but I have seen too many of those folks promoted over far superior nurses who prefer to keep their noses clean. Very sad.