Know it all Nurses

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Specializes in RN, BSN, CHDN.

In my nursing career which has spanned 20 yrs in August very few things have made my blood boil.

One of the exceptions to this rule is the KNOW IT ALL NURSE, I am sure you have all met this individual the one who knows everything, the one who never ever makes a mistake, the one who looks down their nose at other nurses when they are struggling, the one who lets everybody know she/he is superior.

I have met this nurse often in my career they have been newly graduated nurses, they have been new nurses to my floor but have experience from another place of work, they are very experienced nurses but what they are not are TEAM PLAYERS, they are individuals who let others struggle because it makes them look good.

Initially as a new RN I was overwelmed by them and almost revered them to a place next to God, then I realised nobody knows everything in spite of what they say, then I was the extreemly experienced nurse who just laughed in side at their nonsence. But I am a team player and when they fall I help them up gently and guide them in the right direction, supporting them, caring for their large bruised ego calmly and with supporting advice ensuring I dont appear patronising, begging my inner ego not to laugh at their misfortune or their fall from grace.

Because be assured new nurses nobody knows everything, everybody will need help at some stage and the know it alls do fall from grace.

Ok off my soap box

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Specializes in ICU.

Hear, hear!

I used to look foward to the day when I would have five years experience. Now I have five years experience and the thing that has really changed is how much I respect someone with 20 years experience.

Where I work, the know-it-alls all think they are destined for NP or CRNA school. Most of them are utterly terrible nurses, but that's because they are self-assured that they are more than "just a nurse." Hopefully, one day, they will all go off to NP school and CRNA school and leave nursing to the lesser mortals.

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ITA!! I've also noticed that these are the nurses whose pts never get a bath, or their teeth brushed etc...Like they're too "super smart technical nurse" to perform these tasks. I don't mean occasionally missing these things, but the ones that look down their noses at doing them. Ugh.. Makes me crazy too..

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I find they are the fresh new grads from our local university. Meant for greater things than staff nursing.

It is amazing how foley bags, drains, bed pans are left full when the patients are under these all knowing nurses care.

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Specializes in ER/ICU/Flight.

I know exactly what you mean.

Fortunately, we only really have one such nurse in our unit and she's had some humbling experiences. I relieved her to find a patient profoundly hypotensive, she was running around, pretty flustered, had titrated a dopamine gtt to 20 mcg/kg/m and was at her wits end. I looked and the bed was absolutely saturated, then I traced the cause to the IV line which was not attached to the IV and realized that most of a whole bag of dopamine had been running into the sheets. Since she was standing right there I showed her the problem and she cried. I wasn't trying to shame her but I did tell her that now was the time for her to do the right thing. Our medical director was present and she had to go 'fess up. I wasn't going to write her up or anything like that, it was his responsibility to decide how it would be handled (some of you might disagree with me but that's how I see it---in 17 years I've written up 1 person and that's because I had no other choice).

At least with me, she's a little bit different now. but I think madwife2002 has good advice about gently guiding them in the right direction.

and like flightline said, it's SO true...they all think they're going to NP or CRNA school. One of my co-workers (with about 32 years experience) told a know-it-all CRNA wanna-be "if I ever realize you're planning on giving me anesthesia...I'll cut out the middle man and just kill myself in Pre-Op holding."

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Specializes in Gerontology.

My "know it all" nurse is a new grad. She thinks she knows everything about any pt she's taken care of. For example - I asked her to double check an insulin for me. I showed her the insulin and then went to flip to the correct page in the MAR (the MAR folder had closed on me). she said "Oh I know the doseage - I took care of Mrs M last week. I just looked at her and told her giving meds by memory was a dangerous habit and she better get out of it right away. She tried to back pedal and say she would never do that, but I'm not so sure she understood the danger. Today, a pts bed exit alarm went off and her nurse went running in. This Know-it--all nurse said out loud- oh shes just moving her bottom. I had her last week and she does that.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

We DO know it all.

What was the question again? :)

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How would you like to be in nursing classes with a soon-to-be- nurse know-it-all??? She would tell us what we were doing wrong during labs and clinicals, and always had a story to tell about every procedure or illness that we discussed. She wasn't in my clinical this rotation and I was so thank-ful.

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In my nursing career which has spanned 20 yrs in August very few things have made my blood boil.

One of the exceptions to this rule is the KNOW IT ALL NURSE, I am sure you have all met this individual the one who knows everything, the one who never ever makes a mistake, the one who looks down their nose at other nurses when they are struggling, the one who lets everybody know she/he is superior.

I have met this nurse often in my career they have been newly graduated nurses, they have been new nurses to my floor but have experience from another place of work, they are very experienced nurses but what they are not are TEAM PLAYERS, they are individuals who let others struggle because it makes them look good.

Initially as a new RN I was overwelmed by them and almost revered them to a place next to God, then I realised nobody knows everything in spite of what they say, then I was the extreemly experienced nurse who just laughed in side at their nonsence. But I am a team player and when they fall I help them up gently and guide them in the right direction, supporting them, caring for their large bruised ego calmly and with supporting advice ensuring I dont appear patronising, begging my inner ego not to laugh at their misfortune or their fall from grace.

Because be assured new nurses nobody knows everything, everybody will need help at some stage and the know it alls do fall from grace.

Ok off my soap box

actually, that is the hardest part......actually not laughing out loud can be hard....

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Specializes in Hem/Onc, ER.

We have a know it all where I work in the ER. She is a good nurse technically speaking but will not help anyone out (not a team player) and is very critical of others lack of experience and know how. She seems to behave in a superior manner but I truly thinks that she is one that pulls others down so she can try to boost her own self worth. She is a good example to me of how NOT to behave towards others.

We have another know it all who is a newer grad and is absolute terrifying because she THINKS that she knows way more than she actually does. She does not have the sense sometimes to be concerned over certain situations.

*Sigh* Everybody has them and I try to steer clear of them. :twocents:

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ITA!! I've also noticed that these are the nurses whose pts never get a bath, or their teeth brushed etc...Like they're too "super smart technical nurse" to perform these tasks. I don't mean occasionally missing these things, but the ones that look down their noses at doing them. Ugh.. Makes me crazy too..

...and I'd add to this, these are the ones that sit at the nurses station and tell us student nurses that every one of their patients is a PIA... and when you as a student give report on something like a big LOC change, and even low HR... they get annoyed because they have to get out of their chairs and take a looksy, and that's if you are lucky... then... and then.... they will complain to your instructor that you were bothering them! My instructor knows whats what and ends up apologizing for hospital staff. How ridiculous that she would have to do that.

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Specializes in ICU,CCU,CVICU,SICU.
hear, hear!

i used to look foward to the day when i would have five years experience. now i have five years experience and the thing that has really changed is how much i respect someone with 20 years experience.

where i work, the know-it-alls all think they are destined for np or crna school. most of them are utterly terrible nurses, but that's because they are self-assured that they are more than "just a nurse." hopefully, one day, they will all go off to np school and crna school and leave nursing to the lesser mortals.

just to be sure i understand you right. do you mean to say that the "know-it-all-nurse" is typically the one to become a crna or an np?

or do you mean that they think they will become one (but never get there)?

thank you for the clarification...

b-

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