Lazy employees, what do you do?

[pumpkin1984]

I am not a nurse yet but I know there's always someone at every job who doesn't do there job. So how do you deal with lazy, slow, lackluster, just don't care co-workers?

[MikeyJ, RN]

I work on an AMAZING pediatrics floor as a nurse apprentice and the staff is amazing, hard-working, and a very high morale. However, there is one nurse that I work with periodically and she is perhaps the most laziest person I have ever come across. I am definitely not in any position to say anything to her but I guarantee you that when I am oficially an RN and have my license and a secure position there, I will either report this person or say something.

[Nat Hyland]

In the aged care facility where I work, we have a number of staff who do the LEAST they can possibly get away with! I work with one woman who will only do the "in charge" shift, and will assign all the hardest residents to care for (ie the ones with the worst dementia) to the two other staff on the shift (who only work 4-hour and 6.5-hour shifts respectively), where she works the longest shift. This means that neither of the other two staff have their allocated break time, and are constantly running late.

Not only this, but the morning staff often don't finish what the should, so we are forced to do their work first before we can start our own. Of course this puts us behind.

When I do the longest shift (as I do three nights a week) I automatically help the most difficult residents first (as they take the longest), which takes the strain off both the other shifts. All the other staff love it when I am doing the longest (medication) shift with them for this reason - they have less to do.

We are actually having an "afternoon shift" meeting next week, and I can tell you, I will be saying a few words!

Nat.

[jlcole45]

I agree that you must choose your battles, but if it's someone such as your CNA or your charge nurse and it's directly affect me and the care I am able to provide, I confront them with my expectations, and then go to the chain of command. Sometimes it's affective, sometimes not.

It's amazing how we just seem to ignore and adjust to the laziness around us. But fortunately I work with a good team of people, but there's always one or two slackers.

I agree with tweety. Choose your battles, but don't tolerate it when your work is effected.

Luckily I have a great nurse manager who has a nose for hiring good employees. Every once in a while she'll make a mistake and those rare exceptions do not last long. It seems if you have a good leader then the rest of the unit is generally a good one, at least in the civilian world.

You know the old saying "Poop rolls down hill!" Units who are known for there lazy employees usually have weak leadership.