My bad attitude

[jessiern]

This might get a little long, and windy. I am sorry. I'm going to start off by explaining last Sunday that I worked, as I feel this is the main problem. It was the 4 or 5 really bad shift for me. We started with 8 patients/nurse (very very extreme for our floor). And ER started calling for admits. The oncall MD was rounding, and I made the offhand comment to him that it was too much to deal with, and I didn't feel it was safe for the patients. This put him in an uproar. Next thing I knew he called the ER doc, informed him he would not except any more admits to our floor, and he also called the admin on call, who he demanded come help us. She had worked the previous night due to call-ins.

Now, the friday before was my yearly eval. I was graded as a "role-model" employee, and my manager offered no compliants at all about my performance. I was also given a 5% raise due to my high quality work. I was also told my co-workers enjoyed working with me, and patients had good things to say about my care.

Now, let's fast forward to Tuesday, my first day at work since "black Sunday" as we are calling it. It is a much better day. Four patients that I can pet and pamper all I want. And I'm happy. At 4pm I was called to the DON's office. There sits the DON, and both assistant managers, including the one that just praised me Friday. These are the things I was told

• "A large majority" of my co-workers on my floor complain about my poor attitude, and state I always complian
  
• "All of the ICU nurse" hate to have to call me about a patient, because I never take care of the situation, and I am rude.
  
• I had received numerous complaints from patients. When I pushed further, they were only able to name one patient's WIFE, who was only in room with the patient for twenty minutes after his admit. She informed me when I first entered the room that we were terrible nurses, and she would be talking to the DON--all before I ever opened my mouth. I immediatly informed management.
  
• I was told the MD from weekend had informed them I was rude, and constantly complianed about the worked load. Well, maybe I was a little ill, and maybe I did complian. So did the other two nurses and everyone else on shift. Who wouldn't complain with 8 patients, 4 total cares, and not a tech in sight to assist?
  
• Also, was informed I had no right to complain about "bad shifts" that were shortstaffed because its wasn't the norm. Those days were to be expected.
  
• Made the comment that "some people will complain if you give them two patients. We think you might be one of those people, and it will not be tolerated".
  
• Also stated "all the unit sec" said I was "snappy" when they called to report patient needs". We only have two sec, and one is my mom. The other says she has never complianed about anyone, much less me.

Now, since then I have spoken to many of my co-workers, including 5 ICU nurses. They have all been shocked by what was said, and stated they have never had a problem with me, and never heard anyone else complain about me. The MD stated he informed them I was "nervous and frazzled" which "wasn't my usual", and he was concerned about the staffing level, and he expressed that he was not happy with them leaving us like that.

Also, I have complained very rarely to management. The only other time I have complianed about staffing was a couple of weeks ago when we had 7 patients with no tech, and the supervisor had not attempted to find any help. Our manager helped us, and I thanked her--we even give them a thank you card for their help.

This just really upsets me. I have always been more then willing to help when I could. I have worked my tail off to be the best I could be, even when shorthanded. And I get along with everyone; I have talked to some about leaving, and they have begged me to stay. I just don't understand why this happened. I felt attacked, and I felt like my character was picked apart. It was very degrading. I have worked there 4 years without a single problem. I'm just a little lost right now.

[Mulan]

You were right to complain.

I would have said, "and here's my resignation".

[suespets]

while u do your job search, get some testamonials from your co-workers btw, it sounds to me like the dr. was going to bat for u & the patients. could u get a commendation from him for your next job interview?

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

As much as I'd like to say "Stay strong, hang in there, we need patient advocates like you", having been through this sort of torment I would recommend that you polish up your resume and get out of Dodge before they crush your spirit entirely. I've seen careers ruined and nurses chased out of the field by management such as yours; they've already proven that they're capable of just about anything in order to squash even the hint of rebellion. Get out while you can......it's only going to get worse.

I've been there also- I almost totally agree with Vegas, but odds are you will have the same problem in your next job, and jobhopping is hard on the nerves and the reputation.

I want to point out that every one of your coworkers, the secretaries, and the doc is backing you up on what happened that day. Yes, it was a miserable day, and Yes, you did right by your patients, and actually you did right by the hospital by stopping unsafe care. (Damned if they will admit it though.) You did a good job.

As for your entry in the bad attitude club- well welcome home babe! We're glad to have you!. Amazingly, if they fired everyone with a bad attitude at my workplace there wouldn't be much of a hospital left. I for one, consider "attitude" a desirable quality in my coworkers. But then I'm a night ER nurse, and you know how weird we can get.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

You probably will not be able to ignore this. None of it is obviously true. What I would do is write a letter for them to read and then place in your file. State why you disagree with what was said and describe in detail what the the situation was that night and what your comments were. State in there somewhere that you are always open to learning and growing professionally with constructive and true feedback. You might want to even push it a bit and ask for a retraction anc cc to your employment law attorney or say that you are writing this letter based upon advice received from your attorney. I wrote a really good letter like this for my best friend who is always accused of poor communication skills. They left her alone after that. I told her that two things could happen after she gave them the letter. First option was that it would get worse and she would be targeted or second choice it would get better.

[TRAMA1RN]

This almost same thing happened to me several years ago, dealt with it for two years and no matter what I said and what documentation I had from others stating how great a job I was doing, I finally ended up getting fired and since I worked for an at will employer this meant I had absolutely no recourse because you can be fired if they don't like the color of your shoes. My advice get another job because once you have that reputation no matter what you will be looked as a trouble maker. Run don't walk!

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

Code- "bad attitude" = "You're not willing to put up with our crap, work short, not be able to provide safe, quality care to patients, actually call us on our bullpoop, and refuse to be bullied in this manner."

I too will NOT move people at 2 AM for more admits, will NOT bend over backwards for anyone unless they have been polite...etc. If you had such problems, why were they NOT brought up at your eval? girl, stand proud.....maybe get a bad attitude scrub...like some nice flames....very bikerish...LOL.....don't let em get you down....keep on keeping on....

[RN1982]

Code- "bad attitude" = "You're not willing to put up with our crap, work short, not be able to provide safe, quality care to patients, actually call us on our bullpoop, and refuse to be bullied in this manner."

I too will NOT move people at 2 AM for more admits, will NOT bend over backwards for anyone unless they have been polite...etc. If you had such problems, why were they NOT brought up at your eval? girl, stand proud.....maybe get a bad attitude scrub...like some nice flames....very bikerish...LOL.....don't let em get you down....keep on keeping on....

I remember last year when we got evaluated. They started this new system to evaluate all employees. My friend was a secretary on the unit and worked very hard and did a good job. Apparently she didn't do good enough for managements standards so she got 2.5 points out of 5 points possible. After that, she stopped doing extra stuff to help out. Everyone would ask her, "Why don't you put together the admission packs ahead of time like you use to?", she would reply "I'm only doing my 2.5 points worth of work."

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

I agree. Don't stay late. Don't work an extra shift when they ask. If you want to work extra you do it for you, not them. I made the same mistake at my last job. They keep asking and asking for more and then walk all over you.

Bingo.

I did the same thing for years. Not anymore, especially when I see Management turning a blind eye to one of their own's substandard work which not only affects our Clients' care...but is also dumped onto us to handle.

I am not playing that game anymore....and certainly not on a Clerk's salary. :angryfire

[jessiern, BSN, RN]

I really appreciate all your feed back. Didn't realize this would be a problem that so many could relate to!

Really makes me feel good to know that so many outstanding nurses have had to deal with this. Thanks guys!

[PMHNP10]

Really makes me feel good to know that so many outstanding nurses have had to deal with this. Thanks guys!

I know what you are saying, so please don't take this as a crack on your comment in any way, but it truly saddens and nauseates me that "so many outstanding nurses have had to deal with this". Long gone are the days where we can do what's right for the people who count--our patients. Patient care, patient advocacy are such simple concepts that have been soiled by malpractice lawyers, HMOs, bean counting mgmt. and admin, JOKO, etc.

All we want to do is help sick people get better so we can get them back with their families, back to their jobs, back to their children, back to their grandchildren, back to their husband, back to their wives; we want to make differences in our patient's lives; and although we do succeed perhaps most of the time, perhaps rarely or perhaps somewhere in between, we have every entity out there butting heads with us every time we step onto our floor, providing lip service to us to care and advocate, but fighting us tooth and nail when we try to do what is right, what is good.

And then when things go wrong, we are blamed, we are made to feel inadequate, we are driven to a state of paranoia, we are driven to the point where we become eachother's worse enemy. Every single negative thing that can go wrong is a result of our error, lack of judgement, our missed assessment, our inability to catch someone else's error, etc. It's our fault and we are expected to accept this as a fact of life. We are to accept the interference from these entities; their nonstop pushing against our every caring effort. Such a simple concept--possibly the simplest part of health care--and yet the reality is that it is ever so close to being impossible. Yep, sickens me, indeed.

[VivaLasViejas, ASN, RN]

I know what you are saying, so please don't take this as a crack on your comment in any way, but it truly saddens and nauseates me that "so many outstanding nurses have had to deal with this". Long gone are the days where we can do what's right for the people who count--our patients. Patient care, patient advocacy are such simple concepts that have been soiled by malpractice lawyers, HMOs, bean counting mgmt. and admin, JOKO, etc.

All we want to do is help sick people get better so we can get them back with their families, back to their jobs, back to their children, back to their grandchildren, back to their husband, back to their wives; we want to make differences in our patient's lives; and although we do succeed perhaps most of the time, perhaps rarely or perhaps somewhere in between, we have every entity out there butting heads with us every time we step onto our floor, providing lip service to us to care and advocate, but fighting us tooth and nail when we try to do what is right, what is good.

And then when things go wrong, we are blamed, we are made to feel inadequate, we are driven to a state of paranoia, we are driven to the point where we become eachother's worse enemy. Every single negative thing that can go wrong is a result of our error, lack of judgement, our missed assessment, our inability to catch someone else's error, etc. It's our fault and we are expected to accept this as a fact of life. We are to accept the interference from these entities; their nonstop pushing against our every caring effort. Such a simple concept--possibly the simplest part of health care--and yet the reality is that it is ever so close to being impossible. Yep, sickens me, indeed.

Thank you for stating so eloquently what needs to be said in every hospital and care facility, to every manager and administrator and CEO and board member throughout the land.

I think a copy of this post should be sent to every Op-Ed editor of every newspaper in the country as well........maybe THEN someone would listen to us, instead of blaming us for everything that's wrong with health care.

Good job!!!:yeah:

[BradleyRN]

Also, was informed I had no right to complain about "bad shifts" that were shortstaffed because its wasn't the norm. Those days were to be expected.

I dont see why those days are "to be expected". Isnt that what nursing agencies are for? These facilities think they have us duped but i have worked at places that short staff on purpose! They wouldnt even call their own PRN nurses much less an agency. When a facility stands to make a lot of money by understaffing, then that is what is "to be expected". Nurses should stand up for themselves! If we know we can only handle 5-6 patients, then we should refuse to take anymore than that. Let them call an agency to fill the empty slot, instead of dumping it on those of us who come to work. Otherwise, force them to call an agency to fill two slots!