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.
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!
You may not have to get an all new employer. My life has been better since a transfer. Of course, not easy to get when your current one is bad mouthing you, but if possible, it might work out for a nurse with a bad attitude.
Specializes in FNP, Peds, Epilepsy, Mgt., Occ. Ed.
You know, I feel like a real dummy. Reading this, now, I can look back and see situations where I got suckered into believing the "it's your attitude, no one likes working with you, you're not a team player, yadda yadda yadda" and now I'm seeing what was happening! DUH!
I really never realized that was a common management tactic.
Another common management tactic: "What? You're complaining about your patient load? Why, I used to take care of (insert number here, but it will be two or three more than you are complaining about) patients with no trouble at all."
and
"What? You're complaining about your schedule? Why, I used to work four doubles in a row and still managed to go to school full time...."
Another common management tactic: "What? You're complaining about your patient load? Why, I used to take care of (insert number here, but it will be two or three more than you are complaining about) patients with no trouble at all."
and
"What? You're complaining about your schedule? Why, I used to work four doubles in a row and still managed to go to school full time...."
Oh my god, if I heard that from one of my managers, I have heard it a thousand times. We worked together as staff nurses for a while, and I have to remind her from time to time that, yes, you did take that many patients, but we all knew who unhappy you were because you complianed 7a-7p.
This thread is so sad because we read about it here all too often. Nurses are supposed to be patient advocates. We are to protect them and speak out for them when they can't do so for themselves. We see nurses speak up about lack of staff and dangerous patient conditions and the nurse gets the screws put to them.
I was just thinking,I have plenty of friends that are male nurses and might not want to be called a diva...I'm thinking we could substitute Dude for diva for the males!
Jessie: I applaud you for being a patient advocate AND an advocate for your co-workers working on "black Sunday".
I've been in similar situations before, as stated in previous posts, management will always look for a scapegoat to turn the blame away from themselves. ALWAYS remember, if push comes to shove, MANAGEMENT will abandon you, and most of your remaining co-worker will as well.
I agree with writing a rebuttal, and asking that it be placed with your write up. Then move forward, and put the situation behind you. Do keep your eyes open for backstabbers.
I've NEVER understood why nurses eat their young, but that statement is so very true.
i am truly sorry about your situation. i am in a similar situation. it just gets to you night after night. the crappy nights all roll together. it is hard to go to work smiling when you know what is ahead. sadly when a nurse tries to be the squeaky wheel and be an advocate for herself, fellow nurses and patients all she gets is repremanded. it just sucks.
sadly the supervisors have long forgotten what is like to be a floor nurse, they instead side with management or are afraid to stand up for their nurses. hmmm and they wonder why there is a shortage.
if you are truly unhappy where you are look for change. don't let the few bad days or nights let you get down. i hope things look up for you soon.
Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.
JessieRN. . .I read your post carefully and with great compassion. It brought back some of my own memories of a very similar experience during my second year as an acute hospital staff nurse. The way I handled it was that I got mad and quit 4 days later without giving notice. That showed them, didn't it! But looking back now that I have a lot more years of experience and education (I eventually went back and got my BSN--some of these people who ganged up on me, by the way, were BSNs) and having been in management myself, there are a few things that my confronters--and yours, it sounds like--did wrong. You and I both had/have good reason to feel upset, attacked, our character picked apart and degraded and all the good work we did up to that point totally ignored.
That was a very poorly handled disciplinary counseling, if it can even be called that. It was a confrontation and gang up; a show of power designed, perhaps not initially meant to, but ended up putting you in your place. It was a very wrong approach for these leaders to take. They never should have lost their composure in the meeting even if you might have lost yours. The meeting should have been planned so it never should have broken down to the emotional brouhaha that it sounds like it became.
Disciplinary action, even basically, is described to the letter in most facility policy manuals. You don't even have to go to textbooks to look it up. Rule one that the manager is supposed to follow. . .focus on the rule that was broken, not on the person. Some people will go postal when you bring personality and emotions into discussions. A lot of managers can't put their own emotions on a back burner, especially if the employee starts to get upset. Makes me wonder how they ever dealt with emotional, complaining patients. These situations are the time to say, "You're a wonderful nurse! I have no argument with the care you give, but this is the rule and no matter how much we don't like it, we all have to follow it."
Remember that old nursing process business where we are supposed to collect data before making any decisions? That applies not only to nursing care planning, but to all kinds of decision making--including judgments about employees that includes yearly evaluations and discipline. When I was a manager I spent a great deal of time investigating the facts surrounding incidents that had happened. I used to joke with my DONs that I often felt more like a detective than a manager. And, let me tell you I was trained by some of the best in the business.
You should have been given a chance to explain your side of the situations - did that ever happen?
You should have been listened to respectfully - did that ever happen? If managers can't be cool, calm and collected during a sit down with the DON, of all people, then there is something very wrong with the DONs management style!
No one should have raised their voice to you in this meeting as this is anti-productive and brings emotion into a situation that should be addressing rules or policies that are written in black and white
The meeting should not have been called until these people had interviewed everyone involved, had all the facts, had come to a decision about any wrongdoing on anybody's part (made a diagnosis--determined the problem/s), and developed a plan of action (interventions--discipline) that included your part in it - in other words, had their ducks all in a row. It often took a number of days to get everyone interviewed and then to sit down, discuss the information with the management people involved and come to decisions about what to do.
You should have come away from that meeting knowing exactly where you stood with regard to your job status instead of the uncertainty you now have
Very poor management and supervision--very poor. Now, based on the years of experience that I have had since this same kind of thing happened to me years ago, this is what I would do differently:
ask for another meeting with your manager
at this meeting present her with a written memo that contains the following information (this serves as documentation, so I would keep a copy of it for myself) and read it to the manager in this meeting:
on xxx date I attended a meeting with you, and (name all the people and their titles that were there)
summarize the complaints that were made against you
that you left the meeting unsure of your status as an employee; you now want to know what the precise purpose of that meeting was and if there is any specific directions I am to follow as a result of the meeting.
And, then I would add something like, "I felt personally attacked and ganged up on. Instead of being helped, given direction and told how I could have done differently in a more positive and nurturing way, I was continually bombarded with negative criticism. I left feeling belittled and unappreciated. I strive to be an excellent nurse and employee. How can you expect me to function at the standards you expect if you do not give me clear direction and positive motivation?"
[*]Don't say anything more. The ball is now in the manager's side of the court. It is her turn to respond. If she has any integrity and smarts at all, she will say, "I'll get back to you." Don't get into any kind of argument or shouting match. You have nothing more to say. The issue is now more about them following their own counseling and disciplinary policy so you at least know where you stand.
You can be sure that this is probably going to be reflected on your next yearly evaluation which is why I suggest you make a written memo. It expresses your side of the issue and if it comes up at evaluation time you can always hand carry a copy of the memo to human resources and ask that they place a copy of it in your personnel file if that ever becomes necessary. Don't be surprised if they come back at you with some kind of written disciplinary action (I dare them) that they might try to trump up. It isn't the end of the world. At least it forces them to put it all in writing--it means they have to show that you broke a rule. Last time I looked poor attitude, complaining and snappy responses (I got that from your post) weren't rule violations. I'd be studying the policy manual and filing a grievance. I know. Bad attitudes, and I am not saying that you demonstrated any kind of bad attitude here, are extremely hard to impossible to officially discipline as I learned in my days as a manager.
Today if this happened to me, I would have taken over the meeting and asked for specifics, asked what rule I had broken, asked if this was a disciplinary meeting, was I being officially counseled or disciplined, was this going into my personnel file and what exactly did they expect me to do to correct said rule breaking. If I even caught them floundering and unprepared I'd make mincemeat out of them with as many pointed questions designed to show how unprepared and stupid they were about the whole thing. I can be real nasty when I want. Managers don't go postal on the workers, you see--it's the other way around. And if I were mad enough at their stupidity, I'd call off work and start applying for jobs in other places while using up any built up sick time. But that's because I have a cocky attitude and I know I can get a job anywhere. I get so incensed with dumbbell managers who can't keep their tempers under control and who jump the gun when accusing people of behavior problems without doing proper investigation. They don't know the meaning of "fair".
I truly hope you find some peace with this. I want you to know that you are not the only one that this has happened to. I know how hard you work and how much of a slap in the face this was. Think carefully about how you want to handle this because I can tell you that this is a landmark event in your life that you will never forget and just may trigger the next direction your career is about to take.
Hi Jessie, just want to write to support you, you are being made a scapegoat undoubtedly. It makes me to angry to read your post because I have seen this happen in the past, including to myself, as a way for management to cover their rears and defer blame.
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."
I can understand the secretary being upset about this, but who is she really retaliating against by her response to this. Basically the very people who probably appreciated her efforts are the ones being retaliated against, whether she sees this or not. That's not going to upsetting management. My point : if management didn't notice/or ignored her extra effort, they won't notice/or ignore that she is not longer putting in that effort.
Sorry, I've had to work with people who copped and than justified having a crap attitude because of a bad evaluation. Not fun.
wooh, BSN, RN
1 Article; 4,383 Posts
You may not have to get an all new employer. My life has been better since a transfer. Of course, not easy to get when your current one is bad mouthing you, but if possible, it might work out for a nurse with a bad attitude.