New Grad Co-worker driving me NUTS!!!!

[dinah77]

Okay, full disclosure, I am still pretty much a new grad on the floor myself with a whole whopping seven months on the floor- I work in a very busy TCU, with a patient population that ranges from Total knee replacement A&O x3, to higher acutity with us to see if they need LTC services in the near future

Having said that, here is what I have learned on the floor thus far about being a new grad

1. Keep your eyes and ears open at all times

2. Ask questions all the time!

3. Be very honest about what do you do and don't know from the get go! which as a new grad is NOT MUCH

4. Addendum to #3, be humble

5. Obvioulsy follow all rules and company policy to keep management happy but first and foremost form good bonds with your co-workers, especially the more seasoned knowledgeable nurses- you need them more then you can ever know initially!

Having said that, one of my coworkers is driving me frickin' nuts, and is the EXACT OPPOSITE of eveything I wrote aboved

She's a new grad in her mid twenties, been on our floor two months- very OVERLY confident- refuses to admit she doesn't know something, in fact for the first two weeks she had managed to trick me- whenever we would explain a new procedure/tx on the floor with a patient in report she would say " Oh sure just like in the hospital!" which I thought meant she had worked in one until I found out SHE WAS TALKING ABOUT CLINICALS

anyhow, due to being a family friend of the one of the higher ups she got position as a shift supervisor after one month on the floor- ( the word on the street is that she plans to stick at our facility as a supervisor for a year so that she can go have her pick of hospital jobs) I told her straight up when she told me "You're crazy to take that job- I wouldn't have- it's stressful for nurses with 20 years on the job"

So basically she is overly nice Suzy sunshine , but really passive agressive too- yesterday was a hellish day at work for me- one of my patient's went into crisis, every annoying demanding family member that has someone on our floor all visited at once, several meds were missing resulting in more work phone calls for me to pharmacy, etc.

THen PM shift pulls a no call/no show, so after waiting for 1/2 an hour past my shift to go home little miss Suzy is gonna take the shift so I report off to her- I explain my hellish day, how all I wanna do is get the hell off the floor and she is all sympathetic-

so what does she do as we are counting narcs? a bottle of liquid oxycodone is a little OVER (thank god not under) the # of MLs in the book ( my theory pharm over filled it a little initially, they have done so in the past) She creates this big drama about how " I'm not signing off with you until this is resolved!" and gets managers from other floors who happen to be hanging around haivng just all completed a meeting on our floor- Most of the managers were just like " Just be happy it's not under, just waste the extra"

BUT OH NO!Suzy has gotta get an official stamp from the DON, calling her at home while she has taken the day off to visit her new grandbaby

I finally get out of there, and an hour later I get a VM from my actual manger sounding weary, stating "Suzy has found a few meds you forgot to sign out, you need to call us so we know what meds you didn't give" (okay, bad I know, but given my constant interruptions during med pass yesterday I'm surprised I got half of them signed out- we are old school, use carts, cards, and paper charting- and I ALWAYS give all of my meds, wanna know how you can know? MAYBE CHECK THE EMPTY BUBBLE NEXT TO THE DAY'S DATE)

This btw, in light of a conversation I had with Suzy where I made it clear that no one should call me at home for little things that can wait until the next day- correction, you can call me, but if it is petty, I will not call you bak on my own time, sorry.

In short, how do I work with this newbie without punching her in the Larynx?

If you read this far MANY THANKS

[leslie :-D]

Holy Buckets, I'm wondering if anyone read my response to the initial query of whether this is just personal where I gave several examples of her being incompetent and dangerous

I think nearly shooting a non-diabetic patient full of insulin, which was only averted due to the patient being alert is a big deal

I think not doing any assessment for a new admit, who btw turned out to be very confused, kept trying to elope and ended up needing alarms and NOT reporting it to night shift to pass on to AM is a big deal ( patient was sleeping all night, night nurse had no clue either

I think not doing a lovenox shot for someone due at 8 PM but then asking night nurse to do it at midnight is kind of a big deal

am I wrong?

yes, all duly noted, dinah.

and they are concerning.

but.

this nurse got promoted by her being friends with someone from mgmt, was it?

whoever it is she knows, sadly, she will be protected until she does something that reflects poorly upon mgmt.

politics, they suck for sure.

and that is why i'm (strongly) advising for you to focus on you, and you only.

otherwise, i'm afraid your concerns will result in you getting in trouble, or even fired.

trust me when i tell you, we understand your frustrations.

but we've also been around long enough, to see the end result...

and it will come back to you, no one else.

you're still so new.

keep your head high, chin out, shoulders back...

and show 'em what you're made of.

don't give her any more power than you have already.

leslie

[dinah77, ADN]

thank you Leslie this was why I came here I just wanted a place to vent, a little support and an acknowledgment that after a really crappy day sometimes politics and certain personalitles can send one over the edge

I appreciate your input truly, and take to heart your advice

[Reminisce]

I wish you the best of luck.

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

You know, before I graduated and started working as a nurse, I believed the mantra on this board that new grads are ALL so potentially dangerous, and should never be charge or supervisors within the first year. It's probably true for specialized units like ICUs, but not necessarily true for all nursing environments.

I started working as a nurse and became (sometimes) acting supervisor after working at my place of employment for six months, as a new grad. I no longer believe the mantra that new grads should never be charge or supervisors. Some new grads become supervisors because of nepotism, some because of strong knowledge, strong management skills, sound judgement, and some because of a combination of both.

In a perfect universe, a nurse with less than a year of experience would not be supervisor or charge, but many units are not perfect universes, as we know.

I can understand you are frustrated, but I would suggest you focus on yourself and question if the situation is a personality/ego conflict.

[noahsmama]

So here's what I'd do in your situation:

1) Be extra careful to be meticulous in your documentation (you should do this anyway -- it will stand you in good stead for the rest of your nursing career). Before leaving each day, check and make sure you signed off on all of your meds, even if you have to stay late to do so. Don't give anyone a reason to call you at home.

2) If you don't sign off on all of your meds, EXPECT a call at home. Thank the caller, and, if it's true, tell them you actually gave all the meds. If you didn't give all the meds, expect someone to write up an incident report (as they should). I agree with a previous poster that just checking the blister packs is not good enough.

3) If you follow Suzy (or any other nurse for that matter), and they didn't sign off on meds, call them at home. If they didn't give them, write an incident report.

4) If someone didn't do a skin assessment for > 8 hours, again, write an incident report.

Here's a few more thoughts:

-- there's no way to know for sure if the extra narcs in the bottle were due to pharmacy overfilling or someone forgetting to give a pt a dose. This IS important. Even though your explanation most likely is correct, it IS a big deal and should be treated as such, not dismissed as a minor annoyance -- though I do agree that I see no reason to call DON at home if management on site had already given permission to waste the extra. ( If DON agrees, she's already annoyed at Suzy -- and if she doesn't, well then you're wrong that it didn't merit calling the DON -- that's a decision for the DON to make).

-- you have no way to know for sure if it was Suzy who almost gave insulin to the wrong pt (I do agree that that's pretty scary though!)

I agree with advice others have given you -- do your own job meticulously, and leave Suzy be. If she continues to make the kind of mistakes you describe, just make sure they're documented.

Best of luck to you.

[mehitabela]

Don't forget to set a good example. Most often, if we treat a person the way we would want to be treated, it works in our favor. Ask yourself...if you made a mistake, would you rather one of your coworkers hemmed you up about it or woud you rather they just document your error for posterity? We all do stupid things sometimes. If you call a coworkers attention to a mistake they will likely be grateful. If you chart the error it may very well start a snarky error charting war in which everyone will lose. Thank them sincerely for catching your mistakes and they wil be that much more receptive to your input. Of course if you have to repeatedly say something, take it to the next appropriate level.

[OCNRN63, RN]

You know, before I graduated and started working as a nurse, I believed the mantra on this board that new grads are ALL so potentially dangerous, and should never be charge or supervisors within the first year. It's probably true for specialized units like ICUs, but not necessarily true for all units/nursing environments.

I started working as a nurse and became (sometimes) acting supervisor after working at my place of employment for six months, as a new grad. I no longer believe the mantra that new grads should never be charge or supervisors. Some new grads become supervisors because of nepotism, some because of strong knowledge, strong management skills, sound judgement, and some because of a combination of both.

In a perfect universe, a nurse with less than a year of experience would not be supervisor or charge, but many units are not perfect universes, as we know.

I can understand you are frustrated, but I suggest you mind your own business and question if the situation is a personality/ego conflict.

Well, all righty, then.

[CCL RN, RN]

You know, before I graduated and started working as a nurse, I believed the mantra on this board that new grads are ALL so potentially dangerous, and should never be charge or supervisors within the first year. It's probably true for specialized units like ICUs, but not necessarily true for all nursing environments.

I started working as a nurse and became (sometimes) acting supervisor after working at my place of employment for six months, as a new grad. I no longer believe the mantra that new grads should never be charge or supervisors. Some new grads become supervisors because of nepotism, some because of strong knowledge, strong management skills, sound judgement, and some because of a combination of both.

In a perfect universe, a nurse with less than a year of experience would not be supervisor or charge, but many units are not perfect universes, as we know.

I can understand you are frustrated, but I would suggest you focus on yourself and question if the situation is a personality/ego conflict.

OMG. Sounds like a wonderful place to work!! New grads in charge after 6 months!!

And the fact that you think it's ok to be in charge after 6 mths is EXACTLY what we mean by "not safe". You don't know enough to know you are acting unsafely at this point, AEB accepting a charge assignment. Holy moly...

[dinah77, ADN]

OMG. Sounds like a wonderful place to work!! New grads in charge after 6 months!!

And the fact that you think it's ok to be in charge after 6 mths is EXACTLY what we mean by "not safe". You don't know enough to know you are acting unsafely at this point, AEB accepting a charge assignment. Holy moly...

thank you! Despite all the claims that "you're just jealous, I have enough sense to know this is not a good situation-despite having some short lived management gigs in previous jobs, I truly hate the position and as far as nursing goes, the only way I would consider it is after many years- as a newbie, I am much more interested in learning all I can about being on the floor than taking responsibility for others/telling them what to do, thank you very much

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

OMG. Sounds like a wonderful place to work!! New grads in charge after 6 months!!

And the fact that you think it's ok to be in charge after 6 mths is EXACTLY what we mean by "not safe". You don't know enough to know you are acting unsafely at this point, AEB accepting a charge assignment. Holy moly...

It works at my place of employment, and works very well (not acute care). I agree this sort of thing sounds questionable/sketchy for an acute care environment.

I'm in charge because of my management skills and business background. My sound clinical skills make it OK. I became acting supervisor after six months on the job when I proved myself well, including numerous emergencies/code situations. Is it a similar situation with the newish grad charge nurse in the OP? I don't know.

I mentioned in my last post that this is not ideal. However, some of us newish grads rise quickly because of our management skills, interpersonal skills, and professionalism. No doubt it irks some nurses with more experience.

I don't know if this is the case with the new grad in the OP or not. I just gave 'my take' that something sounds ego driven/personal in the OP.

[Old.Timer]

Is it so wrong to acknowledge that it just plain sucks when yes, you made a mistake, but so just lots of others and is just happenstance that you were the one caught holding the bag so to speak?

No it is not. Not at all.

[CCL RN, RN]

It works at my place of employment, and works very well (not acute care). I agree this sort of thing sounds questionable/sketchy for an acute care environment.

I'm in charge because of my management skills and business background. My sound clinical skills make it OK. I became acting supervisor after six months on the job when I proved myself well, including numerous emergencies/code situations. Is it a similar situation with the newish grad charge nurse in the OP? I don't know.

I mentioned in my last post that this is not ideal. However, some of us newish grads rise quickly because of our management skills, interpersonal skills, and professionalism. No doubt it irks some nurses with more experience.

I don't know if this is the case with the new grad in the OP or not. I just gave 'my take' that something sounds ego driven/personal in the OP.

Lol. Not ideal?

If I had a workplace that allowed a 6mth new grad nurse to be in charge I'd walk right out. Which is probably why a 6 mth nurse is in charge! Haha...sounds like a highly unsafe job situation...

Again, the fact that someone with such little nursing experience actually accepted an assignment as charge proves that they aren't ready or appropriate for the job.

But I guess when experienced nurses "get irked" then it's an ego issue? Uh-huh...right.