New LPN, approached by a disgruntled employee

[moomoo111]

I am a new LPN that graduated in August of 2008. I have worked as a Paramedic for 15 years prior to becoming a nurse. I worked in a Hospital in a Med Surg department four months. I am a new employee in a skilled nursing facility. I was oriented by two RN's who are clinical nurse managers for three days, then oriented for three more days with a brand new LPN. As I was leaving work the other night, a RN that has worked for this company for eight years approached me and told me that I needed to go to the Administrator of the nursing home and demand that I be oriented with a nurse who has more experience. I asked why she felt this way. She said that she noticed that the LPn basically threw me the keys and let me do med passes while she sat at the nurses station and did our charting and paperwork. Now, I don't want this discussion to be based on the fact that a new LPN was orienting me. I worked in the med surg department that had team nursing. My job was do all the meds. There were many days that I was assigned to the assessments, with an RN supervising and I was also doing much of the charting on the days that we didn't use team nursing. They knew all this before they let me do the med passes after she showed me how the mars were set up and the charting was done. This girl showed me every piece of paper that had to be completed and I was given notes and samples in a packet to use. They have not found one piece of charting that was not completed correctly or any mars mistakes. I too, was a little shocked when the girl told me that she graduated when I did back in August. After the third day of this new LPN orienting me, the nurse manager took over and followed up on all the paperwork to make sure I was getting it. The process has been a smooth transition for me. I don't agree with the new LPN doing this either, but with the nurse shortage at this place and the way the schedules were set up, I'm assuming that is why they did this. They wanted me to work on first shift the first week so I could see how the doctor orders, pharmacy orders and other things that get done on first shift are done. I am now on second shift and the nurse manager and followed up closely and they have found no problems. I have noticed that some of the things this girl has done, were obvious she is a brand new nurse with little experience. I had to show her a few things such as how mars orders are changed and noted and flagged so you'll know there has been a change. I know which residents are on acute and what needs to be followed up on closely, such as very sick residents and hospice patients that have different protocols that need to be done as far as paperwork. My problem was not this. My problem was that this RN approached me and basically bad mouthed the company for the way they were training me and bad mouthed the company for several other things that she is not happy with. She told me that I needed to go to the administrator and demand that I get another period of orientation. I spoke to two of the clinical managers regarding this and they said that I handled it in a mature manner. I told her that I understood her concern and that I had a few questions but that I would take it up with one of the clinical mangers. Our DON is out on medical leave right now so I can't really go to her. The administrator met with us for several hours during our first day and stressed the importance of any problems we encounted and how important it was for us to follow the chain of command which is what I have done. My problem is that here we have an RN with years of experience in many areas who held me over for almost an hour to vent about how bad this company was and that I really didn't belong in a nursing home as a new nurse. I worked as a Paramedic for 15 years and I saw everything that was really bad and I had to act quick and I had to follow protocol in the back of a truck in the middle of the boonies with nobody there to tell me what to do. I did what my protocol and standing orders allowed me to do. I never killed anybody so to speak and I never got called into the office. I never screwed up in patient care and I always got a doctor on the radio or phone if I ran into something I thought I needed guidance on. They know all this about me. I worked in a med surge department and even worked in an ICU department under an RN in this same hospital and I don't want this thread to turn into a debate about that either. That is a completley different situation. My problem is how the RN unproffessionally handled this situation by coming to me and just running off at the mouth about how screwed up this company was. I have not heard one bad thing from any other employees and I've worked in two other nursing homes and this nursing home is a very clean and well managed nursing home. Our managers are very careful to make sure that duties are done and done right. We only have two bed sores in the entire place and they came to us from other facilities and have only been with us a few weeks. The residents are well taken care of and I am so impressed with this facility. We have a good medical doctor and he shows up every single day. It is one of the best managed skiled nursing facilities I have ever seen. It is so clean and the residents are always clean, rooms are cleaned, the place is so clean and it doesn't even have the nursing home scent that most do. We have some of the best CNA's I have ever seen. They have enough staff on our second shift that the residents get so much attention. Beds are always cleaned and I've done several body audits and these residents are so very well taken care of. All of the employees are happy except this one. My concern is this one RN. I was told by some other nurses that she is about to be fired for this type of behavior. I am not going to pick up the phone and call the administrator and tell her that I demand to be oriented all over again. My paperwork is checked every day and they meet with me as soon as I get there every day to tell me that my paperwork looks good, my MARS are good, there are not holes, no med erros and that I am very efficient. What do you make of someone acting like this? I can handle the new LPN with my clinical nurse manager but no way am I going to go over someone's head and go straight to the big boss because this girl doesn't like the nurse managers and those were words straight out of her mouth. She talked about them concerning other things she did not like about them and it has nothing to do with work. Their personal lives, the color of their skin, ect. I was so mad that this lady vented so long and had me on the clock well over my shift just to vent about some body she doens't like. And that is the opinion that I got. She doesn't like some of these people and the new LPN is one of them. This new LPN has been at this place for four months not a week. Please give me advice on this but I would really like the opinions on some of you who are in manager positons with years of experience. And I don't want this to turn into a heated debate on the LPN's working in ICU at the hospital. That is another problem with this cheap hospital that uses them to cut money. I couldn't exactly refuse to work in an area they assigned to me and that is one of the reasons I left that company, but I really don't want this thread to be about that so please don't debate that. That is for another time. Thanks for your inputs. mm:no:

[RN1982]

There isn't anything you can do. She hates the facility big deal, a lot of people work at facilities that they hate. You are obviously getting an adequate orientation so just do your job and ignore her.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

A little bit of assertiveness will go a long way here. Remember this, misery loves company. She is unhappy with the job/career/employeer so she is spreading her misery. Be blunt.......tactfull but blunt......and let it be known you are not interested in getting into facility slamming discussions with her. Once she realizes you are not going to "posse up" with her, she'll focus her efforts elsewhere.

[CoffeeRTC, BSN, RN]

Might want to add a few paragraphs to make it easier to read.

Welcome to SNF/ LTCs! Not much you can do. I would blow her off. If you feel comfortable with the orientation you got, then good. Sounds like you are doing great. Doesn't matter if an LPN or RN trained you. In a lot of places, the LPN might be the best one to train the new nurses. As long as you remember scope of practice. I would love to work with someone like you too.

Maybe this nurse is threatend, burned out, just a plain old trouble maker...I would stay clear and just go about my work. You will find someone like this in everyplace.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

My. God. Whatalongpost. Using paragraphs will go a long way to making longer posts more readable.

Anyway. I agree with the others, it sounds like you are happy with your job, so just ignore this person and do your job to the best of your ability.

[moomoo111]

Yeah, A bit long. I guess I was just venting. The job is going great and I just ignore her like everyone else in the place does.

[Scrubby]

I don't mind people having a vent to me at work provided they work while they are complaining to me and don't hold me up.

It sounds like you just need to politely tell this RN that you are busy and not able to chat with her. Don't let anyone hold you up while you are working. I'm sure she'll get the picture eventually.

[LilyBlue]

I would just ignore her. She sounds a bit loony.

[Magsulfate, BSN, RN]

It sounds like she is bitter with the managers and the company. Maybe something bad has happened to her. It also seems like this is a good ltc facility to work at and you got a good orientation already.

Maybe she was ignorant to the fact that you are doing well.... Maybe she thinks you should have more orientation because it took HER longer to get into the swing of things. And now she's bitter/burned out/crazy or whatever and doesn't want to risk working with an lvn that is not trained well enough. Because once you get on the job and are not in training anymore it is a different story....

You are ON YOUR OWN, and no more buddying up with anyone. In her own way, she is venting and trying to get you to side with her. She doesn't want to risk another day working with an untrained lvn.

[Miss Mab]

Hmmm..

So, you're brand new and somebody whined and vented to you and your response was not to address her but to take what she said to two different managers and alert them?

You've also somehow learned(either by talking or listening to 'some nurses' so these are people in addition to the two managers you've already talked about her with)that 'she's about to be fired'.

Congratulations, your transition to nursing is complete!

How about saying thanks but I'm feeling good about my training and then clocking out? No drama required...

FWIW, objectively it seems like she's been there for a while and you're the newbie who's already bringing conflicts to moanagement. I agree, though, someone probably is 'about to get fired'...

[itsmyturn]

From reading, it seems that she may be wanting someone to jump on her bandwagon. She may get a sense that she is fixing to get canned. If you go and ask for someone else to orient you then it looks as if you are complaining as well. If you do this, then it looks as if the LPN is not doing her job. Just by getting you to do this one thing for her, gets 2 other people who are not happy and whom might not be doing their jobs either according to her. Because the place does run so well, she can't very well have an excuse when there are no other problems unless she can create some before she has to sit down and explain herself. Since you are new and she probably has tried the manipulation with the others who have wised up to her, you are her last opportunity to get back up. It could not be that at all. It could be that she has a beef with the LPN...who knows, she may have been the one to complain about her manipulation skills and she is trying to get back at her. Others have warned you that she is already in trouble for the same behavior she presents to you. I would ignore her concerns regarding your orientation if you feel confident that your doing well and allow her to destroy herself. And don't feed her with any concerns or complaints you may have that she may be able to use against you later.