New and not so new nurses..

Nurses General Nursing

Published

New and not so nurses, DO NOT, drag me in a pts room to verbally and physically show me a minor error I have made regarding pt's care in front of 5 grieving family members and a critically ill pt. Privately confront me like a professional, and do not "SHOW me", while all eyes on board. If it is an all he## breaks loose night and we are short staffed while trying to console family members, it will not make anyone feel more comforted that this did not get hooked up to that, regardless if it affected pt's condition. I tell you I know right from wrong, but things get hairy, and it does not make YOU look like a savior. Never confront cooworkers in front of family members or patients! Hope this tip sticks.

next time someone starts to do this, calmly interrupt them and say something like: turn towards the onlookers and say, "i am extremely sorry you are involved in this, and then continue with "may i speak to you somewhere more private and before they carry on, simply walk out of the room." they will feel obliged to follow you, then go into the drug room or something.

leslie:twocents:

eta: colored words, my addition.

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Specializes in Med-Surg/Neuro/Oncology floor nursing..

Oh goodness that happened to one of my best friends on the neurosurgery unit. The patient declined and was moved to the neurosurgery ICU. So it was a crazy day for us on the NS unit. A patient care associate came and ripped my friend(a fellow RN) a new one in a patients room in front of the patient(that just came from the PACU and was in a lot of pain) and the patients visitors for not documenting that a patients BP was taken an hour ago. The patient care associate had to take the BP again(oh wow so much work)! because she thought the patients BP wasn't taken in 4 hours. My friend just did it herself since she was in the patients room anyway and forgot to document it...

The charge nurse then came and told all of us that if anyone has a problem with what anyone does then they are not to be reprimanded in front of any patient or their family members. If anyone has a problem with someone did they are to go bring their concerns to the charge nurse and the charge nurse would take care of it in a private place.

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Specializes in PCU.

:eek::eek::eek:

Not cool OR professional at all. I am so sorry this happened to you. Shifts (am or pm) can get very crazy and we are not perfect. When errors are committed, it is our policy to address it in a private matter. Once the nurse who made the mistake is aware, she will usually be the one to talk to the patient and inform them of whatever the issue was and how it was corrected.

Berating a colleague in front of others is rude and often makes patients/families less likely to trust the staff than if the matter is taken care of in a calm, professional matter.

The last thing a patient or family need is to have aggressive, non-therapeutic behaviors modeled in front of them. I would definitely address this with the charge nurse and this other nurse in a meeting to ensure any future issues are handled in a polite, professional manner. We do not get paid enough to be abused:mad:

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I'm sorry this happened, and while I do agree with the overall message, this should really be titled "To my Fellow Nursing Professionals", or something like that.

The new not so new thing, can be taken many ways. I saw it as brand new, or nearly, and honestly a lot of us are a bit hot headed right now because of the ongoing job situation.

Although I understand that your experience was probably with a newer nurse, that honestly doesn't have anything to do with the person being rude, unprofessional, and stupid enough to put herself on the list for "Whos Who To Sue"; ALL nurses need to be told to avoid this.

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Specializes in ICU,ED, Corrections, dodging med-surg.

Well, it did happen, and actually I see it happening towards experienced nurses and those who are just out of school and maybe have something to prove?? I have never experienced this before, but took her aside and to told her as one professional to another, you can tell me my wrong, without making a big display. I have been a nurse for a long time and understand this mistake so really no need for show and tell while all eyes on you! Really, I still get it without the show-n-tell. Hope you feel better about YOURSELF. Thanks for getting it. Just a simple "crazy, alll goes to he## moment"..no adverse effects.

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Specializes in ICU,ED, Corrections, dodging med-surg.

Also, it was more of a "hey come here I want to show you somthing!" ME, " ok" (follow along) the get sideswiped. I had all night earned respect and confidence of this fam, ( one a nurse) busted my a## to care for her, and the shifts ends on a sour note. I cannot tell you how infuriated I am, as I confronted this person in a professional manner but she insisted she had to "show me". :mad: I spent 2 hours after work helping the family with emotional and logistics for out of towners. Hope this makes another think before trying that again!:nurse:

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I am so sorry this happened to you (if it did indeed happen).

Whoever that person is, that person shot him or herself in the foot.

Pointing out the mistakes of other nurses for self-serving purposes erodes the trust people have in the organization and in nurses as a whole.

If that family ever comes back to the hospital, I doubt that they'll think "Oh wow this is where that nurse rightfully exposed the evils of this world!" but rather "This is a place where someone I loved went through pain and chaos."

I would hope that whoever witnessed this situation is smart enough to see a backstabbing wannabe savior.

Just curious what would make you think it didn't ? :) (not in 'attack' mode at all- just curious)

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Specializes in ICU.

Not enough info. Could the OP explain what the "mistake" was?

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Not enough info. Could the OP explain what the "mistake" was?

What does it matter what the mistake was? The nurse acted unprofessionally by acting out in front of the patient and family. That's the issue here. Mistakes happen but it isn't right for someone to be confronted in front of a "customer" regardless of the field the people work in.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

Agreed. There is no need at all to know what the mistake was. Whatever it was, it would not have justified being confronted in front of family members.

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I had this same thing happen to me by a PT. It was no big deal and wouldn't have harmed a patient but she made it a big deal by blowing up on me in front of the family. It made it pretty hard to establish the correct relationship with my patient because of this incident.

OP - I'm sorry this happened to you. It's unprofessional and not at all okay.

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I have never experienced this before, but took her aside and to told her as one professional to another, you can tell me my wrong, without making a big display.

how did she respond?

(i'm hoping she was classy enough to apologize...)

leslie

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