New nurse or just plain stuipd?

Nurses General Nursing

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First I want to say we all have been new nurses, But no one can ever say I was a STUPID nurse.:no: I am an LPN we do buddie nursing on my job. That is not a problem because we are to work together and assist if the other needs it. I work with this Nurse who has been an RN for a little over a year now. The LORD him self is my wittiness along with everybody I work with, this is the stupidest nurse I have Ever seen in my life. The only thing she can do on her own is pass medication. If the Dr. write an order she wants to know who to take it off. One of the cna came to her at about 12:45 and told her a patient had not voided all day. The first thing she says is well charge nurse what shall I do. I said what do you think RN. Her replies was well I guess we should do her vitals first. I told her to call the Dr. and see if he would give an order to st.cath after the vitals were done. First of all she says I don't know how to do that. Will you help me? of course I said yes, after I asked her if she ever tried. I told her let me know when you are ready. @ 3:15 after I thought about the fact she never came back. I went to her and asked did you call the Dr. yet. No the supv. told me to do something else. I asked what was it. She tells me write a note,I told her she should have call the Dr first. Of course she got mad. The supv did not know she needed to call the Dr. The straw that broke the camels back was this when she call the supv. and asked how what position the bed needs to be in when the patient is in it.:banghead: Their are many other examples but I can't take any more:bluecry1:

Specializes in School Nursing.

Maybe try a little compassion and patience with her. I bet she would really appreciate it ! :heartbeat

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Specializes in Acute Care.

LPNs can call MDs and get orders, at least in my area.

Why couldn't you call the MD for her?

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I have to say, please be patient with this Nurse, In my Clinical I didn't get to do much hands on during School. by the time it was my turn to do stuff we didn't have much time, if she went from no experience to school it is very difficult. I went to school with alot of LPN's going for RN, I went from CNA to RN, It looked like I was behind and Stupid. I had no Nursing Experience like the LPN's. 4 years later I am now an asst. Nurse Manager. Hang in there. Just because she has RN label don't mean she knows everything. give her a chance.

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Specializes in ER/EHR Trainer.

What everyone appears to be missing is that this nurse while new, has been working AS A NURSE FOR 1+ YEAR! She just sounds like it is not her forte.

Some people never get in the swing of things...she may be one of them.

Tolerance, patience, perhaps further precepting may help....again, sometimes people want to do things they are not cut out for...nursing may not be her thing!

As for the OP, it is unfair if they do buddy teams...how long should any one nurse have to carry the work of two....at some point, you have to cry uncle and say enough!

For all the new nurses(of which I am one), students or those with something to learn....I don't believe the OP is bashing, but has a right to be worried that she has to do the work for two and as part of a team is liable for halfa$$ed work(possibly). As you work, you realize there are landmarks that everyone obtains.....if this nurse cant get physician orders, or do basic nursing....she is not part of the norm....therefore a danger.

JMO

Maisy

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Nursing Education.

ASSESS, assess, assess your patient. From the OP senario, you did NOT even assess the patient before wanting to call the doc for a straight cath. Sure, the patient did not void all day.

But, what if you went in and the bladder was not distended. And, what if a bedside bladder US was negative? And, what if you found out that the patient had not drank all day as well? or if PO intake was poor?

And, what if you found that the patient had signs of dehydration, such as tenting of the skin (poor turgor?). All of these things may change the whole straight cath senario as urinary retention may not be the issue at all.

I don't know, I may have missed something, but I just wanted to point that out. Always be supportive of each other and use the nursing process!

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WOW I wish all you nice PATIENT nurses could go through what I have/ am going through now. I should have used another word other than stupid. This nurse has been on her own for almost a month now.Their are nurses who has called other nurses worst names than stupid.

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.
it's not nice to call someone stupid. furthermore, it's a bit shady for you to be calling her stupid behind her back!

He admited he was wrong cut him a little slack.

I have to say, please be patient with this Nurse, In my Clinical I didn't get to do much hands on during School. by the time it was my turn to do stuff we didn't have much time, if she went from no experience to school it is very difficult. I went to school with alot of LPN's going for RN, I went from CNA to RN, It looked like I was behind and Stupid. I had no Nursing Experience like the LPN's. 4 years later I am now an asst. Nurse Manager. Hang in there. Just because she has RN label don't mean she knows everything. give her a chance.

I suspect that the OP was really venting frustration, one thing that most of us do here many times a day. We are basically anonymous on this forum so, we can easily post here to get our frustrations out; hopefully in a more productive way than to say things to co-workers who can give both, the OP and the new nurse even more trouble. How many VENT threads have we come up with, in here? We've called administrators idiots, morons, donkeys (not the word I am meaning) and other unflattering things. We are venting where we feel a bit safe and I believe that the OP was doing the same. In addition, the OP did state that he/she may have been too harsh in judgement. Sometimes, it takes others for us to see how we are perceived.

Now, I am also sure that we can all think of some people who no matter what we do, show no improvement or lack of good judgement and discretion, I'm sure we all vented about them, and there are some people who do try to play the 'new game' to get over. I am not saying what the case is with this new RN at all...she may lack confidence and is very afraid. And, as I previously said, it is hard for some people to have to count on subordinates to help them to do their job.

Just today, I was in awe, yet again. Our clinic is so large that it is broken up into three teams, and each one is supposed to have two nurses (usually an RN and LPN). This is a new development that occurred a month ago. Because I am the late nurse (and an LPN), by the time I get there, I do lunch relief and many times, I am displaced to the point where I have to grab conference rooms, empty exam rooms and whatever else to be equally as productive and keep the patient care flowing. Well, today, the RN on my team called in sick, and I was to be the team leader for the first time. Most times, LPNs don't function as team leaders in hospitals, we follow the direction of the RNs most of the time, so understand that this was new to me. While we can and do delegate to CNAs and PCAs, we rarely make schedules that make people accountable for what their assignments are. One of the PCAs came to me, took me to the side and told me she'd help me to do the schedule. That girl was SERIOUS a God-send! There were other things to consider that I didn't think of because this was a first for me to totally take charge. This young lady literally taught me how to supervise her! Then, I was able to place a bit of my own spin in there to make us all work as a team.

To the OP, I don't work with this person, either, so, I can't say anything about an individual I don't know, however, I am also very familar with the types that claim to not know to shift work to someone else or those that are so clueless that they are dangerous, and that does not come with the title, that is the person. This person may not fit the shady description I just described (at least, I hope not). Give her the benefit of the doubt as long as you can, but be sure to protect yourself as well. She needs wings to fly, for one day, she will be on her own, so, just do what you can and then, let go.

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:no:STUPID??????!!!!!!!!!! It just sounds as if she did not know how to do something. YOU SHOULD HAVE HELPED HER INSTEAD OF DOING WHAT YOU DID.....:down::down::down:

I am sure you have been in a situation before where you had no idea what you were doing?? Would you want people calling you stupid or would you rather having someone to show you how to do it , no matter if it was a CNA, LPN or a RN

AND I CAN BET YOU ONE THING RIGHT NOW..... GOD DOES NOT THINK SHE IS STUPID...

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Specializes in Acute Care.
What everyone appears to be missing is that this nurse while new, has been working AS A NURSE FOR 1+ YEAR! She just sounds like it is not her forte.

I was an LPN for 1 yr and had NO experience with foleys, dressing changes, unstable pts, etc. It depends on the setting this nurse worked in!!

Not all new nurses start out on med surg or LTC facilities (keep in mind, a lot of LTC facilites are getting away from using foleys, at least around here)

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Specializes in Critical Care, Orthopedics, Hospitalists.

We had a nurse like that in our unit. The poor thing was terrified, would ask a bazillion questions about the most basic stuff. Like, a pt's blood sugar is this, the sliding scale insulin says I should give this...should I give it? >.

We worked very hard with her to just be positive and reinforce her and to encourage her to make her own decisions. Like, when she asked if she should give the insulin, we'd say "what do you think you should do?" When she'd answer, we'd say "then that is what you should do."

Some people are just so scared they're going to do something wrong that they just end up not doing anything at all. Try to positively reinforce her. :)

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Specializes in Clinical Research, Outpt Women's Health.

Just to play devils advocate -

What if this nurse just isn't that smart and doesn't have much common sense?

I am just asking! :rolleyes:

Nursing is a tough job and takes brains and not everyone is up to the challenge.

P.S. If I ever had to become a "real" nurse - I want all you patient and kind people to train me please!:heartbeat

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WOW I wish all you nice PATIENT nurses could go through what I have/ am going through now. I should have used another word other than stupid. This nurse has been on her own for almost a month now.Their are nurses who has called other nurses worst names than stupid.

Lets face it, we have all been there, Some Nurses take a little longer. I don't know what we would do if we didn't have that one Nurse who helped us. We all have that one Nurse who took the time to not make you feel like an idiot. I will always be helpful to every Nurse.

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