New nurse making job unbearable!

[shelly304]

Well here goes. I have sat on this for a week. I work in a small rural hospital. Many of the staff have worked here for years, some their whole medical career. So as far as new staff coming in, we actually only seem to have new nurses or techs come in a few times a year. When someone does move on it is to take a new a new position elsewhere or retirement.

We had a new grad RN start last jan. She first was in L&D, then ER, and two weeks ago we were told she would be starting in the clinic. I have heard thru the grapevine she has been moved so much because of her inability to get along with staff. And was that rumor on the money!

We have a wonderful LPN, ("Nellie") who has worked for this hospital for 42 years! She is the clinic manager. She is my "go to" for everything. I totally admire her for her nusing knowledge along with my other co-workers. Being the clinic man. it is "Nellies" job to orient the RN to the clinic. In the a.m. before we open to pts., Nellie assigns each of us to a doc or an NP. As assignments are given out Nellie asked new RN to call back first pt. and give allergy shot. New RN looks at "Nellie" and says "I am an RN and you are just an LPN. You give the shots". OMG. Everyone just stood there.....speechless! Nellie had a private chat with her, but nothing has changed. In one week our clinic (we see around 150 patients a day) which is usually a wonderful place to call work, has become a tense, "walk on eggshells", battle zone. RN is constantly finding an LPN to hand off assignments that she feels are beneath her. Her constant comment is "I didn't go to school for 4 years to do this".

PLEASE KNOW THIS IS NOT A LPN VS RN POST. I am looking for ways to handle this personally. I am not someone who deals well with confrontation. So each time she finds me to pass off a pt. etc I just do it to keep the peace.

I know I can't keep doing this. I have almost doubled my pt load during my shift. Everyone says it is a matter of time before she runs out of depts.to be moved to and gets terminated. I think this sad. "Nellie" is trying to guide her in the right direction but she is just as frustrated. Everytime I try to get some backbone with her she reminds me she is the RN!

[leslie :-D]

i'm sorry, but i'm not understanding the problem?

who gives a flying fig if this nurse is an rn???

nellie is your boss!

and the rn's boss as well!!!

with 42 yrs experience and a title of "clinical manager", you politely tell that new nurse to take any concerns to nellie.

period.

end.

of.

discussion.

what a brat.

leslie

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Wow, she sounds toxic. Her appalling lack of respect for others is absurd.

It sounds like you and your co-workers need to document her off the wall remarks, then go to management as a group. Good luck. This girl needs to get a grip.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Perhaps you can all take comfort in the fact that she won't last long in your department, either.

When you think about it, you have to feel at least a little sorry for someone like that. Clearly, they are not going to succeed in nursing unless they make some dramatic changes in their outlook. It will probably be quite painful for her.

Can you have a team meeting to clarify and review everyone's roles? That might at least clear some of the tension out of the room for the rest of you.

If Nellie is the manager ... why is she tolerating it? It's the manager's job to clarify the expectations for ALL employees -- and then enforce them.

Good luck!

[irish6363]

She probably has a very serious EGO problem. This will have an impact on her career. Ego serves no purpose most of the time...

[southlandshari]

i'm sorry, but i'm not understanding the problem?

who gives a flying fig if this nurse is an rn???

nellie is your boss!

and the rn's boss as well!!!

with 42 yrs experience and a title of "clinical manager", you politely tell that new nurse to take any concerns to nellie.

period.

end.

of.

discussion.

what a brat.

leslie

Amen to that.

[LesMonsterRN, ADN, RN]

What Leslie said.

It's time for each of you to stand your ground. She needs to accept her responsibilities as they are assigned to her. She is not your boss, Nellie is, so don't let her push you around because she's got an ego thing going on.

[rnmomtobe2010]

i'm sorry, but i'm not understanding the problem?

who gives a flying fig if this nurse is an rn???

nellie is your boss!

and the rn's boss as well!!!

with 42 yrs experience and a title of "clinical manager", you politely tell that new nurse to take any concerns to nellie.

period.

end.

of.

discussion.

what a brat.

leslie

Need I say more!!

[RN1982]

Well here goes. I have sat on this for a week. I work in a small rural hospital. Many of the staff have worked here for years, some their whole medical career. So as far as new staff coming in, we actually only seem to have new nurses or techs come in a few times a year. When someone does move on it is to take a new a new position elsewhere or retirement.

We had a new grad RN start last jan. She first was in L&D, then ER, and two weeks ago we were told she would be starting in the clinic. I have heard thru the grapevine she has been moved so much because of her inability to get along with staff. And was that rumor on the money!

We have a wonderful LPN, ("Nellie") who has worked for this hospital for 42 years! She is the clinic manager. She is my "go to" for everything. I totally admire her for her nusing knowledge along with my other co-workers. Being the clinic man. it is "Nellies" job to orient the RN to the clinic. In the a.m. before we open to pts., Nellie assigns each of us to a doc or an NP. As assignments are given out Nellie asked new RN to call back first pt. and give allergy shot. New RN looks at "Nellie" and says "I am an RN and you are just an LPN. You give the shots". OMG. Everyone just stood there.....speechless! Nellie had a private chat with her, but nothing has changed. In one week our clinic (we see around 150 patients a day) which is usually a wonderful place to call work, has become a tense, "walk on eggshells", battle zone. RN is constantly finding an LPN to hand off assignments that she feels are beneath her. Her constant comment is "I didn't go to school for 4 years to do this".

PLEASE KNOW THIS IS NOT A LPN VS RN POST. I am looking for ways to handle this personally. I am not someone who deals well with confrontation. So each time she finds me to pass off a pt. etc I just do it to keep the peace.

I know I can't keep doing this. I have almost doubled my pt load during my shift. Everyone says it is a matter of time before she runs out of depts.to be moved to and gets terminated. I think this sad. "Nellie" is trying to guide her in the right direction but she is just as frustrated. Everytime I try to get some backbone with her she reminds me she is the RN!

You need to stand your ground and not let her push you around. DO NOT let her hand off things that she feels are beneath her to do. Sometimes you have to gussy up and let her have it, give her a piece of your mind. Let her know that the last time you checked, the were very few differences between RN and LPN. The more you accommodate her, the worse it is going to get. I would talk to your Boss and let her know that the office is becoming an unbearable place to work.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

I'm not very familiar with clinic environments. But how does it work with an LPN supervising the nursing care of an RN? In my state, that is not possible due to scope of practice restrictions. Who does performance evals for the nursing care delivered?

Just curious

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

patient satisfaction probably sucks too with her. I would get rid of her asap. Talk to HR about the negative (shall we say abusive) verbal comments?

[LesMonsterRN, ADN, RN]

I've supervised many RNs during my career within the boundaries of my SOP.