NOW how does it feel???

[JanetCCURN]

I work with a newer male nurse who's been nursing about a year as a second career. He's older than me, he could be my dad. We have a policy at work, all the piggybacks and drips must have a hide-a-sticker label over hippa type info and they carried out and disguarded in the medical waste bin in the dirty utility room. This nurse has built the reputation for leaving his old bags piled up in the rooms he works in and hardly ever throws them away, in addition to leaving his room and patient discombobulated in the bed. One day after noticing a pattern I addressed it stating how it's unprofessional and rude not to throw your trash and let the next shift pick up after you. He's response was "oh, did I leave my tubings and bags in the sink again??? Hahaha..." uh, yeah you did! So I had to follow him on a different day same patient with multiple bags changed through out the shift. Guess what I did!????

Every bag was due to be changed by the next morning, I'd tossed all the old tubbings with all the piggybacks out as they were completed. (so he'd have to start fresh) I even gave him a nice heads up that the patient was gonna need new tubings for everything he says "oh whatever, that's fine" ok. Pumps alarm after change of shift... I hung around to see. It's an isolation room too! Lots of gowning and ungowning, ESP if you forget to bring stuff in the room. He says omg! I didn't think you left it all empty! I said have a good day :-) and left. Come to find out from a another nurse "ohhhh, you are on his hit list" I said why, because he gets away with leaving his trash behind. Well all I did was cleaned up (literally) she too has had same issues. Today I get to see him. Was this too far? I personally don't know what else to do to get him to change his chronic bad behavior. What's worse is that he thinks it's funny and ok to do this. I'm trying to avoid going to the big boss, but how unprofessional is this???!!!!

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Well, it certainly wasn't professional, but it might have been effective. You'll have to see if his behavior is any different today and then evaluate if your move was worth it. Hopefully you gave him a taste of his own medicine. Be prepared, though. You might have set yourself up for disaster every time you have follow this guy.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

I'll bet money his bedroom is a total pig sty. That's how some men are but that's no excuse when at work. Mommy's not there to do laundry; it's time to play like a big boy :). You know you could have just talked to him about it.

In the end he's not funny; just write him up next time . Remember to take a pic with your phone in case your boss doesn't believe it's a big deal.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

I don't see what was so dastardly about what you did. So he has to prime some tubing If it was time he'd be doing that anyway no matter the shift. But if he is not being a team player, I'd have said "Look, other people try to not leave you a mess before you come on, it's how we all work together here. By doing XXX it's coming off like you want to make it harder for the next guy. So, I'd thought I'd bring this up to you in case you weren't aware of that."

If he is just clueless, you might now appear that you messed up, by doing what you did. Some people don't understand that it's a two way street and yes, you have to let them know this. If it continues, show your charge right when you come on. I think it's better to tell someone who is new so they don't keep stepping in it, and also in case someone is just clueless. If that doesn't work, and you know you have not tried to escalate something.... then I'd just show the evidence to your charge and see if a word might be said. He also might just need time, to be able to work in all the extra stuff. Maybe he feels it's all he can do just to get through each shift right now...

[Broadway404, ASN, RN]

send him a text an hour before you come in if you re following him. Maybe that'll help. At least you'll be showing an initiative to try a solution without causing disruption in the ranks. People need to be accountable for their duties.

[CrazierThanYou]

It might not have been professional but... I smiled

[Aurora77]

Not too far at all. That is fantastic!!

[GilaRRT]

Unprofessional actions IMHO. You probably didn't solve anything. However, you very well may have exacerbated the original issue. If you end up having to go to a manager about his behaviour, you may have a difficult time because your behaviour was not exactly kosher. Why didn't you just confront him directly and let him know exactly what he did wrong and why it was wrong. Then, you could have worked out a plan to for correction. Let him know you do not want to go up the chain and that if there are no issues you will drop it; however, if this behaviour continues you will take it up the chain of command and document the occurrences.

For example: "Hey, I didn't appreciate you leaving the bag in the sink. It looks messy, conveys an unprofessional view of the hospital to family, friends and other employees and is an infection control issue. From now on I expect that you will dispose of used bags properly. I'll give you a pass this time but if it happens again, I will go to management and I will document these occurrences."

[Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN]

I guess I'm evil, but I love it!

I too get so tired of cleaning up certain people's messes.

[FLArn]

I am not 100% clear on the time line of your post...did you get rid of the tubing earlier than needed just so he would need to get all new tubings etc for his doses? If so, then yes it was a little unprofessional. If this is getting to be a habit for him leaving used items around so others need to clean up after him it may be time to get your manager involved. You are not his supervisor and if you and others have already brought these issues to his attention without effect then your manager needs to deal with him.

[Bortaz, MSN, RN]

I don't like working with sloppy, lazy nurses.

I don't like working with vengeful, petty nurses.

[TakeTwoAspirin, MSN, RN, APRN]

Way too much time on your hands.