Nurse to nurse fighting/do we need a code of conduct?

[nannymcpheeRN]

Our PACU is loaded with nurses who have been working in the same unit for 20, 30 plus years. Some of the personalities are horrendous. Since joing the team a few years back, I have witnessed some real low-blow interactions among them. I intervened the other day when 2 RN's were berating the secretary (all the while, yelling across the room with other staff and patients to witness). I was inflamed and embarassed to call this my PACU team. This is an ongoing problem. Personally, I confront problems and nip them in the bud; most people know I won't stand for poor communication and bullying. Many others either have such a bad habit of complaining and back stabbing, and others don't have the skills to confront the abuse. I wonder if a Code of Professional Conduct could be enforced? All our RN's are represented by a union.

What are your thoughts on creating a constuctive atmosphere?

[running_nurse]

I had one particular day from #&!@ in which a "veteran" nurse chewed me out. In front of my coworkers AND the patients.

I had walked into a mess, both of my patients needed CT scans, I needed to accompany them (ventric), and to top it off I got thrown up on. I ended up taking my lunch about 2 hours late, fine, whatever, I don't care. Staffing coordinator decided to give me a break and said they were putting an "easy" patient in my spot. Great. Well, I come back from lunch/dinner, whatever, and this nurse admitted the "easy" patient and just decided she should keep it since she had to admit them anyway. But what was coming into my spot? An unstable SICU patient. Arrrrgh.:angryfire

Having an ICU background, this didn't bother me. But if I saw a coworker having a craptastic day, I wouldn't have pulled that with them. People saw my stress, and I generally just talked about how getting thrown up on is awesome

This nurse thought I was complaining about her and the SICU patient. Um NO. I was not. Seriously, it was mainly about the puke and the numerous road trips to CT, etc.

So she yells at me saying if I have a problem with her I shouldn't be complaining about her behind her back. ?????? Huh? I wasn't saying anything about you. Relax! However, it was exactly what I didn't need that day.

All I ever heard from the higher ups about the situation was "Oh, we heard what so and so did to you. Sorry about that. It's just how she can be sometimes."

Uh, excuse me? I can't imagine behaving like that to a coworker in any situation, but ESPECIALLY in front of the patients. She never bothered to apologized and seemed to believe her behavior was ok. I guess management didn't feel like dealing with her either. :icon_roll

That incident was kind of the tip of the iceberg and one of the main reasons I left that unit.

[nannymcpheeRN]

Thanks for replying. Where are you working now? The stance I've taken in PACU is to stand up for myself and others. (I have 27 yrs RN exp). I truly believe that people develop bad habits when dealing with others, and of course if you don't stand up to a bully, they'll keep on abusing. So, I'm speaking up...and I'll go face to face (away from patients please...) and pin the person down. I'm not backing down. PACU is a wonderful place to nurse....and I'm not going to let passive agressive, arrogant, crabby, mean-spirited people ruin my day and that of my co-workers and patients. Life is sooo too short.