Nurses who act incompetent...

[RN and Mommy]

Where I work, there are several nurses who act like they can't do anything on their own! They constantly act like they are sooo behind all the time. One nurse, who only works weekends has the charge pass like half of her morning meds everyday. Then there was a nurse yesterday who only had 4 patients the whole shift with her own CNA and having the charge nurse help her with a lot while I was running my butt off with 6-7 patients at a time (going through 10) with a CNA. Two were new surgicals, two dismissals, and an admission. Then there are the nurses who NEVER do their own dismissals or admissions, who claim they don't know how. I am just curious...do you guys have nurses like this where you work?

[Altra, BSN, RN]

You have them because your charge nurses & your management accomodate them.

[TazziRN, RN]

They are allowed to act this way, so they keep it up. End result: they do less work than everyone else.

[dansamy]

I know what you mean. I am a new grad on a very busy pediatrics floor. (We are peds but also gyn. All gyn "overnight observation" post-ops come to us.) I bust my @$$, most of the time with no NA while the other nurse, a more experienced one, on my rotation takes a breakfast break every single morning right at q4 vital sign time. I now refuse to answer her lights and run my butt off taking care of her patients and mine so she can chart and leave on time and not get yelled at, but I am always an hour over because I haven't charted due to taking care of all the patients.

[Medic/Nurse, BSN, RN]

who says it is all an act!

i believe that there are some who are incompetent! and for some they just get by - and others get the dump.

i believe in responsibility and accountability!

if we let them "get by" it allows the "practice" to flourish!

i am on a crusade of anti co-dependency!

please join me. one great nurse at a time!

:)

[ChristyMNOP]

I say use it as a teachable moment. Like, "you don't know how to do assessments/dismissals? Let me show you. Its really simple, anyone can do it."

But then again, I'm pretty passive-agressive.

[ZootRN]

I have a funny story to tell. Once I got a very confusing chest x-ray report. Called radiology to clarify, they said radiologist's shift was over, he's gone for the day. I asked if another radiologist who just came in could read the film over and make an amendment to the previous report. And you know what? he refused, saying he does not feel like correcting someone else's work. That's how doctors cover each other, even incompetent ones. But again, they do not depend on each other, and do not have to play team work, as nurses do.

[caliotter3]

When I was new and inexperienced, I would ask for help and/or reassurance until I could pick up on things. When my favorite experienced "mentor" started to get cranky with me, I backed off. By that time, I had learned most of what I needed to know to get my work done on my own. I have helped newly employed nurses and new grads many times. Sooner or later, I have found out when I'm dealing with someone who is slacking off more than really needing some help. Slackers tend to have developed ways to get others to cover for them. When somebody is like this, before I reach my tolerance level I start to ask them to seek help from others. They get the message. It is about teamwork. But nobody is developing teamwork when they allow another to take advantage of them.

[kenny b]

I'm only taking prereqs now, but I've experienced this in my current field. I had a co-worker who repeatedly left the site at 8pm and returned at 6am (1 hour before passdown). It didn't matter though because when he was here he was useless anyway. The supervisor looked the other way because it was too much work to correct it.

My concern here is that it is easy to address situations like this when you've been in the facility for awhile and you have a reputation. When you're new, there can be fallout.

Any advice on dealing with that?

Regards,

Kenny B.

[Ms.RN]

i think there are two type of nurses.. one who is inexperienced and they are not as fast as experienced nurses and those who are just plain lazy and they ask other nurses to do their job for them. i've worked with new grads or those who just finished orientation and no they are not as proficient as experienced nurses and i help them as much as i can. do you all remember when you just got out of nursing school and started working? did you all know everything, and were you able to handle 7 patients? i have problem with experienced nurses who think nurses who are inexperienced are plain incompetent.

[mom4josh]

I agree that there are inexperienced nurses as well as lazy nurses. However, let me add a category: those with no critical thinking skills who will never be able to handle a crisis without help!

We have several nurses where I work who have been there for years, but still cannot deal with the arrows that come at them daily. No sense of priority, no sense of impending disaster, and will someday have a patient code because they didn't react quickly enough.

Scary. :redlight:

[happybunny1970]

It sucks to be competent, doesn't it?

I think you'll find the type described in darn near every business in the land. There will be one (sometimes more, but usually one) who seems 'unable' to actually perform their function. Yes, there are those who you wonder just how they passed NCLEX (but then, it IS multiple choice, and sometimes we all have good days, and they may have passed by the narrowest of margins...)

I think the problem is that in todays society, especially with the threat of civil suits, people are just too afraid to confront these folks and give them the boot. So it goes on. And on. And the longer some jackass is in a position, the more reluctant a person is to kick them to the curb.