I have an aide that I used to think worked very well. I'm not sure that she is such a great aide anymore. She 'tells' me what to do, 'refuses' to do things that are expected and asked of her. And 'tells' me when to do things that I know how to do.
I am an LPN.. she is an aide. She spouts quite often "I've never been written up in 27 years of aide work, and i dont intend to start now" yet she gripes constantly, and she refuses to accept any type of constructive criticism, much less praise.
If I say "You are a great aide" before I can get the BUT in there, she says "Of course i am, i've done this for 27 years...." see above statement.
I end up fed up and have to walk away, or else I'll jump all over her, and i want to be the professional one in the situation. however, with my BP skyrocketing because of the stress of her 'calling the shots' and my lack of a backbone, i'm not quite sure hwo to handle this.
I'll accept ANY advice. (btw i work in a LTC facility and I am her direct supervisor)
thank you Suesquatch for seeing what i'm having issues with. The DON is aware of the issues, she also has had them with this aide. She was only hoping that it was directed only at her, and as she has minimal contact with 'said aide' that she could continue to use her, instead of trying to find someone new.
Unfortunately it's not just 'me' she has attitude with, it is not just what she 'knows' that she tells off about. I have NO problem with her coming to me with an issues. The trash not being changed in resident's rooms, a person not being cleaned up, her feeling that she's being dumped on from other shifts. Those are all acceptable.
She, telling me what to do, how to do it, that it's not how her 'best friend' nurse does it, those are accepted until it gets too much. When I started I had a resident who's bs dropped to 30.
She was able to drink OJ and sugar. The aide in question tells me "that's not gonna work." think a three year old sing song voice. "The OTHER nurse uses soda pop and it pops it right back up."
I looked at her and very sweetly explain to her that I would do the oj and sugar first, and then move on to other venues, because that is what the order stated. She got angry and told decided then and there I was not a good nurse.
A resident with chest pain, diaphoretic, bp out of whack. i send him to the ER, of course he's just in 'pain' no heart attack or anything, but I had to follow protocol. The aide tellsme "There's no reason for you to send that resident to the hospital. He's not hurting, and he's not having a heart attack."
I can list a million different ways that she's overstepped her bounds as an aide. I wont. I don't feel any different than she does, aside from the fact that I have to keep her working during hte night when she falls asleep. But apparently I dont have the ability according to some here to do that either.
I'm at my wits end. I ask for help and apparently i'm the one in the wrong. That's cool, but I can't deal with her anymore, so i guess i'll be looking for a new job elsewhere. In short she gets what she wants... she wins.
I am so sorry if you took my post the wrong way. One, I totally missed that this was LTC, I guess I assumed it was acute care, and two, I always try to keep an open mind and remember that every story has two sides. I have witnessed so many complaints personally from my coworkers about other coworkers that just weren't valid, just to pick on the other person. And it goes both way, CNA's picking on nurses, and vice versa. I've had it happen to me, more than once, so I know how it feels. I also didn't gather from you're first post that patient care was suffering as a result. I just thought it was a personality clash and that was all. I'm sorry you're going through this, but if you truly like your job (except for her), please don't quit. Then she wins. And there is always going to be someone like her no matter where you work. Its best to stay and learn how to deal with it. This is a skill you will learn and will always benefit you. And if you are truly miserable there, you will/can find another job in a heartbeat. But it sounds as if the DON is on you side, try to give it a chance to work out.
Specializes in psych, addictions, hospice, education.
My opinion is that to just let it ride doesn't fix anything. I'd talk with her about it and see what you two can work out, if anything. It never pays to dance around the elephant in the living room, you know....
"i have" is a very ordinary usage. " have a boss, i have a coworker.
the aide resents the young'un. that's pretty clear.
and in ltc it's quite possible that the guy asking for the pain med was a regular nag and all that needed to be done was have someone relay the message that his meds weren't due. pipsqueak, you know that, and unless you are working in ltc shangri-la not every resident bugging you for a scheduled med needs immediate assessment.
the point is that this particular aide has a bug up her butt because the nurse is young.
the young'un needs help with nasty older folks who resent her youth. as a kid i ran into that a lot and no amount of ripping her a new one is going to offset the fact that this woman's deliberately giving her a hard time. has the op always handled things perfectly? of course not. but who has?
op, you are going to have to take her aside and have it out with her. professionally. you might wan to approach your supervisor and ask her how to deal with this. i'm sure you're not the first to have tasted her attitude.
I had 3 cna's on my shift that would act unprofessional on a daily basis. using cell phones while actually doing patient care, eating while walking down the hall, leaving the unit w/out telling me, taking extended lunches, using ebonics and inappropriate topics of discussion on the floor in front of residents and their families,hanging out and being loud at the nurses station.....I was new to this facility so I sat back for a second, observed and finally I started to try and get a handle on my crew.... at first I spoke off the record to each in a casual atmosphere about my expectations and theirs. I had thought this would change things.......it did not. I had to resort to the written/verbal paperwork. I then was labeled as a unfair pill pusher! I was accussed of being unfair and just out to get them.. I never tried to make it personal at all. I went to my unit manager and expressed the difficulties I was having. I found that it was making my shifts uncomfortable. I told her that I would have to refrain from being the one to discipline these young women and have my sup do the grunt work for awhile. 1 month passed and unfortuanately I had a complaint of rough care from 2 residents sharing a room along with a family member present. well, guess which ones were involved? YUP! I follwed procedure...supervisor involved...unit mamnager called ect... when I went to them to ask them to write a statement on the events that occured i was told by one that she had arthritis in her hand! ok, so be it ... your an adult..you get paid just like me to do a job I thought ...its your choice if you do not want to protect yourself from such allegations. well, all heck broke loose... I was talked down to, i was starred at ,, laughed at as i walked by...follwed to the time clock ...one even called her mom at the station to tell her i was harrassing her! its was immature and way unprofessional. OH and so freaking hard to stay silent cause i wanted to tear em a new one! but! i thought of my license and stayed professional and just shook my head and laughed silently. that was until 11:20 p when i went to leave and found a tire on my slightly used but new to me Jeep Liberty slashed and flat! now, I only make 17 bucks an hour.........sounds good but you know how far that goes these days!!!!! well, of course no one can prove anything and the only thing that was done is... im sorry this happened........I asked for another shift and was told none were avail. after 3 days of trying to get there early and leave late in my daughters car I couldnt take it anymore and quit.....so, now it looks bad on me cause i didnt/couldnt give 2 weeks notice(i offerred but only on a diff shift) and yet another job change on my resume....im not so sure us nurses can win this battle, esp. when people wanna fight dirty! just so ya'll know i was a cna for 3 years....i do get down and dirty and i am a smoker so i understand the meaning of grabbing a puff ..........im so not a hard butt, i do believe in doing your job to the best ya can though and i do expect that the cna's on my shift strive for that as well. is that too much?
Pipsqueak, ADN
134 Posts
I am so sorry if you took my post the wrong way. One, I totally missed that this was LTC, I guess I assumed it was acute care, and two, I always try to keep an open mind and remember that every story has two sides. I have witnessed so many complaints personally from my coworkers about other coworkers that just weren't valid, just to pick on the other person. And it goes both way, CNA's picking on nurses, and vice versa. I've had it happen to me, more than once, so I know how it feels. I also didn't gather from you're first post that patient care was suffering as a result. I just thought it was a personality clash and that was all. I'm sorry you're going through this, but if you truly like your job (except for her), please don't quit. Then she wins. And there is always going to be someone like her no matter where you work. Its best to stay and learn how to deal with it. This is a skill you will learn and will always benefit you. And if you are truly miserable there, you will/can find another job in a heartbeat. But it sounds as if the DON is on you side, try to give it a chance to work out.