Politics in the workplace or out to get a Nurse?

[OldButCuteBSNStudent]

I am relatively new to nursing (1 year) but I continue to have

unpleasant experiences with nurses who seem to twist the truth when it comes

to "judging" and "reporting" on the supervisory level.

I am an older "new" nurse with 2 previous relatively successful careers (marketing and technology)

and hence I had a diverse background before going BACK to nursing school. I had

been in nursing school back in the late 80's and finished working for a brief period as

a grad nurse who never took her boards (silly girl - decided I should get married to have children

- and then returned to a University 15 years later and went through

their BSN program re-doing all of my clinical hours, learning, etc b/c I wanted to make

certain that my skill sets were up-to-date. Over the years prior to returning to school again I worked

in doctor's offices in a consulting arena.

I am not "seasoned" in terms of working in a large hospital environment nor dealing with

the politics and a nursing license. Let me say that I am a hard worker, good project manager

(prior to juggling children) and obviously (anyone who's had children can tell you :) a good critical

thinker and priority setter. I fall short in the "politics" arena and am becoming frustrated and concerned.

I have had the unfortunate experience of having had a supervisor (exec male) who seems to have

decided that I am "fodder" (or perhaps a threat? - which is not the case on my part) and has constantly

scanned the supervisor's under him to "find something wrong". The last complaint was so twisted and

"etheric" (she is not competent because she didn't make the patient feel happy) that I spent an incredible

amount of time "swatting at nats" - stating and re-stating the facts, and then hand holding. It seems counter-productive to nursing and mature judgement.

Any suggestions as to what is the most appropriate way to handle one's self and protect

one's nursing reputation at the same time without appearing "right"? Is it just me or

are other's experiencing this level of attack at a time when we all should be working

together for the good of our institutions and nursing? Help! Discouraged and wondering if I made the right choice

to return to nursing............

[templeknight7]

Your whole situation and experience may be different from ours, but I feel that you would have the right to ask for evidence of such a damming criticism. Patient satisfaction is ethereal but has also been studied and written about http://www.aafp.org/fpm/2005/0600/p44.html

In UK we are able to request a different supervisor in situations such as this the following link may suggest how this can be written into a supervision contract, if I was in your position I would certainly request to change supervisor, mostly they are educated and mature enough to understand that we can not all get on all the time.

http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&ct=res&cd=3&ved=0CBAQFjAC&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aamft.org%2Fmembership%2FApproved%2520Supervisor%2FSample%2520Supervision%2520Contract.pdf&ei=-qLES4j1HZLc_Qb87LGgDw&usg=AFQjCNGbQ3Wrbh2dY2PS_i_jj36tkPXwjQ&sig2=6tp2dw28bSkxdtrdnXVcgw

Best wishes

[ItsTheDude]

i wouldn't worry about it if you weren't written up, it's just ******* and moaning then.

move on.

[nyteshade, BSN]

My only advice is to write good documentation on all of your nursing care. Surviving in nursing is all about CYA.