sparketteinok

this isn't just a case of not liking my job. i guess you didn't read my op. i love my job. and this situation isn't just gossip and office politics, though there is a lot of that, too. the definition that was given of lateral violence fits my work environment to a tee. it only leaves out the incident of the charge nurse shoving another nurse into a wall with the mgr watching, who did nothing. she quit shortly after. 5 nurses have quit in the time i've been on this floor. the charge doesn't bully me so much anymore as she used to, but she's poisoned the whole environment and everyone is scared of her, even the mgr. p.s. i have an interview with hospice tomorrow. thank all of you for your positive responses and support. i really need and appreciate it.

Thanks for all the input and thank you for sharing your heartfelt stories. It helps to know I'm not alone. There is NOT a job shortage here. There are many, many jobs to be had at this hospital. Turnover rate is very high. I think going part time is the best, because I love my floor- we get a geriatric/medsurg/peds mix that I love. The other floors are ortho and dialysis- don't want anything to do with that. I do think my boss appreciates me and realizes I'm a good hard worker and a team player, but she won't do anything about the 6th graders. I know you can't really control people, but there's a lot of bs that she could stop if she wanted to. I think going hospice is best for my kids (I am divorced with two small kids) because the hours are so long at the hospital. 12 hour shifts are actually 14 or 15. It's after 2100 by the time I get home. The kids miss me. I miss them. But I love taking care of my patients.

Vent and request for advice: There is so much fighting, bickering, backstabbing, rudeness, hatefulness and just plain meanness at my hospital on my tele-medsurg floor that I just can't stand it anymore. This is my first job out of lpn school, and I am in school for my bsn. I've been there 1 year 8 months. I am thinking of going occ part time for hospital and full time for a hospice. I love hospital nursing, LOVE IT!! But the nurses I work with are so much like 6th grade. I don't want to leave the hospital, but I'm afraid if I don't, I'll have a nervous breakdown and not be able to finish school. So, have any of you left the hospital because of this? (going to another hospital is not an option, the next closest is a two hour drive away) And if so, will I really lose my skills andknowledge? Even if I still work part time there? And what about hospice? I deal with palliative pts all the time, and I really love it. I just don't want to leave the hospital because I need the experience. But I don't know how much more I can take. Any wise words would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Nope. Managers do not givenurses any kind of backbone and are all too willing to throw the best nurses under the bus. Have seen this too many times.

We just started it at my hospital, and I think it will be better once all the kinks are worked out. But my biggest question is, if the patient(s) are in pain/nausea, whose responsibility is it to medicate, the oncoming who hasn't checked the chart yet, or the offgoing who just wants to get out of there? And, any tips on getting offgoing nurses to complete stuff they should have done (such as a pt waiting hour or more for pain meds)? I am all for helping out a team effort, but if a pt has been waiting an hr or 2 for pain meds, isn't that the responsibility of the offgoing nurse? Ihave encountered some resistance in this area. And, should the oncoming nurse be allowed to head to toe assess during report? This is a huge waste of offgoing nurses' time.

Q: What's black, 18 inches long, and hangs in front of an a$$hole? A: A stethoscope on a cardiologist. " Or a surgeon!! especially a vascular surgeon!

OP, I think you and I work at the same place!! LOL.... Politics, the buddy system (manager and charge are best friends/drinking buddies) and cliques are predominant in my hospital. My charge nurse is rude, hateful, and most of the time a witch just because she can be. She gossips to no end, announces very personal things about people at the nursing station full of people (such as a person's sexual orientation), belittles and screams at whomever she pleases. Four nurses have quit because of her in the 8 months I have been on this floor. We are very short staffed now because of her, and she constantly complains about how we have no one to work ....ummm...duh??!! I just try to keep my head down and take care of my patients. I try to stay out of the politics, don't listen to the gossip (stop someone that's about to tell me stuff and tell them I'm not listening to that), and just try to make sure my behind's covered. The only thing I can say is it sounds like you're trying to be everything all at the same time. You can't. You were made human, not God. I would suggest to pick up a call light now and then, help someone out now and then, but mainly take care of YOUR patients. All these other factors won't matter if you get called before the BON because you were preventing a fall during your patient's code. I feel for you. I wish you the best of luck. P.S. to those who were chastising the OP for taking days off, she never said she was calling in. And while no one likes excessive calling in (or at all), I never have understood why nurses throw each other under the bus when a personal day is needed. Aren't people entitled to a life outside of work? Maybe those were scheduled mental health days. I have taken them (scheduled). And any nurse who says she hasn't is either lying or supernurse. It sounds like she needs to in the environment she's in. Maybe she does need a different attitude and/or coping strategies. But that doesn't excuse the behavior of those coworkers. I guess all of yall work in perfect environments where everyone gets along and helps each other. It would be nice if everyone remembered that everyone you see is fighting a bigger battle than what you see on the surface.

While I agree that good organization skills are a must, as I am terrible with organization but have gotten better through trial by fire, I must say that this nurse's anxiety and mental stress is more likely due to the higher acuity and shorter staffing we are all experiencing. However, I was quite jealous when she said they do team nursing with only 6 patients. At my hospital, we do team nursing with 12 patients, all with high acuity. Rarely do we get walkie-talkies, they are usually all major surgeries, cardiacs, demented or total care turners. All this with totally unsupportive management who tends to blame the nurse and never listens to both sides of the story. I believe in the 1 year and 8 months that I've been a nurse, that I've become a really good nurse, and my coworkers and patients feel the same. However, there are many days that I feel the same as her because there is just so much to deal with. Sure wish I'd had an idea of what it's really like before I got out of school. Best of luck to all the newbies, and to all the seasoned nurses who I hope will show compassion to someone who is struggling. 'May I never judge my neighbor before I walk a mile in his shoes."

I admire and respect you, greenykilt. You have done what I wish I had the cahoneys to do. In my hospital, it's not really the doctors. It's the nurses. I haven't seen bullying like this since sixth grade. And yes, I guess I am part of the problem. I have been subjected to abuse like this, though not physical, verbal abuse as harsh as this level. But I do not report it. Why? I am a divorced single parent, raising my two kids and supporting my mom who lives with me. She's battling cancer, and she helps me with the kids as much as she can. I work full time at the hospital, part time for home health, and am in school for my bachelors. I don't report it because my family has no one else to depend on. The one who deals this abuse is the charge nurse, and the unit manager's best friend. She's run off 4 nurses in the 8 months I've been there. I hear I'm next.

I can't say for everyone else here, but it seems that they have the same thoughts as I do: they try all you mentioned above, and then still are abused, with managment rewarding the patient for thier abusive behavior. I have been on the receiving end of physical and verbal abuse a few times in the year and a half I've been a nurse. As a new nurse, I have been utterly shocked that not only do patients do this, but are then rewarded and the "horrible nurses" scolded. It is most frustrating, disheartening, and downright depressive when a nurse bends over backwards, neglects the other patients (as best she can without causing harm), involves managers, and does everything but stand on her head to appease these patients and then, managment cuts her off at the knees, and the nurse gets in trouble when she's tried her hardest and done her best and done what any prudent nurse would do.

brilliant......:thankya:thank ya thank ya

I worked as an electrician for a long time before I decided a career change was in order and went to nursing school (and still am in school for my BSN, then NP). Guess my badge could read, Sparketteinok, AAS, Electrical Mechanical Maintenance Engineering, LPN "not only can I fix you, but I can light you up too!!" But then, that might be a little obnoxious and self-serving, no?

I know that this is a bit off the thread here, but the comments I read make me think also about the nurses have been nurses forever (not trying to indicate anyone here at all, just going off of my own experiences), and have gotten plain lazy and manipulative, and work harder to run the young, new, naive nurse to death just to get out of her own work. Don't get me wrong, I totally agree that someone who is not willing to take responsibility for "not getting it", after multiple attempts at training her, should be relocated or fired, to allow room for new grads that do get it and want to work. I cannot count the number of times, as a new nurse, that responsibilities have been shoved off on me because I didn't want to seem insubordinate, unwilling to learn, or lazy. Or just because they could get away with it. Bottom line is, personal accountibility isn't what it used to be. I have so much appreciated the nurses who were willing to teach me something, or take the extra step to show me how so that I didn't ask how the next time. They have truly been my angels, and have made the difference of whether or not I stayed in nursing. I have learned much from all of you here, and I thank you.:bowingpur But in general, from what I've seen, the culture of nursing and how we treat each other is a shame, really a shame.

You have a break nurse? Wow. That would be awesome. No matter how crappy she was. I would be grateful I had one. I just have to hope and pray, that while I;m trying not to aspirate on whatever lunch I can inhale in 10 minutes (on the floor with the door open) that nothing happens to my patients and that the other nurses on the floor who are supposed to be "covering" actually give a hoot if something did happen. But, I hear ya, to quote the scarecrow... "some people without brains do an awful lot of talking..."

This is usually how my day goes on a busy tele medsurg unit. I haven't ever been lectured about OT, but I would love to get out on time. Our problem is that report ALWAYS runs 30-45 minutes late, and we can't leave til the other nurses are out even if we are done. Even still, I know I could get better with time mgmt. However, I do feel like someone else said, toileting, call lights, pt/visitor requests, etc. (stuff that CNAs can do, but never do see them, so it's easier to do it myself), that kind of stuff is always interrupting my charting and thoughts. I work 7A-7P with 4 nurses and one CNA for 23 patients (at capacity). Isn't that too little staff? Shouldn't we at least have one more CNA? Oh, and a unit secretary that is worthless at doing anything other than entering orders (supposed to answer call lights, etc. but won't).... sigh....does feel really hopeless some days...just hope I never go before naughty nurses court.....