rich5clark

I heard both sides of the phone call. My coworker asked to speak with the nurse manager on our floor. She wheeled her chair over and talked to her with me still there. I heard the entire conversation clearly (mainly because neither one can speak quietly). This union rep is a staff nurse like me and every other nurse on the floor. The manager had, many years back, been a staff nurse on the same floor. Left to teach and work at other hospitals. So there is a relationship there between the manager and staff RN. "Not the one you think" comment was either directed at myself or the other nurse present on the floor at that time. We have both laid down for breaks in the past also. I feel that the staff RN doing the talking was either adding more fuel to an already blazing fire about either myself or the other nurse present or that she has been asked to keep an eye on everybody. Either way, if this becomes an issue, we would have to seek out our trusty rep (the staff nurse) to come with us to talk to the nurse manager. If she has been asked to keep an eye open on everybody, then she should be aboveboard and tell all of us.

I completely agree with the phrase Not my circus, not my monkeys, not my problem. I also believe in being truthful. However, it is very uncomfortable working with someone that is more than happy to text the manager or tattle on her coworkers. Caring for our patients is priority but nobody likes to be thrown under the bus!

Asking for advice. I am an RN and work in a local hospital. The other day I was talking to our head nurse on the phone. A co-worker was nearby and asked if it was the head nurse and then asked for the phone after I was done. I handed it to her but stayed in my chair to finish my charting. I overheard the whole conversation. The head nurse asked a few mundane things and then asked if anyone had lay down for their break. My coworker responded yes and then added but not who you think. The head nurse asked who and my coworker responded that she was working the floor with A and that I was in the nursery with D. She emphasized the D. As you can guess, D had in fact laid down for her break. Now, the co-worker is a staff RN and is even a union rep for our hospital. I am not a person who is comfortable with confrontation but I wished I had said something immediately. I work with this nurse quite often. I am upset because: I wish I had said something immediately The head nurse actually asked a staff nurse to supply information in a sneaky way The staff nurse supplied the information This came from a union rep I think that I should tell the staff nurse that I overheard every word and how sad and disappointed I am. I am quite used to this staff nurse being bossy and acting superior. I just don't know if I can comfortably work with her knowing she is playing both sides of the fence, pretending she is a union rep but actually being a tell all to management. I want her to know that all of the rumors circulating about her being our embedded spy suddenly became true to me after I heard her!

I will call her tomorrow. She is aware and has spoken with others about it, just not with me! She asked a coworker to give her view of the incident. She did not ask me to though.

Update: Went to education day today. The attending did go to my floor manager. Manager did ask that my co-worker also on that night to write a description of what happened. She did and will leave me a copy also. Talked to a union steward who also works on the ob floor. She told me that because I spoke with the covering md throughout the night, I am covered. If the attending had wanted to address this pt all shift, she should have made that clear. I have not spoken directly with my manager, just my co-workers. Union rep told me not to speak privately with the attending. I have been off since that night. I work Thursday. Should I try and contact my manager directly or wait and see what is going to happen? Scared if I have to stand up and tell the attending that I don't want to speak privately. I guess I don't have much of a backbone and I am one to shy from confrontation. This has shaken me. I asked the other girl that was on that night why she scooted away when I was being reamed out. She said that she was embarrassed for me. The great news is that the pt. did deliver a good baby at 6 pm the day that this happened. Had restarted pit, got to 9 cm, baby wouldn't descend and a c/s was done. Baby had a true knot in cord. Pt had also heard the ruckus and felt badly. Now, have to get over my humiliation and walk back on that floor! I hope that I can!

Excellent idea and I have not done that yet. There was an original pit order that was stopped because of hyperstimulation. The attending had told my co-worker before I arrived that if we needed to restart the pit, we could call her. I talked to the covering, told him she was stable(as stable as she had been)and was considering a c/s after talking to attending in AM. I let it go after that but did continuously monitor her with q 1 hour VS and every 4 hr platlets and kept covering MD aware of progress, which was irregular contractions, good FHR, and leaking the clear amniotic fluid lady partslly.

My sister is a 5th year ped resident so I am sure that,if she is uncomfortable, she will transfer. But, I don't want her to have to go through the aggravation. I am the one that recommended this MD to my sister. MD has a history of giving nurses hell but has great skills. I am also positive that the covering MD got an earful so I will have to talk to him. The attending mentioned that WE will talk about this again in private. I really don't want to speak with her alone. I almost started crying at the nurses station so I can imaginge what I would do privately. I can write about this sanely but I really am not a person that is confident enough to make waves. If she had only said to call her and not the covering MD, I wouldn't be in this mess. I keep rehashing this in my mind and wishing that I had just told the pt. she should try the pit again and, if she hyperstims again, I will stop it and call the covering MD . At least then, I counld say that I attempted to get her delivered. I am hesistent to do this on night shift as the covering MD is always a trip away. It took 1.5 hours to get him there for the 33 week transfer with PROM.

When she kept saying how much she cares about her pts., she looked like she was going to cry. She even had to dab at her eyes. I am feeling like I should have known how dangerous the situation was but I thought I was keeping tabs on it. The MD obviously thought it was enough to come close to crying about it! If I had not been able to contact the call MD then I would have called the attending and she would have probably told me to restart the pit. However, the covering MD called me right back every time. Some of the nurses where I work have been there so often that they have no problems delivering the babies and the OB's (if they appear mid delivery) let the nurse finish. I am not close to that comfort level.

But should I have thought to also call the attending when the labor slowed? I normally don't and I was speaking frequently to the covering MD. If I had known she was insistent that pt was to deliver overnight, regardless if it was pit or c/s, I would have told covering MD. My train of thought that she showed unchanging labs and she was strongly considering a c/s so I did not restart the pit. The attending told me that I should have known she needed to be delivered and that was why she had performed AROM. FHR was great throughout night. Just not much contracting!

This same MD will be delivering my sister in February so I really don't want to complain on paper. I did document everything.

No, I have not spoken with my manager yet. She is not one that backs up her staff anyways, be they right or wrong!

I have a question about an incident that happened on Friday. I was caring for a laboring mom that was at term and had gestational thrombocytopenia. She had had a pitocin gtt during day shift but it was ordered stopped after uterus was hyperstimulated. MD then ruptured membranes at 5 pm. I came on at 6:30 pm. Another night nurse had been there a few minutes earlier. We received report and then I took care of the patient. The nurse that had been there before me told me that the MD mentioned if we needed pit orders we could call her. She had also given report to the MD that was on call for the night. I spoke with the covering MD at about 8 pm. I told him that the contractions were more like irregular cramps. The pt had also told me that she would like to speak with her MD in the am. Apparently, her MD told her there is a possibility of a C/S. Pt. was now considering this option as she said she did not want another day of labor without progress. She was 3 cm. I told the covering MD the same. He was at another facility, as is the case for our on calls! I also told him that the platelet counts were due at 9 pm and will occur every 4 hours. I talked to him after each plt count was in (stable at around 100). I also always told him that her contractions were minimal. The covering MD happened to have to come to our hospital at 2 am for a transfer. He looked at her EFM strip and asked if she had decided yet on a c/s. She had not and was actually sleeping. He sent the transfer and left. So she dozed most of the shift. The attending came in the next morning and blew up that she was undelivered. She told me that I was negligent and that the pit should have been running. She also told me that if the pt. had decided for a c/s, I should have had the covering doc do it when he was in earlier. Our pm c/s are a big deal, as the team is not present in the hospital. The attending then told me(about 4-5 times) loudly that SHE did care for her patients("I care for my patients. I really do care for my patients" to quote her). I was at a loss for words. I told her that I had been in contact with the covering MD every 4 hours and he had even been in. She told me that it was my responsibility to have made sure she had delivered. She said I had wasted 12 hours on doing nothing and I put her in severe danger. I have been a nurse many years and this is a first for me. Was I negligent? I was completely embarrassed as this all happened in the nursing station in front of everyone. I feel like exiting this hospital right now as I don't know if, even if I was fully wrong, I can work with this MD any longer! Please give me your honest answer and let me know what I should do or should have done! I have worked OB for years but I try and stay away from L&D for this reason!