Babynurse2013

I have two supervisors on my evening shift who alternate days thoughout the week. One is wonderful! She's always willing to help or just be there to bounce ideas off of. She understands myself and the other nurse on my floor are very new but she also knows sometimes you just need another nurse's perspective. The other supervisor, repeatedly and consistantly treats us like total dirt. If any question is posed, even something small like where an item is stored, she sighs heavily and responds with some kind of quick, nasty remark. It makes the working environment incredibly difficult and tense, to say the least. The final straw though was last week when the dr prescribed a one time dose of prilosec for one of my residents, which the resident did not have prescribed in her cart and we did not have in our e-box so I had to call it in the our 24hours pharmacy. When I informed her of what was going on so she could go pick it up, she said, "Just give her someone elses!" to which I responded, "That's against regulation. Someone even recently got fired for doing it... I don't feel comfortable doing that and plus, how would I explain where I got it?" She said, "No one's going to ask! No one will care where you got it" and again I said I didn't feel comfortable with that and would be calling it in. If looks could have killed, I wouldn't be writing this right now. Then when I walked back over to give her the information, she's flipping though a magazine so it's not even like I was interupting some major paperwork or problem she was dealing with. About 2 hours later, she walked over with it and basically threw it at me. My problem, is that I want to report this kind of behavior to the ADON but they don't exactly offer the nicest environment to voice a complaint or issue. And ultimately, it's my word against hers. There's no sense of amonymity so if I voice concern over a variety of issues, I know she will know who spoke to the admins. And I know they wont actually fire her because apparently she's had multiple complaints before. So then, she knows what was said, who said it and my life becomes a real hell when she's there without anything being resolved. Do you guys have any advice on how to handle this situation? Because frankly, I'm sick at the thought of going into work every night because of how nasty she is but moreso that I still have a lot to learn and could fall into believing something she says only to find out it was wrong and then it's my license on the line. Any and all advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance! My point, finally though, is

I feel the exact same way. I'm actually waiting to go into work now and am almost in tears because so much happened last night (Falls, Res:Res altercations etc) that I know something is going to be an issue. I feel like I can't walk in the door without there being some kind of issue or problem from the night before... from admin or other nurses. E.G, "There was a cup on the floor in soandsos room!" (Seriously, that's been on ongoing "problem" with one of my nurses I report with... as if I can somehow know the dude threw a cup on the floor after I walked out the door) But to answer your question, My ADON gave me some good advice on a resident who said her "stomach hurt" but had no presentation of pain on palpation , bowel sounds active, normal BMs, and could not give any description of the actual pain. The ADON said, about any issue or concern, "Call the doctor and at least let him know what's going on. Document you did a good assessment and put her on acute charting and whatever else he wants. Always put it back on the doctor's orders to make sure your license stays safe" So I do. And he usually sounds super confused and just says, "Monitor" And as much as some of them hate it, I notify the supervisor too and document who I talked to and what was said (not necessarily in the patient's chart but in our 24hour report book) I'm very new, very confused and feel like I'm at a total loss 99% of the time. But I do my best and always make sure someone else above me knows about a situation or problem. It's all about CYA until things start to come together a little more. Best of luck! It might irritate them if it's something "small" but I'd rather be safe than sorry.

You're not alone, I promise. I'm on a floor in LTC with 36 patients on the 3-11shift. I had another nurse from 3-7 then would be on my own. Within just a month of being there, the demographics changed completely. We received many highly combative, anxious, screaming, noncompliant and just generally more intense residents. I voiced my concerns over and over to the supervisors, ADON and DON and was told I was having trouble because I was a new nurse. I knew that while a small part of it was that, the other part was that these residents were far too complex for one person to pass meds much less address any issues or concerns. I ended up with pneumonia and was out for a week. When I returned, all of a sudden they had on two 3-11 nurses. When questioning the other nurses, no one really knew why but I am fairly sure that one of the supervisors or administrators had to work the floor and realized I wasn't just being a frantic new nurse. It was actually a mess. LTC is not my favorite place. I had two nights of orientation and then was let go on my own. Now, if I ask a question or just want to bounce ideas off a more experienced nurse I get heavy sighs and irritated answers. One supervisor actually put her head on the desk and said, "Seriously?" when I asked about a very involved admission form I had never even seen before. I'm just trying to keep my head down and push through to get my year of experience and get out. The facility is actually one of the best in my area and the staff all really care about the residents but the lack of any sort of real training and inconsistancies are driving me crazy. I actually found out half of what I was told in orientation was false and completely against regulation. One supervisor told me to forge a document that I had forgotten to follow up on the night before. She actually said, "Just make up some numbers. It'll be fine" I told her obviously I would not do that and she said, "Well, that's on you" And all I could think was, Yes, Yes that is on me. I made a mistake and if I get reprimanded for it then it's for good cause. I'm not going to lie, period, but especially not on a patient record. Anyways, just a few of my horror stories. Know you're not alone and any nurse I've talked to says the first year is horrific but once you get your feet wet, and can get into a field that you enjoy more, it's worth it. Best of luck with everything.

I completely agree with some of the other comments regarding how other nurses are handling situations, paperwork etc and why they are able to punch out on time. When I began in LTC as a staff nurse, I consistantly could not get out on time. In part, it was obviously my own time management skills and getting used to the residents and flow of the floor. The other part, I realized quickly, was the nurse reporting off to me almost always had at least two or three things she handed of to me to take care of on my shift. It was always very vague and by the time I had assessed the situation, called the MD and filled out loads of paperwork, I was over an hour behind on my med pass. The other nurse on the floor did not do this. She stayed late and made sure all of her responsibilities were cared for before leaving the building. I've watched my reporting nurse play on her phone and gossip, riding the clock until she could officially clock out, with mounds of paperwork right in front of her. Then she would say something like, "I can only do so much, I'm getting out of here" As a staff nurse, I'd highly reccomend talking to all your nurses. See who is doing what and why some are getting out while others arent. I can almost guarantee that the ones getting out on time are cutting major corners or not doing treatments at all and most likely leaving paperwork and such for the oncoming nurse. Best of luck with the new position!