mphilomena

Obviously almost everyone has at least 1-2 co-workers that they don't get along with, but at what point do you address the behavior, and at what point can you determine that the person is just being immature and looking past it? I work with a particular individual who is probably a wonderful person...outside of work. God bless her, but oh my goodness can she be a nightmare to work with! She has a very intimidating personality, and my biggest hang-up having to work with her is that I feel like I can't go to her for help without her getting mad at me. I am not really sure what I have done to upset her but I don't see her treat others as harshly as she does me. In a nutshell, she just seems very annoyed whenever I ask her a question. For example, today I discharged a patient. Before the patient was discharged, the docs printed off some orders that were supposed to get put in the order book. I forgot to place the orders in the order book until after the patient was discharged (and at that time, the patient's order book had been pulled off the shelf. This is only my second discharge that I've done since being off orientation, so I asked this particular nurse who also happened to be charge today where I can find the order book since I still had orders to be placed. She looked furious with me, even though it was a simple question I genuinely wanted to know the answer to, and said, "just throw it away, we don't keep those orders after discharge!" Well geez! I am just trying to do a good job right the first time and asking questions I don't know the answers to. Looking back on it I suppose the answer was kind of obvious, but I'm still fairly new to my unit so I just wanted to ask the question to know for future reference. I want to avoid making avoid-able mistakes...is that so wrong? I do not go up and ask her questions constantly when she is charge. I interacted with her for a total of 2-3 times throughout the day today, and during each of those times she always came across as quite perturbed. I don't understand why she treats me this way because I have done nothing wrong. I wouldn't really care about how I interact with her if she didn't function as the charge nurse from time to time...but, since she does, I see potential for issues if I can't get any help from her. How would you guys suggest bringing up the issue? I know a big part of the issue is probably just her personality, but a part of me is very indignant and angry that she treats me this way. I want to be able to come to her for help if I need it, but I also want to show her that I've got backbone and I'm not gonna take any more crap from her. Like, any tips on how I can talk to her in a "disarming" manner that will get her to listen instead of just getting even madder at me?

Hey nurses! I am in need of some advice. Here is my situation. I graduated nursing school with BSN in May 2013. Passed my NCLEX in June 2013, immediately started working in a nursing home after passing because that was the only place I could find a job at. I worked there for about nine months, and very recently, was offered a hospital job on a hematology/oncology unit. I have been working on the floor for a total of 3 days, still on orientation. My co-workers are all very experienced and very understanding. I guess coming back into a hospital environment was more of a shock to me than I anticipated..working in LTC, things can be so much more laid back, and in the hospital, you're really crunched for time and always have to be on top of your game because you don't get to see the exact same patients every single day you go to work. Since it still was super busy at my first job (even though working in the nursing home is a very different environment from working in the hospital), I had really hoped that my adjustment to this new job wouldn't have been such a shock to my system. I understand that no matter what job you start in, you will be overhwhelmed initially and there is a learning curve. I had just hoped that it would be easier since I've technically worked as a nurse for 9 months now. Instead, I honestly don't feel any less anxious about this job than I would had I been hired to work at the hospital immediately after graduating nursing school with zero nursing experience. I know I just have to suck it up and learn, but it just really hurt my pride to realize that despite the fact that I've been a nurse for 9 months, I still need a lot more practice with certain skills (especially IVs, PICC site cares) that I wasn't exposed to in the nursing home. Another thing that has really bothered me is the fact that family members don't seem to trust me as much as they do my preceptor, even when I know what I'm talking about. (They would ask me questions, I would answer their questions, and then they turn around and ask my preceptor the same questions they asked me and my preceptor gives them the SAME answer I gave them). It was just really discouraging to know that no matter how well I did, these people still weren't going to treat me like a full-fledged nurse. What do you guys think? Is it normal for me to feel like a nursing student all over again in this new job? What can I do to pump myself up instead of just getting all discouraged? What can I do to show family members that even though I'm new to this particular nursing unit, I am still an awesome person/good nurse?