Hello,
I recently had a small kind of altercation with another nurse I work with. She's more of a pet iem worker than a regular but I see her pretty often. We had worked together a few months and things seemed fine, but apparently they weren't. Sometimes she's worked my shift but usually I report off to her for the next shift. One night I handed her some forms for a patient and jokingly asked if she knew what to do with them (because I had never seen them before, I had already talked to coworkers about them but didn't get a great explanation so I would've taken any advice on how to document/fill them out). She didn't take it jokingly and thought I was insulting her intelligence by asking her. She started asking how long I'd been a nurse and said she's been a nurse for so long, etc, getting louder and louder. I apologized and said that I was sorry if it came across that way, but that's not how I meant it. She then yelled some more and said I've made her mad in the past and I better watch what I say to her because this is the last straw. So I left at that point it came across really aggressive and threatening and I talked to my administrator and said that I thought if she was spoken to it would just make her angrier, but asked if it was possible to not schedule me around her because I was uncomfortable working with her. I also don't know what I've done in the past to make her mad, because things were seemingly fine and I was scared anything I say would set her off again. He said they'd try not to schedule us together but then basically it couldn't happen that way because she works my unit most frequently.
The next day I saw her at the time clock first and thought maybe things had cooled down so I smiled and said hello like usual. She glared, rolled her eyes, and walked away. I figured okay, so we're just not going to do the pleasantries thing...that's fine. I can deal with that as long as she's not as hostile as the other night. But then I had to count off with her later that night and things got rough again. I had gotten really busy and sent a resident to the hospital at 9:30pm. I basically just finished the paperwork at 10:45 and my shift was over at 11 so I didn't even have time for a dinner break. My coworker knew of the altercation from before so she let me give report first but said to have everything ready so I could go right away and wouldn't be alone with this other nurse. So at 10:45 I was pulling out the next shift report paper and still trying to make sure I didn't miss any paperwork for the hospital and checking that my faxes went through. I knew I was forgetting something, but I was so worried about how I would word everything in report so it wouldn't come across wrong and cause an argument so I just went through the assignment list and practiced it in my head. What I forgot was to take the med cart trash out (a second time actually, because I had taken it out but it got full again during the hospital transfer) and wipe down the cart-normally something I do every night and when it starts getting late my coworker and I usually help each other out with that so it almost always gets done but it didn't tonight (this happens to me frequently from the previous shift and I don't flip a lid about it, because I know that it can get busy). So I gave a very brief report, basically saying everyone was "fine" and only mentioned fingersticks, PRN's, and the hospitalized resident. We counted off and she immediately saw the trash and went off on me. She pulled it out and threw the bag on the floor saying that I always leave a mess for her and she has to deal with my trash every night-which is completely untrue so I said I'd take care of it before I leave but that I rarely ever leave my cart a mess. She kept going and getting louder like she does and sp I responded again saying "I almost never leave my trash for you, and I already emptied it tonight but it got full again I'M SO FREAKING SORRY!" I'm not proud of raising my voice back but I've had it. While I was still there she started telling the other nurse and CNA's the same thing (I never take out my trash, I always leave a mess for her, etc) and she didn't sign the narc book before I left either. I'm worried that if she'll lie about that she'd lie about serious/important things. I know this is just a stupid argument but after the first night I'm already uncomfortable even seeing her in the parking lot, much less working with her or handling narcs with her. She's scrutinizing everything now and after telling me I've made her mad before I wonder if she always has.
I don't know how to work with her and I feel threatened by her. I think she has anger problems and I don't know the extent of them but I don't know what she meant when she said I better watch what I say to her and it's the last straw. Now that I raised my voice back I especially am concerned.
