"Catty" nurses-no pun intended

[lesrn2005]

Here's the scoop: Been working for this co. for close to 2 yrs., supervisor asked me if I was interested in "learning how to run her desk" when she takes time off, so there would be another nurse available in office. They currently have 1 nurse available to help fill in that knows the desk. My main job is field nurse/casemanager. Sat in for a week while supervisor was sitting/available close by to train me. Thought I did well as this is a involved tricky computer program, and had a few people that said I did well w/the system. I can move easily about and catch-on fairly well. Next week, supervisor is off, and told me that she asked other "trained" nurse to fill in for her-said she thought that "I'm more comfortable out in the field, I'm a field nurse." "You seemed a little uncomfortable", was her remark. Yep, I took remark a little personal, let ego get in the way-I always get sarcastic at times and said, "Yea, guess I was pretty sucky." She said, "No, I thought you did really well." I should have let it go there, (but there's that darned ego thing.} and said I was only uncomfortable with IDT meeting. (didn't know what papers needed to be brought into meeting, so, yep, I asked the other nurse (trained for the desk), which ones to bring that a.m. prior to meeting. Guessing I looked "scattered" to her, yet, I thought it was no big deal, as I had the right papers for the meeting. Anyway, after discussion with supervisor, she said she assigned me 2 days in office , giving the other nurse 3 days. I now realize it was probably the other nurse who said something to supervisor about how she had to help me. I feel she may have been undermining the situation, felt a little threatened by my capabilities (darned ego thing again). I ABSOLUTELY don't want these 2 days in office now, so how do I get out of this without making myself look like I'm not a team player? Office is known for being "catty". Help!! Please!!

[Jo Dirt]

But that's not a pun.

[Katnip, RN]

I'd suck it up and do the two days. I can't see a good way out of it without digging a deeper hole for yourself. Asking the supervisor to change things again would just make things worse.

[RN1989]

Frankly, I don't see a graceful way to bow out of this. Do the job as you had planned. And do it the best that you can. Go in with the attitude of "I can do this job. I am a nurse. I am not stupid but I might need a little help. I will do this job to the best of my ability and I do not care what the others think." You know, those small environments can be even worse than the hospital. You just have to suck it up and deal with it or leave. Look at it in this perspective: Think of a hospital CEO. What does he know about healthcare - has he been to medical or nursing school. Not likely. What does he know about housekeeping and maintenance? Chances are he doesn't know anything and hires someone to do those jobs for him at home if his wife doesn't do them. So how is it that the hospital CEO is capable of running the company? A good CEO knows how to utilize his people. He is able to organize experts in the various fields into a team to help him to his job. The point of this? You are the CEO. If you don't know how to do something, you need to know who your resource people are and utilize them so that you can do the best job possible. If the other people in the office see this as a sign of weakness - they suck and aren't worth your time and worry.

[Oz2]

I think you should do those two days, and kick butt doing em. You've been trained, you said you could handle it, it's already arranged... Having the ability to do this makes you more valuable.

[psalm, RN]

Go ahead and be "catty" about it, but instead of hissing, purr!! As Oz2 says, kick butt, er, kitty butt!