"but she's so nice!"

sjoe · Nov 27, 2003

Let' see, you are doing another person's job in addition to your own.

You have, essentially, no manager or supervisor and are covering that up through this unpaid extra work.

Far be it from me to repeat myself, but:

gwenith, BSN, RN · Nov 27, 2003

Been there done that and the question becomes when do you give up??? After a while it becomes an expectation that you do the extra work and then it is traditional that you do it and finally it is your fault that you are not doing more.

Time for a long long talk with this person.

Trauma Columnist · Nov 27, 2003

I think I would make an appointment with this person and lay things on the line. You seem to be a very compassionate person and I doubt if this supervisor is in the dark in that she isn't carrying her load. So...I would be honest and tell her whatever it is you want...do want to be the asst unit manager?, the unit manager?, do you want her to step down?? Decide what actions you want prior to the meeting so that you can steer it in that direction. Good luck...

Havin' A Party!, ASN, RN · Nov 27, 2003

Yup, Saucy. If this has gone on for more than a temporary spell, then a discussion is in order. Perhaps the boss needs to go on leave and an interim arrangement worked out.

Really not fair to your facility, to you or other team members, your families, or the patients.

Hope this gets addressed soon.

NicuGal, MSN, RN · Nov 27, 2003

We have 2 nurses on our unit that are the same way...Lord knows we love them, but we are getting tired of picking up the slack and always having to rearrange our assignments to meet their needs (if I have to take one more kid off the floor I may scream LOL ).

I know that they want to work, but they really need to look at how it is affecting the unit. They also call off pretty frequently ( add it onto their leave time) and that puts us in a pretty predictament at times also.

adrienurse, LPN · Nov 27, 2003

What bothers me is that the Director (ie her boss) is aware of what's going on and is doing nothing. Should I make an appointement to talk to her as well.

This makes me sound like such a door mat I know. I honestly feel like people are going to hate me if I start making a fuss about this. I'm usually really brave about dealing with difficult situations, but this one is so difficult.

nurseman · Nov 27, 2003

I'm positive that the people with the extra work load are not going to hate you.

mattsmom81 · Nov 27, 2003

and am currently the 'bad guy' on my unit for a similar reason. A nurse has recently had surgery and came right back to work even though common sense tells everyone she should not be. She also needs the $$...cannot afford to be off work.

A group of coworkers has made an informal decision for the entire shift: that we will do all her lifting/patient care for her. While part of me admires the spirit of this, my spine is stretched with our regular workload and really cannot take extra workloads so I am feeling the strain. When I was blunt about this to my coworkers I got the cold shoulder....

But we have to look out for ourselves, Adrienurse. And its OK when we do. There are consequences and we must weigh them. Good luck....I am realizing I may have just badly hurt my relationship with the crew but maybe it needed to happen.

Hope things work out for you.

fergus51 · Nov 27, 2003

I think it's disgusting that anyone would have to go back to work when they aren't physically well enough to be there. We are stretched thin enough without picking up someone else's work.

RNanne · Nov 27, 2003

This is just my opinion: but when we pick up the slack for others, the management or administration never notices that someone is not pulling their weight. They think that everything is just swell. When everyone quits taking up the extra, it will be glaring that someone is not doing their job. I don't know why we have to think that we are responsible for others or someone else's work. We are responsible to them, but not for them. Just do your own work and let the sluffing off be someone else's problem. Why should it be your place to go and talk to that person. It will just create hard feelings in my opinion. Just do your own job and don't worry about hers. It ultimately is a management problem. I speak from experience: I have taken up other's responsiblilites and it finally just caused resentment in me. Hope things work out. Been there, done that.:)

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Nov 28, 2003

Been there, done that. It is no secret that this manager is not doing her job. You are saving administration the headache of replacing her, the manager of the worry that her pay check will stop, and other work mates of the worry that a crisis will go unresolved. Let this person do her job or tell her you want a raise and to be co manager/assist HN. This will put her on notice that the free ride is over. If you get a "what do you mean" attitue then let everything you have been doing go and let her or administration handle it. As long as you do the work for no extra pay or recognitation, she will let you do it and so will everyone else.