Reporting other nurses

[wanderlust99]

My first nursing job I had such a hard time dealing with this. A lot of the nurses I worked with would report other nurses to our manager. Usually through an email, things like "Jane didn't change this dressing on time, or Jane left her room in a mess, or all the iv tubing was expired,etc.." and you would get an email or meeting from the manager asking why this happened.

I haven't been reported for anything in a long time, and last week during my very first week at a new travel assignment I get a phone call from the manager saying she wasn't happy with my standard of care and she expects more. Apparently the nurse following me reported me to the manager.

She said I left my room messy (the room was clean with the exception of the trash...I am not a housekeeper and do not empty trash...but was told I should have paged housekeeping). I am usually very anal about keeping a clean room, as I'm sure most of you guys are.

Also, she said I didn't shave my pt and it appeared I didn't get him mouth care all night. He was intubated, and I just generally don't shave my patients daily. Although I have made it a point now to do so everyday now. I gave him mouth care, but he was just one of those pts who had horribly thick secretions.

Also I was reported for not emptying my foley bag. She said the urometer was overflowing. My pt was on a Lasix drip, and could have possibly just dumped over 300cc for that hour.

She then said the EVD wasn't level, it was about 1 inch to high. The pt probably just slid down a bit in his bed.

I was just so upset about this, and still am. It was like a huge list of all these things and she made me feel like such a horrible nurse. She said they have a higher standard of care, which really upset me. It was my first week there and now I feel I will be looked at like this horrible nurse.

I often see things that the nurse I have followed hasn't done. I have never ever reported anyone for something, I would much rather just casually and politely tell the other nurse whatever she forgot to do if it is that important. I feel like I have been singled out here. I have now been at this assignment 3 weeks and have found lots of things that other nurses have done wrong, but wouldn't dream of reporting this to the manager. I now find myself paranoid at work and scared to death someone will report me for something. I'm scared what if I overlook something I am supposed to do. I'm just really upset about this and wondered if anyone else has had any problems with nurses reporting eachother.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Thanks for your support. I wish I could leave, but unfortunately I have a contract, so 13 more weeks left. I'm really trying to be cool about it, but I am internally upset and want revenge on this girl! I'm just defensive and paranoid at work now, and it sucks. Thanks again for the support:)

Darling, living well is the best revenge.

[bagladyrn, RN]

Thanks for your support. I wish I could leave, but unfortunately I have a contract, so 13 more weeks left. I'm really trying to be cool about it, but I am internally upset and want revenge on this girl! I'm just defensive and paranoid at work now, and it sucks. Thanks again for the support:)

This is something you will find from time to time as a traveler. As you can see it comes down from the supervisor - obviously she encourages this behavior! As someone else said it shows why they need travelers! My reply to these kind of reprimands is usually "It will take me a little while to get used to your routines. However, I'm really not a threatening person. I'd appreciate if you'd let the others know they can just approach me directly with any suggestions/complaints." They never will - they are too passive-aggressive to do so, but it puts the ball back in their court, as most managers are supposed to suggest that they deal with issues peer to peer first.

The best thing about it is that you are only there for 13 weeks (less now!) and then you can go on to better places while they are still stuck there with their miserable selves!

Concentrate on doing enjoyable things on your days off and mark off the shifts on a big calendar - you'll be surprised how fast it goes!

You really won't run into this that often when traveling - I can only think of about 4 or 5 times I've dealt with this (the really bad ones)- in 12 years of traveling

[hellerd2003, RN]

I'm going to be the brave one that writes that they've reported another nurse (or nurses)

I think that some reporting is necessary. If I come in to work and find that accuchecks have been changed because it means less checks on that nurse's shift, or I'm told a patient has been turned/ bathed, and it's obvious (via the mark I left on a clean sheet the day before, after following that RN for numerous days and hearing the same story) that the pt had not had that happen . . . it needs to be reported. I once filled out 4 reports in one day on one nurse, because as the day went on, I discovered more and more issues that have been addressed by myself and other nursing personally with the offending nurse, but which had (and have) never been corrected (and could affect pt. safety/ comfort). If I've talked to the person once or twice about the SAME issues happening, and they don't change their behaviors, I'm filing a report. If I get report on a pt with a potassium of 2.3 with no replacement efforts in *8* hours prior to their arrival to me, I'm reporting it. I guess if caring for patient outcomes and comfort, after the nurse doesn't address the issue, makes me a third-grader, I'll take it. :nuke:

[RN1982]

Hellerd, I agree with you that SOME things need to be reported but not the things the OP was discussing. Yeah, I'd report a nurse if they didn't supplement a potassium level of 2.3 but I wouldn't run to the office to tell the manager that the night nurse left the trash full or that there was 300cc of urine in the urometer because the patient is on a lasix drip.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

heller, that's not what anyone is talking about. A pattern of neglect and shoddy cre should certainly be addressed. But going to the DON because I wasn't emptying a suction cup when I didn't know how to instead of asking me to do it so I had the chance to ask, "How" Running to the boss because I didn't address something at change of shift when I'm obviously in a code brown that had the res literally up to his ears in it and I'm short-staffed?

Nah. There's reporting legitimate issues and then plain tattling.

[Midwest4me]

heller, that's not what anyone is talking about. a pattern of neglect and shoddy cre should certainly be addressed. but going to the don because i wasn't emptying a suction cup when i didn't know how to instead of asking me to do it so i had the chance to ask, "how" running to the boss because i didn't address something at change of shift when i'm obviously in a code brown that had the res literally up to his ears in it and i'm short-staffed?

nah. there's reporting legitimate issues and then plain tattling.

you are so right! the pettiness of the tattling is rampant where i work--i work night shift, usually only 3 of us on the ward with 27 patients. day shift seems to think we don't do any work--or shoddy work. the manager is pro-day shift and tends to believe such rubbish so piles more work onto night shift---like having us do 75% of the day shift's treatments(while day rn sits in the back area eting breakfast or is on the computer!)

[Scrubby]

I too think that petty little things should be discussed with each other instead of running to the NM straight away. How can you trust the people your working with and feel comfortable at work when they are dobbing on you for stupid petty little things like not emptying a bin?

The nurse managers at my work would probably not even bother following up on something so pathetic (then again they are so slack they can't even get the roster done on time). They would tell the nurse to go and deal with the person themselves.

[Pudnluv, ASN, RN]

We have a nurse who spends half her time looking for things to write up. She is notorious for it and now most of her reports are not taken seriously. I made a mistake the other night ( it was my fault, I admit), well the next night when the charge nurse found my mistake, this tattling nurse stood over her all night asking "are you gonna write it up, you know you should write it up". Then stood over the charge's shoulder while she wrote it up. It wasn't even her patient! I was off that night, but the other girls told me about it.

On the other side of the coin, I did have to report someone once. I found several discrepancies in the Pixus, and upon further investigation, found several narcs signed out to patients with no orders or no evidence that these meds had been given. I did have to report that to the supervisor, NM and ultimately the DON. It was not a happy moment for me as the nurse subsequently lost her job and had her license suspended. But it was an extremely serious offense....18 vials of morphine missing, 8 lortab 7.5, oxycontin, ativan, all in the space of an hour and half. That is the type of thing I would report, not someone forgetting to empty a foley.

[DoeRN]

We have a nurse who spends half her time

On the other side of the coin, I did have to report someone once. I found several discrepancies in the Pixus, and upon further investigation, found several narcs signed out to patients with no orders or no evidence that these meds had been given. I did have to report that to the supervisor, NM and ultimately the DON. It was not a happy moment for me as the nurse subsequently lost her job and had her license suspended. But it was an extremely serious offense....18 vials of morphine missing, 8 lortab 7.5, oxycontin, ativan, all in the space of an hour and half. That is the type of thing I would report, not someone forgetting to empty a foley.

Gasp.... Well yeah something like that you had no choice but to report that because it would have been a big ole mess if no one had and it was discovered with the reconcilation reports..

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

A wise manager is very careful not to feed this type of immature behavior. Unfortunately, some managers get caught up in it and add fuel to the fires of these petty tattletales, who behave like they're still in grade school.

[APRN., DNP, RN, APRN, NP]

neurorachel, I am very sorry that you experienced this level of cruelty. I wish that nurses treated each other more like doctors...... You don't hear them stabbing each other in the back like we do. If a neurologist makes a mistake and the cardiologist finds it, they'll fix it and move on. They won't stand there rolling their eyes and opine about what kind of a crappy doc would do such a thing. Nope. Really doesn't happen.

[Dolce, RN]

But it was an extremely serious offense....18 vials of morphine missing, 8 lortab 7.5, oxycontin, ativan, all in the space of an hour and half. That is the type of thing I would report, not someone forgetting to empty a foley.

:yeahthat: