rude dayshift cna

DusktilDawn · Aug 9, 2005

I am so aggrevated by one of the dayshift aids. I work nights and at our hospital the aids sit in on report when they come to work. The dayshift has an aid that has been there about 15 years. she is rude and obnoxious to staff and patients. She likes to treat new nurses like they are stupid. She comes to report, closes her eyes like she is sleeping, and makes weird sounds while you are giving report. Yesterday I was giving report and I had stopped one topic and gone to another and she flung her head down, opened her eyes and told me what I was talking about didn't applie to what this patient had and didn't have anything to do with it. If she was awake she would know I had gone to another dx on this patient.
The experienced nurses told me they had been trying to have something done about her for years, and when patients sent back surveys about her they were found in the don's garbage can!!! Don told them she had worked there too long to get rid of her and she had to help pay for her two sisters 6 illegit children.
melissa :angryfire :angryfire

Sounds like she gets away with this behavior because others let her. Often when people are called on their behavior or realize that someone is not going to put up with it, it stops.

If she is being rude to you, call her on it. Very calmly say point blank "You are being rude". If she chooses to make a scene walk away, don't engage her. I wouldn't tolerate the behavior she displays while you give report, it's very disrespectful. Have you spoken to the DON yourself about this behavior? I've noticed that there sometimes can be the "Nothing ever gets done so why report it" mentality. If your DON CHOOSES not to do her JOB concerning this employee's behavior, go above your DON. Document specific incidents, just list the facts as objectively as you can, and keep a copy for yourself.

Being assertive IS NOT being a B!^($.

TypicalFish · Aug 9, 2005

Sounds like she gets away with this behavior because others let her. Often when people are called on their behavior or realize that someone is not going to put up with it, it stops.
If she is being rude to you, call her on it. Very calmly say point blank "You are being rude". If she chooses to make a scene walk away, don't engage her. I wouldn't tolerate the behavior she displays while you give report, it's very disrespectful. Have you spoken to the DON yourself about this behavior? I've noticed that there sometimes can be the "Nothing ever gets done so why report it" mentality. If your DON CHOOSES not to do her JOB concerning this employee's behavior, go above your DON. Document specific incidents, just list the facts as objectively as you can, and keep a copy for yourself.
Being assertive IS NOT being a B!^($.

:yeahthat: :yeahthat:

I'd wake her up "Excuse me, X, I can see that you're tired, but I know that you wouldn't want to miss report" Don't forget, as your peers seem to have forgotten, that if she makes a mistake with a patient, that you are responsible since you delegated to her. If you talk to the DON again, mention the whole patient safety issue, and document, document.

PBAJS · Aug 9, 2005

often when people are called on their behavior or realize that someone is not going to put up with it, it stops.

it might stop for a short time, but it starts up again, especially with a new employee. a cna "jane" where i worked had been there for many, many years. i would not say that she was rude or obnoxious but she had treated other cnas and sometimes the nurse like they were stupid. in addition to doing her own assignment, she would (without be asked) assist the other cnas with their work ("what are you doing?" "here's the thermometer so you can get the temp on so-and-so.") so often anything she said was negative, the kitchen ..., the housekeeping department ... the other shift ... (if i had a dime for every time she said they "should" or they should not" i wouldn't have to work. one new cna (this was her first job) after working here a few months, told me that she had talked with the charge nurse and then went to the don about "jane". the reply was that "jane" had been here many years, that's her personality, blah, blah, blah. the new cna stayed another month and then quit !

.

chattypattyCRNA2B · Aug 9, 2005

The reply was that "Jane" had been here many years, that's her personality, blah, blah, blah. The new CNA stayed another month and then QUIT !
.

Doesn't that annoy the heck out of you.:angryfire I've experienced that situation on more than one occasion and I've always left because I couldn't put up with it. Well I've learned that you definitely can't run away from the situation. You'll be out of a job and they'll still be sittin pretty. When I finally do graduate and get a job I will handle things a lot differently. At my age I need to start building up my 401K ASAP! :chuckle If you quit every place you have a problem, pretty soon you are limited to what you can do (generally speaking). Especially if you are just a pee-on with no degree like I have been for so many years.

Like the other posters stated, I would definitely put her in her place in a professional way and let her know when she's being rude and definitely document it when necessary to cover yourself. I hope things get better for you.

**RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN** · Aug 10, 2005

:yeahthat: :yeahthat:
I'd wake her up "Excuse me, X, I can see that you're tired, but I know that you wouldn't want to miss report" Don't forget, as your peers seem to have forgotten, that if she makes a mistake with a patient, that you are responsible since you delegated to her. If you talk to the DON again, mention the whole patient safety issue, and document, document.

Exactly! :)

Sagebutterfly · Aug 13, 2005

I am so aggrevated by one of the dayshift aids. I work nights and at our hospital the aids sit in on report when they come to work. The dayshift has an aid that has been there about 15 years. she is rude and obnoxious to staff and patients. She likes to treat new nurses like they are stupid. She comes to report, closes her eyes like she is sleeping, and makes weird sounds while you are giving report. Yesterday I was giving report and I had stopped one topic and gone to another and she flung her head down, opened her eyes and told me what I was talking about didn't applie to what this patient had and didn't have anything to do with it. If she was awake she would know I had gone to another dx on this patient.
The experienced nurses told me they had been trying to have something done about her for years, and when patients sent back surveys about her they were found in the don's garbage can!!! Don told them she had worked there too long to get rid of her and she had to help pay for her two sisters 6 illegit children.
melissa :angryfire :angryfire

I feel you. I am a CNA now and while our facility doesn't require CNA reports I feel it's important and do it anyway. I take a nurse's report sheet and use it to document any changes in resident's. Some CNAs will listen for 3-5 minutes while I quickly let them know what's going on but for the ones who ignore me I just hand them a copy. Maybe you could draw in her attintion by copieing your report sheet for them so she has visuals to keep her alert. And also if she trys to interject you can say " as you can see by the report sheet ...." and maybe that would help her to stay focused and give you the chance to report to the next nurse with out her interuption. I hope this helps. Good Luck!

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Aug 13, 2005

Melissa,

Ignore this lady and all her comments and sounds she makes in report. She lives for the recognition she gets in front of an audience during report. She creates her own opportunities to dominate the meeting and if you answer her back, you've helped her achieve her agenda.

How badly do you want to do something about her? The first thing is to get her aside so the other aides can't hear and tell her you want her to stop interrupting you in report. Keep it personal between you and her. Don't raise your voice or yell. Don't bring up anything about the other nurses feeling the same way. She's going to be mad, so don't be surprised if this nets you some nastiness and pouting. She'll probably do some acting out, too. She will probably go on a bad-mouthing campaign about you. Don't get involved in any of this gossip. Don't discuss anything you've said to her to any of the aides. Her power comes from her ability to round up support with her co-workers. Keep quiet and let everyone wonder why you're not joining in on the gossip. This is immensely hard to do, but it adds a lot of power and intimidation to your image. (Quiet authority, you get me?) She's going to be a tough one to deal with, but keep your ground. Keep after her on just this one thing every single day. After every report where she blurts out comments and makes a disturbance, take her aside, "I've asked you before not to interrupt me during my report and I want you to stop it. You are there to listen and I don't want you interrupting me like that." You'll have to do this a number of times, I'm afraid. The next thing is that you have got to get together with the other nurses and they need to start doing the same thing with her on just this one behavior of hers. Its kind of like doing a intervention with an alcoholic. You have to stay united and all react to her the same way on this issue of her outbursts during report. The rest of the time you treat her like any other CNA. Eventually, she will stop, but you are going to have to stand your ground and be as tenacious about this as she is. She's a belligerent person and she has a lot of stamina and that's what got her to where she is today.

If she's not nice with the patient's, there are going to be incidents. Keep your eyes and ears open. If a patient complains to you about her or you happen to hear her getting snotty with a patient you're going to have to question the patient for information and then write this lady up. You write someone up just as if you were charting an incident. Give facts, dates and times. You say "Mrs. ____complained to me that (the aide) said ____ to her and it scared her (or whatever). It you witness something (like her yelling at a patient or being rough with a patient) you will write down exactly what you saw, but also include that you confronted her about it and what her demeanor and attitude were when you addressed her. I always tried to put these kinds of write-ups in an official memo format (To, From, Date, Subject) and type them on my word processor. Always keep a copy of these write-ups for yourself forever. You never know when you might need them. Sign the memo at the bottom with your name and title, fold it up and seal it in an envelope (consider this confidential information) and slide it under the DONs door if it's after hours, or put it in her hand yourself. Then, follow up on it in a few days. Ask the DON if anything was done about the incident. If you really get some flak from this CNA you'll know the DON talked to her. I wouldn't totally believe what you heard about surveys about her being found in the trash. They may have been in the trash for another reason. It's never too long a time to address someone's bad behavior. If she truly needs the job to pay for her sister's children then she should tow the line immediately when she is told she's done something wrong. Suggest that one to the DON. Continue to write her up for incidents where she has done something nasty to a patient. If you catch her threatening another employee the facility has very good grounds to get rid of her, but there has to be documentation of the incident. Flood the DON with write-ups on her as often as you can. It helps give her ammunition if she has to discipline her or justify a poor yearly evaluation that could affect a pay raise for her. (Nothing sends a bad employee out the door faster than a poor yearly evaluation that results in them not being able to get their yearly raise, but there has to be documentation to back it all up.) Employees who are behavior problems are the hardest to deal with because behavior is not a tangent, physical thing. If she ever is part of the reason a patient falls or gets injured, jump on that occurrence and milk it for all it's worth. It would also be really nice if other people would step forward and take the time to write this person up for her behaviors. So, encourage people who complain about something she's done wrong to write it up. She probably won't quit, but she'll be very careful around you when you are on duty and thinks you're watching her performance. Also, I would let the DON know that you would like to have some input on the yearly evaluations of the aides.

One last thing. If this lady turns out to be really nutty and starts aggressively looking for things to hang you on, you are going to have to get the DON involved and demand that she do something about this kook. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. This lady has been the squeaky wheel for a long time. Now, it's your turn. Be smart. You have the principals of leadership and your position of authority to help you deal with this. The aide has nothing. Don't discuss any of her faults with any of the other aides unless you are collecting information for a write up (confidentiality, you know). Things will move slowly. It doesn't sound likely that this lady will do you all a great favor and quit, so you're probably stuck with her. But you can have a big affect on the way she behaves around you.

If you have a textbook on group behavior you might want to do a little reading on the lone wolf role, the informal leader and disruptor roles because she kind of sounds like she fits in those categories.

I'd be very interested to know how things progress with this employee.

babynurselsa, RN · Aug 14, 2005

THe more likely scenario is that people may verbally complain about her but little gets put in writing. This is often the case with problems like this. We had some serious issues regarding a physician at a facility that I worked at a long time ago. Because he was a physician staff would complain to the head of his practice but nothing had EVER been written up. Finally the senior partner told us point blank, " I can do nothing because you guys don't like him and the incidents you tell me of are undocumented." From that point on I personally began a campaign to encourage people to document the frightening and dangerous occurences. It was just a few short months later that he "took a job in another state."

Might be because he was asked to leave his current position.

ckh23, BSN, RN · Aug 14, 2005

! Don told them she had worked there too long to get rid of her and she had to help pay for her two sisters 6 illegit children.

melissa :angryfire :angryfire

What does that have anything to do with anything? This does not sound professional at all.

mandrews · Aug 15, 2005

! Don told them she had worked there too long to get rid of her and she had to help pay for her two sisters 6 illegit children.
melissa :angryfire :angryfire

What does that have anything to do with anything? This does not sound professional at all.

I too thought that was way more information than I wanted to hear! I think she thought it was a good excuse and we would feel sorry for this girl. I have to add again that the DON did not personally tell me this information. This is what the seasoned nurse I asked said they were told. Personally I have children to take care of at home myself but that doesn't excuse me from working.

melissa

mandrews · Aug 15, 2005

THe more likely scenario is that people may verbally complain about her but little gets put in writing. This is often the case with problems like this. We had some serious issues regarding a physician at a facility that I worked at a long time ago. Because he was a physician staff would complain to the head of his practice but nothing had EVER been written up. Finally the senior partner told us point blank, " I can do nothing because you guys don't like him and the incidents you tell me of are undocumented." From that point on I personally began a campaign to encourage people to document the frightening and dangerous occurences. It was just a few short months later that he "took a job in another state."
Might be because he was asked to leave his current position.

I asked the other night about the procedure for writing someone up, etc. One of the aids laughed and said as long as your not writing up ____ it will be taken care of. She too said her negative patient surveys and write ups all get trashed because this DON and the previous LIKED her and she had been there so long. Then she said when your mom supervised here she wrote her up twice ask her what happened because they were trashed also. When I talk to her again I am going to ask about it. I am in disbelief.

I guess what makes me mad is they had a meeting regarding negative patient surveys and they only mentioned one of the night aids (she is bad) but not the rude dayshift aid who insults patients on a very regular basis. I had a patient last week who was confused and I helped him with a bedpan. He said thank you Miss because I may not get to use it tomorrow. WHY? ______ won't let me and you know she rules the roost around here. It is sad when a confused person understands.

melissa