rude nurse

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I would LOVE feedback! I have been on the floor of my hospital for 13 days now on my own, so yup I am brand new. I have been a CNA for 5 years, but this is my first hospital experience. 99% of the staff are WONERFUL!! and then there's "Nurse Ratched" as she is lovingly known. Safe to say I avoid her like the plague. But last week I was about to change her patient (who is a MAX assist and 300lbs) and asked her to help. She snarled "FIVE MINUTES". Well after her sitting 15 minutes in her chair, the student that was with her (but by this time standing by her side also confused as to why she is not helping) gowned up (yup this was an iso. patient) and came in, so did a Dr. THEN in she strolls. Well it was horrible. the patient was changed and I went to my next patient. then the student came up to me and said "I told the charge the nurse was not helping" I also was going to say something, but with a patient load to the max of max I was distracted. So now I need to work with this horrible nurse today and tomorrow and every week for 2 8 hour shifts in a row!!How do you deal with someone like that?????? The charge came up to me and said the bad nurse "doesn't like new people" I was like WHAT???? Why keep her. but I know this floor is sooo hard to staff because it is way heavy so I said OK. Any advice, or have you guys been in the same situation??

THANK YOU!!! Actually I went to the Chapel in the hospital before working with her, believe me God was right by my side. The teacher removed the nurse from her roster of nurses to assign students to. So the student was with a different nurse this week.

That's great news. Mean nurses like that give the great nurses a bad rep. Nursing students are suppose to be able to shadow someone with a great personality. But every so often there's a bad apple. Lol

Sent from 'her' iPhone using allnurses ???

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You are soooo right!! ALL of the other nurses on my floor are just wonderful!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Maybe it's a relief to the nurse, too. Maybe she doesn't like precepting students and felt like it was being shoved down her throat, and so she was resentful.

I can't really relate to that, because I love to teach, I love showing new people the ropes, and I think good teamwork is founded on good working relationships with one another- but, different strokes for different folks. Just go forth and do, try to stay positive, and do the best job you can do and try not to worry about what others are or are not doing- unless patient safety is being compromised, of course. You really can't control other people's attitudes.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
That's great news. Mean nurses like that give the great nurses a bad rep. Nursing students are suppose to be able to shadow someone with a great personality. But every so often there's a bad apple. Lol

Sent from 'her' iPhone using allnurses 

Nursing students are supposed to be able to shadow a competent nurse. A great personality is a plus, but not essential. Besides -- your idea of a great personality may differ from someone else's.

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Specializes in Oncology; medical specialty website.
Apr 23 by melcolbstorm

I was a CNA for over 20 years. As you can imagine, I worked with many different nurses with many different personalities and nursing styles. Over all those years, I've never met Nurse Ratched.

I met one who was gruff and condescending but so what? I had a professional relationship with this person, not a personal one. If she was nasty-- oh, well. I still anticipated needs, took direction as needed and worked my bum off. Her attitude wasn't my problem. She eventually lightened up a bit when she noticed I wasn't needy, I was efficient and still managed to interact with her professionally. I never smiled at her, never said, "Good afternoon, Nurse Butthead!" or attempted to win her over in any way. But, I knew how to work and keep it cool. She was unpleasant-- big deal.

Now, I am a big CNA fan (if they're good smart workers) and I'll help you with anything if I can. If you asked for help to turn a 300# pt, I'll be there if I can. However, if I seem stressed and tell you, "Give me five minutes", that means I've got something that must get done now. The doc may have given me a verbal order I need to put in now so I don't forget it. I may be waiting for a doc to call me back regarding a pt issue that can't wait-- and don't think that all doctors will wait for me to change out of an iso gown, wash up and get to the phone. They're stressed and busy too and they may hang up before I get to the phone-- which starts the process of trying to get ahold of the doc all over again... not cool. Oh, so many reasons why and the CNA cannot help me get this stuff done so, excuse me, but you may have to wait.

As for that nursing student, she needs her butt kicked. She may think she's clever now, but once she's actually out there being a nurse, she'll realize real quick where "Nurse Ratched" was coming from.

Thank you for being one of the few people who know that it's "Nurse Ratched," not "Nurse Ratchet." Drives me crazy! Do they even know the character they're referencing?

​I think there's more to this. I've worked with some nurses who weren't helpful, but the whole "sitting at the desk, drinking Starbucks and playing Candy Crush" is so cliche'.

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Specializes in hospice.
she is simply trying to teach you (albeit not in a very skilled or professional way) not to be overly reliant on the nurses for help, and that she is not going to do your work for you?

EXCUSE ME?! Just how is it "overly reliant" or expecting the nurse to do her work for her to ask for help turning a THREE HUNDRED POUND patient. Do you have some magic strategy for how one person is supposed to do that alone that you would like to share with the rest of us?

OP, I totally believe you. I worked with those nurses who sit on their butts drinking Starbucks, facebooking, and shopping for their next vacay on their workstations while the techs ran around all night long. Some people like to claim those nurses don't exist, but unfortunately, we who've been their coworkers know all too well that they do.

My advice is to remain professional, figure out who is good to ask for help and who is not, and keep your head up for better opportunities.

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Specializes in Hospice.

Oh, dear - popcorn, anyone?

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EXCUSE ME?! Just how is it "overly reliant" or expecting the nurse to do her work for her to ask for help turning a THREE HUNDRED POUND patient. Do you have some magic strategy for how one person is supposed to do that alone that you would like to share with the rest of us?

Sure, no problem. When you arrive for your shift and get report and find out that you have a 300lb patient who is incontinent and a Turn Q2, you go to the other CNA(s) and say something to the effect of "I have a 300lb. patient who is incontinent and a Turn Q2 that I'm going to need help with". You plan ahead. You communicate.

And again, there may be more of a context here than we are aware of.

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Specializes in Psych, LTC/SNF, Rehab, Corrections.
I can't help but think there is some context here that we are not getting. Sure, it could be simply that she is lazy and never helps the CNAs. It could be as simple as that, and if this is her habit and it is being tolerated, then really there is nothing you can do.

I wonder, could it be that she has been burned by too many CNAs that don't do their job and she is simply trying to teach you (albeit not in a very skilled or professional way) not to be overly reliant on the nurses for help, and that she is not going to do your work for you?

In situations like this, I can't help but think there is a history that goes back to long before I came onto the scene. I've worked in situations where the CNAs were complete slackers and if you didn't put your foot down, you'd soon find yourself doing the CNA's work.

Just be professional, do the job to the best of your ability, and whenever possible enlist the help of the other CNAs for heavy patients.

I think the nurse in question is just 'one of the lazy, rude ones'. The Charge said that she 'doesn't like new people'? What does that even mean - and why are some nurses in this thread taking up for this behavior? Please, this dreadful woman sat on her phone, allowing her aide (singular) to struggle alone with HER morbidly obese pt for the same reason that she 'doesn't like new people':

She's a 'b'-word that rhymes with 'itch'!

Just admit it.

I must agree with what you've written, though, STARGAZER.

I was explaining this very point to a CNA who was complaining to me about the nurse/aide dynamic on our 3-11 shift. My coworker and I, we help out. We change people, put them to bed, etc...

I spent a lot of years in the military. No one rests until work is finished.

I feel like bad - I feel like a poor manager - if everyone is hustling BUT me. I, literally, canNOT sit and e-shop and piddle about if our aides are getting killed bench-pressing pt's. It just feels...wrong. When there's work to be done, you don't sit down and shoot the s--t. You get out there and help. That's how my leaders were, in turn, this is how I lead.

...but I OVERstand why some nurses don't rush to lift a finger. I understand 'the why' because I do help out. For instance, I've passed dining meal trays by myself because I knew that the aides were busy. Anyone else besides my coworker would've been screaming for the aides on a bullhorn. Likewise, I've sat in the dining hall feeding residents with the other aides while the aide on hall-trays just strolled into the dining hall sipping on a cup of convenience store coffee, as if she were the nurse/DON/owner.

I was deeply offended. I'm secure in myself. I've never been the sort to 'pull rank', even in the military. But, if she really wanted to go there? She is my aide. I'm in 'CHARGE'. I could sit around shooting the breeze with a cup of coffee or on my phone while the aides do allllllllllllll the work (and get away with it).

Yet, I don't and never would.

I felt that it was disrespectful, also. Her actions said, "I can flounce around with a cup of coffee while the rest of you and the nurse are working. The laid-back nurse isn't going to say a thing."

I ripped into her on the spot with such force that I 'forgot where I was' and nearly cursed her - in front of the aides AND my residents - before I caught myself. She didn't argue, surprisingly. Yes, I'm nice... until I'm not, she discovered that day.

This is what I tried to explain to the aide.

Some people only understand teamwork when it applies to helping them. Some people only care to understand the floor in relation to their tasks.

...and some nurses dislike managing others (no one told us that nursing entailed 'all that' until the tail end of nursing school) and, at least, two of my coworkers dislike LTC due to the sheer amount of babysitting that takes place (myself included). I couldn't see it when I was aide but I'd agree: It's babysitting. Never before have I had to stand perched on the shoulders of another to ensure that work gets done. To tell you the truth, I wouldn't be terribly put off if I went to a facility that didn't have CNAs. I'd rather do MY work, myself.

Our aide assumes, like the others, that some nurses in our facility think they're better than the aides.

I tried to tell him that it wasn't so. The nurse that he complains about does not care to 'babysit', as previously stated. He came from the ER (a year of experience) and I guess that's why he thinks as he does. Additionally, he is a young guy and when he was a new nurse at our facility, he was pushed around by the older female nurses (they wouldn't train him because he was to be a replacement for one of them) and CNAs, alike.

His hardened management style reflects his journey. He's had to be more stern to keep the aides under control which, in turn, makes the shift easier. He's had to be no nonsense in order to not be 'run over'. He does not ask; he gives orders, which never bothered me. Again, I'm prior-service. Nuff said. But, most aides are bothered by it.

No excuses for crappy and abusive treatment. I'm just saying that I'd agree: there's a reason for the ways in which some nurses manage. I understand how a nurse might become a different kind of manager, if the nurse gets burned early on in their career by aides and does not have a personality suited for the special brand of micromanagement that's nearly exclusive to nursing (some specialties more than others), to begin with.

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Specializes in Psych, LTC/SNF, Rehab, Corrections.

@ OP

Be respectful to the woman. Be efficient and do your job.

...but people know who they can and cannot mess with and that's a lesson first learned in 'the sandbox'.

You don't have to 'get ugly and profane' to assert yourself.

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Specializes in hospice.
Sure, no problem. When you arrive for your shift and get report and find out that you have a 300lb patient who is incontinent and a Turn Q2, you go to the other CNA(s) and say something to the effect of "I have a 300lb. patient who is incontinent and a Turn Q2 that I'm going to need help with". You plan ahead. You communicate.

You mean that one other aide on my unit that I would almost never see during my shift because our unit was constantly run short? The one other aide who also has 13 telemetry patients she's responsible for, half of whom are in contact rooms? The one other aide who also has to try and figure out how to get Q4 vitals, two rounds of blood sugars, bathing, toileting, turning, and whatever other needs crop up done on 13 people, AND also find time to get it all punched into the computer on time for med passes? Mmmmmkay.

I've worked now for over a year for a place that actually has teamwork, and it's awesome. Sure some nights suck, but we're all in it together pulling our weight. In places that don't have it, life is hell for the aides and I'll thank anyone who wants to dismiss or minimize that not to do so. I am so burned from that experience that I will probably never work in a hospital again. It was horrible, it was real, and I don't exaggerate anything about the experience. I don't care what their reasons or backstory were, there was no excuse for a lot of what I saw nurses do there. And management was ridiculous for not addressing it.

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Okay...

Will someone please tell me...

Where can I get this job???

You know, where the nurse can have time to sit at the desk and Facebook, plan vacations and play games.

Seems like nurses everywhere else are having a grand old time.

The only thing I can never figure out is... how do the techs know every little thing the nurses are or are not doing if the techs are so darn busy?

I'm just thinking that sometimes this isn't actually what's happening but what is assumed to be happening ("that nurse is sitting at the desk therefore they must be goofing off").

If this really does happen (and I'm not doubting that it does from time to time in certain places with certain nurses) then how do they get away with it?

I know I wouldn't put up with it and I would call that nurse on it (so would everyone else I work with).

Also, it seems that when someone posts about The Lazy Nurse, we get a description of the nurse sitting at the desk and that's all we hear...

Until another poster comes along and points out that the nurse is probably charting, putting in orders, waiting for the doc, etc...

Then the original poster comes back and says, "Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention The Lazy Nurse is actually Facebooking/playing Candy Crush/planning vacation".

Okay, why wasn't that mentioned in the original post then?

That's pertinent information to help us understand.

The fact that this info was left out makes wonder (right or wrong) if the original poster didn't just toss this Facebooking/Candy Crush/vacation planning scenario in (but only brings it up in a later post) is because it's convenient and they have no other way to really prove how that nurse is lazy.

I think if that was really what was happening, it would have definitely been mentioned in the original post.

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