Scary scary nurse

[JavaMama98]

A nurse (we'll call her Scary Nurse" was recently hired at my facility to work night shift. She's been a nurse for about 15 years. Problem is, she's clueless- not about facility protocol or paperwork but about basic nursing 101. I suggested to my ADON additional training and orientation before "letting her go". This nurse didn't didn't "feel like" coming in for additional PAID training for the first day and left after 30 minuted the 2nd day, saying she had a headache. I have shown her numerous time how to do trach care, Peg care; other nurses have gone over obtaining urine/stool specimens for the lab, and still she remains clueless. Whenever she gets overwhelmed or scared she bails, citing a migraine and leaves, in the middle of her shift. Most recently she discovered the two of her trach patients needed neb treatments. She didn't tell anyone that she didn't know how to set up a neb treatment and instead, fumbled around a bit then came out and said she had a migraine and that she had to go leaving the oncoming nurse and me to work the night shift. I had just completed a double shift and was already into my 17th hour! She left the other night nurse with 42 patients! This nurse is dangerous! My facility has had all they can take of her and plan to let her go. I'm afraid however, that because businesses can't really get a "reference" relating to prior work performance, she may get hired somewhere else and do some serious damage. A co-worker of mine recently related to me that she had previous work history with "Scary Nurse" and there was a family who blamed her for the death of their child due to her inability to properly suction and care for trachs. Is there anything I can do? Should I do anything? Scary Nurse has recently started asking if police or investigators have shown up looking for her but won't say why they would be. Some advice please.

[guest2210]

i do know one of the questions prospective employers will ask former employers is if they would rehire that person. all the facility has to do is say 'no" and that should raise a red flag. i have never been on an interview where a new employer didn't ask me a ton of questions about any of my former employments. either scary nurse is a masterful bs'er, or the prospective employer did not do a thorough enough search of her previous employment.

[d'cm]

Report her to the board.

[Asystole RN]

Everything you have stated is hearsay and only states that at worst she is a bad employee, not a bad Nurse.

Do not feed the gossip monster.

You nor you coworked know what her medical history may be, she may be full of it or maybe she does have migraines.

What you should do is educate when needed, assist when possible, report if necessary and most important, keep your opinions to yourself in the workplace.

You are a professional and are guilty of just the kind of unprofessionalism you are scared of.

Not all Nurses are made the same and not all Nurses are good at the same things and not all Nurses learn the same way at the same speed. Be professional, may be you who is being trained one day.

[Asystole RN]

Report her to the board.

For what?

Not knowing everything in the book?

Getting migraines?

Being eccentric?

Maybe being intimidated?

Sorry, not everyone can be Florence Nightengale.

[JavaMama98]

For the record, the things I said she's done (or not done) I have witnessed with my own eyes). Like I said, the other nurse who worked with her has put in her two cents but from what I actually witnessed, yeah, she's dangerous. But thanks for your feedback anyway.

[Asystole RN]

For the record, the things I said she's done (or not done) I have witnessed with my own eyes). Like I said, the other nurse who worked with her has put in her two cents but from what I actually witnessed, yeah, she's dangerous. But thanks for your feedback anyway.

Obviously you have been speaking about her with coworkers and inquiring about her past...

Now I know it seems strange that she does not know (simple tasks to you) but maybe she needs another direction of instruction.

I have seen it MANY times with my Nurses that when a new Nurse is hired they jump all over them like jackels, "YOU DON'T KNOW THIS OR KNOW THAT!?!?" The dismay of the Nurses doing the education comes through loud and clear, many times with a hostile or condescending tone. The training Nurses don't want to ask for help to avoid getting the evil eye from the "Uber Super Know EVERYTHING Nurses."

If she is so afraid to ask for help that she is willing to go home and potentially lose her job, have you considered the tactics you and other Nurses have employed with her?

[SitcomNurse, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN]

if she is so afraid to ask for help that she is willing to go home and potentially lose her job, have you considered the tactics you and other nurses have employed with her?

are you kidding? we all know there are nurses out there not worth their salt, but for the most part, we have heard the "eat your young" saga and try to avoid this as much as possible.

clearly when you recognize a nurse that has failings you teach first, but when the lessons cant/wont be learned, you start asking questions. thats when you find out this person was involved with other issues at other places. dont put the cart before the horse please.

what i see here is a situation where a nurse genuinely has concern for patients in and out of her control. she is then looking for some way to justify keeping her jaws clamped so this person can find their 'niche'. hopefully out of respiratory.

perhaps this nurse was never in respiratory in her 15 years of service. its possible, but as a responsible nurse, you would come in to learn. i would. wouldnt you? she didnt.

she is citing issues you cannot see from your vantage point, so i have to take her word for it.

pain is whatever the person says it is. this nurse is in pain, because of and for another nurse. it is what she says it is.

im not saying you are attacking her, i am saying that your point could be viewed as punitive.

[color=sienna]java, the only thing you can do is offer help while she is there, and pray when she is gone. sounds like we ahve all had contact with scary nurse. i tried my best too, but you dont give meds to a sleeping parkinsons resident, you dont say you are out of a medication, when you simply didnt look. you dont waste the enema and say you gave it, you dont say they refused when this person never refuses anything you want to out in their mouth. as for the double/triple shifting, i woulda canned herr butt on the first go round of that!

good luck.

[Asystole RN]

are you kidding? we all know there are nurses out there not worth their salt, but for the most part, we have heard the "eat your young" saga and try to avoid this as much as possible.

clearly when you recognize a nurse that has failings you teach first, but when the lessons cant/wont be learned, you start asking questions. thats when you find out this person was involved with other issues at other places. dont put the cart before the horse please.

what i see here is a situation where a nurse genuinely has concern for patients in and out of her control. she is then looking for some way to justify keeping her jaws clamped so this person can find their 'niche'. hopefully out of respiratory.

perhaps this nurse was never in respiratory in her 15 years of service. its possible, but as a responsible nurse, you would come in to learn. i would. wouldn't you? she didn't.

she is citing issues you cannot see from your vantage point, so i have to take her word for it.

pain is whatever the person says it is. this nurse is in pain, because of and for another nurse. it is what she says it is.

i'm not saying you are attacking her, i am saying that your point could be viewed as punitive.

java, the only thing you can do is offer help while she is there, and pray when she is gone. sounds like we ahve all had contact with scary nurse. i tried my best too, but you dont give meds to a sleeping parkinsons resident, you dont say you are out of a medication, when you simply didnt look. you dont waste the enema and say you gave it, you dont say they refused when this person never refuses anything you want to out in their mouth. as for the double/triple shifting, i woulda canned herr butt on the first go round of that!

good luck.

sorry, had to edit the color and size, couldn't read the rainbow.

the only things java has stated is that

#1 the nurse in question has a knowledge deficit.

#2 the nurse's safe practice has been called into question because of the knowledge deficit.

#3 the nurse is not retaining the education being offered.

#4 the nurse seems to not want further education.

as you stated

"its possible, but as a responsible nurse, you would come in to learn. i would. wouldn't you? she didnt.

yes, it would seem to be the norm that someone would want to learn. it would seem very abnormal that the person would not want to learn at all and give up a job.

as was stated,

she's been a nurse for about 15 years. problem is, she's clueless

we have already established that there is an expected level of prior clinical experience.

whenever she gets overwhelmed or scared she bails, citing a migraine and leaves,

we establish two things here, #1 she may have a medical condition or the stress is producing migraines, #2 she is being overwhelmed.

she didn't tell anyone that she didn't know how to set up a neb treatment and instead, fumbled around a bit then came out and said she had a migraine and that she had to go

why would she not want to tell anyone she did not know how to set up the neb treatment? do you really think she is some demonic invader who wishes to destroy the good name of nurse?

strikes me of fear...fear of what is the question.

i am not saying the following is what occurred but it is a very common scenario. new nurse or new (old) nurse starts and the presumption of clinical knowledge is immediately applied to the new employee. if that employee lacks the expected knowledge then the air of incompetence is immediately applied. all the following training and education done by fellow floor nurses is done with the attitude of incompetence.

some nurses can tolerate or fight against this, some others cannot.

i am currently dealing with this with two new (old) nurses. everyone basically had the idea that they should know everything and dealt with them with that expectation. when they fell short of their expectations the tag of incompetence was immediately applied. the new employees were being intimidated by the senior nurses who scoffed and snuffed at the new "incompetent" employees. the new employees became defensive, the senior employees became more aggressive.

nightmare to deal with.

all i am saying is be nice, help the new people, and don't gossip.

[SpringerCab]

I have had a similar experience as the OP. The nurse that I oriented went through three preceptors. We all tried to work with her. She called in almost once a week, she was asked to remove staples from a patient after she had been shown and she had been at the hospital for two months on orientation. She tried to change the tubing on TPN on the opposite of the bed, refused to even be shown how to pull a jp drain, and walked out on a patient in the middle of the afternoon because I was being mean. I was the third preceptor because according to her they were mean as well and were not patient with her.She had been a nurse for over 15 years and did not have hospital experience. All the nurses, social workers, respiratory staff etc tried hard to work with her. Some nurses are dangerous and should not be working as nurses. You can be as kind and patient as possible but that doesn't mean they are going to get it.

[scoochy]

There are people who pose as medical professionals and get away with it for years.

Asking if police or investigators have shown up looking for her makes me question the possibility that she may be an impostor.

[Lucky0220]

When a nurse, or any other facility employee is newly hired, isn't there an attendance policy for the first 90 days. How does one keep their job with so many call offs?