SuperAide

[mstearns09]

We've all worked with someone like this, or perhaps, secretly, we're that person.

I have a co-worker who fully believes she is the only person who knows what she's doing. The nurses don't know how to do their jobs and none of the aides (myself included) know what they're doing. None of us know how to care for the residents properly but her. She can take care of every single resident unless her back is bothering her, then she needs help with every extensive assist on her section.

She was one of the main reasons our most extensive resident now has a massive cast on one of her legs because she just had to be the hero of the day and assist the resident by herself instead of waiting for someone to finish up with another resident to help.

While in the dining room helping people eat last night, she publicly criticized the DON for purchasing a new outside bench for the facility by saying, "There are better things to be spending money on besides a new bench we don't need." She never bothered to find out that the bench was in memory of the DON's mother-in-law who had been one of our residents.

I'm beginning to suspect that a lot of her snide, condescening, cut-throat remarks are due to the fact that she knows that we now have enough people on our shift that are as competent or more competent than she is and it makes her angry. She takes it out on her fellow aides and I've seen her take it out on residents, too.

I bite my tongue because I know in the end, it's all going to come back on her and not me if I don't respond to her meanness, but I'm curious, how do the rest of you deal with the SuperAide?

[miabia, BSN, RN]

I usually bite my tongue and stay out of it. I have worked with one woman like this before and generally they burn themselves out and quit with out any assisstance from anyone. I just remind myself that I am doing everything I am required to do to the best of my ability and Im satisfied with my performance when I leave at the end of my shift.

[Orange Tree]

If there are legitimate needs going unmet, I hope the bench was paid for by the family and not the facility. As for the rest, I always wonder about the other person's point of view. I guess my way of dealing with most difficult people is to try to understand where they're coming from and find some common ground. I admit it can be hard to do, though!