The Lack Of Teamwork Is Astounding!

Nurses General Nursing

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the lack of teamwork at my facility is astounding, needless to say there are a lot of lazy nurses where i work ! i work perdiem at a rehab/ltc facility 1 charge nurse and atleast 1 medication nurse is on each unit , usually i'm the medication nurse and over the last couple of months workload has been shifted from the charge nurses onto the medication nurses, the med nurses have either 20 or 40 patients to give meds to depending on which floor you work on and the dns has just enstated that the med nurse must do dressings, and the 24 hour report which the charge used to do! on top of already picking up orders, give feedings,+ iv meds, and fingersticks!, this leaves the charge with no tasks besides watching over the patients or managing the occasional admission and/or transfer to the hospital! since the charge nurses realize that they are no longer responsible for certain tasks some don't bother to help! they just sit at the desk all shift long and pretend to act busy!

the med nurses have complained about the workload but it hit a dead end! one charge nurse i worked with was on her phone all shift long and then was watching t.v then went home half and hour early! leaving me still on the unit still finishing my work and never even offered to help me! what has happened to team work! ? team work benefits not only staff but patients as well, management and administration have seemed to turn their back on this issue as too! some nurses make you wonder.:twocents:

Specializes in NICU.

Bad working conditions are always going to be bad until people change it or quit putting up with it.

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
=#483d8b]no attitude adjustment needed, i have been charge nurse numerous times, i have also had to do hours of paperwork, i know the feeling! quarterly assessments are what? every 3 months, so i'm assuming that is the only time you feel the pain of work, based on what you stated, my facility has an mds department, so they review the careplans and do all the paperwork, along with the rn manangers, i created this post to describe the work conditions at my place of occupation, maybe you need to review my post once more and understand the question being stated based on what i said about my facility, adjusting my attitude doesnt make the lazy nurses around me work any harder nor does it change the environment! can you imagine giving 110% of yourself and having that same lazy charge nurse threaten to write you up for a minor error, because that's what went down where i work, but maybe your working conditions are better, if so show me where, i'd love to know, thankyou for your post:rolleyes::twocents:[/size]

if you have been the charge nurse for a consistent length of time-like months-then you know what i mean.i know plenty of staff that assume if you are sitting at the desk you aren't "busy" or you are"lazy" i stand by what i said. maturity,peace and contentment in your self comes when you learn you can only do the best you can and not judge others.i used to think i was the "busiest"-i felt as though i was the only one running around working-that no one else cared as much as i...i learned otherwise.

are you saying each unit has a nurse manager a "charge" nurse and then med/treatment nurses? even so your job description sounds fair to me.it's what i do every day.

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Now, I know as nurses we should be able to "work miracles". We should be able to calmly, coolly, and efficiently handle whatever is thrown our way. Time management and multi-tasking skills are a must. Although I feel I can hold my own, sometimes it feels impossible and dangerous to me.

We have a new administrator at my LTC facility who is more than insisting that we clock out on time and take MANDATORY 30 min. breaks off the clock. No raises next year if we don't adhere to this.

We only have an 8hr shift (7 1/2 really) to do 2 med passes, wound care, creams and lotions, charting, noting new orders/TX, and what ever else may arise on 30 pts.Also, our facility is a no restraint facility, so falls are common. Incident reports alone can easily set you back 30min.

Last night we were required to work short handed (which is now becoming the norm.). So, I had extra patients and a new admission came in. I've been a nurse for 4months now and this was my first admission solo. I really wasn't sure what to do paperwork wise. Of course no help from the other nurse on my unit who was also the assistant unit manager and didn't have any admissions. She never once asked if I needed any guidance and disappeared several times leaving me to handle calls, her CNAs who needed to know things about HER patients, and family members of one of her patients who were upset about their loved one sitting in feces for god knows how long. The guy from the pharmacy had to come down the hall to get me to check in meds. When I came up to the nurses station she was 10 feet away passing meds. She ignored the whole situation and acted as if she didn't see him or me(another 15 min gone) .She didn't even let anyone know when she left for her break.

Yes, we should be able to handle our own as nurses, but this was ridiculous. She is the assistant unit manager and the only thing she managed was to **** me off.

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Specializes in DD/MR, long term care, homecare.

I think this is a chronic problem in both long term care and homecare. I have never worked in a hospital but I hear that there is much more teamwork there, probably by necessity. I am quitting my homecare job just as soon as I can find somewhere else to work and I suggest you do the same. People can only treat you as badly as you let them!

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Specializes in Med/Surg, DSU, Ortho, Onc, Psych.

When I was younger I worked as a nurses' aide (carer).

I remember all the nurses used to help each other out in the morning, ie: 2 of use would go & do beds, 2 would help out with difficult bathing, one would do all the medications. Now it seems u get 6-7 patients & ur it - u have to do everything & if u can't cope, ur somehow seen as less of a nurse.

When I'm not busy I always try to help out, cos I remember what it is like especially when ur new or young, trying to juggle everything.

Can you complain to someone about it?

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It's complicated to complain to who I should complain to. The person I would have to bring the issue to is the person who suggested this nurse as assistant supervisor. They are good friends and I'm a new nurse who has only been there 5 months now. I don't plan on being there forever. Quite the contrary, I will be moving out of state soon. I'm willing to suck it up and play nice nice because I want a good reference .This is the only reference I have in nursing, so I don't want to mess that up. Believe me though, inside I feel like a coward and a kick dog for planning to not bring it up, but at the same time I feel like it's the smart thing to do.:rolleyes:

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
My honest opinion? I'd never stay at the job you described. Teamwork isn't really the problem, simple distribution of tasks and responsibilities seems to be. The expectations don't seem reasonable for the nurses doing the lion's share of the work. If the charge nurse on duty with me was watching tv while others are running around, I'd be handing in my resignation FAST.

Yes, I agree 100%. This is not as much a liability of your co-workers as it is a sign that the leadership is either misinformed/uninformed or has friends in the "charge nurse" group of workers. Whatever the case may be, its not going to change soon. I'd be seeking work elsewhere. I don't carry other nurses while on the clock, whether it be mandated by admin. or not. If they aren't doing their share, their share is not done.

I was going to add too, I get frustrated not so much with helping others because I don't want to, but becaue people seem to have lost the skill of being helped. Yes, there is an art to being helped.

If you ask someone to help you boost a pt., have them settled, ready for the boost when you get someone to help. Don't get someone, then go in and the pt. wants pain meds first or some dressing change needs completed. Want others to come help pull the new admit off the stretcher and get them in bed? Don't call for help then finish passing meds to a few people before you get there. Want a nurse to help with finishing the med pass? Give them the easier patients, since they are the "helper" anyway. Don't send them into the room with the grandma crawling out of bed who spits her pills everywhere and screams "RAAAAAPE" when you put her back in bed. Like it when the other nurses assist with chart checks or lab draws? Say thank you, don't let it become an expectation, don't slow down your pace because you see there is less to do, and return the favor when appropriate (not saying I think OP or anyone else needs to learn this, just pointing out random things from my unit).

I agree, I see a huge dip in the willingness to help these days. But I also see a deterioration in common courtesy when accepting help.

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.
It's complicated to complain to who I should complain to. The person I would have to bring the issue to is the person who suggested this nurse as assistant supervisor. They are good friends and I'm a new nurse who has only been there 5 months now. I don't plan on being there forever. Quite the contrary, I will be moving out of state soon. I'm willing to suck it up and play nice nice because I want a good reference .This is the only reference I have in nursing, so I don't want to mess that up. Believe me though, inside I feel like a coward and a kick dog for planning to not bring it up, but at the same time I feel like it's the smart thing to do.:rolleyes:

Would you believe I wrote my first response BEFORE I read this? I did.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgery, Nursing Management.

OP, I agree that the lack of teamwork is frustrating. I posted a similar thread a while back titled "Handling Delegation" and was told by a poster that she "would not want to work with someone like me". I was frustrated at the lack of teamwork and was asking for opinions on how to professionally and assertively ask my co-workers to do their part so that we may have an efficient and productive day. It is still a daily frustration of mine, and until management holds everyone to the same accountability standards, it will continue. Sadly.

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