what do you think?

[irmaRN]

hi... because of one doctors complaint, i had to completed 6 weeks of "additional training" on day shift to brush up on my charting and critical thinking skills.(mind you, i have been working in this dept. for almost 3 years!!) the nurse that was assigned to me had no doubt in her mind that i would do nothing but well.(which i did) from what i was told, the rest of the docs in the dept. had no problems with me, nor did any of the nurses that i work with. after reviewing some of my co-workers charts, i find that their charting was pretty bad.. almost horrid!! which my preceptor totally agreed... do you think i should bring it up to my nurse manager when we have our eval? my coworkers have commended me for agreeing to go through with this, but i felt that i had no choice... i felt that going back on "orientation" would be detrimental to my career as a nurse... now that i have completed this "task" i dont feel i can stay in the dept. working with this doctor.. i also felt that managment went about it totally wrong. i felt that i had to complete this assignment to be able to get a good reference if i decided to leave or transfer... what do you think? thanks for listening!

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

i've just finished reading through all of your old posts. i understand that you are angry with what has happened to you and that you are looking to transfer to another department. i have been in management and supervision and have some advice for you. i hope that you are ready and receptive to receive it. i am offering it to help you, but i suspect you are not going to agree with it. first off, you have got to change your attitude--at least the one that you present to your co-workers and bosses. no matter how badly or unfairly you think you've been treated you have to be positive. all the negative comments you've made--and i'm sure you've made plenty of them--will come back to bite you in a number of different ways. all the negative talk gets back and gets heard by the people you don't want to hear it: the nurse managers of the units you want to transfer to and your boss. you asked in another post about the transferring process. i'll tell you that nurse managers where i worked exchanged information about employees that wanted to transfer all the time. if someone was seen as a "problem", there was no way they were going to transfer anywhere unless it was to a unit managed by someone who was not liked by the other managers. information about the employees "problems" would be deliberately hidden from managers who were not liked by other managers in order to dump unwanted employees on them. also, any disciplinary or remedial action that is taken with an employee usually becomes paperwork that becomes permanently filed in their personnel files. whenever we managers got a request for someone wanting to transfer to our units, one of the first things we did was go to personnel and ask to review the person's personnel file where we would find these things. the first question that had to be answered was "why does this employee want to transfer?"

based on what i have experienced as a manager over the years i would guess that your success at getting a transfer to another nursing unit where you are currently working is probably nil to non-existent.

i think you have two choices (1) smile, change your attitude and act like everything is hunky dory and make a fresh start where you are currently working. really work on your charting skills. get books on it. ask the hospital nurse educators for any other information they can get for you on the subject and make a personal vow to perfect this skill. or, (2) look for another job and start somewhere else where you have a clean slate.

a bit of advice that took me many years to learn the hard way, of course. loose lips sink ships. learn to keep your mouth shut and keep negative thoughts to yourself. resist the very human desire and need to discuss your personal work problems with other workers. you can't trust that they aren't tattling on you or badmouthing you to others. you don't need that kind of publicity when you are struggling with a work performance problem. there's a reason these things are supposed to be kept confidential. it's never good advice for an employee to discuss their confidential work performance problems with other workers. it only feeds the gossip mill. no matter how mad it makes you, thank people and act gracious toward those who are giving you constructive criticism even if you think it's trash. those people may be the same ones who may be making a decision about your career sometime down the road.

[ragingmomster, BSN, MSN, RN]

Just a quick addition to the thorough and appropriate above post.

Please don't compare charting or discuss others' charting with anyone other than the person who charted it. Very unprofessional.

If someone make a blatant error in charting, point it out to that person, quietly.

[nightingale, RN]

[quote name=daytonite

i think you have two choices (1) smile, change your attitude and act like everything is hunky dory and make a fresh start where you are currently working. really work on your charting skills. get books on it. ask the hospital nurse educators for any other information they can get for you on the subject and make a personal vow to perfect this skill. or, (2) look for another job and start somewhere else where you have a clean slate.

loose lips sink ships. learn to keep your mouth shut and keep negative thoughts to yourself. [/quote]

very wise advise.

good luck to you. let us know how you are and and how you make out.