Tired of picking up her patients!!

[TigerGalLE, BSN, RN]

Ok so we have a nurse who has been working at our facility for like 20 years. She is a very smart nurse... But she is very lazy and never does her work. She also gets an attitude if you say anything to her about it. Well she works 2 12 hour shifts and 2 8 hour shifts a week. No one else gets to work 8 hour shifts. Well 2 days a week we get stuck picking up one of her patients at 3. That makes us have 7 patients. Her patients are always a mess. Meds are late, IV antibiotics haven't been given, IVs are bad, dressings aren't done, orders haven't been signed off..

It is the same thing every time we pick up her patients. Today was my day off. They called me and begged me to come in and help out. To float from 11-3 and then pick up her patients from 3-7. Well she gets an admission a 2:30.. When I get report at 3:00 she pretends like the patient isn't there yet. So when I go out at 3:05 the patient is there.. Nothing has been done at all. Not only that but I had to do this very in depth dressing change that took me 45 minutes b/c it was so painful to the pt. She told me the pt refused to let her do the dressing!! And then on top of that.. One of her patients was discharged at 1600... I didn't leave tonight until 8:00 and it was my day off! grr

To make matters worse she stands up at the station and gossips while on the clock until 1630!!!! IF she is just going to stand around can't she at least help me with my admission. I get so sick of doing this day after day. And yes I've told my nurse manager. I said something today about it. It is like no one wants to make her mad b/c she's been there forever and all the docs know her. I told my charge nurse i'm never coming in and picking up her patients again. I don't know what else to do.

Thanks for listening to my vent. I feel better now!

Tigergalle

[chenoaspirit, ASN, RN]

Hmmm, I would refuse to go in on my days off again, and I would politely tell them why each time they ask. I would speak directly to the nurse who is doing this. It may not do any good. I cant stand working with lazy people.

[leslymill]

LAsk the nurse manager to pick up her load some days she works those 8 hr shifts. They could get some needed floor time and see how sloppy she has become. Maybe that would make them think twice.

[al7139, ASN, RN]

Hi,

I feel your pain. For the most part, we have a good staff, but there are a few who I hate to follow because of these same issues. We follow a chain of command that seems to work in these cases. First we always do "walking rounds" with the outgoing nurse. If I see an IV, a dressing, meds missed, etc. I will politely refuse to take responsibility for the pt until these issues are fixed by the previous nurse. If this nurse continues to be an issue, we go to our ClinII with the problems. If that does not work we go to the unit manager. If they are still reluctant to deal with it, you need to go higher. If your hospital has a patient care supervisor, go to them. If not, find out who your unit manager reports to and go to that person. This nurse needs to be dealt with because of inadequate care of the patients. You do not want to be held responsible for her laziness, and she needs to be reprimanded for her lack of proper care. It not only creates more work for you, but is a safety issue for the pt. I don't care if you are one day on the job or twenty years, you need to care for your patients. You should document every incident and go to your supervisors supervisor if you need to.

Hang in there.

Amy