To tattle tale or not tattle tale... that is the question.

[bluesky, BSN, RN]

Hey all.

There are quite a few nurses on my unit who have scored points with management and made a select group of other nurses look pretty bad by ratting out on them about pretty small insignificant stuff like so and so didn't date her lines or so and so didn't put one assessment in the computer for q 1hr neuro checks or so and so didn't have time to change her lines (because, well so and so admitted a 1:1 pt at 17:30 while still keeping the other stable pt anyway) and then there's always the arcane so and so didn't follow SICU protocol z even though she used critical thinking to solve the problem and advised the residents immediately, etc.

I've NEVER been a snitch for little stuff that didn't compromise the pt. As such, I have ended up protecting a few of the nurses who have now turned into snitch nurses. They are well respected not because they don't make mistakes but because the rest of us aren't petty enough to report them.

Well at any rate there are quite a few of them on my unit and I don't want to start biyatching about them but I'm tired of helping them look squeeky clean at the expense of others including myself and my friends.

Lately, one of my friends received a pretty crappy eval because of this phenomenon. She's more over it than I am... but my strong sense of justice is not letting me let go.

Any thoughts?

[Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN]

I am right there with you . .. . .this usually happens for me in a night vs. day shift fashion.

My philosophy is to go to the nurse who forgot to change her IV tubing and just let her know. I think all the petty stuff needs to be one on one between the nurses and NOT written up but for some reason this goes in ebbs and flows . . . . sometimes we get along and do this and then it seems like people are just crabby and write each other up.

This is probably a management problem - allowing it to happen in the first place is wrong. I'm a part-time supervisor and I encourage the nurses with these complaints to work it out with the person IN PRIVATE. Doesn't always work though.

It is like a family - a dysfunctional family. We get along sometimes and other times we don't.

steph

[Town & Country]

I really hate that sort of environment.

I would probably look for another job and VERY SOON if things didn't change.........

I would talk to the Unit Mgr. about it first and tell her your plans.

[RosesrReder, BSN, MSN, RN]

I can't relate with you in the nursing environment as I am not a nurse (yet).

BUT, I have been in the same position and yes, some people like to score "browny points" by being brown nosers and making others look bad for them to look better.

I really dislike that too, but my advice is to be blunt. People need to be embarassed at times and need to be let known that you know what game they play.....you should go to so and so who are causing trouble and politely but firmly tell them that you do not appreciate the backstabbing or complaining, because you have 2 ears and a face to which they can come to and tell YOU. :) Things are resolved this way and you don't need a second opinion or intermediator since you are in all your senses and capable of fixing what you supposedly did wrong or at least take it into account so it won't happen again etc. Don't make a scene and try to find the most prudent time to sit and talk to this person face to face. If they deny it, then just let them know that either way they need to keep what you told them in mind. Of course your tone of voice is going to be firm but not nasty or rude (as I am sure you are not :) ).

This might sound terrible but it really isn't. Once you put your foot down and show that you are in control of yourself and job, they are sure to back off. It has been very effective to me in the past and even have gotten apologies and end of subject.

Best wishes to you hun

[live4today, RN]

I worked in an environment like that a couple of years ago. I quit that job. I'm sick and tired of working in "kindergarten" environments where the tattling and the backstabbing take place. I deserve to work in places that hire adults who know how to handle themselves as adults, so I refuse to ever work in a nasty environment such as that ever again. My loyalty is to my sanity, not to a place of employment that can't retain staff due to the petty crap that it allows to infest its dwelling place. If you value your sanity, your career, and your nursing license you'll leave that crabby job for someplace that practices the professionalism that it preaches.

[SmilingBluEyes]

It sounds pretty toxic. If management encourages, feeds and support such behaviors, it may be next to impossible for you to change it---or live with it. YOu can always address the individuals involved, but frankly, if administration or management cannot or will not back up a healthy work environment, you are left with few options. Mine would be to leave the toxic environment, if at all possible.

[fergus51]

I can sooooooooo relate. We have quite a few petty nurses and a lot of them are on dayshift so I have to give them report. Some of the stuff they complain about is just ridiculous ("she didn't restock the cotton balls, so I had to go get them" "she only left the isolette with 2 diapers in it...." "there was a spot of blood on the linen and she didn't change it" etc). It does annoy me and I admit I had an evil kind of happiness wash over me one night when I found out that Ms Perfect herself had been charting the wrong vent settings all shift. But, instead of being petty and ratting her out, I just pointed out her mistake to her when she got back so that she could fix her charting herself (course, she insisted that she was right the whole time even though the RT charted something different and the vent itself was set how the RT charted it when I got there....).

Day shift here is supposed to change the lines, but sometimes they are busy and don't get it done. My philosophy is that's why it's a 24 hour unit. I actually said that to a day shift nurse who was apologizing to me for not getting the line change done and she looked absolutely shocked! I mean, if she had been sitting reading a magazine I would be annoyed, but she was busy, so who cares that I have to change lines? I'm paid to be there whether I change lines or don't.

I just don't think it's worth bringing petty stuff to management because I don't want to be involved with that kind of sillyness. If I had a bad eval over some petty things I would express my opinions about the whole atmosphere though. I would not bring up specific people and complain about them because that just compounds the problem, but I would say something like "Do you think it's possible that this type of thing happens with all the staff, but some of us just choose not to bring it to management's attention?". I think coworkers influencing evals sets up a bad situation

[SmilingBluEyes]

I think coworkers influencing evals sets up a bad situation

this is my concern, as well.

[AtlantaRN, RN]

I've been a nurse for 9 years and have worked in many kinds of facilities. What I have found over the years is if you keep your integrity, you have nothing to fear. If you "tattle" on these nurses who are getting brownie points with the manager, you are just sinking to their level.

My philosophy is if it didn't harm the patient, no harm, no foul, we are only human. I mean REALLY, getting on to nurses because their tubing isn;t labeled? Those folks have WAY too much time on their hands.

I worked at a facility that was really "clicky", (i'm not spelling that right), what I found was that eventually the manager got fired and one of our good nurses were then put in the managerial position, so all those nurses that were up under the other one was slowly weeded out.

Keep your chin up and do what you KNOW to be right. It's not worth picking at the nurses that are causing discord on your unit. They will soon be gone.

Atlanta RN

[misschelei]

As an agency nurse here are some of the things I have encountered: expired tubing, iv bags 2-3 days expired (TKO rates), uncovered piggy back tubing ends hanging over the pole, temp probes and needle caps (among other things) plastered to patients skin, upside down nasal cannula probes, no bag mask in the room (ICU), stinky pulse ox probes. And I work nights so I'm not talking about us "lazy" night nurses. Sorry folks I'm a strong believer that no one is too busy to make sure patients are comfortable and safe. Rat em out! You could do it discreetly by telling your manager that you are seeing this alot and she can bring it up in a staff meeting. You can do this yourself or better yet to avoid the unit politics game all together if you have nursing students suggest to thier instructors that they have thier students make posters or bulletins to hang up around the unit and in the staff bathrooms.

[pricklypear]

This kind of stuff goes on at my workplace on and off, too. Right now we seem to be in a lull. Someone got written up once for holding a 7am Prevacid on a pt who was NPO. ????? Why that report didn't get torn up, I don't know. Our manager, however, does not give much attention to all the back stabbing and petty complaints. In fact, she basically refuses to deal with much of anything of that nature. I think this helps keep it down.

All I can say is I'm really sorry you're having to deal with this type of work environment:o

[LydiaNN]

Everything you need to know you learned in kindergarten. To wit:

No one likes a tattletale.

If someone tattles on you, explain what really happened. Chances are good they left a few key facts out of their account.

Goof offs can only cover their tracks for so long before it becomes obvious what is really going on.