Toxic Workplace?

[ESpeed15]

I had an incident happen recently with a night shift nurse that instantly made me hate the floor I work on and makes me feel like it isn't the place for me. Now, I don't know how I feel about nursing in general.

I started my shift the other day and immediately had to do a bed bath and a complete linen change on a patient. I asked the night shift nurse about it since she was still there and she just seemed to have excuses as to why it didn't get done. She just kept saying she was busy and they only had one PCT over and over again. I guess being a new nurse (been working for 8 months), it still gets to me when things aren't done "by the book" and I told her I know we have PCTs, but it's our job to make sure the tasks we delegate get done correctly. After a couple of minutes of talking, she just shrugged her shoulders and said, "oh well, I was just busy last night" and kept giving excuses, so I gave up.

I got very frustrated about this because I think that it is ridiculous. I have had situations like this happen multiple times to me where everyone says that we are doing everything that we should, with turning or changing patients, and then I get the patient and they have pressure ulcers. So, who gets yelled at by the family? ME! I have been told I am not doing my job and that if I cared at all about my patients, then I would want to do the best I can for them. That is something that I pride myself on, so to be told you aren't doing that really sucks! I tried to explain that to her when I was talking to her, but it just didn't make it through.

So already frustrated about that, I told our Director about it. And vented to some other nurses, which I don't pride myself on.

Later that morning, I go into another patient's room (who had the same nurse) and this patient was the same! So, I did a complete bedbath and linen change on this patient as well. What made this patient worse though, was that the patient care pad underneath the patient was dry, but the pillow and sheets underneath her were wet! I of course vented about this, too, to other nurses and told the Director later that day.

When the nurse came back the next night I told her about the second patient that had the same problem and that it was unacceptable. Again she just kept saying how busy she was. I told her yes, I was busy too, and we only had one PCT too, but I was able to change that patient 5 other times that shift. (We also had all the same patients for 2 days) I was able to do that today and I had been able to do a admit and 2 dicharges in 2 hours and still keep up with changing, so being busy isn't a good excuse. She had been in each of the patient's rooms within one hour of shift change and I told her that if she would have come and told me they were wet, I would have had no problem helping to change them, but I wouldn't have left them wet like that. I also told her that I told the Director and that he was going to put in a report on it.

I talked with my friend who works nights on my floor this morning and she said she needed to talk to me about what had happened. She told me that the night nurse had told our charge nurse about everything that I had said to her. Unknowingly, I had made her cry by how I told her about the problems and that I had told our Director. She also said that our charge nurse told her [my friend] that if I was going to start reporting people for things that were wrong, then she would make sure everything I did wrong was reported and that if I "wanted to act like an adult, then I would be treated like one." (Which doesn't make since to me, but oh well). This charge nurse is the same one that reported someone last week on the same patient because they didn't come and clean the patient up.

After this all happened, I started thinking. I am such and introverted person and I am so worried about "rocking the boat". When I was on orientation, I didn't even want to make a big deal about having a horrible preceptor because I didn't want to look like the new nurse that comes in and starts causing problems. Almost everyone on my floor talks about each other, passess the buck when it comes to problems, and leaves stuff undone for others just so they can get out of work on time. Nurses will snapchat all day, complain about patient just for needing something, and PCTs will disappear multiple times throughout the shift.

How did I go from someone who ran from conflict, to someone who starts it and doesn't even care? I know what I did was super unprofessional, I didn't take her out privately to talk to her, I was very aggresive when I talked to her about it, and I went behind her back and talked about her. I feel like the negativity of the floor I work on has made me bitter towards the other nurses and our patients, too. I used to never complain about patients because I always said that you never know what they are dealing with on top of being in the hospital and you don't know their story so there might be a reason they are acting the way they are. I always said that I wanted to be the nurse that I would want for myself or my family members, but right now I am far from that!

I sent an email to the night nurse to apologize for making her feel like that and that I know we have a lot to deal with sometimes and that I wasn't acting like team player at all. Neither of us work until next week and I felt so guilty that I at least needed to contact her in some way to apologize.

I just need some real advice!! Is this floor I work on just full of toxic people whose bad attitudes are rubbing off? How can I still work here and not let it consume me too or is their anyway I can help change the way everyone acts towards working here?? It bothers me so much and even more that I am starting to act the same way!

[quiltynurse56, LPN, LVN]

You mention that you are introverted, but then state thst you discussed the situation with a number of staff members as well as the manager. Those two bits of information seem to contradict each other.

Regardless of your personality or comfort level in communicating with others, I believe you owe your co-workers the simple courtesy of speaking to them FIRST when you perceive a problem. I don't know if the nurse you followed skimped on basic care, had an unmanageable workload that shift, or was completely blindsided by your findings @ shift change, but I do know that you chose to make accusations to others without speaking to her first.

That wouldn't set well with me as a coworker or manager.

You are right, in that speaking to the staff member who you are not happy with first.

Now, I have to say, we introverts are not shy. We can and do speak up about situations that need to be brought to another's attention. It is someone who is shy who has a hard time speaking up. Introverts have a preference for being okay with being with ourselves vs a crowd of people. We go home from our shifts exhausted. We do speak up when something is not right.

[Sour Lemon]

You are right, in that speaking to the staff member who you are not happy with first.

Now, I have to say, we introverts are not shy. We can and do speak up about situations that need to be brought to another's attention. It is someone who is shy who has a hard time speaking up. Introverts have a preference for being okay with being with ourselves vs a crowd of people. We go home from our shifts exhausted. We do speak up when something is not right.

True. I can be very assertive as an introvert- even outgoing. It's not about how talkative you are, it's about whether the talk exhausts you or energizes you.

[EllaBella1, BSN]

One of the most important lessons that I had to learn as a new-ish nurse is that nursing is a 24 hour job. Sometimes you just CAN'T get to everything, and sometimes things like baths/linen changes have to take backseat to other, more critical patient tasks. I myself have had those nights where I've walked into a ****show, and I've had mornings where I've had to look the oncoming nurse in the eye and say I'm so sorry that I left such a mess, I did the best I could. Like others have said, if it's an all the time thing with this nurse that patients are left dirty that's one thing, but if it was truly a bad night then that's another thing entirely. I think it's nice that you emailed her, but I would definitely approach her in person and apologize too. But most importantly don't let this one incident define your career. 6 months from now you won't even remember this happened.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Unless your coworkers are super forgiving, you've now got a huge target on your back. When you screw up (and don't doubt for a minute that you will), you are going to get the same treatment in spades.

I would apologize in person to this nurse. I would NEVER again talk about another nurse to anyone again unless it's to say how great they are. Lay low, do your job, be more understanding, and if this kind of thing is actually the norm vs. the rare occasion and not a result of understaffing, then handle it with a lot more maturity and poise than you did this time.

[happynurse49, BSN]

So your second patient had wet sheets but a dry pad? Sounds like the nurse knew she was wet but decided to just change the pad and wait for someone else to deal with it. The way you handled this may be inappropriate but you did advocate for your patient and maybe next time she will do her part and get her patient changed. I know some shifts can be super hectic when there isn't enough time to get everything done but changing your wet patient should be a priority. The nurse handing off didn't say she had a code, demented wondering patient, or anything specific except that "she was busy." In the future you should probably discuss this privately. It isn't what you said/did but just how you did/said it.