Unprofessional conduct

Hi all,

I have a situation which I am not certain how to handle. I was recently hired as a nurse by a non-emergency care clinic for a small city hospital. There is an older male colleague who makes the most inappropriate comments which have started to offend patients.

Yesterday, I was caring for a young married couple. The husband presented with a sore throat, dry cough, rash on chest, and fever. The wife mentioned that he had been ill for several days. I administered an I.V. because he was quite dehydrated.

When I returned to the nurses station, my male colleague, another R.N. felt the need to interject his opinion about the case. He believed that the husband had contracted a STD. He assumed that the wife was a whore because she had a fine ass or that the husband was a homosexual cheating on his wife. I politely informed him that the wife had stated that the husband's medical history was plagued by numerous instances of strep throat.

Unfortunately, the wife overheard this exchange. She was incredibly upset. I apologized for my colleague's boorish behavior and assured her that he would not be interacting with her husband at all during the course of the visit. In addition, the rapid strep test was positive.

I think my colleague's comments were disgraceful. However, I am new to this clinic. I'm not interested in making waves but I also don't think that my colleague's behavior should be condoned. Any suggestions?

Gen Y

[TexasPediRN]

That would be a nice write up to the manager, incident report - and someone better send that family an 'im sorry' note. (at the very least!!!)

His behavior was in no way acceptable, whether or not he was joking (as he may come back and say).

Did he apologize after the patients family overheard??

You need to speak with the manager ASAP - they need to know what happened, and that a family member was upset.

He also needs to be fired for that.

[cabbagepatchkid]

Thank you, Meghan, for responding to my post. I'm relieved to know that I am not the only nursing professional offended by my colleague's boorish actions. Tonight, I plan to draft an incident report for my supervisor when I return to work tomorrow. I think we have been assigned to the same shift so I can discuss what happened this weekend.

Any suggestions on how to deal with this co-worker if he denies making these repugnant statements? I am concerned because he has 30 years of nursing experience. As a newbie, I don't want to be blacklisted or labelled as the troublemaker. Thanks.

[leslie :-D]

i would verbally report this to your nm, followed w/an incident report, asap.

as for his potential denial?

it makes no sense why a newbie would create such a story.

what would the motive be?

why would anyone in their right minds, want to purposely rock the boat?

if the nm knows this long time employee, i'm sure s/he'll be aware of what a character he is.

best of luck.

leslie

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

Any suggestions on how to deal with this co-worker if he denies making these repugnant statements? I am concerned because he has 30 years of nursing experience. As a newbie, I don't want to be blacklisted or labelled as the troublemaker. Thanks.

Your manager needs to talk to the patient's wife. I'm sure she'll get the same story from her.

Otherwise, you look him in the eye and state "Yes, you did say that." Repeat as many times as you have to. Don't back down and let him intimidate you. Same thing if the manager says "Oh, he wouldn't say something like that!" Look her dead in the eye and repeat, "Yes, he did say that."

This is so outrageously inappropriate that I have to wonder about your co-worker's mental status!!

[santhony44, MSN, RN, NP]

Oh, and if he claims to just have been joking, you respond "The patient's wife didn't think it was a joke, she was very upset, and I don't think it was funny, either."

[cherokeesummer]

Oh, and if he claims to just have been joking, you respond "The patient's wife didn't think it was a joke, she was very upset, and I don't think it was funny, either."

I agree 100%

Also, did the person know that the family overheard? If so, did he say anything?

People are so assinine sometimes, yes we do need to get our venting out sometimes with each other but that wasn't venting since they did nothing to him, that was him passing judgement, grrrr.

[cabbagepatchkid]

Thank you to everyone who has responded. I had an opportunity to chat with my supervisor today. She agreed that my colleague had acted inappropriately. The patient was contacted and his wife did confirm what happened. I'm certain that my colleague will be subjected to disciplinary action.

BTW, when I discussed his boorish remarks with him later in the shift, he claimed that he was making the comments in jest. I reminded him that no one found them to be amusing. He retorted that I didn't understand his type of humor. Evidently, someone needs a refresher course on how to interact with patients. Thanks again.

[traumahawk99]

while this is an outlandish example, i'd be careful about stirring the pot whereever i went. it's a stressful job, and people say all sorts of things.

i've had literally hundreds of situations where i could have gotten someone in trouble for a flip comment.

you don't want to get a reputation as a tattletale, and i'd speak directly to the person who said it, and told them how it made you feel first. if that didn't stop it, then you can go upstream.

i now lots of females in this business who say all sorts of things. none of it really bothers me, as i'm vastly more concerned on whether i can count on a person for help when i really need it. without teamwork, you're sunk.

as a male, the standards are more stringent. you absolutely better watch your mouth, else you'll end up explaining an indefensible comment to management.

[suzy253, RN]

I commend you on your actions.

[PsychNurseWannaBe, BSN, RN]

the problem i have is that the patient and family heard it. with making such a derogatory comment, it does set the nurse or facility up for possible slander charges d/t defamation of character. the nurse should have gone back and apologized.

if this was said by another nurse and only i and that nurse were involved, i probably wouldn't mention it. i have been burned plenty of times by my humor because i can have a dry wit with it and it can come across differently than what was the intended.

[Lovely_RN, MSN]

I don't think the OP was being a tattle tale. That comment was extremely offensive and if I was the patient or the family member I would have made a HUGE stink about it.

If it it was a comment just between co-worker's I would say different.