This is sort of long, so please forgive me in advance!
I was recently asked to resign from my job...not fired, but asked to resign. My manager felt that I am "not a good fit for the team" and that I don't have enough caring or compassion to make a good nurse. She said that clinically, I am outstanding, but that I am "really just not a nice person" and that I was "dragging down the entire team." This was the first I had heard about any of this. I have probably had 15 phone calls from coworkers askign what happened and expressing how surprised they were when they heard...they could be sincere or just trying to say something to make me feel better...I don't know.
To get to the point of my post...I am good at interpreting EKG strips...not an expert by any means, but I know what I am doing...and I have a lot of practice. More often than not when I was working, doing the interpretation on EKG strips was one of my assignments. This morning at about 0200, the ambulance brought a patient to the ER (I am a volunteer paramedic). As we were finishing paperwork, one of the nurses from the floor brought a strip to the ER and aksed me what I thought...this was a nurse that I have a bit of a history with...we had a personality conflict from day one. More than once when I was working she would argue with me about what the EKG strips were showing...most of the time I was right and she was wrong (at least according to the doctor). Anyway, I have a lot of resentment about my termination and I really have no desire to help any of the nurses who work there...especially her. The strip looked pretty benign to me, so I told her that I thought she should either consult another RN or call her nurse manager at home if she had any doubts. I added that I do not work there any more and that I will nto do her work for her. If I had seen anything on the strip that looked even a little abnormal, I would have told her...no matter how much I don't like her, I wouldn't put a patient in jeopardy because I am still on a pity potty. She called me a lazy f****** b**** and told me she was going to report me to my EMS captain....I gave her the captain's name and phone number.
My former nurse manger called me this morning and wanted to know why I refused to help. She said that if something would have gone wrong with the patient that I could have been held partially responsible. I told her that I don't work for her any more and that any problems need to be addressed with one of my superior officers. I also said that if I saw anything wrong on the strip I would have said so.
I know it really would have been better for me to just work the strip for her...I know that I still need to get along with the people at the hospital since our rescue service takes so many patients there. But...I also know that she wouldn't have even thought of asking one of the other medics to interpret the strip...she thinks paramedics are just well trained monkeys...she has said so more than once.
When I worked there, I had frequent conflicts about my role when I was there with EMS. Personally, I felt that if I was with EMS, I was only with EMS...I shouldn't have been asked to do anything that other EMTs were not asked to do. I was often asked to stay for a few hours to help the floor get caught up, clean to clean rooms in the ER, go to central supply and get things they were out of, put orders in the computer, page doctors, etc...it got to be pretty frustrating. I was told in no uncertain terms that when I was working I was NOT to assist EMS with "EMS things" like cleaning their backboards, getting equipment for them to restock their ambulance, or helping them when they were confused on the new computer charting system.
So...my rescue captain told me not to worry about it and is going to talk to the hospital to make sure the nurses no longer expect the things from me that they expected when I was staff. She is also going to make sure that management is aware that if they have a problem with me that they take it to her or the chief and not to take it directly to me.
I finally got over being nervous about going into the hospital for anything...and now this. I am really frustrated about being told that I am not a "good fit" any more, yet being expected to help when they need a second opinion.
I really don't know what the point of this point is...I guess I am just blowing off steam...thaks for reading.
Agree. WHY are there so many dysfuntional nurse managers out there? Here's my theory (if anyone cares):
-the job is too big for one person
-there are WAY too many issues to deal w/beyond the clinical, such as the toxic environments that erupt from low staffing, general disrespect for nurses, and pressure from higher up to do more w/less
-since the job really IS too big for one person a nurse manager's consiglieri/"informers" tend to be people w/too much time on their hands b/c they are motivated by their own greed/ego needs above the needs of their pts/co-workers. Those that truly have something positive to contribute, don't get much of a chance b/c they are too busy doing their own work and the work of those who spend their days looking for things to report to the manager.
There, I said it.
Excellent post, I totally agree.
Those who are forever running to the floor mommy to "tell on" someone don't realize why they just aren't well respected. If they are not adult enough to handle things in a professional manner WITH the person in question, they are not really adult enough to be considered a professional.
I used to have a retired librarian pt in my LTC and she was just like what you describe. She simply didn't have the social skills to work with people. She was forever in my office reporting the most minor of infractions yet they were really huge to her. And I think it also gave her the ability to be the one to show how wrong the rest of the world was and how right she was. It still boils down to a lack of social skills. These folks just don't work and play well with their little peers.
I think your former unit manager is the one who needs to consider a resignation. Aside from saying that you're 'not nice', whatever that means, and saying that you're clinically excellent, she's given you completely mixed signals.
"Nice" is a subjective term, and has nothing to do with your competence. I have to agree that if the situation involved a male RN and his 'niceness' there wouldn't be much to talk about.
Other than that, after you were no longer an employee of the same hospital, she called you at home? That's inappropriate, in my view, unless I've read something wrong here.:angryfire
I'd rather be valued for my clinical competence rather than my 'niceness'. After all, are physicians valued for their 'niceness'? They are valued for clinical competence first and bedside manner next.
It's true that caring and compassion are part of the nurse package. Aside from those attributes, you MUST be clinically competent -- otherwise the NCLEX would be pointless, as would those years of schooling where we learned our clinical expertise.
Did the nurse who called you a FNB get reprimanded for that? She should have the common sense not to antagonize a former co-worker with an inappropriate request -- reading the strip. That nurse needs a reminder about boundaries.
Be glad you're out of there. It sounds like a dreadful place to work.
Bipley
845 Posts
Excellent post, I totally agree.
Those who are forever running to the floor mommy to "tell on" someone don't realize why they just aren't well respected. If they are not adult enough to handle things in a professional manner WITH the person in question, they are not really adult enough to be considered a professional.
I used to have a retired librarian pt in my LTC and she was just like what you describe. She simply didn't have the social skills to work with people. She was forever in my office reporting the most minor of infractions yet they were really huge to her. And I think it also gave her the ability to be the one to show how wrong the rest of the world was and how right she was. It still boils down to a lack of social skills. These folks just don't work and play well with their little peers.