What grinds your gears about your coworkers?

icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN · Jan 17, 2015

This would bother me to no end, and so would mgmt's lack of handling it. Don't the other providers complain?

Yes, everyone complains, but not to her. She has been confronted by one person and now it seems deliberate.

caliotter3 · Jan 17, 2015

Find it hard to garner much respect for someone who refuses to work. There was one nurse on night shift that literally slept a good 6 out of every 8 hour shift, every night, right in front of the house supervisor. She made fraudulent entries for BG results, as well as other charting. The CNAs were often remarking, while looking at her sleeping, that they never saw her go into a room to do treatments at all. I did not like being placed in a position of responding to these workers when they approached me to take care of her residents. It just added to my fatigue level while the woman slept.

NurseLatteDNP, MSN, DNP, RN · Jan 17, 2015

Every unit seems to have one nurse whose patients and rooms are always always a mess, even if she only has one pt and an uneventful day. Trash on the floor, old food trays, dirty gown and linens, sticky floors, yankauer on the floor, no venodynes or scds on the pt., etc. We all get tired of cleaning up after this person. Other than reporting the coworker, which I will not do unless there is neglect, how do you get these people to shape up? What has worked to get these not the good housekeeping award type nurses to clean up after themselves?

I just address it with the nurse directly. Unless it was crazy on the previous shift (codes, unstable patients etc) there is no excuse for that.

ICURN3020 · Jan 17, 2015

Every unit seems to have one nurse whose patients and rooms are always always a mess, even if she only has one pt and an uneventful day. Trash on the floor, old food trays, dirty gown and linens, sticky floors, yankauer on the floor, no venodynes or scds on the pt., etc. We all get tired of cleaning up after this person. Other than reporting the coworker, which I will not do unless there is neglect, how do you get these people to shape up? What has worked to get these not the good housekeeping award type nurses to clean up after themselves?

For one notorious messy nurse we worked with, my co-workers and I would say something like, "Now John, is the patient's room in order?" or "You better not have left me a mess!" both said in a teasing/joking manner. It worked because we got our point across without him becoming defensive or embarrassed. Of course, we all have different standards when it comes to cleanliness and neatness. We just have to try to broach the topic with the offender in a way that works. Sometimes we can assume how they will respond based on their personality. There are a few nurses that would snap back and get mad if the above was said.

Also, you could try to make them realize that a mess=unsafe situation and can be hazardous in an emergency. Our charge nurse was always on us about removing extra unneeded furniture, IV pumps, etc from the rooms so we're not trying to do it while the patient is coding and it's pure chaos. Spills/puddles can lead to falls and meds left out can be inadvertently taken/given or taken by a family member. Maybe they honestly haven't thought about the many bad things that can occur.

I think it probably looks horrible to family as well when there's trash on the counters, their shoes stick to the floor, and their loved one has chunks of jello stuck to the front of their gown from lunch 3 hours ago. It makes us look disorganized and uncaring.

Lastly, you could always just be blunt and say this:

You're an adult and I am not your mother. Clean up after yourself!

Conqueror+, BSN, RN · Jan 17, 2015

Lying in report. They know that by the time you find out that they did NOT call the Dr., give the prn pain meds, change that dressing, or chart they will be home in bed.

Emergent, RN · Jan 17, 2015

One fellow who annoys me has been a nurse a year or so. He constantly acts like he is the smartest guy around, in a rather condescending, arrogant way, pontificating on factoids, but he doesn't get the big picture. Then he'll start telling a story about himself while you are charting or trying to work. The fellow seems to be in love with himself, I suspect he was an only child whose parents were into endlessly inflating his self esteem.

He seems totally uninterested in finding out anything about anyone else. Any exchanges lead back to some story about how amazing he is. Yawn, he's such a self-absorbed dweeb. It takes effort to be around him without wanting to strangle him, but I think I hide my aversion to him, I hope. :saint:

OhioCCRN, MSN, NP · Jan 17, 2015

Lying in report. They know that by the time you find out that they did NOT call the Dr., give the prn pain meds, change that dressing, or chart they will be home in bed.

This!!!!!!

urgh! every single time!!!

SmilingBluEyes · Jan 17, 2015

I try not to let anything they do get to me. And when I have an issue, I very much try to address it directly, even if it means taking them in a room, shutting the door and talking. I don't like passive-aggressiveness in others, therefore try not to be so myself.

ixchel · Jan 17, 2015

My former preceptor hovers when she is charge, and questions absolutely everything I am doing. I don't believe for a second I know everything, but surely by now, she knows I will ask for help when I need to.

We have a tech who complains incessantly about how sloppy everyone else is when they work, but honestly, she's the messiest of us all.

I can't figure out if one of my coworkers is genuinely being nice to me, or if she's pretending to be nice to me. I've been warned by a lot of people that she's only nice when she's about to throw you under the bus. I'm not a person who buys into rumors. I actually like this person because she has been so nice. But I'm annoyed that I can't keep the doubt out.

And my last thing - I like a lot of my coworkers enough that I wish time existed to hang out with them. I have kid stuff all the time when I'm not working, and I live so far away, that I'm just not sure how it could even happen. Not the kind of pet peeve the OP was looking for, but still a small frustration.

ICURN3020 · Jan 17, 2015

One fellow who annoys me has been a nurse a year or so. He constantly acts like he is the smartest guy around, in a rather condescending, arrogant way, pontificating on factoids, but he doesn't get the big picture. Then he'll start telling a story about himself while you are charting or trying to work. The fellow seems to be in love with himself, I suspect he was an only child whose parents were into endlessly inflating his self esteem.
He seems totally uninterested in finding out anything about anyone else. Any exchanges lead back to some story about how amazing he is. Yawn, he's such a self-absorbed dweeb. It takes effort to be around him without wanting to strangle him, but I think I hide my aversion to him, I hope.

One of the most annoying subsets of people...totally self absorbed :yawn:

Gooselady, BSN, RN · Jan 17, 2015

What grinds my gears is manufacturing drama and personalizing other people's behavior to the point that it grinds your gears and becomes an 'issue', and such a popular one at that . . . :)

Nurse_Lily, RN · Jan 17, 2015

Thanks to those who actually answered my question instead of trying to teach me a life lesson about letting the small things go. I definitely don't lay in bed thinking about this after work. I slept very well after my shift!

I hate messy rooms too!