What would u do???? long one..sorry

[nurseofalltrades]

I know this is not an advice forum, but I am at my wits end.... I have been an LPN for almost two years at a LTC/Skilled facility. Every year when the new classes graduate, we receive some new nurses...some stay, some can't take the stress.(What? Did u think nursing wasn't stressful? anyhow...) About two months ago we hired a new GPN. She received almost a month of orientation which at our facility is quite rare...(I got 4 hours!) They continue to schedule her on our skilled floor because we only have 20 patients there. Med pass on that floor takes an hour and that's with us stopping and chatting a bit along the way. This LPN takes 5 hours to complete this med pass meaning she is passing 1800 meds at 2300...She has a major attitude like she knows everything..She made comments that all of us women nurses there are b*tches and only the male nurses are nice....I went to her floor last night to see how she was....there were orders stacked on the desk to be taken off...I gave her copies of them as to keep her from making yet another med error.(some were coumadin orders). Then I heard an IV beeping..She flipped out on me because I thought it was coming from the wrong direction. After 5 more minutes i went to check the IV myself and found the machine on pause and the tubing not connected to pt but lying on the floor. She told me the cnas did it so they could undress pt..I said (nicely) that the CNAs arent allowed to disconnect/connect IVs so be careful in the future.She flipped out and started giving me attitude...I walked away before I punched her in the face...Her shift ends at 21:30 and she leaves a 0200 because she cant finish.If I were that far behind I would welcome help not chew someones head off for offering friendly advice. i was really tempted to pursue violence and thats not me...lol So I guess my question is.....what do i do about this nurse? She will not accept help or any criticism from staff.She pulls 50 hours of overtime a pay because she cant get her work done...Do I talk to the DON? Those residents are my life and it pains me to see them getting less than great care....being woken at 2300 to take a pill they should have at 1800.. Many LPNs feel this way and have been on the receiving end of the attitude...Its not like she just hates me ....LOL What do I do? Im worried for my residents....any response welcome!

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

You have to approach the manager as a group, with documentation.

[VICEDRN, BSN, RN]

I have no advice for you as I am just a student but you seem devoted to your patients and patient with the newby.

Thank goodness for nurses like you.

Stick up for yourself!

[mizfradd, CNA]

You have to approach the manager as a group, with documentation.

:yeahthat:

[nurseofalltrades]

Thanks for the advice...Im sure I wont have trouble finding a group to voice their opinion....The newby actually jumped all over my sister (who is an LPN at he same facility) because she didnt give prn pain meds. My sister told her the gentleman in question was resting peacefully and therefore she didnt give it...thats why it is prn...given at patient request or by judgement of nurse if patient appears to be in pain and cant verbalize it...Man she really gets to me....

[pink85]

I would think she would be in violation of some kind of policy if her meds were getting passed that late, especially consistantly. Also, if she is trying to ride the clock to get paid more time, which is kind of what it sounds like, that is stealing. I would certainly point out these concerns to your DON. It sounds like she has blatant disregard for anyone but herself!

[AZO49008]

5 hours to do a med pass???

I'm just a nursing student but when we were doing our clinical rotations, we were told emphatically that you have one hour leeway either side of the prescribed time to administer a med. From what I understand, it's pretty much a standard facility policy. Who's running the show here? Or rather who is SUPPOSED to be running the show? Whomever it is, they're not doing their job.

I'd check your facility policy on this, then document, document, document. It seems like management would be getting a red flag with the amount of OT this dolt seems to be racking up.

If your management won't do anything, I'd contact the state as I'm pretty sure the one hour either direction is pretty standard for med passes and is probably one of the items that an LTC is evaluated on.