i've been off orientation for about 9 months now and it just seems like all that ever gets back to my manager about me is the negative stuff. it's really starting to **** me off because i may not be a great critical care nurse yet, but i've done some good things too!
i have family members and patients tell me how nice it's been to have me as their nurse, i've always been on time, i'm always willing to help someone else out if i'm not doing anything, etc, etc. it's just so frustrating that the couple things i've done that are negative are outweighing the good by so much!
for example, there's this one nurse i was with during orientation and i didn't have the labels with me when i went in to draw a patients' stat labs, they were right outside the door and after i was done, i got them, checked them with the patient, and i sent them. she was sooooooooo aloof and said that i shouldn't have done that (i know), that i was a critical care nurse now and should start thinking like one. just the way she said it was so annoying....anyhoo, not a week later, i see her doing the same thing with a patient who just had routine labs to be drawn!! i felt like saying something, but i didn't cause i didn't want to give her another reason to not like me.
i just wish that all the criticism was constructive and that it was balanced with some good cause that would really help my morale!
i'm not saying that i don't want to work with people who won't report me at all, but to pick things that are serious (and both times with this one nurse it wasn't anything serious). i would totally expect someone to call me out on something that was potentiall lethal, but when i've caught people forgetting to chart or sign their name (or have the wrong fluid hanging, say d5w instead of ns), i give them the benifit of the doubt, let them know that i've changed the bag or let them know about the charting....i don't instantly go to the boss.
whatever, i'm just going to have to get used to it for now, i guess, cause it's not going to get better anytime soon. i just wish i didn't work with certain "perfect" people! that being said, everyone else is extremely great to work with and helpful to a fault, so i need to just focus on them because they're truely my saving grace in this unit!:heartbeat
You know that management and employment is a two-way street. It sounds like things are on their way to getting better, but you know what you're about and that's where a lot of people mess up. You know what type of nurse you are, but if your feelings aren't know to the one making you feel bad or the one's who can do something about it, then you're just making yourself suffer unnecessarily. Nursing, like anywhere else, I've noticed still employees people. People come in all shapes, sizes, and attituded. Sometimes there's a reason we get paid to work with each other, and sometimes you have to work to earn that. Kudos on not giving into her game and pointing out her flaws right back to her...that's a grown-up moment.
To be honest with you, I've seen more negative and vindictive nurses in the ICU than I ever had working on the Floor. Just be careful who you trust and befriend those who don't follow that negative clickish attitude. My theory is there are more career nurses who work in the ICU, and it's those who've been doing the job for 10-20 years that are just burned out and carry along that on their sleeves with them.
Sorry to hear you're on the receiving end of poor communication skills.
Have you ever read any of the stuff out there relating to intergenerational communication between nurses? We have several different generations of nurses working together. It's interesting and enlightening to see how nurses of different generations communicate, and to compare the different generations' expectations of the workplace. A search for "intergenerational nursing" brings up some good stuff that I think might shed some light on your experiences.
One reply for those comments like "you have to start thinking like a critical care nurse"--you know, those comments that leave you kind of speechless?--"Thank you so much for your suggestion." What can the nurse say back to you? Not much. It ends the communication on a positive tone, even though it may not have started that way.
Best of luck. None of us is perfect. We are all works in progress. Keep up the good work, friend.
I worked in a toxic ICU environment for a year and it was pure heck. If there are many bad apples where you are, consider changing units, YES. Don't let what they say get to you, I let it get to me and I ended up leaving the ICU altogether, and it honestly made me very sad, I felt I let myself down, but I couldn't take the anxiety that the nurses around me made me feel!!! It was out of my control, setting me up for disaster, RIDICULOUS!! I know how you feel, and hypocrites behind your back... you're a good nurse, and you know it! They are not doing themselves justice treating anyone like that, they'll get their comeuppins for that!! YOU BETCHA!
ICU can be very rewarding but there does seem to be many more nurses that work in the ICU that are very petty, and nit picky. My goal is to become an ICU manager one day so that I can prevent all the pettiness on my unit. I would not allow any employees to e-mail or "tattle" about another nurse without first going to the nurse themselves that they have a complaint about. If the person didn't correct their behavior after they received the feedback then I would allow them to come to me as a manager to handle the situation.
I'm actually on orientation myself. My preceptor and I joke alot with eachother and are quick to laugh at ourselves and eachother. Try to keep it more light hearted. In any way you can, try not to take it to heart. It sounds like they should be more concerned with patient safety and effective nursing care than putting stickers on a vaccutainer.
That's life my friend. Your manager will only ever hear the negative but never the positive.
I think in the 5 months I've been in the ICU I've had one positive compliment from management for meeting our sepsis bundle with 100% compliance on a really sick patient I admitted. Everything else they've said to me wasn't because I did something right, but rather something wrong.
Gee, thats funny, but the ICU I work at; my manager is ALWAYS generous with the compliments and always cheap with the complaints. That is because my manager is a nurse first and a manager second. I feel bad for you, I really do; because your manager should be on your team. Whenever a family member complains about a nurse; my manager always questions the family member first because she knows her nurses. Then she comes to her nurse and clarifies the story. My manager treats her nurses with respects and appreciates the hard work they do, and when she realizes we are short staffed, she comes out of her office and helps us transcribe orders, do charge nurse duties, transfer/admit patients and run codes. So no its not life my friend, it's what you call a poorly runned unit!
They do it because they are raging dysfunctional neurotics who probably had it done to them. Like domestic violence. Hang in there, don't sweat it. This too will pass. I went thru this stuff in my first position for a few months. Then my coworkers squalled because I left after a year and they lost their night relief and they had to break in/down a new recruit. Once you become a walking callous you will also learn to snarl. The thing to take away is to remember where you have been and be kind to newbies. They will get up to speed faster and stick around and make your job easier. Save your snarl for those who have earned it. Good luck.
GucciRN22
47 Posts
i'm not saying that i don't want to work with people who won't report me at all, but to pick things that are serious (and both times with this one nurse it wasn't anything serious). i would totally expect someone to call me out on something that was potentiall lethal, but when i've caught people forgetting to chart or sign their name (or have the wrong fluid hanging, say d5w instead of ns), i give them the benifit of the doubt, let them know that i've changed the bag or let them know about the charting....i don't instantly go to the boss.
whatever, i'm just going to have to get used to it for now, i guess, cause it's not going to get better anytime soon. i just wish i didn't work with certain "perfect" people!
that being said, everyone else is extremely great to work with and helpful to a fault, so i need to just focus on them because they're truely my saving grace in this unit!:heartbeat