Why did she pick on me?

Nurses Relations

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Hello everyone,

I've been a new nurse for almost a year now. I had an incident that still rattles me. There was a patient who had an elevated blood pressure, around in the 170's/90. The doc said to just re-check it in an hour, then she'd figure out if she'd give the pt anything to lower it. I re-checked it, and when I did, it was I think 159/80's range. When I was on the phone talking to the doctor, one nurse, who has worked at my hospital for years, was listening to my conversation with the doc. Then she all of a sudden said something along the lines of "now don't take me the wrong way, but should you really be reporting that blood pressure? That is pre-hypertensive and the patient is old." That is NOT pre-hypertensive value and the patient was simply in her late 50's. She knew that. Just because an elevated BP tends to happen amongst people who are middle-aged and older does not mean it is healthy to not treat an elevated blood pressure.

My question is, was this nurse trying to mess with my mind? I did my job and reported the abnormal value, which is our responsibility at this facility and as a nurse in general. This nurse has had a history of making comments to me like "hah, you're a young nurse" and would try to make fun of me for always documenting things extensively. I think that she is a bit twisted and for some reason is trying to hate on me. I have always been nothing but courteous. When with saying hello and goodbye, and most of the times when I say hello or "have a good night," she never responds back.

What do you think this was?

The whole incident got me very angry. Though I stayed calm and ignored her because she was giving me incorrect information and perhaps encouraging me to work towards losing my license by not reporting an elevated blood pressure (if a patient strokes out...it will be my fault because I did not report it).

Thank you for your feedback, I appreciate it

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.

I would have been happy you called me back with the repeat check. You did the right thing. Ignore her.

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Specializes in Pediatric/Adolescent, Med-Surg.

You did nothing wrong. It probably wasn't essential for you to call the doc and let them know it went down, but informing them didn't hurt anything

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Specializes in Peds PDN, Med-surg.

You did the right thing. Just continue being a great nurse and don't let grumpy pants rain on your parade.

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If it went down to 140's over something, then I might not have called the doc. But have had docs give stat doses of BP lowering pills for people if their BP's are in the high systolic150's....which is why it was really weird for her to bother me about it... along with her misinformation that the patient was pre-hypertensive. Pre-hypertensive is when the range is 120-139, correct? That's what I saw on the nih.gov website. The whole episode left me shocked...and so angry. I'm covering my butt and doing what's in the best interest of the pt.... the end of the story is we found out that the ordered doses of BP meds actually were not what the patient took at home...in the hospital they were giving her a lower dose, which was why she was having high BP episodes. So ultimately her BP medication doses in the hospital needed to be increased.

Thanks everyone for your support, makes me feel much better. Was venting too much with friends and relatives...and they're not from this field so they couldn't help confirm my feelings

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She should mind her own ******* business and take care of her own patients. Just because you're new doesn't mean you should get treated disrespectfully by experienced nurses. That was not being helpful, that is plain disrespect.

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Specializes in OB (with a history of cardiac).

I don't think she was being malicious. I wouldn't have taken it as such anyhow. She probably didn't know the situation- the doc said to follow up after an hour with her, right? Did the doc say to call back with the BP values? I guess I'd have just told the other nurse that that's what the doc said and we want to make doc happy. Every nurse has their way of doing things. As for her general overall demeanor- well, I work with some nurses who have worked on my unit since before I was born, I'm sure they've seen many, many new nurses come and go and have worked with many different types. She may be skeptical, she may have dealt with new nurses who do things the textbook way before finding their own way- charting is a good example, I've only been a working RN for 2 years and remember my charting and my notes being close to two page long story. They're a paragraph at best now- I see new nurses writing their notes in the ADPIE format still, nobody on the unit for longer than 6 months does that anymore.

I've come to learn, and I'll be flamed good for this remark probably... sometimes a new nurse needs to earn the respect of some seasoned nurses.

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If it went down to 140's over something, then I might not have called the doc.

BUT you'd previously called about a higher one and the instructions were to monitor and recheck. You're not reporting a random value, you're following up. If you hadn't called, the doctor could be left wondering if the blood pressure was now ok or if you had forgotten to recheck it.

I'd just ignore that nurse. She was butting in without knowing the full situation. And if she has a habit of smug comments and stuff, waste as little energy as possible on her.

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Specializes in ICU.

You did the right thing. Ignore this person. Who is she to tell you whether you should, or shouldn't, call the doctor? By the way, I am guessing this nurse is younger, because I am in my 50's, and I assure you, that is not old. I would be very concerned about a nurse who thought you should ignore a blood pressure, because the patient is old.

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Specializes in ED.

You are correct, that range was above pre-hypertensive. Just brush it off. I've been a nurse for three months, one of my coworkers thinks I'm an idiot and is constantly rude towards me. I catch him making fun of me behind my back, rolling his eyes at me, etc....I no longer care about his opinions. No one else I work with has an issue with me, my director gave me a good review. Some people are just jerks.

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Specializes in Lvn to RN, new grad med/surg.

The same thing happened to me, I was brand new in a nursing home, at night, by myself. I called the doc to report 200/100.. the doc actually said, "you think that's high?" I said yes I certainly thinks so. He gave med orders, it came down. I gave change of shift report.. 2 weeks later that patient was in the ICU with a stroke. :( I guess someone didn't monitor her b/p enough. I was only there pt. But yeah you did the right thing, all you can do is CYA, cause no one else will!

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I would get over it and ignore it. As for the not saying "hi " or"bye" just ignore her also. Maybe she does it because it seema to rile you up or maybe it has nothing to do with you. I can be aloof and hate small talk. It is not personal but can be if people whine about it.

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