Wishing my life away...

[hlfpnt, BSN, RN]

I wasn't quite sure which forum to put this in...since I'm no longer a new grad this seemed most appropriate.

I'm feeling somewhat down today...allnurses.com is my refuge!

I'm a new nurse & have been on the floor for about 3 1/2 months. I must say that I think I now understand the nursing shortage. IMHO the seasoned nurses are burned out & tired of the everyday bs & the new nurses are so discouraged they don't want to go on...I concluded this from something that happened to me at work last week. You must understand that I am basically a quiet person & try not to bother anyone...neither do I lay down & take crap. I consider myself to be fairly easy going & normally don't let things get to me. I get along with everybody...I like to smile & be uplifting. I'm not allergic to hard work, I came into this knowing it wouldn't be easy & never expected it to be. I believe in always trying to do my best...I'm willing to help any where I can. I'm also very aware of my own imperfections (lol...my ears stick out & my nose is crooked...but seriously...)& short comings. I know I have so much to learn about nursing. A fellow co-worker (who is well known to be facecious (sp?) & demeaning, not very well liked by anybody) just out of the blue point blank told me she's going to "target" me. For what & why? I have done nothing to her & because of her reputation I try my best to avoid her. Was this a threat against my license or a promise to make my life at work a living he**? Do I need to walk on egg shells & constantly watch my back? Am I maybe doing a good job & this bothers her or is she just plain mean? Or maybe she's just one of those people that has to pick on someone smaller than her. Could it be because she herself is miserable & misery loves company? Or am I just dumb & not getting it? I told her to target all she wants...I'm not leaving until I'm ready. I'm not there to stir any trouble...I just want to learn how to be the best nurse I can be so that I can give my patients the best of care. I know this is wishing my life away, but I honestly can't wait to have this first year done...being a new nurse hasn't been one of my life's better experiences!!! I know that I will not know all that there is to learn in one year, but at least I'll be able to say that I do have some experience & maybe will be in some kind of comfort zone.

This has been bothering me for the last few days...I apologize for the negativity. To allnurses.com, thank you for being here & letting me ramble, it feels better to get it out.

[PurrRN]

So sorry to hear that this is happening to you. Just on the safe side though, I'd definitely start recording each and every interaction you have with this nurse. You never know when you might need the documentation to back you up. Just be careful. Might not be a bad idea to bring this up with your supervisor as a heads up, something like, "I don't know if this is going to turn into anything at all, but so-n-so said she was going to target me....I don't know what this means but I just wanted to give you a heads up in case there's a problem coming up". Then document that you notified them, date, time, location....just so that they can't say you didn't warn them later.

I'm still a student so this is just coming from a personal perspective and a CYA type mentality. I'm sure (hopefully), more experienced nurses will be able to tell you what works in reality.

Good luck:icon_hug: !

[llg, PhD, RN]

I agree with SiamCat1. You should document anything that happens and you should be working hard to maintain good, open communications with your unit leadership team. Tell them that you are not sure how to handle this situation and ask for advice. You'll need their help in dealing with this person.

Also, I would recommend making friends with a few of the senior nurses on your unit. Their friendship (which gives you their "endorsement") may provide you with some unofficial protection from this other nurse. That's a good idea for any new nurse. Befriend the experienced people. When they accept you onto the team, it's much harder for one or two "bad apples" on the staff to pick on you. Those same experienced nurses can give you some informal advice and mentor you through the early stages of your career. They know the details of the unit and the people involved and can probably give you good advice. If there are no friendly experienced nurses .... well ... then it's probably not a good place for a new grad to work.

llg

[Pachinko]

The nurse who threatened you sounds straight-up psycho. I wouldn't worry too much about trying to figure out what you did wrong, nor try to figure out where she's coming from. She's crazy, end of story. The real question is how to handle it. If you sense that she's got a bad reputation and is generally disliked, then you might just want to brush it off and figure that she forgot to take her meds that morning. There's a good chance that she's said that to others before and may not even remember saying it to you.

If she does start giving you a hard time, then I'd take it to your manager. Document what happens, let some history accrue, and then present your case. If it's the kind of workplace that would let behavior like that go on with new grads, it probably isn't the greatest place for you to be working.

Hang in there, and take care!

[wonderbee, BSN, RN]

I would just straight up ask her if I heard right and ask for clarification. You have to confront this type of behavior as it occurs. You can document if you like. There's certainly nothing wrong with that but it's not going to solve your problem. Unit directors and clinicians like to sit on that stuff and want to see how adept you are at problem solving. Think of this as an opportunity.