Work-conflict help!

[ucmarvelous]

Hello Nurses. I have a question and I truly need your help. I live in california. I'm a new LVN grad and I was fortunate enough to find a job right away as soon as I receive my license. I have hypothetical question. I work at the nursing home. I know charge nurses job description. One of them is admission/discharge. Supposed I have a RN Supervisor. She delegates work and I mean delegate everything. She always says she's busy but you won't see her progress notes. Supposed some nurses said she's afraid to take responsibility and rather let you fall when everything falls apart. As a charge nurse, my job is to delegate work accordingly to my CNAs, pass meds, treatments, attend to patients and their families, report, notes, help CNAs and among other things. Supposed, she ask a nurse to do stuff but didnt do. She panic and made me do the work. The job was to follow-up regarding a critical lab results. This happened while I was passing medications via gtube. Supposed i decline. Intead of saying Ok I'll wait for you at the front office, she ask me to stop what I was doing so I can do what she ask. Supposed, I decline. It became a problem. RN Sup went to speak to other nurses about me. Another scenario, same RN Sup ask me to do the discharge paperworks since I only have few patients 17/25. This happened while I was passing meds. Supposed I said I'm in the middle of passing meds why cant you do it. She decline and said it was my job. I ask when and what time. Supposed she said sometime today. I said ok, it can wait then. Afternoon, she received discharge instructions but we have behavior problem on one of our patients. I Went to attend but supposed she yelled because she said its not important-Discharge was. Yet, you will never see her notes anywhere that says she's busy. Scenario 3, Supposed she ask me to make notes that she confirm with patients family regarding the condition yet she wont make notes. Instead, she would threaten that I get in trouble if I dont make notes. Please help. I felt like she's taking advatage of me and single me out because Im new. What should I do? Is there legal steps I can take to make this abusive relationship at work to stop. Please help me.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

Go to your Director of Nursing. Ask for very specific guidelines from your DON on what it is you are to be doing. And how to prioritize if you are seemingly doing everything.

Is this charge nurse attempting to orient you to every part of the job? Do you have to be signed off on these tasks? That is the only thing I can see as a maybe.

Make sue that if you are doing things, you are documenting them. Then there is a paper trail of what you are doing, and how you are doing it.

But I think that you need clarification as to what is happening.

[ucmarvelous]

Thank JadelPN. I did went to my DON and ask for clarification. But why cant she make notes when she's the one doing the job. For example, she called the patients family because of coc. Instead of going to the computer to write her notes, she would ask me to notate everything. Of course I dont do it. Thats when she threatens me that I get in trouble if i dont. Shes a supervisor. I dont get her.

[salvadordolly]

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I am sorry you find yourself in this position. You are a new grad, also, which makes it harder. You need to get a proper orientation to function on your job and it doesn't sound as if you can get it where you are.

You state you got clarification from the DON. Did you get a written job description and an orientation checklist? From the situation, you seem to specifically state tasks that are not within your job description, which I agree with. You are obviously not the one requiring "clarity". Having this paperwork and taking it to your supervisor will acknowledge that you are aware of what your responsibilities are and may make her back off on her requests to perform tasks outside your scope.

Is this the only RN Supervisor? If you have another one on your shift, you could request to change your schedule and request to be on her shifts during your orientation.

It is hard to tell from your post what behaviors you have taken in response to the situation when you deal with the Supervisor directly.

I have a strong suspicion that you are not in a very good facility. It's hard to believe a DON would tolerate this behavior from an RN Supervisor, which makes me believe they tolerate it because they have chronic issues hiring and staffing. You may be with this person because other LPN's won't deal with her. It is a disaster waiting to happen.

Are there other LTC facilities in your area? I would look into this. This situation is too problematic on your first job. I hate to see you end of in trouble because of this supervisor, and you will. Try another facility and because you are a new grad, request a more structured orientation.

[dec2007]

ucmarvelous, may I ask the general area of where your facility is? Sometimes work customs are specific to a particular area. Either way, you are being put in a very difficult position, and my heartfelt advice would be to document as objectively as possible every single incident, (even small ones), your communication with your superiors, and all care you give, and then keep a copy of all of this for your self at a secure location. Otherwise, I would suggest seeking a position at a different facility, because I think you could find yourself in legal difficulty and you must protect your license. Good luck! I hope everything works out for you!

[LTCRN4LIFE]

Don't document what she does. Tell her you cannot ethically do her documentation for her. Write down the date, time and incident and give a copy to your DNS. The next time she does this write down the date, time and incident and give a copy to the DNS. Ask to meet with her. Tell her you feel you are 1.) Being singled out and treated differently than the other Nurses 2.) being harassed on the job and that it is creating you a hostile work environment and you want it stopped. If it happens again or you are being treated differently then the next move would be to go to the Administrator and ask for a meeting. Present him/her with copies that you gave the DNS & with the dates. Tell him/her you feel like this is a hostile work environment for you and you want it to stop.

At this point......it will.

If it doesn't you have a legal case for hostile work environment.

Of course, I would say if you haven't been there long...start looking for another job. I have been in nursing homes across the states for34 years. They are not all like this. Go to Nursing Home Compare and find a 4 or 5 star facility in your area and go apply.