I have read a couple of previous posts regarding incompetent and unstable coworkers. I have worked the night shift on a pediatric unit with this one other nurse for over 3 years now. She got her nursing license in 1980 and then practiced for a few years as a visiting nurse in Alaska. She then went into the corporate world until 2004. She took a refresher course and my NM hired her instantly to fill a void.
The problem is she has no recollection or retention of information. Every night she asks me a basic nursing question. She has asked me recently how to assess bowel sounds, she wanted the CNA to hang her meds and do her assessments, she did not know if a post inguinal hernia pt would have an incision!! This is only the tip of the iceberg. Her lack of knowledge is only compounded by her attitude. She was surly for years. She makes no effort to retain or learn nursing information.
Her attitude has recently become very manic. She is calling the unit at all hours to see what is going on, she has become very animated and uses loud foul language on the floor (it is a peds unit). She has a terrible temper and recently went off on a secretary to the point the witnessing nurses on day shift paged the manager out of a meeting. Unfortunately, the manager arrived after she was gone.
I have reported many instances to my manager and little is ever done. For some reason, she has a soft spot for this individual and does little to correct her behavior. On learning of the recent tirade she did on the secretary, my manager gave her 10 days off -- and since it is the holiday season, she got to be off her required holidays and have a lovely week off at a time the hospital restricts vacation. This is also paid time off.
Upon learning this I went to my manager and her manager with a documented list of this nurse's proffessional and employee lackings. She is chronically late for work and has not been giving meds because she said she was too busy at 5am, so the day shift could do it at 0730 or 0800. She was not busy and all my meds were given.
I know I now need to continue to document all her incidents. I do not know if any further action will be taken. But now I have to work with her when she returns later this week and I am sure she will have it out for me. I know she is aware many of the accusations came from me. I am nervous since it is just her and I on the night shift. What can I do?? I am nervous she will confront me in her raging anger and I am also worried she will just continue on her way without much repercussion since I don't think my manager wants to be bothered with filling this position. Should I leave or transfer?? Continue documenting or go higher up the chain-it is a large metropolitian city hospital?
This is a problem that is becomming all too common, and will only increase as the nursing shortage continues. Hospitals, in their need to maintain staffing levels, often hire nurses that are ill-prepared for the setting. This nurse should never have been hired for a Peds floor. I would like to see a term of "internship" in nursing, similar to that endured by physicians. One year of med/surg should be mandatory for new grads. And whoever thought a nurse with a couple of years of home health and a refresher course should be working on a Peds floor needs to go back to school. A specialty floor like Peds is where you learn Peds-related skills, not the basics. Having said the obvious, the best thing you can do is document, document, document. Let admin know as often as necessary, because God forbid there is ever an incident, they will come back to you and the staff and blame you because they were unaware of the problem.
You also need to continue to go up the chain of command. You are obligated by the Nurse Practice Act to continue to go up the chain of command until you find someone to listen and ake command of the problem and fix it. If you are sued, and all you can say is, "I told my supervisor", and left it at that, then you will be liable for damage done by this nurse. You are leaving defenseless children at her mercy.
Continue going up the chain of command until you get someone to listen to you. Do not let it drop. It is not easy. Again, if you cannot get anyone in the administration to listen to you, call the law office that defends the hospital, ask to speak the senior partner, and detail what is going on, and that you have documentation to support your complaint. The hospital WILL LISTEN to the attorney. They do not want to have to defend the hospital in a law suit that could have been avoided.
Specializes in ER, Occupational Health, Cardiology.
That other "nurse" sounds to me as though she is either mentally ill, or may be experiencing dementia. Please continue to document, and be sure that you and your night-shift security guards are well-acquainted and that they are aware of the situation(s). Also, do not let yourelf get into a position where she is between you and the only way out of a room. It is always best to be prudent, and play it safe.
Is it possible that she's a relative or close friend of someone in upper management? People who are can often get away with some pretty incredible things.
I once had a DON who would go into tirades. I chalked it up to her personality or the stresses of the job until I found out that she was stealing controlled substances from the job. I agree that you need to take all the precautionary steps that have been suggested to you. The Peds population is not the population to be lackadaisical about insulin doses or any other aspect of nursing. This person has no business working on this floor and you have a moral obligation to continue to follow up on this. Good luck. I hope that no little baby is hurt because of this obviously out in left field individual. As hard as it is, and with all the extra effort you must put in, please continue to do it for the children, and to keep your own conscience clear when something does happen.
Thank you to everyone for all of the great suggestions and most of all the support. It has been a stressful addition to the holidays. I hope things happen soon, my nurse manager did contact me on the telephone to request more detailed information about several of the incidents and I know from other staff she has approached them for more information or details to support my claims. So hopefully something is in the works... I can only pray that it is..
I have not heard from my nurse managers superior, the manager of several units in the Maternal-Child Division yet and my documentation was actually addressed to her. I am going to email her to see if she recieved it just so I can see if she is involved or just letting my NM do everything (remember my NM seems to be the one with the soft spot for the incompetent nurse). Our hospital policy does state that the problem resolution process entails one week to respond in writing about an employee problem- so I feel it is within my rights to expect an answer from this division manager.
Thanks again and I will keep you posted. It has been a great relief to read all your responses!!
Be careful. Documenting is always the way to go BUT... If someone at a higher level has a soft spot for heryou could end up being retaliated against.
Please understand, I speak from experience.
I thought admin. would want to know of someones immoral character and I had absolute proof. They pretended to care and then set me up to get me fired. My documenting came in handy here too, but I ended up quiting and unhappy about the whole thing.
Please, please be careful!
My thoughts are with you...
Oh, my God. The exact same thing happened to me. It wasn't an RN, but I worked with an employee who was more than competent, but would deliberately undermine patient care whenever she could if the patient was assigned to an RN she didn't like. Several patients were placed in extreme peril because of her, and I reported all of it, in writing, to my NM. Over the course of a year, my paper trail turned into a six-lane highway, and I was confident that management would act appropriately. Instead I resigned unexpectedly during a meeting with said management that turned into an obvious set-up to fire me. I'm sure it was nothing but coincidence that I was scheduled to speak to a member of the hospital's legal department later that week, at that department's request.
I agree, we are taught that we are morally and legally obligated to report incidents that are potentially harmful to patients. But if you're working under management that is more interested in their own a$$es than that of their patients, for God's sake, be careful. If you decide to stay there, I do not think it would be overly cautious to prepare for yourself in every way possible, every day as you drive to work, various ways to keep your own nose as perfectly clean and spotless as possible. The correct actions that you have taken have the potential to shed a very unflattering light on your NM, and from what you've said, if she is confronted by higher authorities, she doesn't sound like the type to confess and take the high road. You would be a perfectly convenient sacrifice, and the tiniest imperfection on your part would serve as justification. The very bitter lesson that I recently learned is that being paranoid does not in any way mean that they are not out to get you.
God bless, and I hope your situation turns out better than Suzy Q's and mine did.
Specializes in Addiction & Recovery, Community Health.
Hey TENNNURSE,
Great to hear from you. I knew I couldn't be alone.
How corrupt are these people on their little power trip!? I am a good person and work hard. I was escorted off the property and just humiliated to no end. It sounds like our situations are eerily similar.
I have a couple questions/comments. Did you save all your documentation? I did. E-mails and all. Some of the e-mails are pretty bad!!! This just happened in Nov. of 2007, but I will save these till I die...You?
I am just starting to get myself back to "normal" but will be forever changed. I will never, ever "blow the whistle" on anyone ever again. Will I document? EVERYTHING!!! Maybe they can have it as I'm already walking out the door, copies, that is.
What did you do to get back to feeling o.k? I could still use a little moral support.
Thanks a bunch!
P.S. I am just starting Nursing. One door closed, another opened, I guess...
withasmilelpn
582 Posts
Keep copies of all your documentation!