It was nice while it lasted, but the honeymoon is over. The true colors of my coworkers are starting to show through.Now that I'm no longer new enough for everyone to still be playing nice, all the personalities are starting to emerge. And on a unit like mine, you better believe there's some strong personalities.
To the nurse that found it necessary to inform the night supervisor I didn't get the SCDs on a patient until nearly shift change a few shifts ago, two things:
A.) I was at my other patient's bedside the vast majority of the night taking care of small things like, oh, keeping them alive.
B.) If you had time to keep track of when exactly I got the SCDs on the patient, couldn't you have helped me out and put them on yourself? You know, teamwork? Just sayin.
To my pod partner from last night:
I get that you're the top poodle on the nightshift now having reached the ripe old age of 3 years experience. I am also aware that our collective 4 patients were relatively stable, especially for our unit. However, you spending the entire night out of the pod at the nurses station yammering with your friends and cohorts meant that I was stuck in our pod all night caring for your patients and mine both. Not really that big of a deal, except that if I wanted to wear the soles of my shoes out running from bed to bed, I'd have gotten a med-surg job. And then having to help you get your patients primped and fluffed at 0600 in a frantic rush, while mine have been settled for hours? It should have been my turn to sit down.
To the dayshift nurse who told the night supervisor I didn't bathe my patient because I missed changing 1 of 6 dressings:
You suck. And you lie.
To the RT who didn't believe me when I told her a patient's ETT needed retaping:
I wasn't just playing about, and our patient really, really didn't need the exposure--or the jostling--of a stat portable chest X-ray to reconfirm ETT placement.
Oh, and to the unit in general:
I'm so very tired of hearing, "You have to be careful how you approach so and so about that."
Why can't I openly and clearly communicate my patient's needs to those responsible for assisting me in caring for them? I am so tired of having to slink up to various people from docs to support staff like a helpless, hapless junior high damsel in distress to get what my patient needs. Too many egos to stroke. I
And it's only been 3 1/2 months!!!
Not sure what advice to give other than, PLEASE openly and clearly communicate your patients' needs to to doctors!!! We rely on you!
ReplyDeleteI'm often told to be careful of similar things, and in my experience being professional and direct works a whole lot better than pussy-footing around. Most people I work for have appreciated my approach because they learn they can rely on me. Some people don't, but I see it as their problem rather than mine.
Just wait, soon enough you too will be "top poodle." It really won't be long.
;-)
ummm. Sounds like most places I have worked.
ReplyDeleteI would suggest do what you feel you need to do to care for your patients and be damned the lot of them. At least you care about the patient.
(but then *you* will become *that* person they are telling everyone to be careful how they approach - but then, that's their problem!)
If there is any question about your care or skills, just document. Then you have something to support your actions if something comes of it.
If nothing is addressed and recorded on your file - there is nothing to worry about. Ask for a performance appraisal - they should be doing them at the end of probation and every so many months and then yearly. I used to love getting my performance appraisals - would even ask for them. It clears the air and it will stand as a record that you are doing your job well. Don't sign anything you don't agree with though.
Just my nickle on the subject.
Maybe it's a night shift thing? There was (is?) a lot of drama on our night shift the last year and some.
ReplyDeleteI love my day shift team. Everyone is really easy going and helpful and teamwork and all that. The strong personalities play well enough together to make 12 hours enjoyable. Every job has its problems, but this fact alone makes me want to stay in mine.
Dayyyumm. You have some childish coworkers. I cannot imagine tattling about that SCD thing rather than just going over there and putting them on the patient. I have worked in a couple wonderful places where it was almost like your patient was everybody's patient. If a nurse saw where they could help someone out, even something as simple as grabbing a bag of fluid for someone, or putting on a pair of SCD's, they would do it. In both of those places, the team attitude started at the top. Both had managers that were willing to put on scrubs and help out with patient care if needed. I think that makes a big difference.
ReplyDeleteSorry people are being asses to you :(
Ugh! It's so disappointing that your colleagues feel the need to be tattle-tales, instead of jumping in and either doing their job or helping!
ReplyDeleteThank goodness for a blog to vent on! I say, just be yourself! Don't you just hate the political games you have to play?
ReplyDeleteYour passive-aggressive post was nice... LOL
Is this unit still the one for you? It's a shame they pin some of the grunt work and blame on you. Keep your head up and your eyes on the prize.
ReplyDeleteYeaah. I can't say I envy you working in ICU. That's some type A folks up there. I can't speak to the culture there, but I did find where I work that once I just stopped taking the princess doctors and fellow nurses's bullshit and called things like I saw them in a sassy, but still professional manner, they stopped effing with me. Especially when you're new, people will continue to act like fools until they figure out that you keep it real. I hope you called out the douche who reported you to the night supervisor. In a very therapeutic and professional way of course.
ReplyDeleteUrgh. So sorry to hear that some things never change. Good luck surviving and I hope you stay true to yourself in the face of so much politicking!
ReplyDeleteHate to say it brother.. but run like hell. It's only gonna get worse from the sounds of it.
ReplyDeleteSorry you got such a crap deal you first go at our awesome profession.
The beauty of it is, there are other opportunities.
But, while your there - what does not kill you will make you a stronger person and a stronger nurse.
Hang in there.
I think we've all had a taste of your illness before (sadly)
Welcome to nursing Xy :) I've been at it for 20 years and it's still like that... I had to blog anonymously because I was told I'll be fired otherwise...
ReplyDeleteThese "seasoned" nurses tick me off. Either they have knowledge and skills, or they don't and show up for a paycheck and fumble around, using new RN's with skills to do their work. I worked as a Labor and Delivery nurse for almost 3 years and run my ass off in a high-risk unit where the old RN's would not assist if a fetal tracing went bad, if a stat c-section was called, NOTHING. They sat in the break area behind the nurses' station and didn't even look at the tracings on the monitors. Would not run for codes. One was so overweight and her knees were blown, that she sat on a recliner in the Anesthesia room all shift when on charge and would go home early and cry if she wasn't placed in charge. I left and went into OR Nursing. The personalities have not changed. The one thing that has? It's my room, my patient, my charting. If you give me crap - get out. The other thing that's very obvious? The techs (surg techs/aides) are very much in the same boat as the RN's with attitudes, and there is no need for it. Sadly, there is no answer for it, no call for it, and the person(s) who ultimately pay for it are the patients. Then you, with your license, and then lastly, the fellow nurses, who then have to deal with new hires or GN's to train. With the Employer I work for, they call it "horizontal violence," yet there is little, if anything, done to quell it. Where I work, if you address the Director, she says to let the aggressor know you are aware of it. ("Hi, ___, I am aware you are passively aggressing me..." ???), because she doesn't want to address it herself. If you address it above her head with HR, then there is retaliation, and you end up losing your job because you made her look bad. I don't back down. I don't go away. And I don't let them sit. I address them, I make them uncomfortable, and I do it all one on one, when no patients are in the room, and when the day is done, they go and drink in a nearby bar -- which, if in the 12 hour period of the next day's work, is against corporate policy and can be reported and they can be fired for being unfit to work -- while I go run a few miles and work out in the gym. My patients will not suffer. Hang in there. For what it's worth, if there was a study, your patients would have lower infection rates, less incident rates, and higher rates of satisfaction rates than those of your co-workers. And that's what really bothers them. And it should. They are lousy RN's. Not all-inclusive by any account, but you will find that *some* lousy ones will hide on night turn for their entire career.
ReplyDeleteWell, they're toads. All of them. And ain't this passive-aggressive, high-schoolish tattling just great??? I think Sean is right: bail while you can. The behaviour you describe is the function of a deeply, deeply dysfunctional (I was going to use the word that rhymes with trucked) unit --- which is beyond your ability to fix.
ReplyDeleteAnd yes, there are workplaces which treat new grads respectfully.
I feel for you. I really do.
I forgot to mention: you want this crusty old emergency charge nurse come "speak" to them? You know I will. :)
ReplyDeleteHigh fives to Sean and Torontoemerg. That's why it's so much nicer working with the males than the females...and yes, I just said it. And yes, I am female.
ReplyDeleteI did not post right away because I knew this topic would get a lot of feedback.
ReplyDeleteDon't bail, get your experience and then decide what you want to do? Having spent years travel nursing, I've worked in 15 hospitals and four times that many units. The thing is I have seen units switch around quickly from terrible to fun and back. New staff, a new manager or just the dynamics for some reason change and the floor becomes the opposite of what it was.
It's a high stress profession and you just started working nights away from your family.
Hospital politics was one of the reasons I'm back in school. My advice is to get your ICU experience and then find an acute care nurse practitioner program.
I remember this feeling. It's unfortunate that often the inappropriate behaviors of your coworkers are tolerated and you are told "that's just the way they are". It's not fair, appropriate, or professional. Why should others be expected to bow at their behavior? And their bad attitude and lack of support is tolerated while a simple oversight on our behalf merits a speech about an "opportunity" we have for improvement.
ReplyDeleteIf these behaviors weren't tolerated it wouldn't be an issue. But likely this tradition of nonsense will continue, so as others have said, be an advocate for yourself and your patients and things will improve.
Wow, I wasn't expecting quite this much response, but now I see that I've tapped into that age old vein of old guard/new guard discord. I didn't intend to, and I hadn't really taken my experience as such, but maybe that's what was really going on.
ReplyDeleteThanks for all the great advice you all have taken the time to share. I appreciate all the different viewpoints from those with much more experience than I.
I still work on my unit, and I have no plans to leave, at least until CRNA school anyway.