Saturday, September 29, 2012

....But They're A Nice Person

Alright, so there's a subject I'm very opinionated on.  I know you're shocked, but I'm curious what other people think about this.  So like anywhere else, there are some shitty, lazy ass nurses where I work.  Like, not as in forget to hang a med every now and then shitty, but as in basically totally ignoring their patients for hours at a time while updating Facebook and skipping really important shit like CIPs on a patient with chest pain and a mile long cardiac history type of shitty.
These people also may be really good dancers or fun to go to the bar with or maybe they have a boat or an okay personality or whatever.  People still like them for these qualities and want to be their friend while still objectively being able to say, "yeah, they're a shitty nurse, but they're an alright person", to which I would say-naw.  Nope.  They're not.
Here's my thinking.  It's one thing to be inexperienced or tightly wound to the point of being ineffective- these people I can still love and try to help.  But as far as I'm concerned, if you're the shitty secondary to laziness type of nurse, you are probably not a good human being.  You can put on a nice face to your coworkers and buy people Starbucks and smile all the time, but if you have no desire to help patients that are actually sick that depend on you to take care of them, that speaks more to your true colors.  I take this job so seriously and it means so much to me to do a good job that I really cannot fathom how someone can take it lightly and just not care.
 I feel very strongly about this, to the point that I make a concerted effort to never have to interact with these people. When I do, I do very little to hide my disdain.  A lot of my good work friends do not understand this.  They're confused when they want to invite these types out somewhere and I don't want to come along.  It's just that I've seen all I need to see.  I'm not interested in knowing them any better.
I wonder sometimes if I'm maybe too harsh on this, but I really can't reconcile being an okay person with being a lazy nurse.  Am I wrong?

22 comments:

  1. No, I'm with you on that one.

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  2. I don't think you are wrong. I am currently a nursing student and the further I get through the program the more I realize what a huge responsibility I have to the people who I care for. Anyone who is willing to put the vulnerable at risk just bc they are lazy is not someone I want to associate with inside or outside of work.

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  3. Nope, nope. We all have a finite amount of time and attention to spend on befriending and socializing with people and the most fulfilling of the relationships that we cultivate are with people who share similar values to us (not talking about religious or political things, but the things like having integrity, caring for people, doing your best, being true to your word, things like that). So why would you waste your precious time on people who don't have integrity?

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  4. Nope, not wrong. Laziness is a character defect. Along with lazy they are usually blame-deflectors, and they think nothing is wrong when they throw someone else under the bus to cover for the mistakes their laziness cause.

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  5. Nope, I'm with you on this one. If a nurse doesn't take her/his responsibility serious enough with very sick people, you have to ask, what ARE they serious about? It shows a lack of values and I don't have time for people without values.

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  6. I'd like to add that the person who is technically good at their job and is a raving bitch to the new nurses so they will be even more unsure of themselves and acts like everyone else is incompetent is not a "good nurse."

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    1. THIS. And the ones that treat the techs like shit. Like, oh wow, I'm so impressed you can talk to someone in a less favorable position than yourself in a douchey manner. It makes me cringe. It's so stupid, too. How are you going to set someone you work with and at some point will certainly depend on up for feeling incompetent and vulnerable? It's like they think they have always known everything they know.

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  7. This reminds me of the people who write to Miss Manners about their friends, who are really nice people, except they're rude to waitstaff and it's embarrassing. Miss Manners gently reminds her correspondents that nice people are not rude to anyone.

    I'm lazy. Do I have good qualities? Sure, but if I let my laziness cause problems for other people, that's inconsiderate and selfish. It means I don't care if I make their lives harder, as long as I get to do what I want. This is not characteristic of good people.

    These lazy nurses make your life more difficult, right? If they don't care enough about you to spare you that trouble, why should you want them as friends? They obviously don't want you.

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  8. I want to print this out & place it in the mailboxes of the nurses in my ED who fit into this catagory. Yep, we have a couple. Bravo!

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  9. Hood Nurse-
    I feel the same way. These lazy/uncaring nurses can't be nice in all other areas of their lives and just flip the switch when they hit the patient care floor. They are selfish and self-centered not just on the job, but everywhere else. Your personality and values aren't completely opposite at work versus your personal life.
    I am trying harder to see the positive features in people, but self-centered people have that negative quality permeate all their actions.

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  10. Agree with all above commenters. Lazy is a bad thing for all.

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  11. You're right. Had a conversation like this recently. Though at my hospital the problem is more unexperienced incompetence in ER nurses or competent but asshole MDs who treat nurses like dirt. Got a lot of those.

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  12. Totally agree with everyone, we have a few of those where I work and all they do is complain about everything on top of not doing anything. Hard on the eyes AND the ears! I don't really want to socialize with them at work, so why would I during my precious time off?!

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  13. Or they do a good job because they did x, y, and z while totally ignoring the fact that A, B, and C weren't done.

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  14. You don't have to do anything with layzee nurses, but, I would say that if you've witnessed behavior that clearly endangers patients and have not reported this, you are also at fault. It's amazing how unlayzee people get when management starts crawling up their ass. I would actually say that you need to tell the nurse to her face that she needs to close Facebook and start helping out immeidiately. If you're the charge that day, you have no excuse not to do this. If that doesn't work, next step is management. If they are refusing to work, etc., they should be sent home with the blessing of the nursing sup and their patients divided up.

    Also, when I started my job in current ER, I was basically floored by some of the shitty work ethic of some of the techs. I'm talking 3/4 of time spent between Internet, breaks, socializing, and "pranks". Maybe 5 minutes worth of EKGs/hour at the most and nurses telling me they just don't work and I have to accept it. It was so pervasive that I'd assumed this was a known issue, but when I basically spilled the beans on a couple of people being layzee, loud, and rude, it was just as big of a shock to management as it was to me because the techs involved were "popular" and people were afraid to say anything. Then, of course, after I broke the ice, a dozen or so people came out of the woodwork with similar issues.

    So. F the layzees, but also, you hold some of the blame if you see it and don't at least do a "please keep my identity private" email to the boss.

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    1. Unfortunately reporting them to the manager amounts to nothing in my hospital. I've done it many times & nothing happens. What makes it even worse, is that the lazy nurses are in charge & still nothing happens. They are not held accountable, at least in my hospital.

      I haven't even wanted to be private about it. And I've talked to them personally about it. Yet, nothing changes.

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  15. Hey - after months of complaining one of the lazies got canned at my place - heeyyyooo! Did wonders for morale and remaining lazies are on their toes. A serial do-nothing has actually started doing their job after being bumped from FT to PT. Report, comrade!

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  16. Oh, and like Nurse K, I was the one to start reporting. I can't stand it when people talk about this stuff during breaks and don't actually do anything about it. Our boss was very surprised. I documented the hell out of the FT's errors until changes happened. But I am sweet to this person's face because she is crayzee. I don't think she realizes that I ratted her out.

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  17. I will definitely admit my guilt in mostly being passive and non-confrontational during report- I generally just avoid dealing with these people because I hate conflict and I know I'm just gonna get pissed off. That being said, I have sent emails about the really heinous stuff, and I know for a fact ER BFF has sent them in spades about some of these fools. The problem is, no one wants to work at this shit show, so if you're a staff nurse and you have a pulse you are probably not getting fired unless you have some kind of crazy sentinel event... and even then.. yeah. They basically knew one of the people on our shift was diverting drugs, but instead of reporting her to the board, the just moved her to day shift. Yeah, well, she sure did keep diverting drugs there, too, until she was literally caught in the act and they HAD to fire her. Another was so dumb and lazy that she hung a heparin infusion using the bolus rate as an hourly rate. She's still working there. Anyway, point is, I'm glad I'm fucking leaving.

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  18. Hoody friend, I love the way you yield the hot knife that slices straight through the bullshit.

    I am so right there with you!

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  19. you are right on. it's funny, though, how many people say that about the shitty nurses - "oh yeah, she's not the best nurse but she's an awesome person..". um, sitting on facebook instead of neglecting an ACS workup is the mark of a shitty, self-centered person, not one i want to be friend with.

    also, your blog is the best. i work in a total hoody hospital and it is batshit ridiculous. this is so cathartic.

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  20. I don't have a problem with lazy people. They should probably not be nurses, though. They should probably go get a job in HR or working retail or something, where being lazy won't kill anybody.

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