A True Testimony from A Seasoned Nurse
“I solemnly pledge myself before God and in the presence of this assembly, to pass my life in purity and to practice my profession faithfully. I will abstain from whatever is deleterious and mischievous, and will not take or knowingly administer any harmful drug.” Hippocratic Oath
I thought I would share this scenario with my readers because I am sure someone has met this horrific nurse at one point or another. I’m announcing this person to the public in order to recognize the struggles of nurses (in particular new graduates and registry nurses that are bullied by the so-called nurse in charge).
Last night I experienced the night from hell, which was comparable to literally spending 12 hours in Hades! I decided to take a chance on accepting an assignment at a hospital on a telemetry unit. Upon arriving I discovered that my night would be spent caring for oncology patients—a nursing role that I specifically asked not to take on.
It was my first night at this inpatient venue and on my journey there I had great anticipation of working at this TOP OF THE LINE hospital. Little did I know of the night of tragedy and doom that was lurking in the hours ahead.
As I arrived at the nursing office I was greeted—well not really greeted but was asked to sign in—by someone who I speculated to be one of the nursing supervisors. Because of her lack of eye contact and demeanor I instantly felt the wind of an unwelcoming night come in. Trying to stay positive, I put on a warm smile and checked in.
I wanted to make a good impression but somehow as I walked down the corridor to the unit adjacent to the supervisor’s office I felt that a very gloomy and dreadful night was approaching me.
Upon entering the nurse’s station and being informed to my surprise that there were no telemetry patients on this unit and that in fact the floor was housed with patients—specifically patients battling cancer gave me a feeling of being deceived because I was assured upon accepting the assignment that I would only have an assignment in the telemetry unit, which is my nursing specialty.
The Disengaged Engagement
A few minutes later while at the nursing station I shared a smile and said hello to the staff and the discomfort of the evening began to rise. Someone glanced at me, but there was not even a hello or so much as a smile. In that moment it hit me. My inner voice spoke to me and alerted me, “The next 12 hours will be a night that will go down in nursing history as a night of terror!”
Deciding to be brave and suck it up I started to wonder who was in charge, so I asked the nearby staff member. This person who seemed to be like a member of the walking dead pointed her finger toward the lady known as the “night charge nurse.”
I headed toward this night charge nurse and in a friendly manner attempted to introduce myself but was interrupted with—“I am in report now. Find your assignment, get a piece of paper and get report!” Wow. Really?
As I stumbled along attempting to find paper, the assignment (all while holding my bag and lunch in hand) I walked the unit to gather enough professionalism and tenacity to maintain a positive attitude through my 12-hour shift.
This lady they called charge never looked up at me, never welcomed me to the unit, never said “I will show you around,” never said “You can put your bags in the lounge” or even thanked me for coming. How rude, unprofessional, and insensitive can you be? In a profession where nurses are regarded as being supreme at kindness and compassion I knew that I was dealing with the charge nurse from Hades.
I couldn’t imagine that this night could get any worse—but it did. I discovered during bedside report that my patient was vomiting and was in pain and without access to the medication. And although the outgoing nurse was aware of this, she insisted that I provide an anti-emetic and pain medication which was a ludicrous demand and impossible to execute without computer or medication access!
GOD-Where Are You?
A published article reads, “Nurse, 50 hangs herself after being “bullied by name calling hospital colleagues.”
Why was I here? I wondered if GOD would even hear my internal cry for help. If it were not for the kind and compassionate help from the unit clerk and the kind nurse who was not on staff on this unit, managing that night would have been impossible because they was the only ones that was not amongst “the walking dead.”
I asked myself, “How can I survive a night of horror?” In order to survive that horrific night with the charge nurse from Hades, I had to utilize all of my nursing judgment and critical thinking skills in addition to my expert communication skills.
I wondered if it was the type of work that had made this nurse dead to reality or if she was just the typical seasoned nurse that utilized bullying to appear in control? Or maybe it was her lack of training in professionalism as a charge nurse that caused her to have a terrible attitude.
These questions crossed through my mind as she literally watched me struggle while barking orders and never once made me feel welcome or appreciated. Her best intervention of the evening was to assign me to another nurse who by the way was not on staff to answer my questions (although I counted at least six staff nurses moving about).
NOOOOOO!!!-Not First Admit! I Don’t Even Know Where Your Bathroom is Lady!
As I continued to maintain a sense of sanity and patient safety I was hit by another bombshell: I was now being notified that I would be receiving an admission. I feverishly held my anger in as I tried to maintain professionalism, ensure patient safety, and lastly not to do bodily harm to this so-called nurse in charge. It was then that I discovered that this person was bullying me.
Symptoms were as follows: never referring to me by name (but instead referred to as “her” or “she”), tapping my shoulder and stating that “WE are a black cloud” and “we should never work together,” speaking to other nurses in another language in front of me, and attempting to make insignificant corrections like, “Your IV bag needs a label in front of a patient.”
Then around 3 a.m. and despite the efforts of this nurse in charge to make me feel uncomfortable and to assign a critical frequent flyer—whose ongoing seizure alert prompted weeping and multiple questions from several family members that arrived with the patient—this beautiful soul came to me.
And in a calm spirit she began to explain how difficult and chaotic it was on the unit and how it was her day off and she came in any way. It was made clear repeatedly that, “Our unit is never this chaotic.” This kind person even suggested that she welcomed my return.
“Return to work with you again? Are you kidding me?” I said, giving her a definitive decline to her outlandish suggestion and with great dismay I proceeded to finish my duty for the evening-which was making sure that despite all of the calamity and obstacles a true nursing professional will always be THE ROCK and save lives even at the end of a night with the “charge Nurse from Hades.”
And with that ending I would like to share the beginning for 12 remedies in case you are that charge nurse, registry nurse or new graduate presented with a similar case study:
12 Remedies and Strategies on Surviving and Preventing a Night of Horror!
Being bullied and working with uncaring and harsh charge nurses made for by far the one of the worst experiences that I have encountered as a registered nurse. Overcoming being the target of these psychological phenomena takes tenacity, innovative interventions, and a strong knowledge base about nursing care, procedures, and protocol in order to thrive in this arena.
Here are 12 tips on how to survive that night from hell and how to avoid being that charge nurse from Hades:
1. Never assign an admission to a temporary nurse on her first day at your hospital. It is pure stupidity and the staff nurse ends up doing most of the work anyway. It is time-consuming and ridiculous to believe that the process will be helpful to anyone except the nurse that does not want to take an admission. Stop doing this process!
2. Maintain professionalism in spite of how busy your night seems to be. Welcome your registry nurse or assign a staff person as a resource for that person (makes sense, right?).
3. Treat others with respect and dignity. Tapping on someone’s shoulder referring to them as “she” or “her,” and other names like “black cloud” are derogatory and demeaning and is not only rude, but is also considered types of overt and covert bullying.
4. Know that the registry is only there to assist you for that shift—be grateful and helpful because no one really wants your job.
5. Correcting another nurse in front of patients is a definite NO! It alerts the patient that his or her nurse may not be proficient and opens the hospital and the nurse up to possible liability claims.
6. Tolerance of negative behaviors and attitudes are indicative of the culture of the hospital’s top management and typically results in a trickle-down effect. Managers, promote a positive environment and reinforce zero tolerance for bullying in the workplace.
7. Report bullying behavior to the administrator or manager of the department. This ensures that you have reported the incident in case there is a workplace incident.
8. Stay on top of your game by knowing your job as a registered nurse. Bullying nurses thrive on pointing out errors on other staff members to make themselves appear more proficient and in charge.
9. Speak directly and professionally to the bullying nurse about what is bothering you and how it must stop.
10. Document every occurrence and start a file on the behaviors that you have observed.
11. Maintain a kind and professional mannerism at all times with a focus of providing top-notch health care. Bullying nurses can never dispute the positive evaluations from patients.
12. Lastly, I believe the evaluation of registry nurses and new graduates are biased in nature. How about starting an evaluation system for registry nurses and new graduates that’s based on the performance of the charge nurse? They say your team is only as strong as your leader!
Thank you for stopping by “BloggiN With Nurse Mona!”
Have you ever been bullied or have been the bully? Chime in with your take on bullying in the workplace and share with other readers how you feel about this subject.
I look forward to hearing your take on this very sensitive subject. Connect with Nurse Mona via email at bloggn@nursemona.com or website at: http://www.nursemona.com.
Mona Clayton, MSN, RN is a mother, author of “Surviving the Journey-As Painlessly As Possible,” blogger and motivational speaker. Mona has over 20 years of nursing experience and is the CEO/Founder of Nurses 2 Rock Pub formerly Nurses Roc 2. Mona’s passion is for building the nursing profession and her dream is to recruit 100,000 nursing students. Her campaign to recruit started in 2014 in the USA and has extended to students in Ghana, Kenya, Jamaica, and the Bahamas
The Nurse’s Remedy 
I have worked 2nd or 3rd shift all of my 30 year career.I do find it a bit tricky @ times, as still have 4 kids @ home, but they and my hubbie of 25 yrs have been very accommodating (most of the time). It’s nice to have the flexible schedule for the family too!