A
female
age
30-35,
anonymous
writes:Hi all,Some advice would be great. I've recently qualified as a nurse and have been working 8 weeks at a time in various areas as part of a scheme before I choose the area I enjoyed to take a permanent role. I started a new area 8 weeks ago now and this week is my last week. It has been horrendous from start to finish wth various problems with staff as they have recently got new management and things have quite clearly got very tense. Ive been polite, kind and smiled through the 8 weeks despite people not respecting me back. Members of staff have commented that I arrived at the wrong time and that there are issues with management. Anyway on yesterday's shift a member of staff from the one side of the ward (where I have not worked) spoke to me very rudely on the phone and gave me the impression I had done something wrong. Her exact words being 'and why would I care about that?' AfterI had informed her of an important appointment for a patient. I thought I had got the procedure wrong for documenting appointments so I apologised and ended the call. After talking to a more senior member of staff it turned out I was In fact correct and had done everything right. The member of staff asked myself why I thought I had made a mistake and I informed her of the conversation. She then took the matter futher without informing me as what I had asked the member of staff to do had been correct but she had chosen to not do this for some reason. About an hour later this member of staff I had spoken to on the phone stormed on to the ward and started shouting at myself and pointing her finger in my face calling me a liar and declaring how junior I was compared to her. (This was not a qualified member of staff she was a suport worker). I was shocked and very embarrassed that she was shouting at me infront of the whole ward. We were bustled into a side room where she continued to shout at me and basically tried to make me say I was lying. Obviously I did not accept this and merely stated that whilst I did not want to get her in trouble this was in fact what she had said and that she had been very rude to me on the phone call. I told her I had not informed a senior member of staff because she was rude as I am not bothered by that I simply Informed them because I thought I had done something wrong and wanted to rectify that. The confrontation ended with her declaring me a liar and belittling myself for being newly qualified. (Despite her not being qualified at all but I did not want to point this out). The manager of the ward did try to defend myself but as the other member of staff got more aggressive and angry she backed down. The manager has apologised to myself and declared that it was handled all wrong and that it was very unprofessional and incorrect what she did. She did not actually have permission to leave her end of the ward and took it upon herself to confront me. Management told me that they had been experiencing a lot of problems with thisMember of staff being unkind and rude to younger members of staff as she's a lot older. So they very much believed that I was telling the truth as it was a reoccurring issue. They said that this would be dealt with and if I wanted to take the matter further then I could. However it's my last day tomorrow and I am unsure whether I should take this incident futher or leave it with the manager to sort. I would like her poor actions to have a conciquence but I don't want to make anything more hostile as I do work in the same hospital. I wondered wether you have any advice on what you think the best option would be if it was you in this situation? Would you take things futher or let it be and them deal with it (if they actually follow this through).
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female
reader, Honeypie  +, writes (20 March 2015):
 I totally agree with Notsohappy when she said:
**I would request for the incident be documented however at this point without formal complaint. ask for a copy too.**
As for your training versus hers, it's irrelevant. What is NOT irrelevant her is behavior.
A
female
reader, Keeley345 +, writes (20 March 2015):
I feel for you! This woman is a b*tch! In fact no she's a psycho! Good on you for standing up for yourself and well done for becoming a nurse. You're young yes, but sounds like you have a wise head on your shoulders. You live and learn I say. When I was 18 I worked in a sh*tty workplace with sh*tty colleagues who belittled me too and it hurt...at the time. I'm 30 now and have a wonderful career and life. I look back now and pity those ignorant fools I worked with. You're on a good path too hun. So...you're leaving and should you pursue this matter?I think you should. Why? Because in your line of work, people's health is involved. You're obviously a capable nurse, way more capable than alot of nurses would be at your age and being newly qualified. You got it right with the patient appointment question but another new nurse may not have. You hear and read about patients dying because of a nurse's mistake etc And alot of the time this could be prevented if medical staff especially newbies, had the right support. Working as a nurse is stressful especially on the NHS, overworked and underpaid and when you need a little bit of help, you'll more than likely get an earful from a stressed out ward sister or whoever is helping you into your new role. But again, the patients health is more important. This support worker may behave badly towards someone else. Sounds like she's got form for being nasty and unhelpful. But what'll the cost be next time? A patients health or worse, their life. Will the issue just be swept under the carpet? I'd approach whoever handled this episode or senior management, and ask to be kept informed about what's being done about this member of staff and her bad attitude. Make it clear to senior management that your main concern is the patients health and safety. Scare them into keeping you informed long after you've gone. They will. Imagine if you let this go and a patient died...Good luck in your next job and i've every faith you'll be great and do well. Learn from this awful episode and insist on a follow up.
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