I need your help and advice

[Kaisu]

I trust you people to help me figure out what I should do. I am doing my preceptorship in a hospital based system with some of the finest people I have ever had the privilege of working with. I have been enjoying my time and learning tons. The problem:

There is an RN who works in the ED who is the ugliest person I have ever met. Everyone has problems with her. She is out and out hateful. She is involved in an affair with the doc in charge and to give you an example of her style - the doc and I had a wonderful relationship until she decided to put me on her hate list. Now he treats me like crap. This is not the problem tho... the problem

While I was on a call, she stole my log sheets out of the break room. I know that many of you will question how I know it was her.. in the interests of saving time and preventing this discussion from getting away from the subject take my word for it. It was her - (she as much as admitted it to me at the end of my 12 hour last night.)

These log sheets had the list of my hours at the preceptorship with each entry signed by the paramedic team I was running with. They also listed each call and whether I was a team member or the team leader. They are essential for my course and I think I have to have them for the registries as well. They will be hell to reconstruct.

I told my preceptor, who believes me. She asked me to leave it with her and I will... for now. I will take any hints or help that you can offer.

Thanks

[emtannie]

WOW.... that is amazing....

First, document everything. Write down dates, times, and specific things that have happened. Ensure that you also write down who else was witness to any events. Make sure you document her taking the paperwork, that this nurse "as much as admitted it to me at the end of my 12 hour last night." Whatever she said or did that makes you believe she took it should be in your notes.

You have said that you are going to leave it with your preceptor for now. Now is the time to develop your plan of action for if, or when, you need to take action.

Is confronting her directly an option? I realize you don't want to do that at the moment, but if this doesn't get resolved, you may not have anything to lose. If you do talk to her, make sure you have several witnesses so that it doesn't become a "he said/she said/they said" kind of thing. If you decide to go this route, write down ahead of time the specific items you want to cover, and specific questions you want to ask. Make sure you have all your notes, so that if she denies things, you can say "on this date, this happened, and you said this, and so and so was a witness to it."

Is there someone other than the head doc that you can go to? Even head docs have supervisors. Is there an EMS supervisor above your preceptor? THe EMS supervisor may be able to give you advice, and work on your behalf.

I wonder if part of the reason she is doing this is because she is intimidated by your abilities, and possibly intimidated that the head doc is aware of your capabilities, and to make herself look better, she is trying to make you look bad. That is usually the underlying reason for events like this.

Keep your head up, remain professional, and don't walk up and punch her in the head even if you are tempted to. In the long run, she will do something to expose her true colors..

I wish you the best of luck - this must be incredibly stressful for you right now.

[DwayneEMTP]

Hell lady, how can anyone not like you?

I'm actually in the "go ahead and punch her in the face" crowd...

I don't believe you have to have them for the Registry, in fact I'm almost certain of it, but your program needs them for the random audits to maintain their accreditation (sp). And man, you're right, they are a pain in the ass to reproduce. Do you still have your PCRs? Are you able to reproduce your logs from them?

I have no idea what the best way to deal with this is. I think I would work it on two fronts. First, reproduce my logs from my PCRs if possible. I was often a month behind on my logs so 'created' them from my past PCRs...perhaps you can do the same.

Second, I'd begin talking to anyone and everyone to develop whatever information and documentation I needed to burn this witch down. It wouldn't matter if it was related to my issue or not...I'd make her sorry. But that's my way...I'm thinking your a kinder person than that...

If your preceptors are anything like my Springs preceptors I know I would have a lot of confidence that if they told me, "let me deal with this", that soon my logs would appear with instructions to keep them with me from now on. (After one of my classmates lost her hospital clinical sheets and had to redo a hundred hours or so, I've never let mine out of my sight!) They know how to play the game, and would do so on my behalf I'm sure. If that doesn't happen in your case then I don't really know the right thing to do...

Good luck...Let us know what happens would you?

Dwayne

[tniuqs]

Agreed with Annie !

Document Document Document!

The pen can be far more powerful than the punch !

Let me tell you I too had a similar situation with a Traige RN .... Her attitude was fricken deplorable. I did recieve the last laugh when a patient that arrested in the waiting room, his SON pounded the crap out of her, I was a witness for the defence in the assault case.

ps She Lost ! and the surgery to fix her nose was 'not so good' meh !

[Just Plain Ruff]

I'm sorry but if someone stole one of my personal items I'd be on the phone not only with my preceptor but also the administration of the hospital giving them 1 day to get the stuff back or I would tell them I'd be on the phone with the following people in this order.

1. The Police department to make a theft report

2. The department of health or whatever department licenses the nurses in your state

This is bullshit and you need not stand for it. She would be on the phone immediately with the police if you stole something from her.

So start taking the bull by the horns and make your complaints.

[AnthonyM83]

I think the best thing that might help you is documentation, then doing what Ruff said above. But it has to be good documentation, such as:

She said "Well, you shouldn't have left it there if you didn't want something to happen to it" she said with a smile and in a clear tone insinuating she was responsible for it. Her tone was threatening and serious. Often when she sees me, she says similar to "_____". For example, on 04/20/08, when I showed up at ___, she said ____. In the room where ___, ___, and ____. My response was ____.

Because she'll forget a lot of the stuff she said and won't have a clear timeline when trying to explain yourself, but you'll have written documentation for every rebuttle/explanation she might try to give.

[paramistress]

I agree with Ruff. In my hospital, your first call is to Security, request that they call the PD. Then I would demand a secure place to keep your belongings. I am sure the hospital staff has lockers, there is no reason why the students cannot have some secure place to keep their personal items. If they can prove that she stole your papers, she should be terminated and escorted out of the hospital immediately, if not, that is not a hospital I would ever want to work for!

[Kaisu]

thank you all for the advice and support. My preceptor came back to me the next day, saying that the nurse was denying it all and that there wasn't anything else that she could do. I talked to the administrator today. He was amazing. He totally believed me and said that that particular nurse had a bad history and this incident was entirely in line with previous acts.

My school has asked me to reconstruct my records to the best of my ability and they would certify my truthfulness for the ones I couldn't come up with. They told me that my credibility was high enough that if I said I was there and had the calls that was good enough for them. I am extremely gratified.

I think it is sad for that nurse that a student with a 4 month history is believed before an employee that has been there for over a year.

I'll post again when the results of the administrator's investigation are available.

Once again.. thank you for your advice and support. You guys rock!

[Eydawn]

You need to figure out where this nurse has her licensure through and file a formal complaint against her. It was an unprofessional act and deserves to have a paper trail behind it.

If you just let her slide, what's she going to do to the next person she doesn't like? Put lasix in their coffee? Accuse them of violating privacy laws? Accuse them of malpractice/negligence? If she'll steal log sheets that have nothing to do with her, she's got no moral character...

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[Kaisu]

I totally agree with you Eydawn.. she has no character at all. The problem is that I can't prove she took them. The hospital administration is making their own investigation. If they come up with proof or an admission or anything like that than it may go up the ladder.