You know, as hard as it may be to believe, at my job I work my ass off. And my job really does involve working your ass off, I've lost 50lbs the last three months. I don't mind my job, I love it actually. I get to interact with people all the time, I get to help them pretty much live their lives. It is very fulfilling. However, there is a girl I work with who does ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Okay, there are 3 halls of people, 3 aides. In all there are around 40 people we must put to bed a night, around 15 per hall (give or take). Tonight I wrote down all the people I laid down (this includes brusing their teeth, taking them to the bathroom, getting them dressed for bed, and then finally lifting them into bed)and my list had 28 people on it. It should have only had 15, but I covered her hall as well. And tomorrow will be no better.

I'm on my 5th day in a row and my patience is wearing thin. I tell the charge nurse about it but nothing gets done. I have exhausted all my resources... What should I do? If I continue on to tomorrow and it happens again I feel like I'm going to blow up on her...

I'm so ****ing tired.

Stop doing the work for her.

Once they realize that the patients aren't getting what they need because of her negligence, they'll do something about it.

Just stop doing it though!

I have tried but I feel bad leaving those people in their **** and piss, or making them wait for care that they don't deserve to wait for. I mean, it's not like an office job. These are people, and a lot need constant attention.

Believe me, I wish I could not do her work. I think I would start to enjoy my job again.

I agree with Carmen. I understand you care about the patients but, you can only maintain your current duties for so long before you crash and burn.

The best solution I can see is the one Carmen has provided. If you stop doing her work, management will notice and deal with the problem effectively. For right now, you are handling the work load and management doesn't "have to" deal with it since you have picked up that slack.

Good luck!

**Don't lose your temper with the other employee. It will only reflect negatively on you.

Then just bluntly tell her to get off her lazy a$$ and start working. If she denies it, prove to her that she isn't pulling her weight.

I know you feel bad for the patients, but as long as you do her work, she gets a free ride.

Someone at the call center I used to work at would begin every call with, "Hello caller, you're on the air..."

Even though he was supposed to be doing phone surveys, he would pretend to be a radio DJ.

If I'm honest, he was actually humorous to listen to. But when I thought of the people he was disturbing...and how he was giving the rest of us a bad name...I wanted to smack him in the head.

Of course I didn't say anything. It's not my nature to sabotage people. I reasoned that sooner or later he would slip up and do the routine when a supervisor was listening in on him.

The point I'm trying to make is...

...blow up on her.

Jus dont lose 2 much weight. the guys that love thick chicks, myself include, would b sad if u got skinny. so that lazy girl makes me angry cuz shes makin u work harder then u have to

Your job is tougher than mine. Just have 27 residents on my section. Two of those are permanently bed ridden so that drops it down to 25. What gets me are the sun downers. You put them to bed and then they get back up. Your post reminded me of Hell boy where he tells that one monster after he shoots it; "Now stay down." But you really can't do that at the Nursing Home. One aide I work with we cooperate easily but another wants to wait till the last minute. Like you got all this time with call lights and alarms going off. The other day she said though that she sees why we must start earlier.

i concur

You need to talk to someone in human resources and tell them the problems with the co-worker and with the head nurse.

Well thanks. Don't worry tho, I'm still just under 200lbs right now. I was BIG when I started there, almost 300lbs... That's a whole other post tho.

I'm so glad you understand RainbowTrout. Working in a nursing home is really constant chaos. If you aren't putting someone in bed, you're answering call lights, and I'll tell you, there are a lot of call light happy people.

Going above me does nothing. As much as the higher ups are supposed to do what they can to prevent abuse (which is what I look at this as) the don't and won't. The director of nursing has to go through administration and our administrator is ****ing terrible. Maybe I should just tell her to get her skinny ass up and work.

That's the other funny thing. I'm way bigger than her and she brags about being skinny all the time, but if I keep picking up her slack we'll be trading places.

Confront her. She's never going to change otherwise.

I remember those days......I did just as you did. Some people may not understand the whole team concept that applies in healthcare. You can't just leave the residents there, you have to help. On the other hand, you will (as someone said) burn out and then you'll be of no help to anyone. I'm sorry you are taking the brunt of the work, but I'm sure the folks there appreciate you so much for it. Please find a way to get someone's attention about it so you don't burn out and end up having to quit. Also, I don't know what's in your area.....but I moved on to home health and hospice care when I was doing that type of work and found it to be very rewarding along with I was only taking care of one patient at a time.

i have had that problem where i work till i just became an a$$ to some of the people i work with and start bossing them around telling them to get off there lazy a$$ and get to work your situation sounds kind of like mine because management wouldnt ever do anything then when the other people started complaining to management about me bossing them around they told them well do your job

The patients/residents should not suffer for her laziness and I admire your attitude about that.

As a manager, I encourage you to talk to HER. Nothing works better than a conversation between the two of you. Tell her how her behavior makes you feel.

Bringing the charge nurse into it will only escalate the situation as the other girl will feel you "told on her" and this can cause an uncomfortable work environment. I have found when two employees talk to each other, things work out better, and faster!

Dippy, working at the nursing home has helped me in so many ways that I have lost count. As an introvert it has forced me to be an extrovert. Issues that I thought I had just because I was a guy I have found gals with the same issues. So it made me wonder if they are really issues at all. It has improved my communication skills because it has forced me to deal with people that I would normally have shied away from because I felt intimidated by them. In some cases with lazy people what we have found that works with the team work versus sections aspect is that aides who have problems with other aides is that the work is divided up so that certain aides have their own sections or people that they are held accountable for. Hence, the older fashion phrase of, "That ain't my job." becomes highly effective sometimes. But then the problem with that is you are dealing with human lives versus machine parts so the commodity is more precious. Each aide is liable due their license. One nurse even said she trusted me which for a recovering addict and alcoholic is like receiving the Pulitzer prize. In cases where I have to be the bad guy and go above someones head I find hard to do because once the drama starts it takes a while to calm down. It is like the rippling effect of a pebble tossed in a body of water. Confronting the violator is best like settling out of court can be best. I have had to resolve my differences with others just for survival's sake. I find that no one likes to be used or abused or neglected for that matter where I work. I have communicating with the sane ones easier than communicating with the dementia ones. At least we can come to some common ground. I have actually found some really good stuff in the nurses' aide handbook. If I look good then the nurse looks good because my actions affect her job. I have found that it has helped me to get fewer write ups.

Where I work we have this thing called "My Safe Workplace". It basically allows you to anonymously report anything.

I see this crap all the time; 20% of the people do 80% of the work, until you are burnt out and quit. Why don't you put a fake ace bandage on your arm and said you are hurt and just do your work. They are probably expecting you to bail them out so give them an excuse not to.

Well I go in at 2... And I work with her today again. Wish me luck. I'll let you know how it goes...

Sucks dealing with the North American Couch Sloths...

Allow me a bit of advise but, it must be done smoothely to work....

Sabotage.

If you don't want to work with someone...there is more than one way to skin a cat...I prefer to let them slit thier own throat. Works out nicely.