5 Ways You Can Deal with Lazy Nurse Co-Workers

Few things grate like a lazy coworker on a busy shift: the fake "busy" reading the paper, the disappearing act that stretches from minutes to an hour, the empty coffee cups and candy wrappers left everywhere. Tattling rarely helps and usually backfires into bullying, jealousy, and the cold shoulder. Here is what actually works.

1. Refuse to cover for them.

If a coworker keeps taking breaks, don't agree to cover. Tell her your hands are full and your own patients need you. When there's no one else to give her patients their due meds, she's forced to do the job herself. Tolerate the behavior and it continues.

2. Don't let them distract you.

The last thing you want on shift is a divided focus, because that's how medication errors happen. If coworkers are chatting at the station, excuse yourself and finish your paperwork somewhere quieter. If you're pulling meds, ask them to leave the area. Stop spending energy on what they aren't doing and pour it into your own tasks.

3. Guide them instead of doing the work.

If saying no is hard for you, set a limit on how much help you'll give. Offer guidance, never do the work for them. Remind them of their tasks and deadlines, help them organize their patients, or share how you get more done in the same hours.

4. Don't let them change your attitude.

Watching coworkers slack while others pick up the slack is maddening, but don't let it bleed into how you treat your patients. As one surgical ward nurse with eight years on the floor put it, no matter what they do, you are still you, and if you let them get to you it's your patients who pay for it. Don't follow their lead into long chats and frequent restroom trips.

5. Know when to speak up.

When the stress starts hurting your work, talk to the coworker directly first. They may not be lazy so much as disorganized, missing deadlines, or distracted by something personal. A respectful conversation solves more than you'd think. If nothing changes, take it to your supervisor with an honest report, and if that goes nowhere, to human resources. Don't vent to the rest of your colleagues. That only breeds misunderstanding and hurt feelings.