I’m off work for a week, strict bed rest. ( I interepret that as “lounge on the couch a lot, with occasional forrays to computer”). I’ve been getting calls from co-workers, asking whats wrong, but even more urgently “WHEN ARE YOU COMING BACK?”
Because apparently, my co worker is losing it. Getting a bit more strange than usual.
One resident died about 3 am Sunday morning. (I should explain I am a nurse in a seniors home. Dementia unit. So is co-worker we’ll call her Jennie) The resident’s daughter wanted resident to stay in her (private) room, not be removed by the funeral home people until after the priest visited. Of course it was Sunday so the priest couldnt get there until later around noon.
According to several independant sources, Jennie spent most of the morning in the deceased woman’s room, sobbing quite loudly. Also holding the deceased’s hand, playing with the fingers, examining the effect of rigor mortis, and looking at skin discoloration. She called one care aide in to look at how the feet had turned almost black. She told another nurse working that day “It is too bad she died before we healed up her wounds” (This woman had a large smelly ulcer over her tailbone that was NEVER going to heal)
We have at least one death a month, so this death wasn’t necessarily a shock. This lady had only been a resident for a few weeks, so I doubt Jennie was really attatched to her. I don’t know what to say. The sobbing is one thing, but a nurse fiddling with a corpse? I don’t want to uh…interfere, but this is ummm a little bit weird. I’m not that close to Jennie, we mostly work opposite shifts, I see her about 20 minutes three times a week.
Is she new to the profession? Did she recently lose a loved one?
It is weird behaviour, has anyone spoken to the director (or whatever you call the boss) about this cow-orker’s strange obsession? Has anyone walked up to her and said, flat out, “Stop doing that, you are freaking us out!”
You might want to have the H.R. person contact your local Hospice, and have them spend some time with this co-worker. She sounds like she needs some training.
She may have recently lost a loved one, and this job right now is especially tender for her. Some time with a seasoned Grief Counsellor or Hospice person may give her some professional training in how to manage such grief, so that it does not impact her work time.
My Mom is a recently retired Hospice Nurse. She brought the job home with her, as one might expect. The consummate caring professional. Perhaps this co-worker just needs the right guidance?
Well Jennie has been in the profession,about 5 years and this particular job about 3.
I cant tell my boss, I wasn’t there, and I personally have a horror of second and third hand stories. I suggested the people who told me (and saw first hand) these things to talk to the boss, but nobody wants to “report a nurse”, since Jenny could make their life miserable if she wanted to.
I know sometimes the job is stressful, sometimes I shed a tear or two for a lost resident, but I dont play with dead bodies, or neglect my duties to hang out and cry with a corpse. I know Jennie lost a grandparent in March, and I’ve tried to talk to her about that. I even suggestd she take some “personal leave” in May, since she was getting a bit odd, distracted back then.
She told me she is perfectly capable of doing her job and doesnt need my help.