Unprofessional Professional

Aaah..... work is really crazy. I mean, it's been very hectic nowadays at work where I've started as a RN Supervisor for the 3-11 shift. It was really really inevitable to get stressed out and loss your temper, which I could understand.

As a professional nurse for more than twenty years (24 years actually), I've seen a lot of those point blank. Personally, I got used to it and was not even affected by it anymore, but here's the story that I will share to you and I am hoping it will give you a huge impact on your professional journey.

In a four floor facility that I am working I worked side by side with another your male supervisor which was just probably started months ahead of me at the facility. I mean no harm about him. He was very smart, quick thinker, massive decision maker, and very very direct, and firm. I always salute those kind of professional aura. He was cool actually. But sometimes he can lose his temper and blow a corrugated horn (bad karma).

Anyways, one day during work there were like five admissions and I usually handled the IV medications for the whole building and was also helping him out for the admissions. His jobs was just admitting new patients and sometimes helped me with the IVs if he is not busy.

That day upon my arrival at work, which I came late because of the traffic from school, he requested me to help out Billy in fourth floor because Billy has to transfer a patient at the hospital. I was helping out a patient in one of the room priming up the TPN and intralipids when he paged me three times from the walkie-talkie. Apparently, the walkie-talkie was off because I was in the patient's room.

He went upstairs and screamed at me that he paged me three times and warned me that the patient in third floor will threaten to call Ombudsman because her morphine was not given to her. Then he left without even letting me explain what happened. Good thing there were no staff who had witnessed that outburst. That was the first time that I saw him blowing his corrugated horn.

That moment I felt so minute and that I cannot pick up my knees from the floor (just a metaphor) but my ego was been wrecked and I felt so humiliated. I was quiet the whole time and had never said any words the whole night which he had also noticed but did not apologized. Plus he made some side comments of my flaws in admitting and doing nursing care. And what of him..... a perfect nurse without, a minor or major, flaws?

I mean I have a lot of nursing experience and have seen much more than that. I know I have the patience and finesse to put a face on and pick up myself but the hurt was been there and could not just be erased there. Just like a glass that was broken and it will not go back to it's original appearance despite how many times you will fix it.

It was belittling and condescending but I won't stoop to that level and succumb to his unprofessionalism. In the end, I'm still more experienced than him, have been to a lot of nursing areas and fields (if I enumerate it here it will be a long list), been almost twenty-five years for this profession, and multi-trained in different areas of nursing.

I short, I just don't want to dwell on it because in reality work is work and whatever had happened at work it should be left and buried there anyway. I know for sure that he regretted what he have done but just don't have the courage to swallow his ego and apologize to me.

Heck no, I'm still here with my chin and head up... flagging myself that I'm still more professional and more experienced than him. Just can't get rid of the crack in my ego or feelings but all is well actually. God will save me all through this. Thank you Lord for everything that you have done to me. And my prayers to him as well to get enlightened of what he had done, losing his temper and crack on me point blank.