New and thinking I shoukd give up

[newrn05]

I have been an aide for years and have dreamed of being an RN. I just can't seem to keep a job as a nurse. I lost my first one because I did not take my state boards in time so that was my fault. My second one I was told I was not competent. My third one I just lost today. The last two all they have told me was I was just not getting it. When I have asked for specific information so that I can learn from it all I get is the managemtn talking in circles. They say stuff like the staff say you are just not getting it. They do not give me any information to go on. I am very angry at myself and frustrated. This last one I was only one month into a 4 month orientation. I know a few of the things I have done wrong and those are personal mistakes. THey all seem to be personal issue mistakes. A few are clinical. The one job lsot was critical care and they told me I was not competnet. Ok. I was not cut out for critical care but I am competent. Help me guys. I have worked so hard and I am about to go out and get a job at McDonalds. Dawn

[thatoneguy]

just one thing. maybe you are a know it all. maybe instead of telling people i did things like this just ask how do you do this and let them teach you. even if you already know how to do it just let them teach you.

[LoriAlabamaRN]

It sounds to me like you haven't found a good fit yet, and that perhaps your confidence in your own abilities was perceived as inability to accept direction. I would suggest a different nursing field. Perhaps a doctor's office, or a long term care facility would be more your speed. Don't give up, whatever you do. You have worked too hard for that. When you do get another job, try to break the habit of assuring coworkers that you already know that when they try to show you something or teach you. Smile and thank them instead.

But above all, don't give up. Change your attitude if it's needed, but don't give up.

[clee1]

just one thing. maybe you are a know it all. maybe instead of telling people i did things like this just ask how do you do this and let them teach you. even if you already know how to do it just let them teach you.

I resemble that remark!

Seriously, though... this poster has a good point. I have already had my share of trouble in school due to this issue. I am a former military medic and EMT-I after the service. It is awful hard to take lessons in drawing up .5cc of N/S from an amp in a TB syringe after you have started hundreds of IVs in a moving helicopter. I swear that if I hear "If its not charted its not done" or "Document, document, document" ONE MORE TIME in that whinny, nagging voice all nursing instructors seem to use, I'm GONNA GO POSTAL!

I have found that a smile and feigned idiocy, coupled with "quick" learning of a "new" skill, has aleviated this problem.

Some people are threatened by people that have a skill set/base that exceeds their own; especially if they are in a "teaching" or "supervisory" role.

[giada23]

I know your pain all too well. This same thing happened to me just 2 months earlier. The manager of the clinic that I worked for didn't like me from the start I think and just sabotaged my job there. My preceptor told her that I wasn't catching on and I was asking too many questions. I to asked how they did things because every facility had their own protoclos for doing things and they all was like the standards of care don't change but when I did care that was the standard, it would be wrong. I was bullied and harrassed there, and when I brought it to the attention of the administrator, she just told me to quit because it just wasn't a good fit. I had no say so what so ever and I was pushed out of a very good job. Now I have no way to pay my house note and I am so broke I can't even pay attention. As depressed as I am, I know God has something great in store for me and if I would just hold on and be patient, I will see it come to fruitition. I am believing this for you as well. You went through school, and you passed your state boards. You are smart and competent than you will ever know. Don't let anyone take your sense of self away from you. God has brought you this far, and you have a ways to go yet. It may seem hopeless, but it always gets its darkest right before the big breakthru. Have faith and know that you just haven't found the right place where you are to be placed to do your life's work. God is using you, He chastens those that He loves the most. Reflect and learn from this, as I am trying to do and stay optimistic and faithful about the future. Sometimes we give our jobs too much power over our self esteem. We want to be reassusred, and we want to feel like we are making a difference, and we can. Just don't expect it to come from somebody else. Become your own cheerleader. Do the work that you was hired to do and keep it moving. You are not in a job to make friends or to have a fan club. Keep it cordial, and pleasant and do what it is that you came to do. That is all you can do. When you have done your best in a situation and still it is not enough, then you must hold your head high and go own somewhere else, and don't look back. You will make it. This is just a test to see how strong you really are. One day you are gonna look back on all of this and say, " That was a tough time, but some how I made it through". Keep the faith, and never let the enemy have power over you.