[HarryPotter]

You've gotten lots of good answers here. The only thing I can add is that never be rushed into signing anything, your hospiital (?) has a bully mentality and the clerk is a bully, as well as other staff, and don't let yourself be pushed around. Your will feel like a victim and then become one.
Do u know that the Healthcare Industry has the biggest percentage of workplace bullying (and in second place is Education)? Tis true. What is that all about? Is it because we are nice? that we care? that we have low self esteem in general? Anybody have any thoughts?

[preciousshelby]

I would also leave but I would ask for an exit interview and have your manager and whoever else show up and go over EVERYTHING with them in that exit interview. Have it all in front of you and just go for it, and document, document document!!!! Good luck!

[WyomingRN]

Originally Posted by viviannurse

I agree with ncamille...in your resignation please list the things you have mentioned in your post..also cc to administrator,heads of the corporation that runs the facility you work for and any one else that has any control of the way new employees are treated ......

I agree with this; but would also send copies to the nursing board, State association, representatives and the Governor. While I would not expect them to do anything, they would get first hand information as to why so many nurses leave the profession and have a bad attitude. They may choose to do nothing, but they can not claim ignorance.

I have learned the hard way that no matter what sacrifices you make for your employer they will cut you lose in an instant.

So very true. There is NO loyalty on their part; why should there be any on your part?

[TennNurse]

Again, thanks to all of you. I knew I wasn't happy here anymore, but seeing all of your responses has really brought it home how terrible this place is. The hospital as a whole has had a reputation for working nurses to death for a while, yet I do know nurses who work in other departments who don't deal with this. This company is huge, a giant spreading monolith that has taken over so much of healthcare here, both in terms of jobs and what is available for patients. When I first started, I was happy to be sent to about 3 weeks' worth of classes, learning about as much as I did in school. However, my initial reservations about working for a company with this controlling, "we can because we're huge, and the only option around" mentality seem to have proven themselves true. Once one pi$$es off this company, it's curtains for them as far as healthcare in this town.
Whoever noted that loyalty and just niceness on my part as far as sticking around would not be appreciated is absolutely right. That inner desire a lot of us have to be nice and be good employees will not add up to one iota of support or credit from clueless and manipulative administrators.
The bonus, pitiful as it was, was paid with my first paycheck, so I'm hoping I can find out something from the Labor Board that will help me to not have to round it up and pay it back. I did learn that going part-time would only involve paying half of it back. I'm new enough in this profession that having a year at one place and the experience that went with it were things I really wanted on my resume. Both my parents have close friends in areas of administration there, I think financial officer and chaplain, and they were nice enough to put in good words for me. The loyalty that exists in my nature does NOT extend to those I've mentioned in these posts!
The suggestions of who all to copy this information to were excellent, and I will definitely be doing that. The support alone from this board has been a huge help.

[Trauma-tizedRN]

RUN for your life! Sounds like a more dysfunctional work culture than USUAL...while you will find the same BS in most hospital environments to some degree...this sounds way over the edge...MY 2 cents..

[SKM-NURSIEPOOH]

But you say that on the one hand, you're having problems with receiving the specified bonus money AND having personnel/personality problems with others on your current unit. However, you've also mentioned other *happy* nurses that attend your church whom work in other departments/units from this same place/company. Why not just transfer out of this particular unit to say other unit or facility (since this company owns/took over so many in the area). Perhaps you can work on your bonus problem (which is a separate issue from the personnel/personality one). I can see where you'd wouldn't want to "burn any bridges" there due to them being the biggest game in town.

Before cutting down to part-time, I'd look to transfer to another unit/facility own by the company first & then work on them correcting the bonus issue. If you're not able to do so, then by all means consult a labor attorney & RUN....RUN LIKE THE WIND!!!!!!!

Good luck to you ~ Cheers,
Moe

[rnwithclass]

Originally Posted by TennNurse

I am in dire need of some perspective here, y'all. This may get wordy, so I apologize in advance. Please bear with me.

Three months ago I interviewed for a wonderful-sounding job. The staff was friendly and seemed very professional, the manager spends lots of time on the floor and is involved with her staff, and the full-time requirements were 3 days one week, four days the next. I was promised 12 weeks of preceptorship (it's a new area of practice for me) and quoted a rate of pay that's competitve for my area. During my staff interview, one person mentioned that "most" of the nurses list one day per pay period that "we're available if they need us, in which case they call us in". HR said there was a dress code, but when I asked the manager about it, she shrugged it off and said that we shouldn't wear sleeveless shirts, opened-toed shoes, the usual stuff, not to worry about it.
Surprise #1: My second week there, my preceptor mentioned to me that my manager had told her to tell me not to wear my denim scrubs again- I might "get in trouble" since denim is not allowed. I'd worn these scrubs to general hospital orientation twice and had no reason to think they weren't allowed on the floor. I wasn't concerned, just said, thanks, I didn't know, I won't wear them again. "NO DENIM!" was specified in a note on my 30-day-evaluation. I would have commented, had the paper not been shoved under my nose as I was going into a patient's room and my manager said hurriedly, "Here, sign this quick, Joint Commision is coming, and I need to have these all done." I thought the mark-down was unfair, since she hadn't seen fit to say anything to me herself, and I didn't have any way at the time of knowing I'd done anything wrong.
Surprise #2: My manger announced that my preceptorship would be ending after 6 weeks since she needed the staff, and as an orientee, I "didn't count" as staff.
Surprise #3: Orientation was over, and I was making about $1.50/hour less than what I'd been quoted.
Surprise #4: Those days we "needed to be available" were actually mandatory overtime. I'd asked for Mondays off for a previous commitment to volunteer work, and was immediately granted the schedule I'd "asked for": Tuesday-Friday, 12-hour days, every week. The reason only "most" of us are required to do this is that the part-time staff is not required to. The following month I requested Wednesdays off for church. I got one Wednesday off; otherwise, my schedule remained the same.
Surprise #5: Our unit secretary began treating me rudely, not finishing orders on my charts, ignoring me when I asked for charts I needed immediately for emergent situations. Charts she's worked on are put back in the rack with the metal rings open, and when I pick them up, everything falls out. She'll say she paged me when she hadn't, then tell my manger I'd left the floor and no one could find me. She'll also page me 5 or 6 times over 2 minutes and tell my manager how many times she "had" to page me before I responded. Patient care is constantly interrupted, and my patients have noticed and commented on how often I'm called out of the room. Small tasks then take forever to finish, which she will announce to everyone present in the main nurse's station. When I've attempted to discuss this with her, she turns her head and refuses to speak to me, which is blown off by my manager. "She just needs time to sort of work through conflicts", I was told. She is acting like a two-year-old, I think, and my patients are paying for it. Several other employees have noticed her behavior also.
Surprise #6: 60-day evuluation, I was marked down for calling in sick twice. I'd never called in sick, although once I was sent home by the charge nurse in the middle of the day for constant vomiting and diarrhea.
Surprise #7: I was assigned a patient in critical condition with which I had no experience. I'd stated in my interview that I was interested in training for this type of patient, but none was received before I was assigned this patient alone. When I protested, and cited my shortened orientation period, my manager disagreed, stating that I had started work ONE MONTH BEFORE I ACTUALLY HAD. It took me several minutes to convince her that I'd started when I did.
Surprise #8: 90-day evalutation, I was written up for two separate incidents. One, a patient I'd started IVF on had gotten too much NS, because it hadn't been stopped at the appropriate time. The time at which it was to be stopped was at 2130- two hours after I'd reported off and left. Secondly, I was told that I'd left at night before report was over. I didn't think I had, so I asked when this supposedly happened. Neither supervisor at this meeting could specify a date or person who'd made the accusation. After I questioned it several times, the story changed to "a few charge nurses" who'd complained of this. Still, no dates were fresh in anyone's memory. I was offered "another chance", a prolonged probation, with the threat of termination if things did not improve. I wrote a long comment stating my position, and when I expressed concern that the actions and/or words of others, over which I have no control, seem to have a heavy impact on my job security, my senior supervisor looked me in the eye and said, "I never take any action based on hearsay". Well......
I am totally at a loss as to how best to deal with this. Even if I knew who else to go to, I'm always at work and don't want to ask permission from my manager for time off the floor to go complain about her and her boss. Three other people who started the same time I did have had similar experiences, and one told me, "My interview was a complete fabrication." I've learned (surprise, surprise) that this floor has long had an extremely high turnover rate. While I'd ideally like to honor my contract (anything else will cost me my bonus), certainly no statements made to me have been honored. I started out liking this job, and feel more miserable, exhausted, stressed, frustrated, and paranoid every day. I realize I've been lucky to have previously worked with honest and fair employers, and I have no reference for this kind of treatment. I enjoy working with most of my co-workers. My patients have filled out several comment cards on the excellent care they've gotten from me, and when I'm allowed to take care of them the way I learned to, I'm happy.
I ask all battle-wise nurses present for your input.

I find myself in a similar situation. I've been here for a year and contemplate everytime I walk through the door whether or not I should stay. Good luck to you - I wish I had some advice.

[VizslaMom]

I know it's usually easier said than done...but, I think I'd be looking for other employment opportunities elsewhere.

[mattsmom81]

I'm so sorry. This is sad but your story describes too many of the facilities I've worked at in my area..there seems to be no getting away from the dysfunction sometimes.

We learn to cope with a degree of this but we have to find our personal 'limits' of what we can tolerate in a dysfunctional placeand still stay healthy ourselves.

I'm so sorry you're disappointed and I've been there too. If you speak to your manager profesionally and cannot work out something that eases your mind a bit, I would start looking elsewhere, and cite for your reasons for leaving 'not a good fit'.

It is hard to stay in an environment like you describe without getting tainted yourself. Hugs to you.

[elish954]

By any chance, did a corporation take over this facility? Seems like things are going from bad to worse with our profession. Corporations are buying up the hospitals and long term care facilities in droves. Lots of $$$$$ to be made here.

They can blame a lot of the nursing shortage on this. corporate greed. They can keep building outpatient surgical sites, labs, cancer centers, but God forbid, don't put all that profit money toward any salaries to enable safer nursing care. To think they have the gull to blame it ALL on lower reimbursment. Bull.

There is no doubt that this is what mainly changed many into leaving this profession, but also prevents many from even considering it, as well. The bottom line is the almighty buck.

I could not agree more on making sure every little thing one is promised during an interview/hiring is indeed, in writing. If not, you have no recourse at all. And do not ever sign anything negative in an evaluation that is not true. Note on the form what your version is and sign it after that. This may come back to haunt you if you do not write how it really happened.

I really do not mean to sound so darn pessimistic, but I have seen what negative changes have occurred since corporations took over. Our profession is being distroyed, and safe patient care is going down the tubes. I just recently quit another hospital job due to this.

My husband has stated for years that nurses are mainly at fault for most of their woes in the profession today. It has been mainly a female profession where so many are far too submissive to demand better treatment.

I have witnessed this so many times, even with new grads. Nurses must start standing up for better rights. Patient care must be safe. Afterall. Is this not why many go into this profession? Is it not a caring profession? The corporations are taking that away from us.

Good luck to all in situations as this one posted that warranted my reply.[/[b]