Urgggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Ok....my story...hang in there. I am 21 years old, I am a registered nurse, I graduated last December. I work night shift 7P-7A on a medical- surgical floor. 6 days on and 8 days off. I am house supervisor and charge nurse. House supervisor- no pharmacist (I carry keys to the pharmacy so when someone needs a med not in our medication system I have to call the pharmacist at home and get a code and then meet that person at the pharmacy doors and go look for the med), no purchasing ( I carry keys to purchasing, when a unit is out of gloves, pillows, etc. or a dr needs something then i have to go and get it), no medical records (I carry keys to medical records- when a unit (ER mainly) needs an old record- I have to go and find it), I sometimes have to administer meds to our sleep center patients, and keys to various other departments. I organize code team...and lastly I am th ONLY RN on my unit and I take my own FULL LOAD!!! The other night I had 6 patients because we were short a nurse and It was awful!!!!! Our DON would not come and help us. Our CCU had 3 nurses and 6 patients (only 1 really critical patient) and everyone of them refused to come and help us!!! :banghead: I am so aggravated at the fact that she bribed a nurse to come and help CCU the next day (which means they had 3 nurses) because CCU got one admit!! She doesnt care about night shift at all and treats us like pions!!...getting so tired of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Pretty in Ink

134 Posts

Specializes in Rehab.

sorry to hear that...I've recently come to find out on my new job that they always think night shift has it easy for some reason? hang in, i would say try to finish this year up and then run....far...far away lol

Specializes in Operating Room, Med-Surg, Home Care.

This is an absurd assignment. Why would any nurse agree to it? Run.:banghead:

Bella36RN

54 Posts

This is an absurd assignment. Why would any nurse agree to it? Run.:banghead:

i was put in that position 2 months out of nursing school because 3 RNs left at the same time...now we have three with one going to ER (leaving), one moving to a different county (leaving), then I am the only RN left on night shift!!!! I was told that if I didn't want that position when they shoved me into it then they didn't have another open (even though they hired an RN on days 2 weeks after that :banghead:)

Specializes in district nurse, ccu, geriatric.

Bella, that sounds like a really bad and unsafe situation. The way you describe the lack of support you are getting, it doesn't sound like you will get very far if you take this matter further within your setting. Being an Aussie, I have no idea, the strength of your nurses union, if there is any union at all. If you do, and they are effective, maybe it's worth contacting them.

Otherwise, I am with everyone else, you should not be made to work under conditions like that, it is wrong, and I would not stay there.

I hope things improve for you!

Specializes in MICU, SICU, PACU, Travel nursing.

Wait a minute, are you saying that as a new nurse you are house supervisor??Huh??

What kind of a facility is this, is it a really small hospital or something? Everywhere I have ever worked the house supervisors do not take pt's on a floor, the supervisor role is their only job for the night. The go to all the codes, solve disputes/discrepancies ect and are usually long time nurses with alot of experience. That sounds very crazy to me.

RN1989

1,348 Posts

Why are you doing this? You do NOT have the experience needed to be in charge of all of this. Even if you did have more years of experience - this is inappropriate. They played you big time to have you in this position. This is unsafe and you need to leave before someone dies.

mpccrn, BSN, RN

527 Posts

Specializes in ICU.

hmmm, a new grad is house supervisor?? are you nuts? it's not a criticism as it's not unheard of for new grads to be naive enough to be talked into unsafe situations, however a few things did come to mind as i read your accounts of that awful night......nurses "refuse" to help another unit in a more accute need?? um as house, you don't ask.....you tell them one of them needs to be pulled to work wherever. it's admirable that you took an assignment to help fill a need but how did you think you'd do a good job while being pulled off the floor to several hundred times a night to go fetch? i'd have a serious conversation with the DON and get in writing the guidelines to such situations for future reference. it's your butt ultimately, your license ultimately. if the DON won't help, he'd be getting calls about every hour informing him of the needs of the hospital....if you aren't sleeping......why should he?? :smokin:

neneRN, BSN, RN

642 Posts

Specializes in Emergency, Trauma.

Um, no offense, but an experienced nurse wouldn't accept this position with what you've described...it sounds like you're being taken advantage of because you're so new...how big is this hospital?

nessajune21

133 Posts

That sounds like a lot of responsibility for a nurse of 8 months!

I would think that you would still have so much to learn before being thrown into such pressure. Your facility sounds like they don't have a great sense of teamwork nor very decision making skills.

Sorry to hear you are in this situation. :redbeathe

LakesideRN

27 Posts

I've seen many nurses who do not have the experience or any business accepting a charge nurse or house supervisor position take it.

In my opinion, you got what you deserved by not having the integrity to turn down these positions KNOWING you were not ready to do them. And when you lose your license, you will have gotten what you deserved.

Specializes in NICU.
I've seen many nurses who do not have the experience or any business accepting a charge nurse or house supervisor position take it.

In my opinion, you got what you deserved by not having the integrity to turn down these positions KNOWING you were not ready to do them. And when you lose your license, you will have gotten what you deserved.

Wow that is really harsh... We are supposed to be supportive on this site. You do not deserve to lose your license!!! They probably didn't tell you what all was involved in this position. I'm sorry you are going through this. I would seriously talk to the DON.

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