What do I tell her?

[HisHands]

Today my girlfriend confided in me regarding a situation she recently went through. I just don't know what to tell her.

We are both relatively new nurses (2 years on the job). We work together at a fantastic rehab facility. To supplement her income, she started a position at another facility on her off days. She told me that her first day of orientation at the new facility, her preceptor had another orientee with her. One preceptor and two orientees. The other orientee was on her last shift of orientation, so the facility justified to her that she would still get most of the preceptors attention. Well, apparently it wasn't so, and my friend felt like she didn't get any orientation at all. Ok, so 3:00 rolls around and my girlfriend is fed up. They gave her an admission to do basically by herself since her preceptor was no where to be found. She told me that she wrote out the patients meds and faxed them to the pharmacy, did as much of the paperwork as she could figure out on her own, and then told her preceptor she was going on lunch break (they got off at 7:30pm). Well, she never went back after lunch. Now the DON is threatening to call the state because they say she abandoned her assignment. My friend feels like she didn't have an assigment to abandon. She did not receive report, and did not count the narcotics. Her only responsibility that entire shift was to do the admission.

I have a hard time believing they can revoke her license for job abandonment, since she hadn't taken report on any patients and had no real responsibilities other than to do as much of the admission as she could. But, I haven't been a nurse all that long either and haven't known anyone to be in this situation.

We are in Michigan. I sure could use some guidance. My friend is torn up over this. She's afraid that she could lose the job that she currently has and loves.

Any feedback?

Thanks a bunch,

HisHands

[HisHands, ASN, RN]

I appreciate everyone's input in this. It's scarry to think that she is a brand new nurse and already put her license in jeopardy. But, think about what most 23 year olds are doing these days.... working in bars, or still in college, partying and probably not making the best judgement calls. She's really young. Hypothetically, is it worse if some damage occurs to the patient? I agree that the orientator should hold some responsibility here.

Thanks again...

HisHands

[NicoleRN07, RN]

Unfortunately for your girlfriend, it is considered abandonment. The best thing she could do is talk with the DON and explain the situation to possibly avoid her contacting the Board of Nursing. If the board happens to be involved already, then I would suggest she consult a lawyer. Hopefully, all will work out for her, and next time she will handle the situation with a little more maturity and professionalism.

[Katnip, RN]

I appreciate everyone's input in this. It's scarry to think that she is a brand new nurse and already put her license in jeopardy. But, think about what most 23 year olds are doing these days.... working in bars, or still in college, partying and probably not making the best judgement calls. She's really young. Hypothetically, is it worse if some damage occurs to the patient? I agree that the orientator should hold some responsibility here.

Thanks again...

HisHands

Youth is no excuse. 23 is not that young. If you want the job you have to have the maturity to do the job. People's lives are in nurses' hands every day, and there are nurses even younger than her who understand their responsibilities.

I do hope she's learned from this and things turn out well.

[truern]

I agree that the orientator should hold some responsibility here.

What responsibility should the orientator hold?? Your friend accepted the admission, had the wherewithall to tell the orientator that she was going to lunch, yet didn't mention the fact the she wasn't returning?? I don't see anything here that the orientation should be responsible for.

[lever5]

The person being precepted is not responsible, the nurse precepting is responsible for the orientee and the patients. This is why it is such a responsible job to precept new employees. Orientees are often pulled off the floor for classes and photo ID's and such, that is why someone else is always in a position to carry through with the patients.

[Katnip, RN]

Even if the preceptor went on break, it does not abdicate the nurse's responsibility.

She's not a new grad, been a nurse for about 2 years. She should have at least known to go to the charge if she had a problem. And she definitely should have known better to walk out on a patient and not come back.

[GardenDove]

It's totally infantile to just walk off the job like that. For one thing, this precepting two people at a time on her first day of orientation shouldn't have been the end of the world. It's not ideal, but she could have waited till the end of the day to address it and find out if she was actually going to get a better orientation from now on. Obviously, something happened to interfere with that on this particular day, maybe someone's mother suddenly died or something.

Your friend needs to humble herself to this DON with profuse apologies...

[HisHands, ASN, RN]

Is it normal to have more than one orientee with a preceptor? I've never had to share an orientator before, so I don't know. I can only think that by having two orientees with this poor lady, this facility was setting up for failure.

Even though my friend "accepted" this admission (ie. Preceptor says, "Do as much as you can and I'll come help you") how can she be solely responsible for this admission since she doesn't know how to do any of this? Why does the preceptor hold no responsibility? Mind you, this was my friends first day. She doesn't know how a chart is set up here. She doesn't know any of the paperwork for admissions, discharges or transports out. She doesn't know how the med carts are set up. She doesn't know squat about this facility. I just think it was unfair that she didn't know how to do anything and suddenly was thrown into a situation to do more than she was capable of doing, and the person who was supposed to be this great resource was nowhere to be found. (She later found out her preceptor left work early to visit her husband in the hospital. My friend didn't even know!)

I'm not trying to make excuses for my girlfriend or anything. I'm just trying to understand how a situation goes this bad... how does a situation come up that puts a license in jeopardy? I'm just trying to understand how my friend was feeling.

Please keep the opinions coming

[HisHands, ASN, RN]

By the way, my girlfriend did talk to the DON and apologized for her actions. The DON told her that she was happy my friend didn't end up working at her facility and was generally hateful to her (understandably), but told her that she wouldn't call the state.

If you look at my friend's employment history, she has never called in to work... comes in on all her off days... and is a strong leader at our current facility. She's generally a good employee.

[GardenDove]

You friend just walked out without saying anything to anyone? No matter what the inadequacies of the situation were, that's an appalling lack of communication. I don't blame the DON for being PO'd. She needs to buck up and go to the DON hat in hand, and clarify the confusion, taking full responsiblity for her childish response to this situation. She'd better improve her communication skills in the future to avoid these types of misunderstandings. What's she going to do if she doesn't understand a doctors order, not communicate? How is she going to function in nursing if this is her response to a situation?

[aKyRN81]

"I just think it was unfair that she didn't know how to do anything and suddenly was thrown into a situation to do more than she was capable of doing, and the person who was supposed to be this great resource was nowhere to be found."

I hate to have to say this, but there will be many, many times in a nursing career that one will feel inadequately prepared, 'in over your head', even frightened. BUT nursing is about responsibility so stalking out, foot stomping, pouting, and/or leaving for lunch and not returning are not acceptable. If the situation is that bad, the answer is to find someone (there must have been another nurse somewhere) of authority to at least inform first before indulging your frustration.

[truern]

Ok, so 3:00 rolls around and my girlfriend is fed up. They gave her an admission to do.... then told her preceptor she was going on lunch break (they got off at 7:30pm). Well, she never went back after lunch.

Even though my friend "accepted" this admission (ie. Preceptor says, "Do as much as you can and I'll come help you") how can she be solely responsible for this admission since she doesn't know how to do any of this? the person who was supposed to be this great resource was nowhere to be found. (She later found out her preceptor left work early to visit her husband in the hospital. My friend didn't even know!)

How did your friend know the preceptor left work early if she didn't even come back after lunch?? I think the telling thing here is that your friend was "fed up" even before the admission.