The Worst Nursing Job You Ever Had

disgruntled33 · Sep 16, 2014

The worst job I have ever had was in Neurological Rehab. There should have been another nurse on the unit. 60 patients were split between two nurses. I had 9 diabetics and 4 tube feeds on my side. Half of them were disoriented so I usually wound up doing incident reports about every other day. We had to provide our own B/P cuff, thermometers, O2 monitors, and sanitizing wipes. The administrators knew it was crappy but as it was explained to me, "that's just the way things are". Oh, and another thing that I thought was weird when I worked there, we had no computers, what is this the 1970's?

anon456, BSN, RN · Sep 16, 2014

My current job-- I love it now, but when I first started it was very very hard to see sick and dying and injured and abused kids. Well, it's still hard. But I cope better now.

xoemmylouox, ASN, RN · Sep 16, 2014

An LTACH. The staffing was downright dangerous. We have often only 1 RN working. We were expected to run our own codes, but we were lucky to have one staff memeber ACLS certified. We could NEVER get ahold of the physicians covering for patients so if someone coded you were S.O.L and on your own. I quit the day after a patient died who shouldn't have and they asked someone to change their documentation to cover things up. F-that. Come to find out they are being investigated for medicare/medicaid fraud. I saw some of the most amazing and complicated patients, but just couldn't deal with the nonsense.

westieluv · Sep 16, 2014

a couple of years ago I would have said LTC, but that was before I worked as a dialysis nurse for one of the "Big Two" dialysis corporations. Working in the chronic unit is basically an assembly line, cattle call, whatever you want to call it. Get 'em in, get 'em out, money, money, money! Mr. Smith's cab picked him up 45 min. late through no fault of his own, causing him to arrive 45 min. late for his 3 1/2 hour treatment that he needs every minute of to be at his optimal health? Tough. Cut his treatment 45 min., there's someone else's name on that chair after him and we have to keep it rolling. Get 'em in, get 'em out, move 'em, move 'em, add more patients, because more patients = more money!

But hey, if you get tired of this assembly line approach to patient care, you can always try doing acute dialysis treatments in hospitals. You will never know when you go in in the morning what time you are going home, and you will probably be on call for the entire 24 hr. period, meaning that you could be expected to work 24 hrs. straight if there are patients to run. That's a great job if you want to have absolutely no life whatsoever outside of work and enjoy working so fatigued that you can hardly keep your eyes open.

Karou · Sep 17, 2014

LTC- not in general, but a specific one. I worked two shifts before calling the DON and saying I was not coming back. I felt in danger from both the residents and the staff. Many of the residents were psych and although they had a lockdown unit, there were some patients who weren't on it. Literally listened to the staff discussing parking lot beatings, sex at the facility, and other criminal activity. Had to report a PCT for abuse. NO REGRETS leaving that situation.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Sep 17, 2014

It would have to be a draw between my very first job at a LTC where I had to take 8 residents as a CNA along with my charge nurse/med nurse duties, and the assisted living facility whose administrator wrote the book on passive-aggressive behavior. I lasted approximately 3 months at both, and got the heck out of Dodge at the first opportunity. Ain't nobody got time for that!

Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN · Sep 17, 2014

Oh my!!! My worst job was an LTACH too, but I wouldn't exactly have called it "dangerous." I called it "way too busy to do more than a half-***** job."

The good/okay: 24-hour in-house physician, all of whom were great about calling back if they were in the call room. RRTs and RRT--as in both registered respiratory therapists and rapid response team. RRT nurses had their own assignments, but then during the day the nurse manager did both RRT and procedures, plus the charge RN never had assignments and would respond to RRT calls. RRT nurses had some extra training (although NOTHING like member PMFB-RN's RNs). All RNs expected to be ACLS certified within 6 months or a year (I forget.)

The bad: higher pt acuity than my current hospital's stepdown floors. Wound care for one pt could take as long as two hours, if it was a large burn injury or 4 stage IV pressure ulcers all vac'd. I remember one man had an MDRO in one ulcer, but not in the others so we had to be HYPER sterile with his wound care. We could have five pts on vents and tele. Everybody was so busy, it was hard to even help each other out. Because of that, if I was stuck doing wound care for someone, if their IV pump was alarming or another pt wanted pain meds, they had to wait. Which always made me feel terrible. RNs drew all labs, which was often difficult in those long-time acutely/critically ill people. Emotional issues were always really really tough.

An LTACH. The staffing was downright dangerous. We have often only 1 RN working. We were expected to run our own codes, but we were lucky to have one staff memeber ACLS certified. We could NEVER get ahold of the physicians covering for patients so if someone coded you were S.O.L and on your own. I quit the day after a patient died who shouldn't have and they asked someone to change their documentation to cover things up. F-that. Come to find out they are being investigated for medicare/medicaid fraud. I saw some of the most amazing and complicated patients, but just couldn't deal with the nonsense.