first lay off ever.

Specialties Home Health

Published

I took a job this past July for a home health company. I had worked 9 months on a really tough med surge floor. I worked 2nd shift, and this was difficult with my 2 children. My husband, fiance at the time, also a nurse, had just accepted a 12 hour night shift position. So, I needed to make a change for the benefit of our family- life balance.

I took a home health job, recommended by a relative. It was Monday through Friday 30 hours a week. Seemed like a great change. However, I realized during the course of the orientation (3 weeks) that it wasn't going to be a great job. I worked more than 30 hours, and then would find out that I could have a day off, after I had already struggled to work out childcare. They also changed the story for on call duty's. Last, I found out that they just had a really poor state visit. Communication was poor, training was poor, the company was extremely unorganized. I could tell the fish stunk upstream, so I quit.

They begged me to stay, prn. I hesitated, but thought why not. I didn't want to be completely unemployed after all. After working my tail off, I suddenly hardly had any hours. I was completely ok with this. The Director stepped down and they hired a new one. I had high hopes. The new Director was organized, supportive, and was a real advocate for the nurses, many of whom were working 50+ hours a week. That director quit at the end of her orientation and moved into another position for the company. Seemed like another red flag.

The company hired a new director, but it was the person who was acting as Director and who hired me this past summer. She is not a good communicator, not an advocate for the nurses, and isn't even qualified for the position. My availability for hours was always Tues. and Wed.'s but she was doing everything she could to change that. I spoke with HR about it, and was backed up. The director was not happy.

Many days I would drive well over a hundred miles in my car. I was tired, and never got much training. I was incredibly uncomfortable with the situation.

This last week I inserted a 18fr catheter. THe order said 16. I screwed up, and didn't look at the order. I realized i made the mistake when I pulled the old one out. I shouldn't have done it, it was stupid. During my hospital experience, that was not something that was a big deal. I feel sick to my stomach, the patient somehow retained urine and was very uncomfortable. When I inserted the catheter, I had no problems and got 10 ccs initial output. The daughter called and complained, as well as the ALF where the patient resided called and complained. They fired me. There was no course of action, they just let me go. They also said they could file a complaint with the state regarding my license.

Over the last few months, many nurses said I had done a great job and had exceptional charting.

The state surveyed again this fall (3rd time this year), and it went better but not perfect. The company has been unorganized, and it's been frustrating. I've been wanting to find something else, but I don't know what that is. I believe I am a good nurse, and other nurses and prior company's can attest to this. I am sick to my stomach. I am currently still in school for my MSN. I've always been a hard worker with good reviews from other companies and have a 4.0gpa.

Has anyone ever experienced this? How do formal complaints play out? Can you still work as a nurse? Is this a sign to get out of nursing and pursue something else?

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

All this over the size of the foley? I have never had a specific order for foley size. what is nursing coming to? ((HUGS))

It sounds like you need to find another agency.

I don't know how to approach my resume, applications now. Most of my training was in the hospital and size never mattered. I feel like vomiting.

Your mistake was going back after you had made your initial decision. It is to be expected that when a person goes back under these circumstances their days are numbered until the employer can find a reason to turn it around on the employee. You should find a better work-life balance in home health if you seek a shift care job in the future. You set your hours, your days, to suit you and when your shift is done, you are done. I would consider this alternative if I were you.

As far as filing a complaint on you........pft for what? the wrong cath size? its an error, but as far as errors go, its very very low on the totem pole. i've done it before, and realized it afterwards , and just simply notified the doc......and he just gave orders for the size that I had inserted and revert to the previous size next cath change. and besides, it sounds as though the company you worked for has enough of their own big "errors" to worry about.

I'm not sure why some companies threaten nurses they've fired with reporting them to boards when they really have nothing to report...perhaps its just a way of shutting the nurse up in case she wants to cause trouble for the company.

((hugs to you OP)) I don't think your State BON will pursue that minor of an error and I hope you find yourself another position.

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