New lpn that is feeling discouraged

angelg86 · Jan 24, 2013

Snowybee I'm very sorry about how feel and I hope it gets better for you. I still feel the same way. All the senior nurses are really great on here with their advice and encouragement.. I thank you all again. I have personally resigned from LTC and am now looking for a home health position or Doctors office. I feel for me it will be more rewarding to care for my patients one on one. I love my career and looking forward to what the future will bring.

cheryl954 · Jan 24, 2013

Take the from an older LPN who has worked in almost every aspect of nursing there is. You will feel overwhelmed at first, but one day at the end of your shift, you will look back on your day and say " I did a good job today". The best advice I can give you since you are new is to figure out what needs to be done, prioritize what needs to be done and pray that something doesn't come up to mess up your well laid plans. What was helpful for me when I first started out was to make myself a worksheet on what needed to be done and a place for what I needed to document. You will make a great nurse, just give yourself some time.

cheryl954 · Jan 24, 2013

Homecare is great. But if you are a new LPN, you will need to get your assessment skills fine tuned to work in homecare. There is not another nurse there beside you to ask for help. This is just a suggestion. Best place to fine tune your skills is in a hospital or LTC.

MedChica · Jan 24, 2013

^^^ That's definitely true. I found that out when I did hospice/staffing. No, thank you!

It's not even about assessment. You're sitting there making these calls for the pt's health/well-being and my skill-level wasn't advanced enough to do that. Book knowledge only takes you so far.

So...I bit off a bit more than I could chew, you could say. LOL

My state BON (Tx) advises against it as well (new nurses

Many that I've spoken with won't hire new nurses citing 'liability issues'. Makes sense.

But, for some reason, I was thinking..."Ok - if they were willing to hire me then there'll be resources for me/the work won't be 'beyond' me."

I was wrong. When I had questions, I had to ask the nurses at my LTC job for reassurance that I'd made the right calls.

The company also told us to not tell the pt's family members that we were new nurses...and you can imagine why. I guess it had to do with the fact that the owner of the nurse staffing company wasn't a nurse? It was just a 'for profit' thing.

...because every staffing agency headed by an RN, BSN or MSN that I've seen will refuse to hire newbs.

So, I definitely agree with you: New nurses need 'structure' and you can only really get that in LTC/hospital.

But - what if the poster can't get a job in LTC, though? In some areas, the hiring situation is ugly. S.Texas is starting to get a little saturated as well (for new nurses). My current job and the hospice job from which I resigned? I obtained via networking while in nursing school.

I decided to test the waters. Venture out. I hit the pavement as a new nurse with no contacts. I began filling out apps in Oct 2012 and I just got on somewhere else, TODAY. 24 January 2013. 4 months. I'm not sure whether that's a good or bad time frame. As of today (pending background/references, etc...), I got on at another LTC...and those positions only opened because 2 experienced nurses just 'up and quit' (as the ADON said).

Are there open nurse positions all over? Yes...because nurses where I work can resign and pick up another job within days. They tell me, 'Apply' here and 'apply' there. "I got on. They're hiring.", says the nurse with 10 years LTC/MedSurg/Hospice/Psych exp...

I sent 2 apps in? Nothing. This girl applies and a week later? She has the job! LOL

HH isn't recommended for newbs but some nursing exp is better than none, I suppose. You do take a chance with your license, though. But, I don't know. When I did it? I, at least, tried to take what I thought were 'easier' pts.