Quote from sa[RN]ah
You need to do whats going to be best for you and your family. Even though you had a hard time finding a job intially, you've secured a new position.. you're not going out on a limb and quitting without having a back-up plan.
I was in the same boat just last week, it took me nearly 4.5 months to find a job so i took the first thing that came my way.. which happened to be an hour from home and in an area i didn't really care for. 3 days before the end of my orientation I was offered a new position closer to home in an area i was excited about, so i took it. I put in my official letter of resignation, giving 2 weeks notice, and thanked them for the great opportunity. they were understanding and accepting of my situation when i explained it to them
If you don't want to burn any bridges, you need to go about things as professionally as possible. Type up an official letter of resignation, giving 2 weeks notice.. regardless of your orientation status giving an employer 2 weeks notice is a professional courtesy. But because you are on orientation still, they probably won't hold you to the 2 weeks and will release you immediately (which is what happened in my case).
Good luck with everything. Don't let the situation discourage you, at the end of the day you need to do whats best for you, and no one can fault you for that. Just take full advantage of this new job opportunity!
(sorry for the lengthy response!)
I am currently in the same conflict that you were in with wanting to quit during orientation. I've been on the job search since passing my nclex in november and i desperately took a position at a SNF. The place is more of a med/surg for the geriatric, no respirator patients, etc. So far during my orientation I've been thrown to preceptor all over the place; thrown to work w/an RN in one side for 2hours, back w/another, then another nurse the next & i'm left helping them w/med pass, the pressure of computer charting for them &other documentation(when they didnt even give me a report on the patients!), & since theres no secretaries on the nursing stations the nurses are required to handle all the appointments, fax, paperwork, all the clerical stuff! The sad part is their the nurse to patient ratio. They have 3 stations: short stay(geriatric medsurg), long term residence, & hospice side. They started a new policy where during the day each station: Day one nurse is charge nurse (mans the nurse desk) plus one side of pts(usually just 3 or 4), while the second nurse gets 18 to 26 patients (doing their med pass, charting, assessing on own, documenting, tx, input orders, admit, discharge,etc AND trying to care for patients & meet their needs is somewhat more than impossuble which is upsetting). The nurse ends up staying on a good day 2hours overtime to just finish all the work & on a bad day up to 5hours! It's sad since even when the charge nurse helps w/med pass the second nurse is still everyday having to overtime quite a few hours to catch up). The DON actually repremanded some of the nurses for helping by splitting the workload!! AND the directors meet everyday to make a list to critic the nurses & a list of things they need to do from the previous shifts which is plenty! Imagine that criticism to start your day lol. Their pm & noc are worse w/just one nurse on each station doung everything w/no desk staff. I feel so stressed coming home everyday preceptoring w/burnt out nurses & seeing how much management doesn't care about staff..and more about their ratings. Surprisingly, the CNAs have union & the licensed nurses do not (not surprised so they can load us on workload lol) I am hardly learning being thrown in to help random nurses where i still need orienting. I feel this as an unhealthy environment & that i could be risking my own license working in these poor conditions. I was referred by a family friend & i feel awful about wanting to resign already, but i dont see myself growing as a new nurse here. I see myself being burnt out & unhappy...and this is the complete opposite reason I wanted to be a nurse! I'm on my 2nd week starting this Sunday (4days a week) of orientation which is also my lastweek . (we had a 1week 4day orientation going over policy/procedure & 3hr charting crash course lol). Any advice in appropriate steps to resign? I am so stressed as I write this that its difficult to function..
Jun 29, '12 by ChicRNQuote from sa[RN]ahI am currently in the same conflict that you were in with wanting to quit during orientation. I've been on the job search since passing my nclex in november and i desperately took a position at a SNF. The place is more of a med/surg for the geriatric, no respirator patients, etc. So far during my orientation I've been thrown to preceptor all over the place; thrown to work w/an RN in one side for 2hours, back w/another, then another nurse the next & i'm left helping them w/med pass, the pressure of computer charting for them &other documentation(when they didnt even give me a report on the patients!), & since theres no secretaries on the nursing stations the nurses are required to handle all the appointments, fax, paperwork, all the clerical stuff! The sad part is their the nurse to patient ratio. They have 3 stations: short stay(geriatric medsurg), long term residence, & hospice side. They started a new policy where during the day each station: Day one nurse is charge nurse (mans the nurse desk) plus one side of pts(usually just 3 or 4), while the second nurse gets 18 to 26 patients (doing their med pass, charting, assessing on own, documenting, tx, input orders, admit, discharge,etc AND trying to care for patients & meet their needs is somewhat more than impossuble which is upsetting). The nurse ends up staying on a good day 2hours overtime to just finish all the work & on a bad day up to 5hours! It's sad since even when the charge nurse helps w/med pass the second nurse is still everyday having to overtime quite a few hours to catch up). The DON actually repremanded some of the nurses for helping by splitting the workload!! AND the directors meet everyday to make a list to critic the nurses & a list of things they need to do from the previous shifts which is plenty! Imagine that criticism to start your day lol. Their pm & noc are worse w/just one nurse on each station doung everything w/no desk staff. I feel so stressed coming home everyday preceptoring w/burnt out nurses & seeing how much management doesn't care about staff..and more about their ratings. Surprisingly, the CNAs have union & the licensed nurses do not (not surprised so they can load us on workload lol) I am hardly learning being thrown in to help random nurses where i still need orienting. I feel this as an unhealthy environment & that i could be risking my own license working in these poor conditions. I was referred by a family friend & i feel awful about wanting to resign already, but i dont see myself growing as a new nurse here. I see myself being burnt out & unhappy...and this is the complete opposite reason I wanted to be a nurse! I'm on my 2nd week starting this Sunday (4days a week) of orientation which is also my lastweek . (we had a 1week 4day orientation going over policy/procedure & 3hr charting crash course lol). Any advice in appropriate steps to resign? I am so stressed as I write this that its difficult to function..You need to do whats going to be best for you and your family. Even though you had a hard time finding a job intially, you've secured a new position.. you're not going out on a limb and quitting without having a back-up plan.