I am a new nurse who has not been doing well at all in my new job. I am working on a Med-Surg floor with very high volume and turn around. I started working in late april and I am currently on an action plan because I had an issue with hanging blood. Long story short I know for sure I am not fit to work in such a hostile environment but I have held on this long for the experience and also because there are no job openings.
Now I am to write a statement to my nurse manager because she is going to nursing administration about a patient complaint. One of the night nurses e-mailed her stating that a patient complained of "red and swollen IV site" and also that I left an antibiotic hanging for hours without infusion. The patient failed to mention that she wanted to get up and ambulate in the halls so I couldn't infuse the antibiotic I also assessed the site before and after infusion and saw no redness or swelling. The night nurse also complained about a dressing on a mid-line of another patient being soiled and not changed. I assessed the patents mid-line initially in the AM and dressing was CDI, there were no IV infusions that day so I didn't check again. She also complained that I failed to fill out paperwork for a patients calorie count when I delegated the responsibility to the nurses aid and she assured me she would take care of this. It was never done this is the second time I've delegated and it hasn't been done. I feel sick to my core! With 6-7 patients its so hard to keep up with everything!!!
In other words I'm F-CKED !! I feel I'm always thrown under the bus and to the wolves working here no one comes and tells me when I'm not doing something wrong. Its always brought to "the higher ups" and result in write up or punitive actions. I'm currently suspended until further notice and am for sure I'm going to be let go. Nursing school and the nursing world are totally different entitites and I am having a very difficult time with the transition and support. Any thoughts or advice? I have to prepare a statement for nursing administration ....
It is very important and very hard to embrace and own up to our weaknesses and recognize what we need to work on and change. However, I do believe that some environments are just toxic and if the nurses there take a disliking to you, you are gone.
My first new job out of school I was recruited to an ER that wanted to try training new grads. The nurses there were totally against this and made life hell for the 4 nurses that were recruited. Actually one of the recruits had been a tech there and they were nice to her.
When the director had a MI and had to leave all hell broke loose and the 3 of us quit because the nurses just wouldn't work with us.
I got a job at a hospital in the next town over on med-surg. When I got there I had no confidence at all. Was sure I was a total screw up. But I had great, caring preceptors and being on that floor, working with that group was a wonderful experience. In time I learned to trust myself and everyone said I was a very good nurse.
I made many of the same mistakes this poster is mentioning, but was educated, not whipped. After 2 years I decided I would like to try the ER again so I transferred to the ER. I had a horrible, lazy preceptor that only wanted to talk about her daughters sex life and didn't learn what I should have.
I was put on nights and bullied by one nurse so badly that some other nurses actually told on her. The night charge was her best friend and denied that there was any shenanigans. I just kept plodding along because I liked so many of the other nurses, but life was hell. Then she finally got fired for abusing a patient.
The job was great and I made it a point to take all the nurses and doctors new to the ER under my wing, and became the official preceptors to many new nurses and paramedics.
Eventually I left and started traveling. I have completed 9 travel contracts now and 2 were bad, with charge nurses who were bullies and made my work life horrible. I persevered at one and actually got her demoted from charge. (We now work together at another facility)
I have extended all my contracts except one where I was made a DNR because of the charge nurse.
I recently accepted a position where I had done agency shifts for several years, but on nights. I was there 5 weeks on day shift and was fired for poor performance. They had a list a mile long of things I did wrong, including supposedly asking someone how to do CPR. I was so stunned I just walked out without questioning anything.
Got home and went down the list and studied the ones that I thought might have merit. I talked to nurses I respect and all the points I was worried about were without merit.
I had another job in 3 days. I have been there several months now and have no problems what so ever.
One of the best nurses I know was told he was too slow and too stupid to be a nurse while he was on orientation. He kept at it and is now a nurse practioner in the ER.
There are both positive learning environments and toxic environments.
If I were you, I would make an action plan. Work at staying and improving and learning anything you can. Every day you will learn and improve. Keep plugging along knowing that there are many great, supportive work areas out there waiting for you in the future. Learn as much as you can now. And then if you get fired you can go to the next place with the increased knowledge and experience you learned at this place and start fresh.
I have many nursing friends who have jumped jobs multiple times, some for getting fired, and some just looking for a "better" place. The economy is bad now, and jobs are hard to find, but this will improve.
Make sure you get some references from a couple of people at your current place that do support you before you leave.
i'm sorry your work environment is so hostile. that really makes it tough to learn anything or to get settled in and work. after i graduated, i accepted a job on a ortho floor. talk about lacking necessary skills! yikes!
no one much was patient with me. my mentor had been drafted despite the fact that she had neither the skills or the desire to be a mentor. she had graduated the semester before i did and she herself was still learning.
to say people were unhelpful is an understatement. instead of helping me learn, they berated and made things almost impossible for me. instead of letting them win, i began keeping a log. i made friends with two ortho first year residents, and they lent me books to read on my own time, came in when they had a few free minutes and gave me a crash course in ortho care. they weren't rns, but the bit of help they gave me enabled me to give adequate care to my patients and made me stop feeling like an incompetent
loser.
as soon as a department i applied to would hire me, i was out of there! what did i know about psych nursing? not much at all, but they were willing to work with me and teach me. don't let them grind you into the ground and define how you think of yourself, because you aren't a horrible or incompetent nurse or person. not at all! you're new and it just takes a while to get up to speed.
Specializes in Acute Care Cardiac, Education, Prof Practice.
1) Sounds like someone is out to get you a little bit. I mean, who reports a new grad for a soiled dressing, I just walk up and remind them to make sure they double check it. I think this "reporting" RN needs to grow a pair and try to help you instead of chasing you off the floor because it isn't done to her standards.
2) CYA. Chart, chart, chart. If you check an IV line at 2300, chart that all IV's intact and working, no redness and swelling. Chart everything. I know it is lot of work, but in the end when you can go back to that paper and say "here, I charted it right here" that is all you have.
3) Don't quit unless you truly feel your license is on the line, and from here it doesn't sound like it is. It just sounds like you have some kinks to work out of your system.
charting is so important, and can be a life saver, everytime you go into a room and do something chart it.
Just put a little blurb like, IV site WNL, or pt assisted to bathroom with minimum assist, gait steady, or dressing replaced, or pt given water, it just takes a minute and it doesn't have to be fancy writing, just chart in your own words.
If you ever end up in court, it is much better to have something written in your own words, than nothing at all.
In the beginning charting like this may slow you down, but it will save your face, and your license in the long run.
Also, be polite, but don't say to a tech, "would you go do a blood sugar in room 10", say Go, do a blood sugar, that way it is a direct order and if they say no, or don't do it it is insubordination
When you ask a tech to do something, give them a few minutes and then check and make sure they did it
It came through very strongly from your post that the complaining nurse was adamant on providing a laundry list about your performance to those with the power to get rid of you. Quite a shame that she did not have the decency to speak to you directly on at least one occasion before taking this action. This is a clear example of what is meant by the phrase, "eating our young."
No, I'm done orientation but on an action plan because my performance wasn't as expected. I have written my letter. Thanks for the feedback. Please continue to comment, its keeping me sane.
I read your post and think there are a lot of positives.....
I always say to newly qualified nurses to expect to feel as though you know absolutely nothing for the first year - the second year post qualifying is even more scarey because you fully understand just how much you don't know!!
The mistakes you are making are simply part of the learning process and what you need is a bit of gentle guidance and support - that's it simple really.
It sounds like there are some hidden agendas here and you need to have a careful objective look at what is best for you. Nursing is scarey enough without having to constantly feel like you have to watch your back - That grinds you down and however good a nurse is leaves you questioning your worth. Now is not the time to make big decisions. You just need to keep yourself and your registration safe.
Document document document and if at any point you struggle make your managers aware this has two benefits first you can hand on heart say you realised your limitations and safely sought help and secondly in there somewhere will be a manager that understands the pressures you are under and will work with you rather than against to support you.
She has nothing to forgive herself for it is all a learning process.
She needs support not a spiritual lesson.
Sometimes you have to forgive yourself for not being perfect, for needing help, for just being where you are in the learning process. This doesn't have to be an indictment or an accusation against yourself. Just a recognition that you wish you were farther along the path accompanied by a deep exhale and an acceptance that you are where you are at the moment, and you will grow. This kind of thinking allows a person to make peace with themselves for needing what they need, and it's not contingent on what anyone else thinks or does.
You can have both support AND the spiritual uplift contained in the message that it's okay to be a new and inexperienced nurse. The fact that others may jump in and judge or complain unfairly does not take that away.
Some unhappy folks want you to cave in on yourself, not just learn from your mistakes. If you can be okay in your own spirit and separate the areas where you need to improve from the fact that you are a kind and decent person who is trying her best to learn, those who wish you ill will not find you as easy to push around.
remember that you aren't the problem. you were dropped down into a terrible situation. doucment, document, document, every step of the way. an older nurse told me something that turned out to be so true. she said i wouldn't really "be a nurse or feel like a nurse until you stop looking over your shoulder for your instructor" every time someone calls "nurse!" all of a sudden, you realize they mean
Specializes in Surgery, Tele, OB, Peds,ED-True Float RN.
I would not be able to work in such a terrible environment. Why the hell did she email your manager about a red iv site? If you documented that the site was within normal limits last time you assessed it then that's that! That's the stupidest thing I have ever heard! Wow... sounds like every nurse on your floor is out to hang each other! Also, if the pt refused to take the med at the time prescribed then you give it as close to the time as possible and then document why it was not given on time... what is it any of her business???
If you started in April you ideally should have just come off orientation. How long have you been on your own? These things you are under fire for is administration's punitive way of making budget cutbacks while making you at fault for things so it's harder for you to collect unemployment from them.
Several years ago in Louisiana, I met a new nurse who was walking her dog at our unofficial off leash dog park "doggie hill" in new orleans. She was so terribly upset and hurt and frightened. She was hired on the L&D floor after her student experience there. Apparently she got nervous and asked her precepting nurse to go with her and observe her first "on the job" IM injection. The nurse made sure everyone knew she "couldn't even give a shot alone." This nurse was an AD grad, had a different clinical experience and thought this BSN grad was hopelessly incompetent. The situation went down hill from there.
I listened, encouraged her to try for employment at a hospital that had a strong new graduate orientation and went home.
I didn't bump into her again for about 4 or 5 months. Here she is smiling, confident, and loving her job. She had applied for a job at the other hospital and was now working as charge from time to time. This new nurse just had had low self-confidence,with support she grew into the job. It's a shame the other job missed out on a fine nurse and person.
My moral of the story: If you get pushed out of one job, there's another one waiting for you that is the right job, with the right people, the right pay, in the right place and time. Let your angels carry you through the dark times and have faith in a positive outcome
this is the second time I've delegated and it hasn't been done. I feel sick to my core! With 6-7 patients its so hard to keep up with everything!!!
gonzo1, ASN, RN
1,739 Posts
It is very important and very hard to embrace and own up to our weaknesses and recognize what we need to work on and change. However, I do believe that some environments are just toxic and if the nurses there take a disliking to you, you are gone.
My first new job out of school I was recruited to an ER that wanted to try training new grads. The nurses there were totally against this and made life hell for the 4 nurses that were recruited. Actually one of the recruits had been a tech there and they were nice to her.
When the director had a MI and had to leave all hell broke loose and the 3 of us quit because the nurses just wouldn't work with us.
I got a job at a hospital in the next town over on med-surg. When I got there I had no confidence at all. Was sure I was a total screw up. But I had great, caring preceptors and being on that floor, working with that group was a wonderful experience. In time I learned to trust myself and everyone said I was a very good nurse.
I made many of the same mistakes this poster is mentioning, but was educated, not whipped. After 2 years I decided I would like to try the ER again so I transferred to the ER. I had a horrible, lazy preceptor that only wanted to talk about her daughters sex life and didn't learn what I should have.
I was put on nights and bullied by one nurse so badly that some other nurses actually told on her. The night charge was her best friend and denied that there was any shenanigans. I just kept plodding along because I liked so many of the other nurses, but life was hell. Then she finally got fired for abusing a patient.
The job was great and I made it a point to take all the nurses and doctors new to the ER under my wing, and became the official preceptors to many new nurses and paramedics.
Eventually I left and started traveling. I have completed 9 travel contracts now and 2 were bad, with charge nurses who were bullies and made my work life horrible. I persevered at one and actually got her demoted from charge. (We now work together at another facility)
I have extended all my contracts except one where I was made a DNR because of the charge nurse.
I recently accepted a position where I had done agency shifts for several years, but on nights. I was there 5 weeks on day shift and was fired for poor performance. They had a list a mile long of things I did wrong, including supposedly asking someone how to do CPR. I was so stunned I just walked out without questioning anything.
Got home and went down the list and studied the ones that I thought might have merit. I talked to nurses I respect and all the points I was worried about were without merit.
I had another job in 3 days. I have been there several months now and have no problems what so ever.
One of the best nurses I know was told he was too slow and too stupid to be a nurse while he was on orientation. He kept at it and is now a nurse practioner in the ER.
There are both positive learning environments and toxic environments.
If I were you, I would make an action plan. Work at staying and improving and learning anything you can. Every day you will learn and improve. Keep plugging along knowing that there are many great, supportive work areas out there waiting for you in the future. Learn as much as you can now. And then if you get fired you can go to the next place with the increased knowledge and experience you learned at this place and start fresh.
I have many nursing friends who have jumped jobs multiple times, some for getting fired, and some just looking for a "better" place. The economy is bad now, and jobs are hard to find, but this will improve.
Make sure you get some references from a couple of people at your current place that do support you before you leave.