Anyone hate their first job?

Mandylpn · May 23, 2005

If they are so short staffed, why do they treat us that way, like we are pieces of meat? I quit my first job too, just because the the DON left out of my interview that I would be working as a "CNA" whenever they were short one. This meant it was a regular thing. How was I to get trained in and get experience for nursing interventions and skills? :twocents: I have nothing against CNA's, but did not go to school for 2.5 years to be a nurse, only to function as an aide. Good for you for quitting. We are all worth more than they want to pay us. Don't ever think you cannot find another job. I had a new one the next day. :nurse:

TreetopAngel_RN · May 23, 2005

My administrator at the SNF I worked at as a CNA gave me a personal grant, to help buy my first semester's worth of textbooks. The facility had nothing in place to help, so she gave me money out of her own pocket. I signed a contract that I would work for her for one year in return. The facility was in a small town 40 miles away from the college. We ended up moving to the city and I lost touch with the facility and my administrator while going to school.

My last semester of school, I asked for a management experience in a SNF...something I found out was unheard of...and picked the best place in town. To my surprise my old administrator was now the new administrator at this facility. I proved myself to the DON and various staff and was offered a job once I graduated. The day my temporary license showed up I was at the facility in record time and ran into the DON in the lobby. She knew by the look on my face that I had graduated and was now looking for work.

The DON had a TB test in me, a schedule worked out and my uniform voucher when she said, "Maybe I better have you fill out an application."

I've been there for five years, but I am sure to remind my administrator that I had only promised her ONE year. She just laughs at me...

NurseNewbie · May 23, 2005

I loved my first job stayed there for almost a year. All the staff were extremely supportive and although we were constantly understaffed I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else in the world. Work was always fun no matter how terrible your day was going. Then our Cardiac Surgery ward was closed due to amalgamating all services in the city, and I was moved to another hospital with most of the old staff. Now I've been there a couple of months and I can't get out of there soon enough:o . There is absolutely no support for the nursing staff, everything is the nurses fault...and its plain old no fun working there. I have an interview tommorrow to try to get out....:uhoh21:

There are good jobs out there and I'm a firm believer that nursing has so many different opportunities that there is a right area for everyone....

live4today, RN · May 23, 2005

....................................Health care facilities just keep going through new nurses till they find one willing to put up with the crap. Seems to me that has been going on for a long time.

A good cureall for that would be to let the "Powers That Be" who run the health facilities get knee deep in the crap by working those floors themselves without a potty break, meal break, chance to chart until the end of the shift, and have the nurses stay on their case for not getting the work done in a timely fashion. Let the nurses run the facilities for awhile and ensure that "TPTB" get a good taste of what it is like to not feel human or respected............................yes, I could go on and on, but you all get my drift. :rolleyes:

oramar · May 24, 2005

This woman introduced herself to me, then immediately started telling me that I have not been coming to work, late all the time, didn't get my TB test, was difficult to work with according to the other staff, and that even though I had a signed agreement...I did not qualify with this record to go onto the ED preceptorship but to remain for 2 years in med surge (hmmmmm perhaps the reason for this sudden call to the office...they must have needed me to stay huh?!?!?)..
I finally had to interupt her and say...Okay do you have the correct file??? I have been doing my shifts and never turned down a call in, always 20 minutes early, get along great with others, always have a smile, took my TB tests not only once, but three times because they kept loosing my paperwork (and never complained), and she must certainly have the wrong person...
THen she started actually screaming at me from her nice cherrywood desk..."you think I am stupid enough to pull the wrong file? Who do you think you are, this just goes to show your unwillingness to work with others!"
I was dumbfounded...must have looked like a doe in the headlights! I restated that this must be an error, or maybe I wasn't clocking in properly and be happy to show her how I clock in to make sure my timecards were correct...but since I check my paychecks for errors I had never noticed any according to my own records at home (I have learned to always keep a record of my own hours at home to double check..I have been dissed several hundred dollars a few times before!!!).
Again she just started screaming at me, and I turned white and started to shake when I finally blew! "Look, I have promised to be here today, and I still have 4 hours left of shift. I will complete my shift and leave my keys and passcard...not with you but with security whom will escort me out of this facility to assure I am doing NOTHING wrong or even accidentally taking even a cotton ball in my pocket! Then I will walk out these doors, and NEVER look back ever again!".
She yelled again at me that I would never be a nurse again..and I suprisingly very calmly said with a smirk (I think I smirked..or it was a grimice of shock..LOL!)..."Trust me, if this is an example of a MAGNET hospitals policy of treating nurses..then my dear..if I had my license handy...you can have it and I will not EVER regret the choice! At this point...lady, you can have this facilities nursing bs...I don't need it!"
I completed my shift, security (I knew security and told the head to escort me out as a favor) escorted me to my car, and I left NEVER to return again! The security guy was dumbfounded too, and quite sad actually..we had many conversations together and we really enjoyed eachothers company at the old coffee shop late in noc shift!
I have NEVER EVER been treated with so much general disrespect...I mean my gosh a person treats their dog better than that woman did to me! NO thanks..and I was very serious about the license too!

Sadly, the behavior you just described is much to frequently seen coming from managment. I have no doubt whatsoever that things went down exactly as you described because I have seen worse. Repeatedly I have had people who left other professions to become nurses say that they had never experieced the kind of mistreatment nursing managment hands out until they became nurses. My niece who has been a ICU nurse now for seven years was a bartender before becoming a nurse and she said she was treated better as a barmaid. Most new nurses are in shock for the first two years on average before they start to develope thick skin. Everyone talks about lateral violence, difficult patients and families, rude physicians and passive aggressive support staff, I have experienced all these things and they are nothing in compare to the incompentent, psycotic, ruthlessly ambitious, obsessive compulsive control freak managment people I have experienced.

Mandylpn · May 24, 2005

A good cureall for that would be to let the "Powers That Be" who run the health facilities get knee deep in the crap by working those floors themselves without a potty break, meal break, chance to chart until the end of the shift, and have the nurses stay on their case for not getting the work done in a timely fashion. Let the nurses run the facilities for awhile and ensure that "TPTB" get a good taste of what it is like to not feel human or respected............................yes, I could go on and on, but you all get my drift.

:chuckle :chuckle Oh I loved your post! you really tell it like it is! :cheers:

nptobee · May 24, 2005

I've been a nurse since February. I too hate my job. Dread going there in the morning, cry in the car sometimes. I think hospital nursing may not be for me. Too many people, too many attitudes, too much going on at once, too much reponsibility. I'm sooooo scared something is going to come up, and I won't know what to do. Some nurses are really kind and will help if you need them to, but I try to get myself through the day without asking too many questions. I do ask when I need to. I just don't enjoy it as much as I thought I would. I keep thinking life it too short to be miserable. I'm also a day/night rotater. I prefer nights. You get to read charts, actually sit down, and read charts. I learn so much doing that, instead of just going about tasks like a robot. I"m going to apply for two jobs tomorrow community health nurse, and school nurse.

I'm scared for nursing's future, I can't imagine that many people will stay on Med/Surg floors if this is the way it is.

live4today, RN · May 24, 2005

:chuckle :chuckle Oh I loved your post! you really tell it like it is! :cheers:

Yes, I've busted my butt on those med/surg floors for many moons in years past, and I know quite well the irony of it all. I'd LOVE to run a boot camp for those "head haunchos" to train them up properly the way they should be trained and all...ya know what I mean? :rotfl:

mmeow · May 24, 2005

mmeow · May 24, 2005

I really didn't like my job when I first started nursing.....almost quit every day for the first six months hahaha. Now I have been there a little over a year, and I have good days, and bad days. Crusty patients who expect five star treatment still piss me off from time to time mainly when I don't have time to devote to their comfort measures. I went into nursing to save lives so finding a job that aligns me with acutely ill patients would be ideal, my compassion soars when I have patients that actually can't do things for themselves. For some nurses thier practice almost mirrors the hospitality network haha, that is so not me,,,, anyways I do believe what causes dissatisfaction in part of a job is not getting out of it what you need, or rather getting what you don't need.....I don't need to be a maid lol......

very normal to hate, depise your first nursing job, just means maybe it's not a good fit for you right now..........after all it is only a job.

CRNAorBust · Feb 5, 2006

My question to everyone is how did you get the next job after the first one didn't work out.

I was fired because I chose to get unemployment instead of just leaving. But now I'm not getting many bites on my current resume. Is it the time of year? Will it open up more in March or April when they start hiring for the spring grads?

I'm in new york....

Thanks

mysticalwaters1 · Feb 7, 2006

Hi! I just quit my first nursing job. It was on a med-surg floor, which was not what I was planning to do after graduation. My goal was to go directly into community health nursing, but I got antsy because the process of application was lengthy, and took a hospital job.
Anyway, the unit had weak leadership, lack of teamwork, and an over-abundance of gossip, backstabbing and bullying. People (nurses, techs, secretaries, transport, etc. ect.) got away with acting however they pleased. My last day I had to literally fight a tech to get a hold of the only functioning pulse ox machine I could find because she was doing her afternoon vitals. I respect that she has her job to do too, but my demented patient who keeps pulling out his NC, O2 sat dropping to 76% (which I wouldn't have known without the pulse ox machine) who is in need of a restraint order takes precedence over afternoon vitals IMO. Especially when I told her I'd give the darn machine right back!!!!
In addition, I was tired of being made to feel incompetent and lazy by the 7p to 7a staff, especially considering I took on average a 15 minute break during the majority of my 12 hour shifts. I know I didn't do everything right...that I made mistakes. I'm a brand new nurse (started this job in August), and I'd appreciate constructive criticism, not a sneer and dead silence during my entire report. How do people get to be so mean and bitter?
Anyway, despite the fact that I feel justified in leaving that place because it was ruining all aspects of my life (I was sleepless, lost weight, and my personal relationships suffered greatly), I still feel like a failure. So, my question is, has anyone else left their first nursing job too? I just need to know I'm not alone here...
Thanks!

WOW! You just described EXACTLY what is going on my unit right now. I've been their for 2.5 years. It's my first job. I at first liked it a lot. I did my internship there through end of college and got a job through my internship on there. We worked together and I learned a lot but then we kept loosing staff, got staff mixed with already toxic staff members just stirring up trouble, not helping out, pettiness, way different ideas on how to care for pt's and treat coworkers MIXED with increasing turnover rate with pts. I abhore it now. The sick think it was not allways like this. The one thing I noticed that may be a key factor of why it is so horrible is the my unit consistently has bad management. I am currently searching for another position. I am going to try a nursing specialty. If anything I don't think I'll come back to that unit. Not that another area doesn't have downsides just when staff is out of control as you've described and the managers are not doing anything to fix it those are not conditions to work with. And yep as others have said I've go nightmares from it too. Well I allways dream what going on in life. Anyway good luck and as you're read you're not alone and I'm glad people posted about this. I was begining to think it was me.