BAD first day at assisted living as a new nurse

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Hi all! I’m a brand new nurse I graduated in June. I recently just got my first nursing job at an assisted living facility. I was able to start training yesterday with my supervisor and with it being a Sunday it was actually kind of a quiet day she was able to show me around and I shadowed her for a med pass and she shadowed me with a couple it was great. Well today....she claims she “overbooked herself” and she had a meeting to go to so she asked (THIS IS DAY 2 MIND YOU) if I would mind doing noon meds while she is gone. I’m like absolutely no big deal of course I’m thinking no big deal it’s only 3 residents that need meds at noon it’s fine. Well the moment she walked out that door a visiting nurse insisted the patient she was seeing get taken out to be evaluated claiming he’s way off his baseline, combative, showing signs of dehydration etc. she asked for my input I said I’m still training and my supervisor is in a meeting it’s my second day I’m not familiar with anyone’s baseline etc etc. she insisted he get taken out so what my instincts tell me she knows him better than me Obviously so I make the call and get him taken out and make copies of his info to send to paramedics. I’m absolutely disgusted with my supervisor because I had a deer in headlights moment with this it was my second day training after training on a Sunday the quietest day ever now all the sudden I’m faced with this. Thankfully the visiting nurse was able to tell the paramedics everything about his usually behavior and baseline otherwise it would of been a complete unprofessional mess. I kept my cool and my supervisor came back and all she had to say was “I’m so sorry of course the one time I leave...good job!” And when I left she said sorry again. But honestly I’m frustrated because I feel like I’m already getting thrown onto the floor with very minimal training. It’s not right I’m brand stinking new to the nursing world. I jumped to call 911 for something that wasn’t necessarily an “emergency” so she said next time don’t call 911 unless a unwitnessed fall or emergency but of course I did what I thought was right in the moment alone on the floor as a nurse in training. I feel awful about myself and a little upset with my
Supervisor. Are my feelings valid?

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15 minutes ago, VeronicaMarie said:

Hi all! I’m a brand new nurse I graduated in June. I recently just got my first nursing job at an assisted living facility. I was able to start training yesterday with my supervisor and with it being a Sunday it was actually kind of a quiet day she was able to show me around and I shadowed her for a med pass and she shadowed me with a couple it was great. Well today....she claims she “overbooked herself” and she had a meeting to go to so she asked (THIS IS DAY 2 MIND YOU) if I would mind doing noon meds while she is gone. I’m like absolutely no big deal of course I’m thinking no big deal it’s only 3 residents that need meds at noon it’s fine. Well the moment she walked out that door a visiting nurse insisted the patient she was seeing get taken out to be evaluated claiming he’s way off his baseline, combative, showing signs of dehydration etc. she asked for my input I said I’m still training and my supervisor is in a meeting it’s my second day I’m not familiar with anyone’s baseline etc etc. she insisted he get taken out so what my instincts tell me she knows him better than me Obviously so I make the call and get him taken out and make copies of his info to send to paramedics. I’m absolutely disgusted with my supervisor because I had a deer in headlights moment with this it was my second day training after training on a Sunday the quietest day ever now all the sudden I’m faced with this. Thankfully the visiting nurse was able to tell the paramedics everything about his usually behavior and baseline otherwise it would of been a complete unprofessional mess. I kept my cool and my supervisor came back and all she had to say was “I’m so sorry of course the one time I leave...good job!” And when I left she said sorry again. But honestly I’m frustrated because I feel like I’m already getting thrown onto the floor with very minimal training. It’s not right I’m brand stinking new to the nursing world. I jumped to call 911 for something that wasn’t necessarily an “emergency” so she said next time don’t call 911 unless a unwitnessed fall or emergency but of course I did what I thought was right in the moment alone on the floor as a nurse in training. I feel awful about myself and a little upset with my
Supervisor. Are my feelings valid?

Yeah, it was kind of messed up.

Who was the "visiting nurse"?

Might you have gone to talk to the supervisor before calling 911? If the person was not coding, you could have taken time to check the chart and have that nurse explain why she was freaking out.

But you are not at fault for not doing these things. You are new, both to Nursing and to that job.

To answer your question, yes, I think your feelings are justified. But at least your Sup acknowledged the truth of the matter.

I hope things get better for you. But don't expect only smooth sailing. Life and work are not always easy.

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It will be interesting to see what happens on Day 3, won't it!

I wouldn't feel one bit bad about calling paramedics. If it might not have been necessary or you could've done x, y, z thing before calling....oh well. X, y, z is what you will do once you've been in the facility more than 1.5 days.

Hopefully they plan to continue your training even though you've survived this trial by fire. If try to pull the "if you can handle that you can handle anything" deal, let them know that's great but you are expecting to complete an adequate training process.

Good luck!

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When I say this, I mean it... WELL DONE. You did the very best you could with the information you had, that is all you can do.

Crazy things will happen, and you have to use your best judgement to make decisions. In the future your judgement may/ will change based on experience.

?

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Specializes in Emergency.

Get used to it. That is the way of things in the world in my experience.

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Specializes in School Nursing, Home Health.

Hey! You did fine! Sometimes the way we learn is by getting thrown in.

Personally I don't think it was too bad on her behalf just because she was in the building (right?) and because you luckily had another nurse to bounce your ideas/assessment on.

My first job was also at a nursing home and the RNs and LVNs were great. They always answered my questions and I learned a lot. They never made me feel bad or dumb.

So don't be so hard on yourself. You did great. And at a nursing home you'll get to know the residents in no time ?

PM me if you need to k?!

Best of luck!

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Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

You're on orientation, you were left to your own devices, a situation occurred that you had to handle, your preceptor returned and gave you positive feedback with some learning feedback.

I don't get where the problem is. This is called being new, things not being ideal and dealing with a learning curve. This really doesn't sound like all that bad of a day to me.

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