I work in a LTC facility and am in charge of 35-40 residents, which is my first job as a nurse. I have been off orientation for 2 1/2 months and last week found out that I am on a 2-week probation where another nurse has to follow me. The terms of the probation are that I have to improve in documentation, critical thinking, decision making and staff supervision. I have made five med errors since I started. Two were before I started orientation when I was asked to work as the med aide. My supervisor says that this was a training issue. Another was because I didn't write the order fast enough so the med aide gave a resident aspirin that should have been on hold. Another was when I answered an alarm and was interrupted in dispensing a resident's meds and still another was when a resident wanted something for pain and there wasn't anything to give her according to her eMAR, so I asked another nurse and she said "she gets a hydro." This nurse worked exclusively on this unit ans was very experienced. So, I gave this since the med card was still in the cart. I'm not making excuses for these med errors, just some background.
Then a few weeks ago, I found out that me and three other nurses were reported anonymously to the BON for med errors in which the complainant said I had 18 med errors, which is false. My supervisor also thinks this claim is bogus. I know I need to improve in certain areas, but I'm feeling like I didn't get the training that some other nurses have gotten. One nurse who works a different shift was told that since she will be working that shift exclusively, she was given almost a month of orientation on just that shift. I will be working evenings and got 5 days of orientation. My supervisor says that "you don't know what you don't know", but at the same time says "we can't teach you everything." I didn't think I was doing a bad job other than the med errors until I was put on probation. I thought that I would have time to grow and develop in my role.
Anyway, has anyone else felt discouraged early in their nursing career? And if so, what did you do about it? I sometimes feel like I want to get into my car and just drive far, far away from nursing and never look back! It was only after I was having problems that my supervisor gave me a mentor (just someone that I could ask questions to, but nothing like formal meetings or formal training) and told me that we have a training computer program. Anyway, I plan on writing down concrete goals and then keeping track of what I do each shift that shows I am developing in the areas I need to improve in.
