Not sure if this is just how this unit treats PRN staff or if it's because I'm the "new girl".
But I definitely felt dumped on last night - my first shift off orientation.
I work L&D and at the start of the shift there was only one patient on fetal monitoring (cervidil induction).
Guess who's patient it was?
Yep, mine.
Then an active labor patient comes in and they tell me to give away my patient and take the labor patient because I need practice.
I get that I'm still learning how things work there and I do need practice with lady partsl exams since my last facility had residents who did them. But I'm not a new nurse! I'm not even a new L&D nurse!
If this continues not sure I'll work there much longer.
Plus it's nights and I hate nights.
I'm interviewing for another job. Fingers crossed!
I don't understand. You had one patient until another one came in and you were relieved of the first one? You never had more than one patient at a time?
I don't understand how how that is dumping. If they didn't keep you busy with an assignment, wouldn't they have sent you home when it was otherwise slow?
I don't do L&D, but you shouldn't be forced to give up your assignment when there are other nurses without one. That's inappropriate and ridiculous from a continuity of care standpoint alone.
Amen to that!I worked floatpool and we always got "challenging" pts as our manager called them. That is manager speak for BOHICA (if you don't know the acronym, ask around. LOL)
I don't understand that line of thought. I want the float pool and those from other floors to feel welcome and comfortable on my floor. I always try to assign easier patients to people who might not be familiar with our typical patients. I don't want to be known as the floor that dumps on floats. I know most people hate to float, I want them to at least not hate the idea of coming to work with us.
How should it have been handled? Who should have been given the only patient and then who should have kept (I'm assuming uneventful but I don't know) the monitoring only patient? Is it typical to not send the perdiem nurse home on a slow night?
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
In my experience PRN nurses are the first to be sent home when the work load is light. If the departments want to keep their PRN staff happy and skilled they try to provide them with regular work opportunities and cases which will sharpen their skills.
It doesn't sound like you were dumped on. It sounds like the regular staff was taking advantage of your presence to get paid for doing damned little rather than sending you home.
Hate to break it to you but you will probably experience this somewhere else. You may go through this a couple more times due to various reasons. Sometimes it isn't on purpose, sometimes it is intentional and sometimes it is the unfortunate way that things are probably done at this place.
I'm confused why they made you switch patients. It would have been better for continuity to keep you with your original patient. I don't think I would look at other jobs yet though. If the pattern continues then I would look around.
I once was hired for a set number of hours on the PM shift to do one med pass, and one med pass only, for a certain group of residents in a facility. It did not take long for the regular nurses to attempt to dump as much as possible on me. I did not think I should have to visit this development with the DON who had hired me, so I quickly moved on.
It sounds like your assignment was harder relative to the other nurses, but not especially hard in and of itself. lol- I understand, when I look at my coworkers, and they're not working as hard as I am, I tend to get miffed. But to change my focus (and mood!), I have to just focus on what I'm doing, and do the best I can.
Bravo to your attitude! If morepeople in carge acted in this manner, there would happier nurses, and happier patients. Members of the float pool at the large hospital I worked at got dumped on, plain and simple. When one nurse gets 6 patients located on 4 different halls and then has to give report to 6 different core staff in the morning (charge nurse overheard saying that those six were too difficult and spread out), then it was a dump. Situations such as this ocurred fequently.
I hear you on nights--if you are not a night person, it can really stink!
However, it was a good time for you to be able to get experience in something that you have not done. And will need to do as part of the job. With some support of other nurses who were not assigned should their be any issues.
Yes, it does stink that you are stuck in a room, then stuck in another room whilst the other nurses are hanging out. But better than being called off--or not--if there's one patient and a boatload of full time nurses, then I would be the first to say to the charge--"if I am not needed, I just assume go home".
Look at the bright side--at least you are not a "and other duties as assigned/float if needed" PRN. Then you could find yourself knee deep on another unit, with 6 patients.
VANurse2010
1,526 Posts
I don't do L&D, but you shouldn't be forced to give up your assignment when there are other nurses without one. That's inappropriate and ridiculous from a continuity of care standpoint alone.