Anyone resign due to hostile work environment?

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in Med/Surg, ER, L&D, ICU, OR, Educator.

Has anyone else here decided to resign rather than continue working in a hostile work environment due to physician "chaos creating" or control issues?

I'd like to hear your story!

1 Votes
Specializes in Telemetry, Case Management.

I quit an LTC job not because of doctor issues but because of the administrator having control issues. She first issued a dictum that no nurse could be behind the desk for any reason before lunch. Then she said all the treatments had to be done before lunch. Then if ANYBODY including the housekeepers decided to go to her because they didn't like the way patient care was being done, she wrote you up. A housekeeper told her she thought the nurses ought to help the aides clean up the incontinent patients, so she said we should do so, besides giving meds to 40 patients, and treatments, and charting and calling doctors, and.....

(not that I wouldn't mind helping if they needed it, but come on!)

I gave up and left. I wanted to do nursing MY way, at MY pace, and care for my patients MY way.

BTW, this administrator had only been an aide for a short while years ago, was never a nurse of any kind. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

1 Votes
Specializes in Everything except surgery.

You have GOT to be kidding???? This was an "administrator"???

Didn't leave a regular job per say, but left a traveler contract, with my agency standing behind me. It was a very hostile work situation, with a certain group controling the unit. The end result was they went too far, and I ended up sitting out the contract, with full pay ($24.50/hr), and housing for 6 weeks!:D

When I first came there, there was a young nurse who was on her first travel assignment. They used and abused her, but she still allowed them to get her to stay a week or so over her contract end date, to help them out. I couldn't believe she stayed, and I knew they would make her sorry she had!

On her last day I came in to find her crying her eyes out, and these people didn't stop ...they continued to make her last hours as awful as they could! This young girl was ready to go home, and stay there never traveling again!

These were mean, mean people, but the joke was on them, because of their meaness. They shot their ownselves in the foot, as it wasn't unusual for us to have 8-10 pts a nite on tele. And this included doing your own blood draw, CEs and EKGs!

We did 12hr shifts, except for the CNs who worked only 8hrs shifts. At 7p we would get a set of pts. Then when the charge came in at 11p, she would take all of our stable pts, and give us the new admits coming up from the ER!!!

So we would have to finish up all the charting, and then admit...sometimes two or three in a row! But she did this only to agency nurses, who weren't part of their group! She would stretch your assignment out, so you would have pts all over 3 long halls! Agency ( those not part of the group), got all the isolation pts, esp. MRSA! Any drsg or complex care, restraints, DT's frequent callers.......>agency pt!

One regular agency who was a part of this "group", would get the least pts, and didn't have to give up pts when the CN came in either. She sat most of the time, and would either read the paper, or sleep!

This unit was known for being a hell floor, and was soo desperate while I was still there, had a LTC nurse there working tele, who had never even worked acute care before! She was totally out of her element! But I bet she is still doing per diem there.

Now mind you, rather than have had to deal with this abusive group, I would have preferred not to have ever met them! But because of their viciousness, I got an all expenses paid vacation for 6 weeks, and they lost desperately needed help!

Just goes to show...how foolish people can be, when they decide to do as they please, and abuse others! But I bet they still don't "get it":p

1 Votes

Brownms46, what does the initial CE stand for?

Also, what state was that in?, it sounds familiar!

1 Votes
Specializes in HIV/AIDS, Dementia, Psych.

No, I haven't resigned yet, but I have the high blood pressure to show for the environment I work in. The most frustrating part is the fact that if you're 'good' they want you to cover for, and do the work of your superiors (ie: people who make more money than you, yet do less work). In my facility, they decided to have an RN on each unit be the 'charge' nurse. We've kinda always had that, but for a long time we couldn't get the staff so we just winged it and kinda co-charged among the LPNs. Since we have hired RNs, our unit has been through 5. Our 6th procrastinates beyond belief and was a medical salesperson before this job so she obviously doesn't have much hands on experience. This is fine. I am nore than willing to teach and help, but this woman thinks she is there to push papers and boss people around. My supervisor actually called me into her office the other day to tell me that she knows she is incompetent, but she feels "at least she's a body" and since I'm so good, why don't I take charge of the unit? HUH?!?!?!?!? So, I'm supposed to do MY work and HER work because I'm GOOD? I'm supposed to take this as a compliment while she makes a butt ton more money that me?!?!? And this is only one of the frustrating aspects of my job. If I went on, I'd use up all of allnurse's bandwidth!!

1 Votes

I hate that concept, it's like you're punished for being a good worker.

Because you're "good", you get the heaviest assignment because they know you can handle it, and the only problem is you get it day after day after day, which leads to exhaustion and burnout as well as being incredibly unfair.

1 Votes
Specializes in Med/Surg, ER, L&D, ICU, OR, Educator.

You ever feel like they expect you to have a brain and think only when they (docs) need your help, but you are not allowed to use that brain or think without their permission? "Yes, I expect you to know what is best, but do not say that you know before I know (unless I don't know; then just put it to me in casual conversation as if you're sure I've aready thought of that."

"You assess?!? You teach?!? I didn't order that! You documented it in the medical record?!? What are you up to?"

1 Votes
Specializes in Everything except surgery.
Quote
Originally posted by cannoli

Brownms46, what does the initial CE stand for?

Also, what state was that in?, it sounds familiar!

I'm sorry Cardiac enzymes. This was Texas, and I think I have posted about it before.

1 Votes

Thanks! You may have posted about it before but I don't think I ever saw it!

I live in a state other than Texas, but that sure sounded familiar, I wonder if that's typical behavoir on a tele floor.

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Yes, but the docs weren't any worse that your usual docs. It was the evil co-workers from hell that lead me to quit.

1 Votes

It's those evil co-workers from hell that'll get you every time.

1 Votes
Specializes in Everything except surgery.
Quote
Originally posted by cannoli

Thanks! You may have posted about it before but I don't think I ever saw it!

I live in a state other than Texas, but that sure sounded familiar, I wonder if that's typical behavoir on a tele floor.

Hmmmmm...I would sure hope not! Don't even want to think about that being the case!

1 Votes
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