I work with an RN who got her licence in December. She started working at the hospital in June of last year as a CNA. In August, they started letting her take her own patients, doing everything except meds and an RN counter signed her assessments, etc. She is a good nurse, very knowledgable, very compassionate, etc, but she is a horrible charge nurse. She still has no sense of urgency, does not prioritize, takes a really long time to get assessments done, call doctors for orders, assess new patients, and do the other things a charge nurse is supposed to do. Seven months later, she is still considered "in orientation" and from seeing her in action, very few of us believe she will function without that other RN there reminding her of every move she needs to make. Usually, we give new grads 12 weeks and push them out of the nest and expect them to function in the job they were hired for. We're a small rural hospital, so as an RN, she's either charge, ICU, ER, or OB...we don't use RNs for primary care unless ICU or OB are closed and they float. This nurse continues to struggle with the very basic things a charge nurse does and if things go belly up for the day, she's lost. I don't know if I just need to vent here or what. It just seems like if she doesn't get it by now, she never will. I have know this nurse since we were in second grade and knowing her personality, I really think she is messing with our minds. My personal belief is that she CAN do it, but chooses not to because she knows someone else will jump in and do it if she "can't." She was supposed to go to night shift in February, but still has a coveted position on day shift. Thoughts on this???
