I Quit!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in Med/Surg,.

I quit my job yesterday. They were going to try and staff my acute med/surg floor with me (1 rn), 1 lpn and 2 aids for 28.:banghead: I told the floor no thank you, I quit, and I left the building. (I had not clocked in or took report). For several months 2 nurses (R/L or R/R) has been becoming the normal staffing pattern for my floor regardless of the number or acuity of the patients.( I believe the increase of code blues, rapid responses, and overall failure to rescue rate would speak to the complications the patients are experiencing from this).

I've worked at this hospital for 5 years, almost 2 as an RN. I'm kind of disappointed it ended this way, but at the same time I feel so much relief from not having to go back. I had been feeling burned out for the last several months and was dreading going in anyways (I had started thinking about calling in but than realized it was too late to call in and I would have received insuffecient notice from my hospital). I have been trying to transfer off this floor for a couple of months now and was told no one could leave my floor because we are so short staffed. I didn't even confirm the staffing for the floor that day until after I left the hospital and was calling Nursing Staffing office from my cell phone to inform them I was refusing to clock in or accept responsibility for that many patients. I have learned if things ever start to get this bad where ever I work in the future, I'm going to turn in a 2 week notice pronto so it doesn't come down to this.

Any support, advice, or critics?

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Specializes in Pediatric Psychiatry, Home Health VNA.

I'm so sorry you experienced this. I hope they don't try to hit you with abandonment even though you didn't officially start your shift. I hope you also know it's not like this everywhere and you WILL find somewhere that appreciates their nurses. Don't let this one experience sour you on the nursing profession. If anything it has made you wiser with questions to ask during future job interviews. Good luck Josh, you ARE a super nurse!

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I just hate to see it put everyone in a worse bind than they are already in. I would hate to be a patient and know the situation.

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Specializes in Wellness Coach, ICU, PACU, OR, Mgmt.
I have learned if things ever start to get this bad where ever I work in the future, I'm going to turn in a 2 week notice pronto so it doesn't come down to this.

Well learned!

I can honestly say that in my entire nursing career - I've never left a job & regretted it! There's always something wonderful on the horizon.

Advice:

  1. Secure a recommendation from a colleague that worked at your hospital - preferably a charge nurse. That can overcome a lot when having to tell a perspective manager this story.
  2. Practice a positive version of the story - You left to become_______...or anything else that downplays the abruptness of your departure. There's always a positive spin - find it without lying, practice it so it doesn't sound hesitant.

Go out there & find the BEST nursing job for you!

Good luck!

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Joshua,

Refusing to accept that assignment took a lot of guts. :pumpiron:Kudos to you for doing what you had to do to protect your license! There is something far better out there for you, I pray you find it soon.

It must be a wonderful feeling to be free of that place! happy dance time! :wink2:

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Good for you!

If only more people would refuse to put up with the working conditions.

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Specializes in Med Surg, LTC, Home Health.
I was refusing to clock in or accept responsibility for that many patients.

Joshua,

Good for you my friend! If only others had your courage, you wouldnt have been in that situation in the first place. You did the right thing for sure! Let them call a staffing agency. It is what they should have been doing anyway if they werent so greedy. Never accept an assignment you feel to be unsafe. Dont wait two weeks if you are in that situation again. Refuse just like you did this time. You are a nurse that i am proud of! Good job! :yeah: :up:

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Whoa.

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I just hate to see it put everyone in a worse bind than they are already in. I would hate to be a patient and know the situation.

He sure didn't put them in a bind, they put themselves there.

Let the nurse manager come in and work in his place, like that would ever happen!

Nurses should be less concerned about where the patients are put in a situation like this than where they (the nurses) are put, in my opinion.

Nurses should unite and refuse to work under such conditions, then positive change could occur.

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Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.
Let the nurse manager come in and work in his place, like that would ever happen!

Years ago I ran into a nurse who was my former House Supervisor at this (ahem) hellhole we had both worked at. When I asked her if she was still working there, she replied that she had quit not long after I did. She told me that she had arrived at the hospital one evening to find that not only did she have a full house of very sick patients, with several of them needing blood transfusions, but also NO staff. When she called the DON and asked her to come in and help her, she was given this response: "Due to 'my position', I can't".

"Well", my former supervisor then informed her: "Due to 'my position', I quit".

Like the OP, she didn't clock in, either. She just turned around, went home and never returned.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PACU.

You certainly did the right thing. If more would do this then things may actually change so that patients can actually get safe care. It just seems that management is just cutting corners way too much and more nurses will have no choice but to walk out. I, too, have been there, done that.

Do take the other posters advise regarding getting references; and, sign up for agency work until you find something else. Unemployment is an option because you were put into a position of an unsafe assignment & had no choice but to leave because of hospital policy-there is a chance that you could win under a rule called constructive termination.

Wishing you well. You will eventually find something that allows you to practice nursing the right way. It may take a while; but, it WILL happen.

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Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, ED.
They were going to try and staff my acute med/surg floor with me (1 rn), 1 lpn and 2 aids for 28.:banghead:

My. God. :stone

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