Update on LTC job

[namazonian]

hi all,

after 6 weeks of orientation at the ltc job, i've officially had it and will be resigning. there were too many signs things were awry and i fear for so many things on a daily basis. my preceptors only cared that they didn't "want to leave late" as i was being oriented on my shift (finally, after nearly begging the don) these past two weeks. i was told that i could not work past my shift because orientees don't qualify for overtime and if anything was to happen after my shift that the facility will not pay. well, i had not only missed breaks this week i also had to punch out for my shift to come up and finish what i couldn't in my alloted time, all the while i was berated by my preceptor that i should have started earlier on med pass (i did but didn't know any of the 22 patients on her wing) even though i had to do this alone without any assistance. prior to this she would seek me out just to find out if i was doing her side as if i (and i probably was) just a helper to her. then she would dip off to the employee lounge or go make phone calls in the supply closet. i don't even have a job lined up to fall back on and i realize that i will be dealing with not getting unemployment for 6 weeks but i can't cope anymore. i feel so cheated and unprepared and one of the worst things is that nursing was a career change for me and as a consequence of the education i am thousands of dollars in debt that i haven't started paying back yet. i called off work today and spent the day nearly sick and sad applying for jobs, nearly crying, and typing out my resignation letter to submit come monday. i don't know what else to do and don't even know if nursing is for me anymore. i've never felt more demoralized and useless until i started this job. the only thing i can say is that i have another degree to fall back on but i don't see any jobs in that field. if anyone has any advice as to what else to do it would be greatly appreciated.

[ObtundedRN, BSN, RN]

I would keep the job while looking. It is easier to find a job when you currently have one...

[Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN]

First off I wouldn't work there either because of the whole overtime situation. I sign out at the time I leave. Whether they pay me for it or not.. thats their problem. I like to go home with my work completed. Whether I finish it at 11:15 or 1:30am. I also don't like that your preceptor abandoned you for the medpass. I recently trained a new nurse and I stayed by her side most of the night. I only left to answer the phone or go find something we didn't have.

If you want to work in LTC, try another facility. They aren't all the same. Even try hospitals, clinics, MD offices. I wouldn't give up on nursing just yet if I were you.

[netglow, ASN, RN]

Aww namazonian, you did what you had to. There was no other way. Your decision is always the best in the end. I've always told myself that I just can't have someone take my license and put it in the shredder. I'd rather give up nursing than have that happen.

[namazonian]

Hi onaclearday,

That is how I'm feeling now. I feel hopeless and prone to mistakes. I feel that if I keep going especially in my mental state now I will just end up getting fired or my license seized. I know in this economy its tough but I feel that I should never have taken this job, even though I was on the brink of foodstamps. Last week before work I actually hoped that I would get into a fender bender to delay me from having to go into work or just not be able to make it at all. This is not how I want to live.

[NaKcl, BSN, RN]

I agree with ObtundedRN. I will be easier to find a job with a current employment. I understand your frustration because I have been in your shoes when I started nursing job. Whenever I get frustrated at work, I think this way; I am doing my job the best way I can and I am building my work experience.

either good or bad situation, I learn from it.

Give it at least 6 months or 1 year. You will have some experience under your belt and will help you find a new job.

If you think about it in a long run, 6months or 1 year go fast.

Cheer up for your self . those lazy, lazy people are everywhere.

Good luck!

[Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN]

Hi onaclearday,

That is how I'm feeling now. I feel hopeless and prone to mistakes. I feel that if I keep going especially in my mental state now I will just end up getting fired or my license seized. I know in this economy its tough but I feel that I should never have taken this job, even though I was on the brink of foodstamps. Last week before work I actually hoped that I would get into a fender bender to delay me from having to go into work or just not be able to make it at all. This is not how I want to live.

But you are new. Everybody feels hopeless and prone to mistakes when they are a new nurse. There are times when I feel I'm going to get called into the DON's office the next day because I messed something up. Hasn't happened knock on wood. But I've made mistakes. We've all made mistakes.

[nursejoed]

LTC care is evil and makes a joke of nursing. People can learn to get by, but they're enabling the management to get away with the conditions and staffing patterns that are so horrible. People will say, "You'll get better at organizing," or "You'll get a system", but that doesn't excuse the obscene patient to nurse ratios. No matter how good your system is, one patient issue can bring the whole shift down..

[namazonian]

Hi nursejoed,

I was almost conjuring something descent to think about LTC several times but you hit the nail right on the head with this one. I feel that if I'm not part of the solution, I will soon be part of the problem. I don't see a " system" being of value if it is designed to be a failure with the LTC ratios. It seems that everyone I've been under has taken so many short cuts and even things like falls or patients flipping out in the middle of the shift take so ridiculusly long to tame that indeed it puts a huge dent in one's day as it has done with mine numerous times. I don't feel like I'm even positiviely influencing the lives of these patients, but rather enabling the ones especially dependent on all the narcs to keep being drug seekers and trying to manipulate I and other nurses into giving them narcs early when they know that we can't. I feel like a drug pusher at times and nothing more.

[CFitzRN, ADN]

That facility and that job sound like utter nightmares. I am not of the belief that you should stick it out. I think you are very vulnerable there, and it is a major negative event just waiting to happen. I'm not sure what sort of support you have - family, spouse, etc - but now is the time to ask for help. I think you know in your heart of hearts that this job is wrong wrong wrong. It's just really too bad that I hear this sort of thing from SO many nurses working LTC. This is not going to get better as Baby Boomers age - it is going to get much, much worse. I don't understand why so many of these facilities are run so horribly.

[INLPN93]

LTC isn't evil, money hungry corporate heartless administrators are.

Most are looking for a profit for the corporation and nice fat yearly bonus for themselves.

Look for a small Privately Owned Facility, these are not about the bottom buck but about the residents and ultimately staff.

I have worked at several corporations and won't ever again. The difference in the operation and the attitude is unbelievable.

I am now at a small, privately operated facility of less than 70 residents. In May it will be 2 years with them, I work with staff that have been there for 20+ years. Nurses, dietary and housekeeping alike. Longevity of staff tells you that the quality of care for the entire building is top notch.

My last day ever with a large corporate owned facility was the day I walked in for a week-end position for my first shift, with a RN who didn't know how to use a Glucometer, and no one to orientate me or her... our preceptor was a no call-no show. The DON's response to me was, "you've worked in a nursing home before figure it out, the CNAs can tell you who's who because I'm 4 hours away". Over the phone and extremely rude too.

So, I've witnessed good, bad and ugly. Been treated like poo in a bedpan, but I have also been treated really well too.

Find your spot but don't label LTC over some really, really rude people.

I can tell you that there are more caring LTC nurses than the rude, thoughtless nurses at the place you describe.

Keep the job, it is easier to get hired if you have a job and you will be offered a higher salary too. Without employment you will get base pay as an offer, no extras. This is to 'convince' you to work for them, every facility does this~ good and bad.

[namazonian]

Hi INLPN93,

Exactly what "bonuses" do you mean? I'm willing to work base right now as long as I am actually being oriented and not fearing for my life (and license) and patient's lives on a daily basis. As for the facility being "young" this is also certainly true of my place as they've recently cleaned house and all the RNs are in my age range of mid twenties. The "older nurses" are all LPNs and I don't know how in goodness name they have hung around this place so long. The building has 75% new nurses and 25% seasoned nurses and I try my damndest to get adviced from the more seasoned ones because I feel strange getting it from someone nearly as green as me who has only been out of school 3 months. I'm not sure if I can shake this feeling of leaving enough to go in ready to work on Monday but I do have my resignation typed up and ready to go.