Angry ER RN new n LTC

Specialties Geriatric

Published

I just want to scream so bad right now.

I am an ER nurse new to ltc. I took a prn job as a nursing facility. orientation was to be for 5 days..

1st day of orientation..did med passes and all that needed to be done. They have two nurses...one passes meds and one charts....No big deal...passing meds is not rocket science..i give meds in the ER. day two ..passing meds again with the same nurse orienting me...i had explained that i am comfortable with med passes...i need to know the documentation and the charting process, calling doctors and lab or whatever..ER charting and protocol and LTC charting. and protocol.two different worlds.. NO USEFUL PROTOCOL MANUAL.... The nurse who deals with charting.. ( heard by other staff members she is very territorial..hates people invading her space) she actually told me that in a way also..Not in a mean way...just said she has OCD, and likes things a certain way ..no big deal.

Day three comes...i decide that i want to know the charting routine..not med passes...the same nurse who has been orienting me to passing meds seemed kind of peeved that i want to "manage to help and learn "with the other lady who does all the charting, labs and calling doctors stuff.. three hours later..she states she feels she has a fever and her heart rate is elevated..i personally checked her pulse..84. She called the DON and states she needs to go home at 11am. She gave me the key to pass the meds..she literally didnt do anything..i didnt learn anything again..each time i try to ask about charting . She states " oh the unit manager does it,,youll be fine" she went home.

I was at my regular job. The scheduling lady called stating the DON wants to cut my orientation to three days and let me be on her own. I told her.not possible..all i have been doing is passing meds.

days four..no luck..pass meds again...

yesterday was day five..last day..3-11 shift..another nurse ..explained to her today is my last day. Seemed helpful and nice..started to help me with paper work..40 munites later...did a couple of finger sticks..5pm meds and 6 pm meds not done yet.. around 7.30 pm.she states she has to go pick up her daughter..i said ill help pass the meds...she left. Couldnt find med key...she mistakenly took it with her.she didnt leave a cell phone..nobody had the keys..she didnt get back till 10 pm..call bells had been ringing since 8.30..no insulin done..majority of these patients are alert and oriented..guess who had to pass the meds and apologize for "me being late to give meds"...ME.

11pm still passing meds..nurses leaving patting me on the back stating. " You are still passing meds???:angryfireOh..eventually you'll be able to do it quicker..u are still learning" what did my preceptor do..sit behind the desk..chart a little bit and eat her food..i didnt have a break..i left there 12.10 pm..

Still dont know a lick of charting..last day of orientation..I am about to call the DON and tell her..if i dont get at least two days of orientation to focus on the documantation...I QUIT!!:angryfire i have so many other options.

Specializes in geriatrics,med/surg,vents.

Day three comes...i decide that i want to know the charting routine..not med passes...the same nurse who has been orienting me to passing meds seemed kind of peeved that i want to "manage to help and learn "with the other lady who does all the charting, labs and calling doctors stuff.. three hours later..she states she feels she has a fever and her heart rate is elevated..i personally checked her pulse..84. She called the DON and states she needs to go home at 11am. She gave me the key to pass the meds..she literally didnt do anything..i didnt learn anything again..each time i try to ask about charting . She states " oh the unit manager does it,,youll be fine" she went home.

I was at my regular job. The scheduling lady called stating the DON wants to cut my orientation to three days and let me be on her own. I told her.not possible..all i have been doing is passing meds.

days four..no luck..pass meds again...

yesterday was day five..last day..3-11 shift..another nurse ..explained to her today is my last day. Seemed helpful and nice..started to help me with paper work..40 munites later...did a couple of finger sticks..5pm meds and 6 pm meds not done yet.. around 7.30 pm.she states she has to go pick up her daughter..i said ill help pass the meds...she left. Couldnt find med key...she mistakenly took it with her.she didnt leave a cell phone..nobody had the keys..she didnt get back till 10 pm..call bells had been ringing since 8.30..no insulin done..

And you want to work there WHY???!!!!???

Specializes in ER, TRAUMA, MED-SURG.

Good luck with that!! I was kind of the same situation not long ago, on a vent LTC unit, and it turned out to be a nightmare!! I am an ER nurse by trade, and it was miserable! Narcs missing, and the nurse orienting me, just said, "I'm not surprised. They'll probably turn up SOMEWHERE." SOMEWHERE?????? You gotta be kidding me!! Give me an ER full of traumas, drug seekers, and PIAs instead of that anyday!

Anne, RNC

Specializes in OB, NP, Nurse Educator.

This happened to me once - I was told that "Cindy" always does the charting. I was never allowed to chart, and was told repeatedly not to worry about it. Well Cindy did not come to work one day because he husband was in a MVA. And guess what? I did not know how to chart. I called the nursing supervisor, and the nurse manager at home. They were freaking out, and the nurse manager had to come in to help with the charting. After that we all rotated duties.

2 weeks my a**! They haven't given you the courtesy to teach your job correctly they wouldn't get 2 weeks from me!! This place sounds unorganized and dangerous...RUN...FAST![/quote']

Exactly what I was thinking. I'd just run for the hills! Forget giving 2wks notice!

Not wanting to appear ignorant - but, can you let other people chart for you? I would be scared to death to let somebody else do my charting.

Specializes in Emergency.

Personally if I am going to moonlight its going to be in another ER not LTC.

Rj

Specializes in acute care.

any updates?

I just want to scream so bad right now.

I am an ER nurse new to ltc. I took a prn job as a nursing facility. orientation was to be for 5 days..

1st day of orientation..did med passes and all that needed to be done. They have two nurses...one passes meds and one charts....No big deal...passing meds is not rocket science..i give meds in the ER. day two ..passing meds again with the same nurse orienting me...i had explained that i am comfortable with med passes...i need to know the documentation and the charting process, calling doctors and lab or whatever..ER charting and protocol and LTC charting. and protocol.two different worlds.. NO USEFUL PROTOCOL MANUAL.... The nurse who deals with charting.. ( heard by other staff members she is very territorial..hates people invading her space) she actually told me that in a way also..Not in a mean way...just said she has OCD, and likes things a certain way ..no big deal.

Day three comes...i decide that i want to know the charting routine..not med passes...the same nurse who has been orienting me to passing meds seemed kind of peeved that i want to "manage to help and learn "with the other lady who does all the charting, labs and calling doctors stuff.. three hours later..she states she feels she has a fever and her heart rate is elevated..i personally checked her pulse..84. She called the DON and states she needs to go home at 11am. She gave me the key to pass the meds..she literally didnt do anything..i didnt learn anything again..each time i try to ask about charting . She states " oh the unit manager does it,,youll be fine" she went home.

I was at my regular job. The scheduling lady called stating the DON wants to cut my orientation to three days and let me be on her own. I told her.not possible..all i have been doing is passing meds.

days four..no luck..pass meds again...

yesterday was day five..last day..3-11 shift..another nurse ..explained to her today is my last day. Seemed helpful and nice..started to help me with paper work..40 munites later...did a couple of finger sticks..5pm meds and 6 pm meds not done yet.. around 7.30 pm.she states she has to go pick up her daughter..i said ill help pass the meds...she left. Couldnt find med key...she mistakenly took it with her.she didnt leave a cell phone..nobody had the keys..she didnt get back till 10 pm..call bells had been ringing since 8.30..no insulin done..majority of these patients are alert and oriented..guess who had to pass the meds and apologize for "me being late to give meds"...ME.

11pm still passing meds..nurses leaving patting me on the back stating. " You are still passing meds???:angryfireOh..eventually you'll be able to do it quicker..u are still learning" what did my preceptor do..sit behind the desk..chart a little bit and eat her food..i didnt have a break..i left there 12.10 pm..

Still dont know a lick of charting..last day of orientation..I am about to call the DON and tell her..if i dont get at least two days of orientation to focus on the documantation...I QUIT!!:angryfire i have so many other options.

Specializes in here and there.

I spoke to the DON, she gave me another week to focus on the paperwork...we will see how it goes................

I'm a med/surg nurse who has tried LTC on 3 different occasions. Both times were horrible. I will never do it again because what you explain is only a fraction of what seems to be the "norm". I will never do it again.

Med Passes were a nightmare, IMO. I saw so many med mistakes that nobody wanted to acknowledge. One nurse gave all the medications from 8am to 6pm for the patients, so she wouldn't have to do a repeat pass. It was insane. They also would document all meds as being give, even if they were refused by patients because they said "the state doesn't like it if they see meds as not admin'd". Absolutely crazy.

Specializes in acute care and geriatric.

Med Passes were a nightmare, IMO. I saw so many med mistakes that nobody wanted to acknowledge. One nurse gave all the medications from 8am to 6pm for the patients, so she wouldn't have to do a repeat pass. It was insane. They also would document all meds as being give, even if they were refused by patients because they said "the state doesn't like it if they see meds as not admin'd". Absolutely crazy.

ok- someone should have their license revoked/

Any med that is refused must be documented as refused and reported to the MD- if they repeatedly refuse- have it D/C'ed and replaced if necessary with something the patient will accept.

LTC does not have to be a nightmare - there are good places out there where good , professional and by-the-book nursing is practiced.

Some of the places described here as the above one should be reinspected.

I once had a bully of a nurse who got the evening or night nurse to prepare her meds for her so all she had to do was give them out- she sat all day with her cig and coffe and the patients were afraid of her- gave nursing a bad name - unfortunately her hubby is a top surgeon so the DON (whose hubby works with that surgeon) looked away. She is taking 2 years to get her RN, hope she doesn;t come back.

I've been reading the other opinions and I have to tell you, those nurses that caused you all that trouble are the nurses you are going to be working with all the time. Lazy nurses, "territorial" nurses, etc. are going to be a pain every day in that facility. I work in a fairly big facility and we all interact a lot of different ways all the time. Charting is a huge deal. As you know as an ER nurse, it's the only way to know whats going on. Think about dealing with that staff every day.

Specializes in LTC, ER, ICU, Psych, Med-surg...etc....

It is very sad when we "eat our own" and then we complain we have no help.... I am sorry this happened to you. Make sure when you talk again to the DON that she has a clear understanding of what your needs are and that you have a clear understanding of her expectations. It sounded to me like they needed somebody to pass meds and you were handy. I once was in a "precepted program" for nurses who had been out of the hospital for awhile and wanted to "refresh" their skills. It was a six month program and I thought "great!"...well to make a long story short, I ended up being the patsy...it was "Oh let her do it she's in orientation and needs the experience", "Oh assign those 9 total care geriatric patients to her because she has long term care experience," and "Oh give her the 13 patients and the HIV kid that no one else wants to take care of because she is in orientation and needs the experience," and on top of the patient assignment, "Oh let her draw all the blood today because she is in orientation and needs the experience"...well my sad butt was in "orientation" for six freaking months and I was no more than slave labor to do what the other nurses didn't want to do. I would go home after my shift and not be able to pull my shoes off and walk because my feet hurt so bad... I was young and nieve (sp) then and afraid to take up for myself, so I just did it. I made it the six months...none the worse for the wear, and swore I would never treat a "new" person like I was treated.

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