Hello I need advice I am in a terrible situation. I have been a RN for 3 years now just transitioned from hospital for a long term care position. It wasn't my choice but I am per-diem at the local hospital and couldn't get full time. I only work there one weekend a month but they keep hiring new grads instead of giving me more hours
I started skilled LTC position 2 months ago evening shift. And it is not full time but 3 days a week and no weekends yet. I only got orientation for 2 weeks and it wasn't enough im afraid. Its too busy and Never slowed down at all. I get everything done really late and I don't have time to follow up on every single thing that day shift didn't do so then I give report to the night nurses and they give me attitude because I didn't get everything done. I don't understand because night shift isn't busy at all they don't do much so should that shift be the ones to follow up on left over stuff?
They do not ever follow up on anything either. I feel like I am drowning and being a target. 2 of the night nurses went to my manager when I was just off orientation and said that I leave things out of report all the time and thats a lie. There was only one time that I left out information but I was honest. My boss said to me "even just the one time was dangerous." I think it was a honest
mistake but not dangerous. It was a patient's endo appointment changed to be the next morning and I forgot to tell the night nurse to pass onto the day nurse. So the patients transport came and no one got the patient ready so the patient did not have time to eat and they are a diabetic. They got a snack to bring with them so they were ok. I apologized to my manager.
I got a verbal warning for that and begun to do better but then a week later the same two nurses said to my manager that I always leave the cart a mess, that they find pills in the cart all the time. They told her they found 1 unused syringe with insulin in it that I signed for. I should not have signed before I gave it. I was going to give it but it got too late and I got sidetracked. and then the night nurse came and she wanted the cart keys. I said "I just have to finish something" and she insisted I give her the keys and said "last night I waited 15 minutes"
My manager asked me if I am giving all of my medication or if I am just signing that I did. I told her I am giving everything and that I must have left refused pills in there. Then yesterday my manager called me and said that a patient who is AAOx3 told her that I gave all her 5pm pills with her 10pm pills. Yes I had to do that because there's not enough time!!! I have 18 patients!!!
Maybe if they had more staff or made some of the 10pm pills to be given after 11pm the night nurses could give them and there would be more of a balance! I used to work nights as a sitter in the hospital before I was a nurse! It was so easy that it was boring. My manager is siding with the 2 other nurses and even my evening nurse coworker said its notright! These night nurses are a clique and if you make one angry they all hang up like its high school. We are going into the next schedule period and I called my manager and asked why I am not on the schedule and I am meeting with her tomorrow. I asked if I am fired and she said no so I don't know what this means. I am scared and I feel betrayed and horrified. Has anyone been through workplace bullying before?
Okay 20 minutes ago TheCommuter posted a "play nice please" - nowI've deleted some more off-topic posts and I see we have 54 readers looking at this thread.
i know that I have a lot to work on and I am not going to make the mistakes again. But i think everyone is blowing it all up and im not that bad. I dont waste 15 minutes of people's time every evening that only happened once. She said she is not going to fire me so I will do better and prove it.
NO! YOU need to accept responsibility for YOUR mistakes, OP! Yes, it's overwhelming and it's not fair , but those are the cards you were dealt. You don't get to make med errors and put patients in danger because it's "too hard".
You need to first realize that you need more training and that you don't know it all and then you need to hope they give it to you. You should be apologizing and learning from all of this so that you can move forward.
LTC is probably just not for you, which is perfectly fine, but it really bothers me that you don't see the issue. Actually, it's scary!
Hello I need advice I am in a terrible situation. I have been a RN for 3 years now just transitioned from hospital for a long term care position. It wasn't my choice but I am per-diem at the local hospital and couldn't get full time. I only work there one weekend a month but they keep hiring new grads instead of giving me more hours
I started skilled LTC position 2 months ago evening shift. And it is not full time but 3 days a week and no weekends yet. I only got orientation for 2 weeks and it wasn't enough im afraid. Its too busy and Never slowed down at all. (1)I get everything done really late and I don't have time to follow up on every single thing that day shift didn't do so then I give report to the night nurses and they give me attitude because I didn't get everything done.(2) I don't understand because night shift isn't busy at all they don't do much so should that shift be the ones to follow up on left over stuff?
(3) They do not ever follow up on anything either. I feel like I am drowning and being a target. 2 of the night nurses went to my manager when I was just off orientation and said that I leave things out of report all the time and thats a lie. (4)There was only one time that I left out information but I was honest. My boss said to me "even just the one time was dangerous." I think it was a honest
mistake but not dangerous. It was a patient's endo appointment changed to be the next morning and I forgot to tell the night nurse to pass onto the day nurse. So the patients transport came and no one got the patient ready so the patient did not have time to eat and they are a diabetic. They got a snack to bring with them so they were ok. I apologized to my manager.
(5) I got a verbal warning for that and begun to do better but then a week later the same two nurses said to my manager that I always leave the cart a mess, that they find pills in the cart all the time. They told her they found 1 unused syringe with insulin in it that I signed for. I should not have signed before I gave it. I was going to give it but it got too late and I got sidetracked. and then the night nurse came and she wanted the cart keys. I said "I just have to finish something" and she insisted I give her the keys and said "last night I waited 15 minutes"
(6) My manager asked me if I am giving all of my medication or if I am just signing that I did. I told her I am giving everything and that I must have left refused pills in there. Then yesterday my manager called me and said that a patient who is AAOx3 told her that I gave all her 5pm pills with her 10pm pills. Yes I had to do that because there's not enough time!!! I have 18 patients!!!
Maybe if they had more staff or made some of the 10pm pills to be given after 11pm the night nurses could give them and there would be more of a balance! I used to work nights as a sitter in the hospital before I was a nurse! It was so easy that it was boring.
(7) My manager is siding with the 2 other nurses and even my evening nurse coworker said its notright! These night nurses are a clique and if you make one angry they all hang up like its high school. We are going into the next schedule period and I called my manager and asked why I am not on the schedule and I am meeting with her tomorrow. I asked if I am fired and she said no so I don't know what this means. I am scared and I feel betrayed and horrified. Has anyone been through workplace bullying before?
(1) I've seen things like this happen numerous times. Sometimes day shift doesn't get done what needs to be done and nights has to do it, and sometimes it's the other way around. IF you are running late because the night shift BEFORE you is not getting everything done, and it is affecting you, then you should speak with whoever you can about it. Shut it down immediately. If it' unfairly affecting you then you need to ensure that stops, so that in turn it doesn't cause you to be late.
(2) It differs from facility to facility. Night shift RNs and CNAs do NOT do as much as dayshifters do. It may be different at other facilities. I would need more information. Do they get anyone up for therapy? Does anyone need to be fed? Do they have to make phone calls to set up vital appointments? Do they need to speak with various doctors or family members? It differs.
(3) Let's entertain the notion that this may be true. If true this facility may indeed suck. It takes a bad manager to destroy morale and cause people to leave. Upper management should, in general, try to offer support, or at least follow up on things.
(4) I've seen this happen multiple times, even by the best. Newsflash: nurses can forget! Ignore anyone who pretends otherwise.
(5) That's a bit more serious than a missed appointment. Definitely don't sign in advance, and never leave pills or syringes out in the open where anyone can take them.
(6) What you need to do is find your groove. As how the other nurses organize and manage their time. When do they go out to do things? When do they stop to chart? See what's working for them and try to emulate that. Then go from there.
(7) Before anyone pipes up with the 'blah blah there can't be cliques and bullying and unfairness from mangers' crap realize it does exist and more often than some people think. Anyone with any sense of intelligence would consider the possibility that maybe you ARE going through these unfair things. Maybe. I don't assume it is so... but I don't turn my brain off and assume it can't, either. If that's happening, and you're stressed, and you're in need of help, I would rather ditch a ****** facility rather than lose my license. There are THOUSANDS of facilities out there. Update your resume. Keep you options open. Even send them out frequently just in case you want to jump from a rotting ship. ...it's your life, so make of it what you will.
I know how you feel. I have been terminated from one job. It wasn't an absolute termination because they offered me to work on another unit where there were less responsibilities. My dilemma was a bit different, but I know exactly how you feel. JUST BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF. I know you did the hard work, and you deserve to work, but are you really happy being in that environment if you are finding it difficult.
I never said thats being night nurse is a slice of cake. But ur not as busy as me. U have 3 meds to give.the rest seems like technical stuff with the machines and charts. I can't do this without leaving a few things for night shift i am only 1 person. They aren't cliques because they have no support they are catty and never talk to me they go to my boss and complain all the time. How is someone supposed to learn if no one shows me anything or ever helps me
What???? Yes in the ICU we have less patients but we make up for it in acuity in illness. We only have 3 meds? Alone (without any other meds) I am changing propofol drips for each patient every hour or two.
Long term care nursing is difficult. It is really hard to take care of 26-44 patients within the hour window of giving medications. Barring you have no interruptions. It is dangerous to double up on meds. I would be concerned about more than losing my job. You could've over medicated that poor woman.
This non-nurse offered a respectful, well thought out opinion that quite frankly was a delight to read after a couple by another non-nurse who insists on opening his pie hole repeatedly on this thread!
IMHO you are not as nurse, as you said yourself, so you really are in no position to offer an opinion period. If you haven't done the job you really have no basis to criticize. Now I have done that job and it is hard and you are often short staffed, over worked etc... And time management is crucial. Certainly the OP has some issues that are worrisome (and then some) however, as I said if your not a nurse and have not done the job your opinions would probably be more useful elsewhere.
I don't think it's so much your mistakes that are getting you in a bit of hot water, it's the attitude that goes with them. Any new employee will be apt to make some mistakes, if nothing else just because they are not yet familiar with the particular policies and procedures in the facility. Any new employee should then own up to it and ask how to fix it going forward.
What I see you doing however is making major mistakes unrelated to facility procedures. Leaving meds on the cart not given, drawing up an insulin and not giving it and combining meds that are scheduled five hours apart are all things you have done by your own admission. These are major nursing errors, not minor oops! sorry I'm new here errors. Then to compound this you proceed to blame everybody but yourself and then launch personal attacks on other posters.
To answer your initial question of "going to be fired" I would think yes you probably are. I know based on your attitude here I would certainly fire you. If you are not fired you will be very lucky indeed to have been given a second chance.
For your professional future I hope your attitude at work is not reflective of how you have presented yourself here.
Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.
Let's play nicely in the sandbox and stop nitpicking with each other, please. Let's discuss the OP's problems without debating who knows more about wounds or whether ADD and ADHD are real disorders.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks Commuter!
And on that note, I have a few suggestions for the original poster:
1) I know how you feel, I think. I am working in an LTC facility. I'm not a new grad, but I'm new to this facility.
2) about handing the cart and keys off on time for the next shift: I start prepping for report 30 mins-1 hr before they are scheduled to arrive. I double check my narc book, clean the cart, have my report sheet ready, etc so that they can take the cart ASAP. It's a professional courtesy I expect to be done for me (and it's not always done for me) But it's what I do to help the oncoming nurse be able to start on time
3) I look through my cart for dropped pills, garbage, etc before the shift arrives to make sure I haven't forgotten anything. Other nurses who find pills/syringes will either 1) talk mess about you, 2) call you on the phone about it or 3) tell the manager what they found
4) as far as time management at shift change, as I stated above, I get the cart ready for handover on time and AFTER I've given report, I sit elsewhere to complete unfinished stuff I have to do
5) as far as leaving work for the next shift, it really depends on your companies policy for handing off and taking overtime, as well as how much you just don't want to saddle the next shift with (it makes their job harder and can create colleague-relationship issues if not backed my company policy). I'm new, so I tend to stay and complete almost all of my tasks. My company seems to be ok with overtime. If they end up telling me they're not, I'll find out which tasks I'm allowed to pass on.
I think you may not be looking at the legal concerns such as signing off meds you did not give and not recognizing that certain issues can be dangerous to the patient. The way I tell the new grads I'm orienting is to give care promptly just as they would expect it it was their loved one. Time management is the hardest part of being a nurse, but another hard part is accepting responsibility for your own actions. I would suggest that maybe long term care is not for you.
No need to yell at me in caps. And theirs no need say that I will kill peopl. I don't. My goodness I see you are only 22 years old and not an RN. You are typical of night shift gal. I don't make excuses I gave further explanation and I am crying I got defensive. You make excuses go look at your own threads. I looked at YOUR user profile and saw topic you made about your 'Attention deficit disorder. ' that's not even real disease. Thats your make believe excuse for your incompetent
Enough whining. We're not on that other thread, we're on yours. If you don't like what you're reading, then get ye gone. The mods can delete or close this thread at your request if it's getting too tough for you.
LTC is a tough setting to work in, as is ICU. A good LTC nurse is likely to be one of the best nurses you'll ever meet. It's no place for amateurs and, with just 3 years in assisted living, you're a novice - just one step away from amateur. Act like a professional and take responsibility for your work. Good nurses never stop growing and we all still stumble at times. We solve that by learning from our errors. Blaming everyone and your dog is not how you do that.
traumaRUs, MSN, APRN
87 Articles; 21,287 Posts
Okay 20 minutes ago TheCommuter posted a "play nice please" - nowI've deleted some more off-topic posts and I see we have 54 readers looking at this thread.
PLAY NICE, STAY ON TOPIC
And yes, the caps are on purpose. Thanks.