Going to be fired?

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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?

You need to know which corners to cut. Medication administration timing ( to that extent) is not one of them.

You also need to know when to get out of a toxic environment. I would assume the reason you are not on the schedule, is because you are on suspension.

Give your resignation, you have nowhere to go but up.

Specializes in General Internal Medicine, ICU.

I'm sorry you are going through this, but please try to learn from it.

Ask for more orientation if you need to--other nurses manage to do all their work in their shifts, so it may be your time management skills. Try to cluster the things you need to do for one resident. Try to plan your shift ahead of time. Delegate if there are aides.

Do not assume that night shift isn't busy. Or as busy as day/evening shifts. I work both day and night shifts. Each is busy in its own way. Night staff rely on each other more and they are often responsible for prepping the patient for the day shift--night shift check charts, make sure the patient is prepared for their test and procedures for the next day, appropriate paperwork is done...etc. And if **** hits the fan? Next to no support available.

Seek help from your manager and take responsibility for your actions. The nurses may be clique-y but they called you out on legitimate issues. You are new to the unit--it is only natural that other nurses and your manager watch your every action. This is known as the probationary period. You must be on your best behaviour. It's a sink or swim world in nursing...so if you aren't swimming, you may find yourself drowning.

Being honest only gets you so far. Your manager doesn't care that it's a "harmless" mistake regarding the endo patient or that you can't figure out how to do your med passes in the time limit given. Those are mistakes that, to your manager, are indicative of your future performance as a staff nurse. If you are seen as incompetent, then you will be chopped.

Specializes in Med-Surg, Emergency, CEN.
Ok are we being punked here??????

THIS. I call shenanigans. This can't be a real person.

Specializes in long term care Alzheimers Patients.
Ok are we being punked here??????

I wouldn ' t be suprised

Specializes in PCCN.

Op, I'm sorry things are this way.

It really sounds like the LTC thing is really not suitable for you. It is what it is. I dont think your coworkers are ever going to let anything slide ( which they shouldn't anyway). Since the job is a struggle, why would you even want to stay there? I sure wouldn't want to.

The icu thing- very very unusual to only have 1 pt, and if they are 1:1 usually they are with 8 drips going, etc. Glad some people do this for a job, but I wouldn't want that responsibility unless I was well versed in it.

Unfortunately , I hear lately 3 is the norm in icu. So not safe.

Maybe something office would be better

Good luck. Sometimes we have to accept something is just not for us.

Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
I don't understand why everyone is being so dang rude here. I am falling apart right now. I do have 3 year experience in assisted living I left and they begged me stay. I went to the hospital oriented and got per diem hours they give full time to new grads to save money. I never said that ICU is cakewalk!! But 18 patients is to much. Everyone cut corners in skilled LTC . But they hide it better

Honey, take a breath. People are seeming to be rude because you are not getting it. Night shift is not easier than days or evenings; ICU is not easier than LTC. They all have their upsides and downsides.

Maybe you don't mean to sound like you're making excuses, but that is how your posts come across. I hope your manager will extend your orientation with a preceptor. I don't know if that will help, because you don't seem to know what you don't know. This isn't about whether you are a good person or a bad person; this is about your ability to deliver safe care. To be safe, you have to understand the gravity of your errors. When you minimize and make excuses, it causes people to think you don't understand what is required of you.

I really hope your employer can help you develop into the nurse your patients need. Good luck.

Specializes in Med/Surg, Ortho, ASC.

OP, if you are a real nurse and not punking us, I beg you to take another minute to reconsider a move to ICU. Your posts show a true knowledge deficit that could critically affect any ICU patient you might have, and could have serious impact on your career. Quantity of patients is not the only criteria that make any given nursing job relatively difficult or easy. Critical thinking skills, time management, and taking responsibility for your own actions are all areas that appear to be lacking. You could/should try another type of acute care role before jumping into ICU, since your previous 2 positions have been ALF & LTC.

You should reconsider for your own benefit, if nothing else. And please, in future posts, try to refrain from personally attacking a poster, as in demeaning an LPN's license. That will never serve you well, and shows a demonstrable lack of maturity.

Specializes in Telemetry.

Granted, I only have hospital experience, but from what I've read here on All Nurses, 2 weeks orientation is awfully generous, and an assignment of 18 residents doesn't sound like a crazy number. Not to say it isn't difficult work - I'm sure it is. I just remember many nurses writing about having many more residents and less orientation.

Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Im sry I got defensive I wrote this here cause I'm crying my eyes out I thought someone else could give me good advice and say they went trough it too

OK. I actually did go through it. I worked agency briefly and one of the LTC places they sent me to was a pit. I took report from another agency nurse, and gave report to an agency nurse. I received a sticky unstocked cart and passed on a sticky unstocked cart. It was all I could do to pass meds safely. I had no orientation whatsoever. Funnily enough, the state was breathing down the neck of that facility. They wanted me to make sure to initial all the squares. They didn't seem to care if I actually did what I was signing for.

I worked 5 shifts there before I told the agency I wasn't available for that facility any longer. I was a wreck. That is not how I practice nursing. So OP, if it's that bad, get out of there. I would get a nice job selling shoes someplace before I risked my license in a place like that again.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Mi already said 3 times I am responsible for mistakes but they are saying I am going tokill people and that i a bad nurse that is rude

The posts you quoted didn't say anything about you killing people, but that is definitely a risk given some of the medication errors you admit to, never mind the ones you won't admit to or don't realize you've made. If you're a bad nurse -- and you are -- it is not "rude" to tell you do. You're a bad nurse. Continue as you are, and you will kill people. You don't seem to get that, and that makes you especially dangerous.

Specializes in Hospice.
no the hospital is going to give me more hours when a position opens in icu.they only have one patient so it will be a lot easier

SO much about everything you've said gives me chills.

In almost all your posts you pay lip service to taking responsibility for your actions, but you ultimately wind up blaming someone else for some very serious errors.

I can't believe that your employer is going to allow you into critical care when you can't manage a regular MedSurg load. Wondering if they're just trying to unload you on another unit so you stop making your current one look bad.

Don't think that having "only one patient" in critical care is easy. I'll leave the particulars to any critical care nurses out there, since it's not my area of expertise.

Frankly, you have a lot of maturing to do. As others have pointed out, you could severely injure, if not kill, a patient. If you were a co-worker of mine, I would certainly distance myself from you.

Agree.

To add: whether you don't like the delivery, you are not practicing safely, which is a HUGE target in the facility's back by the state; each time you practice unsafely, it has to be reported-clustering meds and not giving meds must be reported immediately; failure to do so it a delay in care, failure to rescue and constitutes as negligence in which the facility has to report or face fine or sanction by the state because they were improperly taking care of the patients.

LTC is a highly regulated industry; the population is vulnerable, and there have been a history of people not doing what is right by this population, hence the high regulations, as well as a prompt need to error anything that occurs, for the benefit of the residents.

While this is true, it seems so wrong to not punish those who make nurses work at breakneck speed and want to say that nurses, even relatively inexperienced ones like OP, who had only 2 weeks orientation, are to blame and can't manage their time.

OP, NEVER leave meds on your cart for the next nurse to find. NEVER.

Get rid of your belief that Night shift is easier. It is hard on your body if you can't sleep when you're off duty, it can be very busy in its own right. Don't expect Night nurses to be thrilled that you didn't finish tasks. I know we are 24/7 and one shift should pick up where the other left off, but this is a real problem in some facilities where each shift looks out only for itself.

Maybe the Night nurses are catty, maybe they aren't. Try asking them for advice. They might surprise you.

Do not turn over your cart keys until narcs are counted.

Don't keep Nights waiting. They need to get started. Even 15 minutes can mess them up.

ICU isn't necessarily any easier than what you are doing now. As stated by others, ICU used to mean you had one pt, now it's 2 or 3. In some hospitals, you are the Recovery Room after hours, too.

Try to examine your attitudes and perceptions. Restock your cart, put the other nurses' needs before your own if you possibly can (don't keep them waiting for the cart, the count, report - unless you're on a Code or something else urgent - not just your own charting or your own tasks). Give up feeling sorry for yourself or jealous of others.

I wish you the best.

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