I am in dire need of some perspective here, y'all. This may get wordy, so I apologize in advance. Please bear with me.
Three months ago I interviewed for a wonderful-sounding job. The staff was friendly and seemed very professional, the manager spends lots of time on the floor and is involved with her staff, and the full-time requirements were 3 days one week, four days the next. I was promised 12 weeks of preceptorship (it's a new area of practice for me) and quoted a rate of pay that's competitve for my area. During my staff interview, one person mentioned that "most" of the nurses list one day per pay period that "we're available if they need us, in which case they call us in". HR said there was a dress code, but when I asked the manager about it, she shrugged it off and said that we shouldn't wear sleeveless shirts, opened-toed shoes, the usual stuff, not to worry about it.
Surprise #1: My second week there, my preceptor mentioned to me that my manager had told her to tell me not to wear my denim scrubs again- I might "get in trouble" since denim is not allowed. I'd worn these scrubs to general hospital orientation twice and had no reason to think they weren't allowed on the floor. I wasn't concerned, just said, thanks, I didn't know, I won't wear them again. "NO DENIM!" was specified in a note on my 30-day-evaluation. I would have commented, had the paper not been shoved under my nose as I was going into a patient's room and my manager said hurriedly, "Here, sign this quick, Joint Commision is coming, and I need to have these all done." I thought the mark-down was unfair, since she hadn't seen fit to say anything to me herself, and I didn't have any way at the time of knowing I'd done anything wrong.
Surprise #2: My manger announced that my preceptorship would be ending after 6 weeks since she needed the staff, and as an orientee, I "didn't count" as staff.
Surprise #3: Orientation was over, and I was making about $1.50/hour less than what I'd been quoted.
Surprise #4: Those days we "needed to be available" were actually mandatory overtime. I'd asked for Mondays off for a previous commitment to volunteer work, and was immediately granted the schedule I'd "asked for": Tuesday-Friday, 12-hour days, every week. The reason only "most" of us are required to do this is that the part-time staff is not required to. The following month I requested Wednesdays off for church. I got one Wednesday off; otherwise, my schedule remained the same.
Surprise #5: Our unit secretary began treating me rudely, not finishing orders on my charts, ignoring me when I asked for charts I needed immediately for emergent situations. Charts she's worked on are put back in the rack with the metal rings open, and when I pick them up, everything falls out. She'll say she paged me when she hadn't, then tell my manger I'd left the floor and no one could find me. She'll also page me 5 or 6 times over 2 minutes and tell my manager how many times she "had" to page me before I responded. Patient care is constantly interrupted, and my patients have noticed and commented on how often I'm called out of the room. Small tasks then take forever to finish, which she will announce to everyone present in the main nurse's station. When I've attempted to discuss this with her, she turns her head and refuses to speak to me, which is blown off by my manager. "She just needs time to sort of work through conflicts", I was told. She is acting like a two-year-old, I think, and my patients are paying for it. Several other employees have noticed her behavior also.
Surprise #6: 60-day evuluation, I was marked down for calling in sick twice. I'd never called in sick, although once I was sent home by the charge nurse in the middle of the day for constant vomiting and diarrhea.
Surprise #7: I was assigned a patient in critical condition with which I had no experience. I'd stated in my interview that I was interested in training for this type of patient, but none was received before I was assigned this patient alone. When I protested, and cited my shortened orientation period, my manager disagreed, stating that I had started work ONE MONTH BEFORE I ACTUALLY HAD. It took me several minutes to convince her that I'd started when I did.
Surprise #8: 90-day evalutation, I was written up for two separate incidents. One, a patient I'd started IVF on had gotten too much NS, because it hadn't been stopped at the appropriate time. The time at which it was to be stopped was at 2130- two hours after I'd reported off and left. Secondly, I was told that I'd left at night before report was over. I didn't think I had, so I asked when this supposedly happened. Neither supervisor at this meeting could specify a date or person who'd made the accusation. After I questioned it several times, the story changed to "a few charge nurses" who'd complained of this. Still, no dates were fresh in anyone's memory. I was offered "another chance", a prolonged probation, with the threat of termination if things did not improve. I wrote a long comment stating my position, and when I expressed concern that the actions and/or words of others, over which I have no control, seem to have a heavy impact on my job security, my senior supervisor looked me in the eye and said, "I never take any action based on hearsay". 
Well......
I am totally at a loss as to how best to deal with this. Even if I knew who else to go to, I'm always at work and don't want to ask permission from my manager for time off the floor to go complain about her and her boss. Three other people who started the same time I did have had similar experiences, and one told me, "My interview was a complete fabrication." I've learned (surprise, surprise) that this floor has long had an extremely high turnover rate. While I'd ideally like to honor my contract (anything else will cost me my bonus), certainly no statements made to me have been honored. I started out liking this job, and feel more miserable, exhausted, stressed, frustrated, and paranoid every day. I realize I've been lucky to have previously worked with honest and fair employers, and I have no reference for this kind of treatment. I enjoy working with most of my co-workers. My patients have filled out several comment cards on the excellent care they've gotten from me, and when I'm allowed to take care of them the way I learned to, I'm happy.
I ask all battle-wise nurses present for your input.
Da Monk
78 Posts
Another thought. At a $1.50 less per hour and not counting raises over time and overtime pay, that $1.50 less per hour comes to $31,200.00 less over a ten year period, based on a 40 hour week. And that money could have gone into a tax-deferred account, earning a pretty penny towards your retirement years. Screw 'um. LEAVE!!