I Can’t Get Out of Dialysis

HomeBound · Feb 4, 2019

Unfortunately, Natkat, this is how nursing is structured, and it's deliberate.

The PTB are not interested in hearing "this nurse has potential, but she needs training up". That means dollars that are "wasted" on a 2:1 "nonproductive" preceptorship that may and may not work out. You may hate the new position or they may hate you.

Second, have you been using your current employer as a reference? Are they on theworknumber.com or do they do employment verifications the old fashioned way?

The reason I ask is that your current employer may be the one preventing you from moving on. They can, and often do (against the law, but hey, if they don't get caught.....) get calls from equally unscrupulous RN Mgrs or HR people who want the "inside scoop". If your current employer doesn't want you leaving? All they have to do is poison the well, behind your back and very quietly.

A friend had an internet company call her present and past employers---it's a thing now---to find out what is being said about her before she applies for other jobs. It was a shock to her---and if the employers didn't actually DO THIS (badmouthing their own employees in order to keep them trapped in a job)---there would be no market for it. It's a huge thing.

1. you need to find out what your employer is saying. it was $175 for my pal to hire this company to pose as a prospective employer and ask all kinds of questions. they even give you a written as well as audio transcript of what was said. ***and for all of you RN Mgrs out there who think you're so clever in doing this---be aware---I would be the first one to sue you and have your license tagged for doing this. It's unethical and it's not your place to ruin someone's chances because you cannot staff your toxic or overworked unit.

2. find references that do not work for your present company. sometimes, you can approach a RN Mgr at a unit where you want to work---and circumvent HR---I've done this and it works very well. Sometimes---the the problem is some know nothing in HR with a tiny bit of power and a list of "boxes to check". They know NOTHING and they think they know it all---and I've heard directly from one Manager at a Sentara hospital I had applied to---that she would have hired me on the spot---but when the issue was investigated---the HR person admitted she "threw the resume in the trash" because I had, in her opinion, changed jobs too many times (I had changed careers, not jobs per se). The Manager was furious. There is nothing you're going to do about these unethical people, but to go around them. Word of warning. ...

I did this at my part time job in my second career (I am transitioning away from nursing)---because it had been 8 years since I had done this particular job. I'm still certified, fortunately---and all I needed was a refresher.

The HR person was absolutely livid that the Mgr and I had spoken without HR involved first. The Mgr loved me and wanted to give me a chance to buff up my previous skills, and saw that being a NURSE on top of it---BONUS!!! But the HR person not only was furious about me doing the end run---she also was more interested in trying to force me to take a lower paying, high unit turnover, out of my specialty (8 pts instead of my usual ICU 1:1) RN job.

She did everything she could. She slow walked my background check. Then she wasn't "satisfied" with the answers I gave as to why I had taken a year off. She wanted a detailed description of what I did with my year. Then she didn't tell me what my schedule for hospital orientation would be. When I asked for the Manager's direct number, she said she wasn't allowed to give me the contact information. Then, I was emailed at midnight on a Sunday saying that orientation was to begin at 0730 the next morning. I managed to scramble to rearrange my day, but I was exhausted---and had I not checked my email before going to bed, I would have been a "no call no show" and terminated immediately.

This is what HR does now. These are the s****y tactics that RN Mgrs and facilities are using to retain staff at gunpoint...and it ruins your reputation in the community as a bonus.

3. Try and find something off the nursing grid---school nursing or an outpatient center, maybe an urgent care. Dialysis RNs are very accustomed to pts crumping and being critically ill. You have serious skills. This seems to be a case of your present employer poisoning your chances.

4. Take a couple of classes on trauma RN or even do a research internship. Try home health---or.......DO TRAVEL NURSING.

I met many times many travel nurses in the ER that had come directly from psych, ICU, med surg---and NO the facilities are not the best. They are troubled, toxic environments. But you can get something for 13 weeks in your area (don't let anybody fool you with the 50 mile rule. that only applies to your tax free housing status. if you want another job in another specialty, you suck it up buttercup and take something that may not be ideal, in order to get the experience on your resume.)---and then take that 4 months and parlay it into "hey, I did a travel job in the ER or PACU or Med Surg---and here is my recommendation from X company and some of my colleagues"

It's easy to circumvent these problems. There are up and up ways, as I have mentioned---and there are not so up and up ways---if you want to do any of them, I would be careful, but they do work on occasion---such as using one person to pose as several different references, who have "left the company" that you work for---or have a friend say that they employ you as a home health nurse for their aunt Mabel or whomever...it's all in how comfortable you are that if you go into a unit that you aren't familiar with the basics...will you drown and get fired?

I'm ICU and ED, some burn and GI, former prehospital and second careerist in healthcare....I can fake it til I make it in a lot of environments---and I have cut out these toxic managers that will do anything they need to do to keep me on staff plugging their staffing problems.

Try to be creative. There are ways around these people.

Good luck.