I am considering quitting after four months..

Nurses Career Support

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Very long post!
I am an ICU RN with 4 years of experience.
I went from full time to PRN at my first hospital to accept a full time position at a hospital much closer to where I live.
itnwas not an ICU position, but a rapid response team position. Which I wanted to try, I am always interested in learning new things

as soon as I began orientation, the covid pandemic began and the hospital switched to a surge schedule. The new rapid unit was put on hold and we were never told. Rather they cut orientation off and threw us into a med surg float pool (again without really notifying us.)

I stated I am not a med surg nurse (I have always struggled with the patient load and work much more efficiently with 2-3 very sick patients.) and I would be happy to stay assist during covid in the ICU, otherwise I would be leaving and staying at my first hospital in the ICU.
they kept putting me in med surg, while the ICU nurses kept saying how they needed help.
then I didn’t even receive a schedule and no one answered my calls.

one day as I was about to call and quit, the ICU director ssaid I can use your help. From that point on I was in the ICU. I got zero orientation and had to teach myself the charting system. Figured policies out by myself. But I stuck it out and roughed through, we all were in the pandemic.
I even contracted covid and only missed three shifts, I kept working at both hospitals

fastforward to now.. I frequently am not given a schedule and I have to make my own. I don’t have an actual supervisor, as I don’t have a unit I belong to. I just am placed in ICU as RN.” I get no info on the unit I originally agreed to work at.
And now the ICU staff is questioning why I am still there, I’m not “part of them.” And the pandemic surge is over.

no one answers my emails. It is like I have slipped through the cracks. I had to call out this Saturday and Sunday for a family emergency. The staffing supervisor said to notify my unit supervisor. I said I didn’t have one.. I tried notifying the ICU supervisor and the woman who hired me. and no reply. I don’t have a schedule yet again.

Looooong post but I have been feeling a strong urge to give an appropriate notice and move on to a more organized and stabilized position in a different hospital. I am not one to quit easily and I feel I have really been out through the ringer here..And maybe if it had been different timing, it would’ve been different experience for me.

any opinions?

alllliekat

5 Posts

I meant to type 2 years experience! It won’t let me edit.

jbrent890

54 Posts

I am in the same boat. I just started working in a Peds ED (I only have pediatric experience). Since Covid started, my hospital has not seen that many pediatric patients, so I have primarily been taking care adults. In addition, because our census has been lower, our shifts have been cut. I have only been at this hospital since Feb, but I am already looking for new jobs. Just know you are not alone.

caliotter3

38,333 Posts

It might be better in the long run to stay under the radar. At least you are racking up “employment” time with this job even if you are not working much. Draw attention to yourself and you will probably find yourself terminated. Not a good position to be in, no matter the reason(s), during this time of job instability. Give it time to settle out.

JKL33

6,777 Posts

No right or wrong here, necessarily.

If you can get the basics that you need (the hours in ICU, the continuing ED, etc) while making your own schedule without anyone breathing down your neck, that might be in your favor while it lasts.

Another option would be to go back to your first place FT and see whether this place will let you work PRN.

Another option would be to try to catch (in person) the ICU manager and/or the manager who hired you for the RRT to see if either of them can shed any light on where things stand. Keep it quick/simple: "Do you happen to have any word on whether I'll continue working in your unit [ICU] for now?" Etc.

One thing I wouldn't worry about is other ICU employees questioning your presence. Nothing about your personal employment situation is any of their business and if they are asking because in their view there's something unfair about this (for example....if some of them are working reduced hours or have been displaced to other areas while you get hours in ICU) they need to take up their concerns with their manager. Stay friendly with them and just let them know you don't know any more about it than they do.

Good luck to you; the uncertainty isn't ideal.

TriciaJ, RN

4,328 Posts

Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.

I know it's nerve-wracking, but there's a certain appeal to your situation. You make your own schedule, you don't have a supervisor. Which means no one is going to hit you up for your eval or bug you with any other typical workplace crap. As long as you keep track of your hours and make sure your paycheque tallies.

Maybe you're someone who likes structure. But this under-the-radar position might be a good way to stretch a bit and enjoy running your own program. At least until the jig is up.

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