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Discussion

I QUIT!!!

I quit my first nursing job after 4 days. There I said it!

Several months back after searching for work, I came across a temp agency. Last minute, they decided to offer me a RN temp position as a new grad to be a school nurse. SO it says on paper........ I got very curious why 1) they would take me in as a new grad 2) i don't have the right credentials to be a school nurse ( i'm a RN-BSN). But they reassured me that some school doesn't need the school nurse credentials.

Turns out that after I started the position, its actually a LVN one on one caretaker type position at a school setting for 1 kid. The most intensive task includes suctioning..... The rest is heavy lifting, diaper changing, wiping stool... wiping saliva...sitting and watching the kiddo as the nurse goes to lunch. I don't mind doing these tasks, but it doesn't get more complicated than suctioning. there was clearly no room for me to grow.

I was like a CNA, working under a LVN... I was told it was a RN position when it clearly wasn't. The agency did what they could to earn $$$. the job description clearly did not match. the previous girl lasted 2 weeks and before that turn overs are super high. I've been commuting 2 hours everyday to work for a crappy 2 hours. I got so fed up i just dropped the bomb and quit. On the ride back home, I yelled thank you lord!!!!!!!!!! After I called the agency and told him I had to leave, they admitted it was like a babysitting job. so he knew already from previous complaints..

i felt like they did false advertisement on the job. really low pay...Just bc theres so many new grads out there, it's wrong for them to just take advantage .. screw you agency. never again. DO NOT EVER GO THAT ROUTE NEW GRADS!

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    • Experts

    Lots of RNs do stable, routine care and are grateful for the job and the paycheck. Just because a CNA or an LVN can do it doesn't mean it doesn't need to be done. A good agency will pay an RN more to do the job even though it is at a "lower" level. And in a hospital, "primary care" RNs, even those with BSNs, do all nursing care for their patients. No CNAs are assigned. Why should you care? If it matters that much to you that your BSN is utilized, you are going to have to take more time to be more selective in the job you take from those that are offered to you. However, I feel that you were justified in quitting over the fact that it was only two hours. School nurse jobs of the type you describe, consist of the the full time the student is in school with the rest of the time used accompanying them back and forth on the bus, helping get them ready in the morning, and spending the rest of an eight hour shift at the home. They must have seen you coming down the pike to get you to do anything for only two hours.

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    • Guides

    Did they actually use the words "school nurse" in writing? If so, it might be false advertising or it might have been written by someone who knows zilch about nurses or nursing. Because he studied Business and Marketing. His job is about climbing the corporate ladder. Nurses? A completely meaningless commodity. Your job is taking care of the kid at school! Ah-ha!! :idea: School nurse! :uhoh21:

    You must have had a real crappy interview to go with the really crappy job if it wasn't clear in any conversation with anyone that you would be a one-on-one caregiver as opposed to a school nurse in an office at a school. I guess you were surprised to show up looking for the Health Office and then find out it was for a babysitter!!

    All in all, I would be very frustrated as a new grad in a situation like that. Of course you want to start using the skills you were trained for- but just as Caliotter said- it is soo darn rough out there- your first choice, second choice. . . time ticks by you may end up treading water in some locales for quite a while. Best of luck to you!!! :nurse:

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    • Author

    thanks for the replies, even from this experience, I learned that grabbing anything as a new grad isn't the right choice-- even with the limited job out there. The thing is, all the routine total care was fine for me, although if routine tasks is all I do, i'm worried there will be zero room for growth, and zero room to learn. Here's the thing with agency nursing, they will interview you months and months ahead of time. Telling you all these fantastic opportunities that might be available, but may or may not come true. As described on paper, School Nurses actually utilizes the nursing process to assess, plan, implement and evaluate patient care.With that said, I did ask A LOT of questions. They however, had to remain very very vague to not spill too much information out ( in case you decide to go outside on your own to seek this position). So "school nurse" it is.

    Then 4 months later, I randomly get a phone call during the evening and the guy tells me to go to work asap tomorrow. Oh by that time, he spills... at a school, name of school, it is a relief position for 2 hours (and convinces me its great experience anyways), the pay is half but its better than nothing. I found out they tell me A LOT A LOT of white lies to get me on board with them. In the beginning, they will promise a job "soon". And soon will become 4 months. Right now he's probably interviewing poor new grads who are exactly in my position 4 -5 months ago, promising a position that will be soon given up by another new grad. ha!

    It's true these guys who are assigning you came out with business degree with zero knowledge of health care... im not even sure if they exactly know the difference between CNA vs LVN vs RN. That's why they are making the mistakes of bad assignments. If the position was RN task related, I am learning, I am growing, then 2 hour is fine, half the pay is fine. But if they can't even clarify the difference between a school nurse, and a caretaker 1 on 1 position @ school, then this agency is crap.

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    • Experts

    I am very familiar with the employer you are referencing, and "school nurse" is the phrase they use for the situation you described. They do not place the other kind of "school nurse". I do believe, however, that the recruiter was deliberately vague with how he answered your questions and what he presented to you, based upon what you say.

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    • Guides
    quote nurse441 If the position was RN task related, I am learning, I am growing, then 2 hour is fine, half the pay is fine. But if they can't even clarify the difference between a school nurse, and a caretaker 1 on 1 position @ school, then this agency is crap.

    I understand- and I think I'd prefer the bread line to working for that company again. They treat nurses very poorly. I'm only sorry that the economy virtually guarantees their shoddy practices will continue due to job demand. Eventually things have got to get better!! I wish there was a way to put this out to the public- but word of mouth can be effective too.

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    Ya know, this type "recruiter" is not likely degreed. The person whose job it was to call you is usually some dude who thinks working at Target is just a tad too much effort. Actual professional recruiters do not bother with this level of placement. There is no money in it.

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    • Experts

    The staffing coordinators, jack or jackie of all trades, that are called "healthcare recruiters" by the company that the OP is referencing are college graduates. They are taught all aspects of the business side of the house and may be promoted to accounts manager to manage their own office after one to two years of impressing their managers in the company.

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    • Author

    the first day, the guy said, good news, we broke record sales (in placing nurses with jobs and earning $$ from clients). They are extremely business focus.. we are just their pawns..

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    • Experts
    the first day, the guy said, good news, we broke record sales (in placing nurses with jobs and earning $$ from clients). They are extremely business focus.. we are just their pawns..

    Too often this company forgets that without nurses, they would not be in business.

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