If you accept a job, stay at least a year

Nurses Professionalism

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I see a lot of people here, especially newer nurses, tell us that they got this cruddy job, and they are looking for their dream job. They will quit a job 2 months into it when said dream job comes up.

I just want to go on record here. I disapprove of that and feel like it's unprofessional. You wouldn't see other professions behave like that. Can you imagine an engineer or a lawyer, or any other of the real professions, taking a position, then quitting in 3 months to take another one. No, that is behavior of fast food workers and mini-mart employees.

I don't know why managers are even interested in nurses who do that. It's like dating a man who is cheating on his wife. Do you really think he's not going to eventually do that to you as well?

Maybe it would elevate the profession if nurses signed employment contracts like other professions do.

I hear people here complain that, 'I don't want to risk my license!' where they are now working. I think that's a bunch of hooey. They are trying to sugar coat their unprofessional decision to leave a job shortly after being trained with high and mighty hogwash. People don't lose their license for working in a less than stellar institution.

And there you have it, my two cents. :cool:

Specializes in CDU, cardiac telemetry, med-surg.
Or maybe, they just received a much better offer 4 weeks into the new job.

With the challenges we all face in the modern workplace, I don't begrudge anybody who leaves for a better gig that presents itself, irrespective of when it arrives.

As with all things, there's a cost-risk-benefit analysis... if it comes down in favor of the new gig, fare thee well.

I had just cleared background and was scheduled to begin orientation for a new job when my current employer called. It was a no-brainer for me but I'm forever black-listed at the other place.

So you had signed all of the paperwork and waiting for the first orientation day? I ask because I'm in a similar situation. The day I signed paperwork for a LTC was the day my app for the dream job at my dream hospital suddenly got some traction. I'm supposed to start orientation this Friday. I really don't know what to do. :unsure:

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So you had signed all of the paperwork and waiting for the first orientation day? I ask because I'm in a similar situation. The day I signed paperwork for a LTC was the day my app for the dream job at my dream hospital suddenly got some traction. I'm supposed to start orientation this Friday. I really don't know what to do. :unsure:

If you get an offer from your dream job, take it, but if you do not have a firm offer, take the LTC. If you have to quit or go prn, then do what you have to do! If you turn down the LTC and then the dream job doesn't come through you wouldn't have a paycheck and would be angry at yourself.

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Specializes in public health.

You should only stay in one place if you feel motivated to go to work on most days. If a job makes you miserable, why stay?

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In the job I held for 17 years, I felt valued and recognized as an individual. Colleagues were congenial and we made lasting friendships. I'm finding that is very unusual in today's world. Online applications, phone interviews, employer's office in another state, very little personal contact with supervisor or coworkers. Being nickel and dimed to save the company profits. Total lack of concern for the employee as a person. Just a replaceable cog in the wheel.

What I've come to appreciate is some human connection. You know it when you see it/feel it. The genuine smile, the caring attitude, the easy-going manner, all breaths of fresh air. Support, cooperation, professionalism, collaboration. This is what I look for and am happy when I find it. I also need fair compensation, decent working conditions, and income to meet a reasonable standard of living.

As new graduates we are more likely than experienced nurses to have stars in our eyes and rose-colored glasses. We are naïve to the reality of the nursing jobs out there. It's a rude shock to find out that the job description didn't prepare you for the real thing. It's natural, and I think, not wrong to want to bail. We may try to educate ourselves by researching the company, but it's hard to know the right questions to ask or how to find out what day to day work and possible pitfalls really are.

Most of us accept that it isn't right to stay in a marriage that is miserable, as long as we give it a fair go, and really try to make it work. I'm willing to do this for an employer. But if things don't improve in 6 months (I'd give a marriage a bit longer:)) ...well, who wants to work with a miserable employee?

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I'm planning on leaving my job as soon as I find another one. I was promised a much better work environment that what it really is. Plus there are strict policies that threaten to write up nurses that lead to termination but we get so little help and are so busy and frazzled. It's not a safe environment for me or my license. The worst part is patient care suffers because management wants to make their money. I say that until my employer cares about my well being, I gotta take care of myself in the mean time.

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Can you imagine an engineer or a lawyer, or any other of the real professions, taking a position, then quitting in 3 months to take another one. No, that is behavior of fast food workers and mini-mart employees.

Wow...just wow...

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Home Health.
Can you imagine an engineer or a lawyer, or any other of the real professions, taking a position, then quitting in 3 months to take another one. No, that is behavior of fast food workers and mini-mart employees.

Both of my sisters are lawyers. Both quit bad jobs after 3 months or less. Both found better jobs afterward.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Tele, Dialysis, Hospice.

No new grad here. I've been an RN for over 24 years. I recently accepted a position with a home health/hospice company that lied to me in the interview so that I would accept the salaried position. That should have been my first clue, that it was salaried, but they also told me I would be on call every other week and do visits on the opposite week and that on my on-call week I would have my days off (on-call was from 6 pm-8 am). Turned out, my clinical manager didn't think it was fair for me to have the days free and be on call all night, so she decided that I should be available all day as well for admissions, extra visits, etc. In other words, 24/7 availability for those five days, plus for the following weekend which would be my weekend, so 24/7 availability for seven days on a row, then five days of visits, then finally my weekend off EXCEPT...that that weekend would be staffed by an LPN who was not allowed to do admissions, so technically I would be on call EVERY weekend, along with working all week, every week.

Do you know anyone who would do this job, especially for a set salary? This was all presented entirely differently to me in the interview, of course. I left with no notice after they sent me into the field on my own after two whole weeks of orientation. Honestly, would you have done differently?

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I quit my job a few months in as a new nurse. I am terrified about what will come next, but it was not a safe place to work.

My job lied to me about the expectations and work requirements. I don't want to write about how bad it was for privacy, but it was terrible. What they told me when I was interviewed was very different from what actually happened on the floor. And they paid much much less than other places pay new grads in the area, as if all the other bad things were not enough.

I refuse to be loyal to a company that deceived, severely underpaid me and was abusive towards me and, most importantly, my patients.

I left and am now looking for another job. I stayed for as long as I did because I was scared I would look unprofessional for leaving, but I regret even taking this job in the first place. I don't owe this company anything. If they hired me into fair working conditions then I would return them with at least a year or two or three or more of experience, but they hired me into a crazy workplace and I left.

I don't care about my dream job. But I do care about my mental/ physical health and my patients' well being. If I have to work under conditions that put me through continuous exhaustion at a place where I would NOT want my family to be if they got sick...I will leave as soon as I can. If I get to work somewhere where the working hours are reasonable for a nurse, and where my patients get the best care they can get...then I will stay at least a couple years--more if I am happy.

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Specializes in ICU, Geriatrics, Float Pool.

I live in a right-to-work state. That means I can be fired or laid of for any reason at any time. And I have been laid off, after being promised a permanent position. Explain to me exactly why I should be loyal to a corporation that sees me as completely expendable and replaceable? That will throw me out on the street whenever it wants to? I have the right and the obligation to look out for myself and my family and put my own interests first. We aren't taking charity from them, that we should feel guilty for doing something in our own interest instead of theirs. We perform work for money. When that relationship is no longer fulfilling on either side, it can be terminated.

Blaming people for doing what benefits them is symptom of a martyr complex. That's what is holding nursing back, not people who want to work a decent job. People who try to guilt others into tolerating unsafe and toxic work environments out of some misplaced need to be the martyr are enabling the mistreatment of nurses. Otherwise we would have nurse-patient ratio laws in every state and better staffing and support. But no, we always have those people willing to operate in hellish conditions to satisfy their need to be Mother Teresa, forcing everyone else to endure it along with them.

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Why am I expected to break my back, kill my self and ruin my health for a hospital that understaffs daily and doesn't think twice about putting nurses and patients at risk. Heck, any sort of "self care", be it a mere sick day or personal day (one that I've earned because of hours worked) nets disciplinary action. This hospital offers no security - they make that very clear when we are told verbatim to "cover our asses" or they'll send management after us, so how can they expect loyalty?

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Specializes in Urgent Care.

Anyway, Lawyers will jump in an instant when the right offer comes along. Which is why they so often have contracts that specify lengthy notice periods and non-compete agreements. Doctors too. I went thru 4 PCP in 3 years with one clinic. Finally left the clinic because (for what ever reason) they couldn't keep doctors, and therefor could not meet my expectations for continuity of care.

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