I'm done!...Vent!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Be forewarned, this is a vent.

I have been in nursing exactly one year. My goal when I started was to be the best nurse I could possibly be and learn the aspects of my new career.

My new goal for the upcoming year is to get out of the hospital setting and work on an advanced degree so I'll never be forced to work in one again.

I'm learning my job, I feel that for one-year in, clinically, I'm where I'm supposed to be. I am very proud of my charting, I feel that I manage my time well, I am always willing to help anyone that asks. I am always very, very professional.

So why am I leaving?

1. Rude co-workers. If they don't like their job, they need to find another one.

2. A hospital that spends tons of money recruiting us to work for them, but doesn't spend a penny on retention and then work very, very hard to cheat you out of every dime they possibly can.

3. The BS that comes from all kinds of crap that has nothing to do with my job.

I have realized that I have just had it. I hate being the scapegoat for another nurse that comes in the morning and takes it out on me. I'm tired of having to sit with my paycheck every two weeks and a calculator to make sure I'm getting paid for all the hours that I put in and having to put in requests MONTHLY to correct something and it's never fixed the first time.

So, if nurse recruiters and managers want to know why they are short-staffed or have a staffed that doesn't give a flip...this is why...it's because the ones that DO care about their job are being run off, which sometimes leaves those that don't care and are there to punch a clock.

Of course, that doesn't put everyone in that category that is a senior nurse...I have had several that bend over backwards to help me and I would do anything I could to help them.

I spent today upgrading my resume and figuring out how I can cut back things, even necessities in order to do less and be happy than to come home every day miserable and never wanting to go back.

It shouldn't be like that...it's not the work, it's the people and the environment, not the patients, the families or anything that is required to take care of them.

No doubt some of the best nurses I've worked have been LPN's and learned quite abit from them I respect people who deserve respect!! however this lpn was a jerk and should not have in any supervisory position to begin with!!

Specializes in ER/Geriatrics.

I would never work in a setting where as an RN I, was supervised by an LPN....we all have a scope of practice....and LPN's supervising RN's doesn't even make sense.

Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.
By any chance OP, is your hospital for-profit?

No. It claims to be not-for-profit. But then again, we know the CEO isn't working for peanuts.

15 years exp. in long term care. if you **** off an aid your screwed> I was fired becuase I tripped over a wheel chair and cussed (metal foot pedal hit me in the shin bone). the aid was ****** because I didn't invite her to my wedding. So she went and made up a story saying I cussed at the resident I was suspended by the adon lpn and fired without being able to defend myself over the phone no less!

That was your management's fault- not a chance to defend yourself?

Specializes in ER/Ortho.

I am an new RN, and I just resigned from my first job. I started feeling that my hospital, and I were a team that wanted the same things. I quickly found out that the hospital wanted to make a profit and that was it. Rude co-workers were the norm. They talked badly about each other, spread rumors about each other etc. Luckily I was the newbie so I had to stay busy so wasn't involved in the mess, but I heard it all. I wondered what they would say about me when I wasn't around. I would literally see certain co-workers exaggerate things, and then run to management to quickly fill them in on a co-workers supposed short coming (I have no idea if they felt it would get in better with management or they just didn't like the other person). I remember the CEO on my first day saying how he cared about us, and our families...it was so much bull. The things I experience and saw go against any logic if you want to keep employees. Its almost as if they want everyone to leave. The people who have been there awhile even have issues. They break down in tears, no show/no call out of frustration, and get suspended for a while, stay in a bad mood etc. They would talk about how they don't understand how they are still there, and had planned to leave during their first year, 2nd year and so forth, and don't plan on being there much longer. I had finally just had it. I had went to managment and tried to explain my frustration, but it didn't help. Critical thinking my butt!!! Where do they find these people? Anyway, I am trying a new hospital thats not for profit, and that I have heard good things about. I start in a couple of weeks so wish me luck.

Specializes in Cardiac.

Happiness has to come from within, don't rely on other people to make or break you. Rude co-workers & politics are going to show up in all jobs. Search yourself & decide on what you need to do to be happy. I focous on the patients and families making them comfortable is my job, the rest falls by the wayside. Don't accept others bad days as your own.

Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Maybe I've just been really lucky, but every place I've worked (granted, that's only been three different facilities) has been a pleasant place to work. Of course, there's always a bit of drama and there are some nurses who are catty and love to talk smack about coworkers, but for the most part, I've been content and have never felt that frustration and hopelessness that so many are talking about in this thread, or that dread to come into work each day.

I can't even imagine how mentally draining and demoralizing it must feel.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

the more you take care of yourself, the easier it is to let the garbage just roll off your back. when you're happy -- and happiness has very little to do with what happens to you, but rather how you look at/deal with what happens to you -- you attract happiness. surly people may see your smile and be a bit less surly, or maybe it just seems so to you because you're happy.

there have been periods in my life where most of the patients and families i encountered were (word that means north end of a southbound mule), and periods when almost everyone i encountered was pleasant or funny or interesting. the difference was me. the former periods were the four month period i lost four family members (cancer and cvas), had to take away mom's driver's license, put my dog to sleep and find a new nursing home for my mother-in-law or the period i was involved in an abusive marriage and trying to get out, or the year i had cancer. i was fried to a crisp from personal stuff; didn't have that much left over for work. it's best if you can leave your troubles at the front door and concentrate on your patients, but life happens and sometimes that just isn't possible. (anyone who says that it is either has never had a real problem or is wired totally differently than i am!)

although the grass may look greener from where you now sit, once you get on the other side of the fence it may not be. you'll run into nasty people, unfair situations and incompetent managers everywhere you go -- get used to it. but whereever you go, there you'll be. so try to make your own happiness rather than relying on the "perfect job" (or perfect man or perfect outfit or perfect home, etc.) to make you happy. the average person is just about as happy as they make up their mind to be.

Welcome to the world of nursing. I have been an LPN for 5 1/2 yrs and have worked in nursing homes as an aide for 10 yrs and nurse for the 5 1/2. The current nursing home I'm in, the corporate office is making so many changes that we have 4 halls but are only allowed 3 1/2 nurses. There are increased med errors among many other things let go that is pushed on from shift to shift. We end up having to work 12 hr shifts when we're only scheduled for 8. sometimes we have to work a double, b/c the DON doesnt schedule correctly and doesnt seem to care when its' 2 hrs before the next shift and nobody's coming in...you cant leave or your abandoning and you lose your liscense,...and she KNows that!!!All they care about is saving a little money and not having to pay another nurse. But then they turn around and holler " NO OVERTIME" makes sense huh...

We are currently dealing with having to clock out exactly at 11:15, wether you are done charting or not, you are suppose to close everything up and leave. But you know very well they will not stand behind your back if you end up in court becuase there isnt accurate and complete charting on a family who's brought you into a lawsuit. So what do you do?

And as for the lpn firing the rn...that lpn was the assistant DON....and she/he is probably working directly under the DON's orders to terminate people. I dont see too many lpns that are ADON anymore in this area anyways,...needless to say it sounds like an unfair termination

I am also in process of going back to school to further my education so that I will have more job oppurtunities, and get paid more. But honestly I dont think it will change the fact of working in facilities and organizations that all have the same problems and have for many years. Nursing is full of gossip and backstabbing and rough times unfortunately. So whoever said that you have to really love what you do for the patients and the families and let everything else roll off your back has got it right! IT is definately a wonderful feeling when a family member or a patient is happy to see you come onto shift, or trusts you enough to tell you something private and nobody else. Or a thank you and a hug from a family member outside of your facility from everything that you did for their mother!

Good luck and hope you find what you are looking for

Specializes in Gerontological Nursing, Acute Rehab.
Oh yeah I'm an RN! Ohio law says an LPN can't supervise an RN

The RN is ultimately responsible for deciding what "care" the patient needs, but an LPN can be in a management position over an RN. The LPN just can't technically direct care to the RN.

When I worked in the nursing dept., I had an ADON and supervisors that were LPN's. So, your statement isn't entirely correct.

I hear you that you are frustrated and looking for better working conditions. It sounds like you are viewing getting an advanced degree as a way to escape this.

Just a caution that if you're not sure what your love is in nursing, or how to go about finding those happy work environments, most likely an advanced degree is not the answer. I'm an NP and, while I am reasonably satisfied with my job, there are nasty co-workers everywhere and bad NP work environments too. The way healthcare is today affects all levels of nursing (and medicine).

Your best bet may be to find a better place in nursing that improves your quality of life before making the investment in going back to school. It is out there, you just have to find it and be open to it.

Specializes in LTC.
Welcome to the world of nursing. I have been an LPN for 5 1/2 yrs and have worked in nursing homes as an aide for 10 yrs and nurse for the 5 1/2. The current nursing home I'm in, the corporate office is making so many changes that we have 4 halls but are only allowed 3 1/2 nurses.

How can you have 3 1/2 nurses? How do you have 1/2 a nurse? Not being funny..it just..looks confusing.

+ Add a Comment