I'm in hell

[amiss8488]

So I started my supposedly dream job 8 weeks ago. I have 8 months of experience at a small OR and this one was much bigger. I was so excited. Got there and realized how understaffed they were. They had the same amount of nurses that the small, 3 room, OR had. The doctors are very disrespectful. I thought I was going to get kicked once. I've been called stupid, had things thrown at me, yelled at, ignored. The staff is no better. They have no strong nurses. One nurse told me it's unfair that she has to sit in the corner and twiddle her thumbs while I do all the work in the room (I was orientating in a new speciality).

The have about 8 new staff (techs and nurses) all of them are so unhappy. Looking for new jobs. So it's not a, just me, thing.

Friday is the last straw. I think the older people feel threatened. None of them teach you anything. They either just do it themselves, or make you feel like an idiot. I asked the charge nurse to explain the video camera system to me. It controls a bunch of monitors in the room. He comes in and is clearly annoyed. He then starts drawing pictures for me and talking to me like I'm an idiot. I even said to him, you're talking to me like I'm stupid and that's not what I need right now. I need to learn how to operate this. His tone then changed, but I still felt like crap. It's such a terrible learning environment. All the staff is overworked. They want you to do things so they don't have to but they don't want to show you. I was even asked if I could take heart call on Thanksgiving. I've only been in 6 hearts. When I talked to the manager about it her response was, don't worry you won't get called in! Um.... Right. And what if I do?

Friday all the older people left around one to go to sushi. The charge nurse asked me if I'd be okay because there was an emergency endarterectomy. I've seen two of them, circulated one by myself. The woman's thigh was the size of a volley ball. She was in ICU and I've never even had to get a patient from icu before. I told him I wasn't comfortable. He said that the agency nurse (someone whose been there for 7 weeks) and a brand new nurse (she's a school nurse for years with OR experience 10 years ago) will be there with me. I still said I don't feel comfortable and to talk to the agency nurse because it's his case then. I still ended up charting on it.

These people don't care about me. They don't care about the patients. They care about the doctors and making them happy. That's it. I want to get out. Taking to the manager is like taking to a wall. I feel bad saying this but she's not the brightest. We had a meeting the other day with everyone. She said that she's heard the new people are unhappy here. She then went around the room asking them all why they were unhappy, in front of everyone. One of the nurses says he would like time in every speciality. He then had to leave and after he left they all made fun of him and laughed. Even the manager!! Like what is wrong with that idea??

I called my homecare agency when I left Friday and they would be happy to give me hours. Do i just up and leave? Like never return? I have no problem with waking away from this place. But I also like to have good work ethics. To make matters worse they screwed up my health insurance and waived it after I signed up for it. I'm a single mother! HR could care less and never even called me back. It's just one thing after another.

I was thinking of emailing some big hancho and explaining the situation. But I don't know if I should even bother. I obviously need cash and a paycheck. I am just very fearful of being put in a situation where I can lose my license. They will just leave all the time. Don't ask what time you need to be home. You could at any moment be stranded with zero help. Alone, with a very nasty and mean doctor. If you have ever been in this situation some advice would be grateful. Thanks.

[jeckrn, BSN, RN]

If it's as bad as you say give your 2 weeks notice and go back to your old job.

[Kooky Korky, BSN, RN]

Don't sound off to any higher up's just yet.

Just give your notice, once you've got another job.

Go to the Director of HR in person - forget email, calls, etc. -

and get that insurance straightened out at once. Let the HR tech or whatever it's called know that you appreciate his or her efforts but that you have to have insurance and just couldn't wait any longer to get it corrected. Stand there while it is corrected and get a receipt/copy with the right dates on it. Even if you are quitting.

Get your boss to intervene for you if necessary.

If any docs try to give you a hard time, just tell him or her or them that you are new, as they know.

Tell them you are doing your best and you expect them to treat you with the same dignity and courtesy that they expect from you. Say it nicely. Look them in the eye when you do it. Don't be menacing, do be frank and polite.

If anyone kicks you or otherwise assaults/batters you, call the police. Police.

Got it? Make a report. Go from there.

If they persist in being spoiled brats, just slow down. Intentionally slow down.

If they remark on your slowness, explain that the animosity and undermining of your self-respect that you feel from them has made you have to force yourself to concentrate more closely on your work and that has slowed you down because you are feeling ill from the verbal abuse they are dishing out.

Or just try laughing. They'll be puzzled by it and maybe even will ask you about it, which will have successfully changed the subject.

Sushi????? They don't have time to teach but they have time for sushi?

I guess you might let someone higher up know how your experience has been, once you are all squared away (have another job). You might be offered a supervisor of OR position.

[softrbreeze]

^^^What Kooky said! Find another job and skedaddle outta there pronto- THEN report what a horrible experience you had there to the higher ups and why. The toxic working conditions there will eventually lead to a patient getting hurt and you do not want to be there when that happens! I have a feeling their little clique will circle wagons when that happens and leave someone innocent to take the blame.

[guest655229]

Might wanna notify someone outside of the facility for unsafe practices...get outta dodge!!! Period!!!

[hazyblue]

Oh, a fellow co-worker. Fancy meeting you here. Small world. I work on the 8th floor. xD ...Sorry. I have to make a joke. I can't make jokes in real life because mine aren't funny at all.

Back to you, if you can find another job then do so. If you continue staying, not only will you have physical and mental problems from stress, you'll end up gradually losing your morals and professionalism too and end up becoming one of those people. I know that you can try doing the aforementioned talking with them and to the higher ups but, sometimes, when people are this affected, people don't tend to convey their thoughts and feelings successfully.

Just do yourself a favor and leave as soon as possible. I highly doubt it that the higher ups don't know about your superiors' attitude. If they don't know, that only means that they aren't doing their jobs properly too.

[kbthomas42]

Get out of there! I am a RN and now am a nurse recruiter for our OR departments across a large health system. Experienced OR nurses are sought after! You have choices!

[memorylane]

Any chance the hospital you are referring to is jn Nashville TN?

[aquinasrn]

Yes, it definitely sounds like a Nashville hospital that I know of. If so, it's been this way for a couple years that I know of. Very sad. And if it's not, then it's even sadder that there are more like it.

[amiss8488]

Don't sound off to any higher up's just yet.

Just give your notice, once you've got another job.

Go to the Director of HR in person - forget email, calls, etc. -

and get that insurance straightened out at once. Let the HR tech or whatever it's called know that you appreciate his or her efforts but that you have to have insurance and just couldn't wait any longer to get it corrected. Stand there while it is corrected and get a receipt/copy with the right dates on it. Even if you are quitting.

Get your boss to intervene for you if necessary.

If any docs try to give you a hard time, just tell him or her or them that you are new, as they know.

Tell them you are doing your best and you expect them to treat you with the same dignity and courtesy that they expect from you. Say it nicely. Look them in the eye when you do it. Don't be menacing, do be frank and polite.

If anyone kicks you or otherwise assaults/batters you, call the police. Police.

Got it? Make a report. Go from there.

If they persist in being spoiled brats, just slow down. Intentionally slow down.

If they remark on your slowness, explain that the animosity and undermining of your self-respect that you feel from them has made you have to force yourself to concentrate more closely on your work and that has slowed you down because you are feeling ill from the verbal abuse they are dishing out.

Or just try laughing. They'll be puzzled by it and maybe even will ask you about it, which will have successfully changed the subject.

Sushi????? They don't have time to teach but they have time for sushi?

I guess you might let someone higher up know how your experience has been, once you are all squared away (have another job). You might be offered a supervisor of OR position.

Love your response. Ha. Just an update..i ended up not going back. I had to call off the following Monday because my babysitter called me sick (there was no school). I was actually a little relieved after the horrible Friday.

I did email the manager and I regret doing so. I was just so overwhelmed with everything. I gave her my two weeks. I really just wanted to leave and found I could have my home care job back so I was covered. I did explain the horrible situation on Friday to my manager. I just said I didn't feel comfortable there, but that there were MANY other reasons for my leaving.

Soooo I then got a message from the other new staff telling me of the drama. I really should have known this wouldn't be handled in a professional way. Apparently my manager yelled at the charge nurse and told him it was his fault I was quiting! He then decided to give his two weeks notice (which he then retracted and said he was giving his 6 months notice, who does that?). Then I just heard horrible gossip and I decided not to go back at all. It's just so unprofessional. My manager should have called me if she was actually concerned. But she instead gossiped to everyone about it and then apparently they all were yelling. The charge nurse said it's unfair he is getting in trouble leaving for sushi when one of the techs killed a patient a few years ago. I'm not even joking.

Anyway I'm out. I'm doing homecare for a lung transplant patient. Love it. I also interviewed for a different OR hospital and I was upfront with them on my last situation. I felt like I needed to be. I don't want to experience that again. They loved me and offered me a job and I job shadowed there first.

If someone whose miserable reads this, don't stay. I found myself picking up a lot of bad habits. I was fearful of things and even advocating for my patient. That is so not right. That place is run by fear. Not by patient safety and what's best for them.

Also, it's in Illinois. Ha. Crazy that other places exist.

[memorylane]

Jeez louise! May I ask why you left your small community OR job and why you didn't consider returning to that job over Home Health?

[amiss8488]

I left for more experience. I was also averaging about 60 hours a pay period for a few months. I was so tired of doing outdates and cleaning!! I want to do nursing things! Get in there and learn! I want to do stuff like trauma and spinal cases... But I also want to feel capable and safe.

I didn't go back because my charge nurse gave me a hard time after I gave them my three weeks notice and was very honest with my manager about applying for jobs and seeking other opportunities. The charge nurse went a bit power crazy my last week there. I came in for an emergency c section (never done one before) then the nurse I relieved didn't finish her charting. I was then bullied and ordered to finish another nurses charting by my charge nurse. She also criticized me for not knowing things. Soooo yeah, not going back there. Maybe it's me!! I don't know.