i am a fairly new grad. i got my first job working in a very high acuity icu step-down type hospital (ventilator and trach patients were most common) and worked there for nine months. i loved my job but had a really hard time getting along with the new cco. this may take a minute to tell you all of it but here goes......
i was supposed to be given up to 12 weeks of training. i got 5-6 and was gradually introduced to my normal 8 patient workload. from 5-6 i struggled a bit and asked for 5 the next shift and was told they didn't want to go backwards and given a sixth patient anyway. our hospital has a very old computerized charting system. our patients were very high acuity with many prn pain medications, usually 2-3 hour dilaudid. at our hospital you will sign your narcotics out of the narc cabinet, then chart the time given in the computer system. we do not have patient id band scanning. as a new grad i had a hectic time with my charting and had to play catch up at the end of the shift many times. we were 3 months without a nurse manager after i was let loose on my own. i was called to the cco (new) office and told about 2 medication variances from 3 months prior, (signed out but not charted in computer) i was written up for each. a week later i was called for another one, from 2 months prior, written up. i talked to my head nurse and told her i was concerned because i felt that i should not be written up again for things that occurred prior to our first conversation. for all i knew i could have another from a month ago and lose my job over it! she said not to worry, i would be okay. for some reason this new cco seemed to have it out for me. to make things worse i had a med error!!! my med error was that i gave a woman 2 mg of morphine instead of 2 mg of dilaudid ivp. i still want to cry over this! i cried myself to sleep that night even though i knew it was a lesser strength dose i was ashamed that i had not caught it. so my cco tells me that i needed to be placed under a performance review and asked me to research current best practice for safe medication administration and demonstrate to them what i had learned. i was to take 6-7 patients during this time and no lpn's ivs. i was then told that i would have to present this to my coworkers as a presentation!
i told her i was not comfortable with this and had no problem with making up a board to place in the report room with handouts to demonstrate to them what i learned but did not feel it was appropriate to involve all my coworkers in my business! she said it is what i had to do. i worked, was given 8 patients and lpn's iv's because they were short staffed... worked on my board, got it done, told her i still did not like the idea. i felt that my peers were either going to look at me like "who does she think she is to teach us something" or "what the hell did she do wrong". besides this, no one else had ever been asked to so something like this. well come to find out the day it was due was not a day i worked (like she thought it was) and she was out of town the whole week! my (new) nurse manager called me and when i told her what i was doing she said, "what, that is ridiculous! i have never heard of anything like that. put it on hold till i have a chance to talk to her on monday when she gets back." monday i get a call from the cco, i try to return it, cannot get a hold of her. she calls me tuesday and says i failed to meet our agreement. i explained what the nurse manager said, she said i am aware of what she told you but we had an agreement. she says i could have turned my board in and did the presentation at another time. i said, you are telling me this now? i didn't know that.... she says she will accept my resignation. i resigned about 4 days later and stated on the letter that i resigned as requested by her. i know how hard it is to find a job and felt that was better then having to put i was fired. now i am going to have to fight them for unemployment. soooooo after this long long tale, was i in the wrong? what are your thoughts?
i also worked with some very crabby people...lol i told her the people she sees are totally different then the ones i work with. when they come to her they are on their best behavior and not the same snippy ones i work with..lol
Did they happen? can you even remember? Management should have notified you immediately so you could put yourself on closer watch. Also, to protect patients (regardless). Major error on management's part, you were orienting.
The error you knew of mortified you. Sounds like you might have been able to adjust your practice if the earlier errors were brought to your attention, IMHO. You are still learning (poor management).
Sounds like you are also in the middle of a powerplay between people who just fell into management. Often those with no management edu just attempt to punish since they have no idea even how to begin to manage.
You left. Good idea. Only because I don't see that you are dealing with professionals here. You'd be swinging at air if you were to attempt to remedy the situation.
The only thing you might have done was go up the chain and lay your case out. But, IMHO it seems from what I've read here, these facilities really dont give a rat's hiney. They just don't care if they lose a nurse.
One more thing. See if you can get some kind of reference letter from somebody. Do it now. Maybe the NM? Get her while she is still ****** at the CCO .
I would not have done the presentation peroid. Sounds like a bunch of crap to me. I think I read that you asked for more help/orientation?........ which is what seems like to me would have been the thing to do.I am sorry you went through such a crappy time not to mention the stress. I did not have trouble reading your post, & did not see where you were gossiping. I wish you the best of luck. I agree I think you were doomed no matter what you did!
I'm sorry this happened to you. Please know that you will not be treated like this at every place you work, and if you really were trying your best to do everything right and someone just had it in for you (which is completely realistic - I have a couple of coworkers who are excellent nurses but are nonetheless called on the carpet constantly), then you'll eventually land someplace where you fit in and it will work out. I hope this doesn't detract too much from your confidence and you'll take away from it what you need, which is a lesson in dealing with difficult people!
Hey unsupportive ones above, why so uncaring? We are here to help each other. Give it a rest. Quote from my post yesterday:"Next topic, chastising others. I am sure some of you think you are the most perfect nurse to ever walk down the hall in a hospital. You know what? #%IT happens, to proclaim in answer to a person who is hurting in their heart because of some crazy mistake that was made, you say, (in my head I see your nose up in the air typing), I would never do that! It makes the person feel even worse. NEWSFLASH! None of us are perfect, not one of you will get through all of your years being a nurse without making a mistake. We are all human." Hey also we don't have to tell both sides of the story, this is not first grade. Be supportive or just don't type.
Sassylil, I am sorry you went through this. Hopefully you find your new job fufilling and supportive.
she's was willing to accept a letter of resignation? i would have told her that i would write one only upon my receipt of her letter of recommendation, first. i would have also reminded her that i was perfectly willing to stick to our agreement, but that the agreement was already countermanded by her superior. i would have then asked her if she was directing me to violate or disregard her superior's orders.
this is a perfect example of how nurses get run over by shoddy management, and then are made to pay dearly for it. they don't give you the promised orientation and training, but expect you to perform perfectly nonetheless. then, when you're less than perfect; they threaten, humiliate, or fire you. no offense to the op, but it's very obvious that this was a non union job. i would have found myself a lawyer and sued them both for the breach of employment contract (less than promised orientation time) and the harassment as a result from your improperly trained performance.
she's was willing to accept a letter of resignation? i would have told her that i would write one only upon my receipt of her letter of recommendation, first. i would have also reminded her that i was perfectly willing to stick to our agreement, but that the agreement was already countermanded by her superior. i would have then asked her if she was directing me to violate or disregard her superior's orders.
this is a perfect example of how nurses get run over by shoddy management, and then are made to pay dearly for it. they don't give you the promised orientation and training, but expect you to perform perfectly nonetheless. then, when you're less than perfect; they threaten, humiliate, or fire you. no offense to the op, but it's very obvious that this was a non union job. i would have found myself a lawyer and sued them both for the breach of employment contract (less than promised orientation time) and the harassment as a result from your improperly trained performance.
good luck to you in your next job.
support your nursing unions!
great advice, i only wish i would have posted this prior to handing in my resignation. as a new grad and first job experience i was terrified of having a "fired" to put on my job history and feared what they may try to do to my license had i fought them on this. (not knowing any better!!!) i guess you live and you learn and you are right, non-union job.
I think if they are doing chart audits months after an occurence/deficit of any kind then it should be treated as a learning experience and not a reprimand.
And, actually, I think the talk/demo was a fairly good idea. It could benefit many others, and you might have gotten the respect of your peers.
If you resigned, you may find it hard to collect unemployment, although better to resign than get fired.
I think if they are doing chart audits months after an occurence/deficit of any kind then it should be treated as a learning experience and not a reprimand.
And, actually, I think the talk/demo was a fairly good idea. It could benefit many others, and you might have gotten the respect of your peers.
If you resigned, you may find it hard to collect unemployment, although better to resign than get fired.
I had no problem with the "board" posting in the report room and had actually submitted to the CCO a few medication knowledge/tests and asked her to review them as an additional piece to this. They included the answers and were not to be graded but as a tool to help identify areas other nurses may have needed to brush up on. But she never got back to me on what she thought of them or if it was okay to include them.
Having chart audits months after the fact make me wonder if their claims were really valid. You will learn from the med error and won't do it again! I think you were right in resigning, once you see the handwriting on the wall it is best to get out on YOUR terms. Good luck on your next job. If asked why you left this job: "I decided it was time to move on".
Sounds like a place you couldn't pay me enough to work in, bad economy or not. I'm not really seeing anything you did wrong, and having to give a presentation to your peers, if that wasn't expected of everyone who had a med error, was uncalled for.
Having chart audits months after the fact make me wonder if their claims were really valid. You will learn from the med error and won't do it again! I think you were right in resigning, once you see the handwriting on the wall it is best to get out on YOUR terms. Good luck on your next job. If asked why you left this job: "I decided it was time to move on".
Speaking of which... I just got a phone call for a job interview at a local hospital!!!! It is for Wednesday morning at 8:30 AM. Any other suggestions on what to say about why I left the other position. I know better then to bad mouth the company but would it be fair to say that I felt uncomfortable with some of the practices there? I know my previous nurse manager (at the place I quit) now works for this hospital (the one I'm interviewing with) and was told by a fellow nursing student that she told them the reason she quit her job (she is now a float nurse) was because they asked and expected too much out of the nurses and she feared for her license each time she worked...
Wish me luck on the job interview! I am so excited!!!
Sounds like a place you couldn't pay me enough to work in, bad economy or not. I'm not really seeing anything you did wrong, and having to give a presentation to your peers, if that wasn't expected of everyone who had a med error, was uncalled for.
My thoughts exactly. Wow you guys are taking such a load off of my heart at the moment. I appreciate all of the comments.
netglow, ASN, RN
4,412 Posts
Sounds like you work in an area you love.
Sounds like your orientation suxs.
Sounds like you were unaware of previous errors:
Did they happen? can you even remember? Management should have notified you immediately so you could put yourself on closer watch. Also, to protect patients (regardless). Major error on management's part, you were orienting.
The error you knew of mortified you. Sounds like you might have been able to adjust your practice if the earlier errors were brought to your attention, IMHO. You are still learning (poor management).
Sounds like you are also in the middle of a powerplay between people who just fell into management. Often those with no management edu just attempt to punish since they have no idea even how to begin to manage.
You left. Good idea. Only because I don't see that you are dealing with professionals here. You'd be swinging at air if you were to attempt to remedy the situation.
The only thing you might have done was go up the chain and lay your case out. But, IMHO it seems from what I've read here, these facilities really dont give a rat's hiney. They just don't care if they lose a nurse.
One more thing. See if you can get some kind of reference letter from somebody. Do it now. Maybe the NM? Get her while she is still ****** at the CCO
.