I've Been Employed at 7 Facilities as a New Grad RN

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Short version (tl;dr) been an RN since January 2019. Over 6 jobs. Finally accepted my dream job and can't find myself to get excited as I should due to fear of something bad happening. Also received my BSN very recently.

Long story:

This sounds bad I know.

First job: I worked, it was because of me not feeling as though I was getting adequate training (ICU) .

Second job: (One of the largest Healthcare organizations in my state with almost a building for every specialty.) (Ortho/neuro med surg unit) Totally my fault, even though I was hired for night shift, no one told me that I had to work days for 5 weeks before we going to nights. I hate days with a passion plus I was back in school for RN-BSN, so I never went back after the first day,i really did like it but I just couldn't do days.

Third job: (Freestanding psych facility) The guy instructor was too touchy Feely on me and after telling him to stop, he threatened me and said that he'd flunk me from orientation, it didn't go past Orientation because I left after one week (didn't even get to work the floor).

Fourth job: My first time at a nursing home, doing only treatment nursing( didn't have any advanced skills/ guidance or for someone to slap some sense into me and tell me that I wasn't as nearly ready for treatments (over 100+ residents) which included wounds and changing trachs/drains etc... but just because nurses are scarce in my area especially rns, they threw me to the wolves!!!) Left after one month.

Fifth job: LOOOOVED IT! It was long term care working nights(first 8 hr shift nursing job, working 4 on 2 off ??) . No problems whatsoever, and was the longest I had ever been on an RN job(almost 3 months) . I even told my parents that this was going to be the job I keep until I'm done with grad school. Welppp, one day an influx of residents from another facility come in(we had zero knowledge about and had only found this out an hour before arrival even though the administrators knew weeks prior) and my residents were having panic attacks and calling family members because they room were being used with people who were incompatible, the outside residents were very sick from a long ride and some hadn't even had their insulin or oxygen and were being given food during triage without knowledge of their diet or allergies. I was trying to tell the managing staff including, the DON, administrator and regional person(the boss I guess?‍♂️) because I have always been an advocate for my patients. I guess they took this as me being belligerent and not wanting to care for the extra 30+ people on top of my 35+ regular residents. I stood up for what I thought was right , and didn't back down. Well it cost me my job. I was fired for "insubordination" aka arguing about safety to the DON/NFA/and the Region Director of Operations(the head of everything ?‍⚖️) after simply stating that these people are sick and we need more staff(we were told that they would bring their own staff, but of course THEY DID NOT!)

It took me weeks to finally sit and analyze if nursing was for me, I really believed that that the last nursing home would've been where I planted myself at and flourished. Sadly mistaken. I even went as far as to tell my mom that it seems as though to make it in Nursing nowadays, you can't have a caring and compassionate spirit towards people.

I take 100% full responsibility of my previous actions with other jobs and I also believe that the last job could've been handled differently on both sides but after talking to my awesome elderly LPN's and RNs, I knew that everything was going to be better and there were quite a few who went through this in there first year of nursing

............. but in the back of my head, I still felt like if I'm speaking up for those who can't speak for themselves I'd get kicked in the butt and it makes me my not want to speak up for anyone anymore. Even though nursing isn't a passion for me, I have a naturally caring, compassionate, motherly soul (team cancer ). My feelings can go from 0-100 QUICK.

Anywho, I've received yet another interview, but it's from the organization's, that I've been trying soooo long to get into since clinical which was 1-2 years ago. I'm excited but I'm still timid because it seems as though something is jinxing me, or someone has sent negative energy my way(In my culture I wholeheartedly believe that otherworldly energies are real such as /voodoo/obeah/santeria etc...

Anyone out there that's experienced this or know anyone who has? Advice, ideas?....

On 8/14/2019 at 8:37 AM, HiddencatBSN said:

How many times has that happened to you in 5 years?

6

On 8/15/2019 at 9:03 AM, TriciaJ said:

At least so far the OP has been able to land jobs. I'm reminded of a certain person who had 30+ rejections from the same hospital, after failing her new grad orientation. She'd come on here and say "Well, I guess I'm not going to be the peds transplant coordinator!"

Do you remember that one poster here who was absolutely desperate to get into CVICU? Her name was purplegal or something? I remember she would post about applying multiple times to the same unit and hospital and never ended up getting it. And then would post a lot of threads on it. Not making fun of that poster, just found it to be peculiar/entertaining and memorable. This was a few years ago I think.

Specializes in Care Coordination, MDS, med-surg, Peds.

Shookclays used to post under a different name. That’s why this sounds familiar.

32 minutes ago, silverbat said:

Shookclays used to post under a different name. That’s why this sounds familiar.

Like other now gone features, I liked it when you could hover and click on a person's screen name and their previous screen name would appear. That was a useful feature.

On 8/11/2019 at 5:40 PM, andreaest said:

I had the same question!

That was the first thing that popped in my mind. I was also thinking... I need this person to help ME find a job! Lol

Specializes in Critical Care.
On 8/20/2019 at 5:18 PM, ICUman said:

Do you remember that one poster here who was absolutely desperate to get into CVICU? Her name was purplegal or something? I remember she would post about applying multiple times to the same unit and hospital and never ended up getting it. And then would post a lot of threads on it. Not making fun of that poster, just found it to be peculiar/entertaining and memorable. This was a few years ago I think.

I remember her.

The past tends to haunt. I think I even had PTSD over a bad employment experience. It took me a few years to get over it and I still think of it from time to time. You gotta let that crap go. It will eat you up. All you need to remember is what you learned, by that I mean if the situation were to ever come about again, how would you handle it knowing how it turned out the last time. What would you do?

Now that it seems you are where you want to be, do the best you can. Stay calm and carry on as the queen says. ?

On 8/11/2019 at 3:47 PM, Shookclays said:

Oh I've always loved your posts Mr. Daveyyyyy Jonezzz ?. Anywho, I'm very introverted and quiet but also VERY temperamental when it comes to anyone that I'm caring for especially when they're being done wrong. But maybe I need to see a therapist because there's no middle ground to my emotions... Either I'm the sweetest of the sweet(93%) or Lucifers tastebuds(7%), nothing in between. But thank you for your response!

Well no, I stay in a small city but a midsized metropolitan is 30 min away. I'm never prone to chaos at all, the only time chaos happened was when I stood up and tried to be a patient advocate and went from 0-100 QUICKLY! Besides that job (which I don't think was worth being fired over) , all of the ones were actually due to me, I was too sensitive and I can admit that.

I'm not interviewing for another job, I actually have it. And I love it. I have been trying to get into the facility since nursing school. Of anything happens this time. I'm going to keep my peace and let me Bluetooth earphones keep peaceful sounds in my ear(raining/thunderstorms/lighting/oceans). Idk why I didn't try this previously but this keeps me so serene and calm. World War Z could hit this hospital and I'm still not leaving lol. It's psych as well, which I worked years in as a CNA. Thank you!!

Are you allowed to use those earphones on duty?

Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

My advice is to step back and observe as much as you can before blowing a whistle or annoying administration. I'd also keep in mind that there is no "normal" in this field. Not a normal shift, not a normal day, not a normal hour. Everything can (and does) change from minute to minute and you must adapt. Go into this next job with an open mind and learn as much as you can. Reserve judgment until your ears are a little bit more wet.

Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.

Hey, OP, if it makes you feel any better, you are not alone. Here is what my job history looks like:

SNF- 2 weeks (not listed)

Adult Med/Surg- 9 months FT, then went contingent

Neonatal ICU #1- 3 years and 5 months

Current Job- Same as Adult Med/Surg. Returned FT. Total time at job (with overlap with other job)- 4 years and 3 months

Neonatal ICU#2- 3 months and counting (same organization, different hospital as Neonatal ICU #2).

SO, I have technically had four jobs in the last four years. I don't have any regrets. If I didn't leave NICU1 for NICU2, I would not have increased my salary as much as I did.

On ‎8‎/‎11‎/‎2019 at 1:23 PM, chare said:

Regardless of whether it's on the resume or not, the OP is most likely going to have to list all previous places of employment on her/his application.

No. There's no rule stating that you have to list every employer. In fact you won't ever get hired if you have a list like that on your resume. Don't sabotage the girl, it's not nice.

9 hours ago, Glycerine82 said:

My advice is to step back and observe as much as you can before blowing a whistle or annoying administration. I'd also keep in mind that there is no "normal" in this field. Not a normal shift, not a normal day, not a normal hour. Everything can (and does) change from minute to minute and you must adapt. Go into this next job with an open mind and learn as much as you can. Reserve judgment until your ears are a little bit more wet.

Well, there are a lot of *** shows. There's also a lot of nurses with similar but maybe not as excessive experiences. You only have to adapt into whats reasonable for the scope of practice. Being asked to care for 65 patients is illegal as hell. Unless you work in a union state, nursing is a *** show until you find a good unit/hospital, and sometimes that takes some floating.

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