Has anyone else experienced this? I just accepted a new position in an acute rehab facility. During the interview I was told that I would be replacing someone who wanted to work a different schedule within the company. I was also told that I would only rarely have to stay past my scheduled shift but that most days I would get out on time. I told the interviewer that I will work my five days each week but do NOT want to be called on my days off, as I am not interested in any overtime and she said she would make a note of it and wrote it down.
I am now a few days into orientation and I have learned from the other nurses in the facility that a.) I am replacing a nurse who got fed up with the working conditions and left the company without a two week notice, b.) I will end up having to stay over the end of my shift pretty much every time I work in order to get everything done, and c.) I received a phone call this morning at 6:30 where I was pressured to come in and work to cover a call off, even though I told the caller that I do not want more than five days a week and I am still on orientation to boot. She was not very happy when we hung up.
I feel duped and scared that I have gotten myself into something that I will regret. I do not appreciate being lied to and I think it was unethical to do so. Part of me wants to run before I get in any deeper and part of me feels like I need to stick it out, except that I'm worried that I will decide to do so only to find that I am constantly pressured into picking up overtime, being forced to stay over, and getting nagged to come in on my days off, in which case I will kick myself for not getting out right away. I am not afraid to say NO to the requests for overtime, but if this is an ongoing thing, it will make my life miserable anyway.
I have been out of the work force since 1994 d/t a work related injury. nursing seems to have changed, really changed. many of us never got out of work on time, all that paper work & clearing problems for the next shift. it wasn't unusual to be called on a day off to come to work. we all knew NO would float us to a different floor. I started turning off the answering machine & not answering the phone on my day off. I didn't have caller ID back then.
also, an unwritten rule, staff doesn't appear for the next shift, we can't leave. usually it was a snowstorm.
interviewers should be honest. at one new job, I was never told I would be administering 8 hour chemo treatments. I also wasn't told I would be working charge every eve. I worked & w/e. it isn't fair. nurses work very hard to take proper care of their patients, sometimes without breaks & meals.
I spent 12 years in dialysis. if you enjoyed it, go back to it. now, at 67 years old, I would say that you weren't given the proper info, you don't need to give 2 weeks notice. you are in orientation, not working the floor. good luck, I'm praying for you.
Thanks so much, prayers are much appreciated right now.
You bring up another point that I forgot to mention; the nurses have told me that if the nurse for the next shift does not show up, this facility will sometimes refuse to take the keys from you and tell you that if you leave instead of pulling a double you are abandoning your patients and will be in trouble. I know that this likely would not constitute abandonment, but what kind of culture is it when the management uses that threat as a scare tactic?
A real estate license is far from professional nursing licensure. Thank you very much.This is all about the OP, I feel that as you are not a licensed NURSING professional your advice is not comparable.
Cynical? perhaps.. I prefer to call it excellent critical thinking skills.
Please take any further discussion to a private message.
You can back peddle and be discriminatory against CNAs all you want. The fact is you told the her to quit before she had a job lined up. That doesn't only apply to nursing! She also said they wanted her to work the floor unsupervised without her BLS... Smart woman for saying NO- cuz... If you were taking care of my relative without one and an event happened, this little CNA would have your "professional" license.
You can back peddle and be discriminatory against CNAs all you want. The fact is you told the her to quit before she had a job lined up. That doesn't only apply to nursing! She also said they wanted her to work the floor unsupervised without her BLS... Smart woman for saying NO- cuz... If you were taking care of my relative without one and an event happened, this little CNA would have your "professional" license.
It's really hard to commit to the rehab facility after being lied to, that is the problem, plus I actually did tell the dialysis manager when I replied to her email that I had accepted a position at this facility and had already worked a few days. If I contact her today and ask if she is still interested in me for the dialysis position, will she not think that I am a flip flopper and disloyal? If not, I could be tempted into pursuing the dialysis job.
What makes you think the dialysis manager doesn't already know the reputation of the place you're at now? Nurses talk... there are no secrets. I always knew which places to avoid like the plague. If I were the manager talking to somebody who only lasted a few days at a place I knew to be a preview of Hell, I wouldn't hold it against the candidate.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
So glad the OP decided to terminate employment. As so many noted, this was a disaster from day one.
Yes, many nurses are people pleasers. And instead of celebrating the nurturing and compassion, employers have learned to exploit it. In this situation as it often does, management dysfunction turned into a culture where working short staffed became the nurses' problem. It's a vicious cycle; unreasonable demands are put on staff, the emotionally healthy ones with decent boundaries eventually leave to protect their well being, and the ones who are left behind who tolerate the demands create the impression with management that they just need to go through enough nurses to find those who will let themselves be mistreated. And in a work environment where orientation is relatively inexpensive, they don't mind the turnover costs. So places like the OPs rehab become revolving doors, nobody has institutional memory or competence and it cycles ever downward. At one time it was just the travelers who got treated that way, now the suits keep hammering on keeping the budget low and profits high and everyone suffers.
Its a little like the abused spouse syndrome. The nurses with good professional ethics and a sense of commitment and responsibility keep wondering what THEY are doing wrong, the equivalent of the spouse who thinks they must have done something wrong or they wouldn't get assaulted. They stay in positions that are dangerous personally and professionally in the misguided belief that they matter to the people who sign the checks. And like the abusive spouse, health care management pressures staff to act as if the treatment they get is just fine, the smiles on the PR pieces are like the Christmas card from the family where there's so much suffering behind the glossy photo.
Anyway, here's some practical advice, though not necessarily for the OP, it sounds like she's doing OK. If you end up in a nightmare job, recognize that you aren't like the nurses who take the crap, and you never will be. Your focus needs to be on getting out, not on what anybody thinks about your being a team player. Do the absolute minimum you need to in order to meet your ethical standards and keep the job until you find something else. By the way that bar is VERY low - because that kind of a place would rather have your warm but unreliable body on their call list than not. Stop being mad about their lying to you, it was a one side agreement that you made in good faith and they didn't. Cut your losses and move on.
It's ironic, nurses worry about losing their licenses, but license action - other than re-education for a significant error - is typically about WILLFUL malfeasance (fraud, diversion, working impaired, abuse). What you need to worry about when you have an unsafe assignment is legal repercussions. If there's a bad outcome, the court won't care you had an unsafe assignment. You took it, your problem. Too busy to get those admitting vitals right away, the patient goes Dixie post-transfer and codes and dies? The lawyers will go after everyone who has a nickel to their name, you AND your facility. Once you accept an assignment (get report), the only thing that MIGHT save you is having documented in writing that you contacted your supervisor and told them the assignment was unsafe. As a former legal nurse consultant, I saw that kind of stuff all the time. And by the way, just because it's legal to refuse an assignment doesn't mean you won't get fired for it, in a right-to-work state you can be fired for anything.that's not discrimination against a protected class or harassment, and even if one of those cases you need to fight to get your job back assuming you want it
Worried about what leaving a job after two weeks will look like on your resume? Don't be. First of all, your resume doesn't need to include every job you've ever done back to your paper route, and it doesn't need to include a two week gig, and shouldn't really unless there's a really good reason. Obviously, if you're asked to sign an application saying it's complete to your knowledge, then you put the nightmare job down, and when asked, say, "Strangely, the position I was hired for wasn't available when I reported for work. The position available when I reported required 24/7 availability to come in for call-offs, and taking assignments of any size including some unsafe, after just a few
hours of orientation. It was a poor fit between myself and their expectations. I resigned as soon as that became clear in order to minimize their training investment."
It's nothing like abused spouse syndrome, and frankly I find your statement offensive.
You can back peddle and be discriminatory against CNAs all you want. The fact is you told the her to quit before she had a job lined up. That doesn't only apply to nursing! She also said they wanted her to work the floor unsupervised without her BLS... Smart woman for saying NO- cuz... If you were taking care of my relative without one and an event happened, this little CNA would have your "professional" license.
How , exactly would a "little CNA" go about having a professional lose their license?
Seriously, do they think that nurses are stupid? That you would never figure out that you'd been lied to? And trying to call a new employee in to work while they're still on orientation? That place sounds scary.
I thought all nursing jobs were like this.
a) There is always more work than there is time for and one has to choose between patient care and management care (ie documentation and clerical duties.) Being called on (written up) staying late to actually do a good job is at the capricious discretion of management.
b) Being called to fill in shifts for nurses who call off - likely due to stress or just being p!ssed off or because the facility just cannot find enough nurses to fill the shifts. Outside of the hospitals, isn't it standard process to ask nurses in orientation to take independent care? Even recently graduated nurses?
c) Being lied to or no transparency? That's also expected management practice, is it not? Aren't we lied to everyday about something? Staffing? Expectations? The care someone else did/didn't do? "You're not safe," when you make errors that everyone else lies about never making? (Except for those of us who are perfect.) Respiratory rates of 18?
d) Unless you work in a union, can't employers fire us "at will" - cause or no cause?
So, where's the problem?
"Work harder, smarter, more efficiently." No, it's not possible. You have 25+ years experience and so on, as an earlier post declared. Still, that's what we are told by the same people who lie or can't take the time to listen to a competent person.
I would be out of there. It is not going to get any better The frustration that you are going to feel would only get worse. They are going to keep asking you to stay or work your time off. Burn out is real.Not too many nurses do get out on time all the time. The only nursing job that I had that I got out on time was in the ER. I did work late for shift change codes but not often. Home care you do create your own hours but the paper can be awful.
How , exactly would a "little CNA" go about having a professional lose their license?
westieluv
948 Posts
Thanks so much, prayers are much appreciated right now.
You bring up another point that I forgot to mention; the nurses have told me that if the nurse for the next shift does not show up, this facility will sometimes refuse to take the keys from you and tell you that if you leave instead of pulling a double you are abandoning your patients and will be in trouble. I know that this likely would not constitute abandonment, but what kind of culture is it when the management uses that threat as a scare tactic?
So glad to be on my way out!