Losing my mind!

[pielęgniarka]

Last month I accepted a DON position at a nursing home. The previous DON was already gone. Three days after I started state came in for the survey as well as the fire marshall. Plan of correction is done (that was excruciating) and now I am working on in-servicing staff. It's been a lot of commotion and stress all at once and I am having a hard time reeling the staff back in and calming them down. I have QA/QI reports with numbers trending toward the worse sitting on my desk that I have to develop action plans for and do a presentation this month. I have performance reviews to be done on people that I don't even know yet. I have had to fire two RNs already, one for harassment other for violation of resident care standard, with each of them it was a third strike you're out kinda deal. They freaked out and yelled at me and the admin., even though they knew what would happen with a further violation. I am worried about my tires getting slashed or my kids held hostage. (That might be a slight exaggeration but doesn't seem unfeasable.) I've worked in LTC for most of the past 13 years... but this is ridiculous. During my interview for the job I met with HR, Admin., staffing and MDS coordinator. They all seemed great, said I would be perfect but so far I think the job is terrible. I want to give this my best. What I need is some good coping techniques. Maybe I'm just looking for some reassurance, will it get better? What kinds of resources are there for DONs?

[Shell5]

The worst thing you can do is threaten the nursing staff with calling the state and feds in when some paperwork is wrong and no narcs missing. That's what happened to me. I had a new DON start and she threatened to call state and feds in because a nurse didn't sign a discharge sheet. She then wanted me to take a drug test and took my keys. She blew everything out of proportion, went through my desk and lied about it. She has started on the wrong foot and is acting like the place is a mess when we have been working hard without a DON. Not a way to start at all. Very hurtful and threatening. Best thing you can do is when you find something not up to par is to teach in a nice way. My situation is a nightmare. I wish you luck. Just try not to put anyone down and keep any negative comments to yourself or talk with ED about it. Remember the ones that have been have probably been doing the best they can.