Losing Nurses!

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I am a fairly new unit coordinator. I got the job in January and really love the unit, it is a great group of people. However, we no sooner get our nurses trained and then we lose the "older" nurses. It isn't like they are leaving because they hate the unit, they are leaving to go to the intensives (we are a telemetry unit,) or to advance themselves. I can't hold that against them, but it is very frustrating. I have tried doing things to bring the unit closer. I don't tolerate verbal abuse by patients, familys, co-workers or physicians. I put together a skills day in March so that everyone would have their profiencys done when it is time for their evaluations. Myself and the other two coordinators on the unit actually pick up extra and have come out on weekends and holidays (suppose to be a perk of the job, that we have them off) to cover short shifts. AND this week we are holding the units first family picnic. My thinking is that it is harder to leave a friend than a co-worker. I have people tell me all the time what a fair boss I am, yet I just got informed on Friday that we are losing another nurse. She has only been off orientation for 8 months. HELP!

[This is what makes me want to at least look for another job.

I had a patient last night, ck 294, ckmb 4.4, troponin normal. No complaints. I am a new nurse. Supervisor and preceptor told me they thought I should wait until 0500 and call the doc with her results because, " if you don't he might complain that he wasn't notified just tell him you just wanted to let him be aware."

He got dressed and came to the hospital to complain about me calling him because unless the ckmb was over 5.0 he didn't want to know. Supv comes to tell me that he complained and their response was "i know but you know she is new." He made rounds with a smirk. he has been my family physician for 7years and I felt that he could have talked to me about it, and my supv and preceptor should have told him they told me to call him. Of course they didn't.

THANKS FOR THE VENT!!!! :o :o

melissa

This is what I think you should do: If he's still your doc, make an appointment to see him, and then when he sees you, fire him, and let him know precisely why. If he tries to bill you for the appointment, tell him you're not paying for it. Dare him to dun you for the bill, too.

I would also fill out an incident report, noting his inappropriate behavior, and that you were advised by your supervisor and preceptor to call the doc. Do you have someone who oversees orientation/education of new staff? I would let him/her know what happened. Don't let anyone try to scapegoat you.

Once again, this is another reason why nurses leave. The hospital has a responsibility to properly orient new staff, and new nurses in particular. No sympathy from me when they cry because they don't have nurses.

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Well, think about it--ICU has a different patient load than tele, better pay, less burden to the nurse, correct?

After preceptoring and having to take as many as 12 patients, doing Charge for not a whole lot more money (yet being responsible to all those patients, my staff, and staffing for the next shift), I could see why they'd leave.

Not enough compensation for more headaches, more responsibilities. I didn't become a nurse so that I could see my patients for a total of one hour and spend six charting, nor did I become a nurse so I could interrupt a med pass to deal with a late call-off. And all of that so I could go home still wondering like a new grad, what I might've missed.

Sorry this post kinda turned into a rant, but throughout hospital managements, the more experienced bedside nurses are simply not valued and there is no incentive to stay, but plenty to leave that bedside.

Does not sound like a rant to me. It sounds like clearly stated reasons. I feel the same.

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Specializes in pediatrics.
[This is what makes me want to at least look for another job.

I had a patient last night, ck 294, ckmb 4.4, troponin normal. No complaints. I am a new nurse. Supervisor and preceptor told me they thought I should wait until 0500 and call the doc with her results because, " if you don't he might complain that he wasn't notified just tell him you just wanted to let him be aware."

He got dressed and came to the hospital to complain about me calling him because unless the ckmb was over 5.0 he didn't want to know. Supv comes to tell me that he complained and their response was "i know but you know she is new." He made rounds with a smirk. he has been my family physician for 7years and I felt that he could have talked to me about it, and my supv and preceptor should have told him they told me to call him. Of course they didn't.

THANKS FOR THE VENT!!!! :o :o

melissa

That is one reason why new staff leave. They are unsupported in their role. If nurses don't stick up for one another, who will. How hard would it have been to say "I'm sorry that you did not feel that was worth notifying you for, however our nurse noticed a raise in that blood level and we felt that it was appropiate for you to be notified of that change. maybe we can work together on guidelines that would be appropiate for notifying a physician under those circumstances" Wrong or not, professionalism means working toward solutions not placing blame and making excuses. I have never heard a physician blast another physician to a nurse or family, but nurses do it to one another all the time.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Home Health.

I know quite a few nurses that went to other hospitals after 1-2 years because their raises couldn't compare to what starting pay for an experienced nurse would be. A hospital in my area just dropped the annual raise percentage from 5 to 2.5. Starting pay for a new grad there is around $17. It would take 4-5 (guesstimating) years to get over $20!

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I had to work again lastnight and I dreaded running into the doc because he is the on call for his clinic this weekend. He had already made his evening rounds but the nurse I reported in to told me the morning nurse cornered the doc and told him what really happened. He of course told her he had been given a different story that I acted on my own.

I have an appointment in the morning with him because my husband took my 5 year old to the ER because he couldn't walk and was in pain. HAS ANYONE EVER HEARD OF CAST DISEASE? (SPELLING) hubby was told looked like a circulation problem in his right hip. Pain is finally respondind to tylenol and ibuprofen. My son creeps around like a 90 year old man and can't even pull down his pants to use the toilet.

melissa

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A lot of good people have posted a lot of good things before me. Usually I would be the one to rant about pay and conditions but I am not going to do it today. What I am going to talk about is something I have been reading in the newspaper about generation x and y. They say that generation x to some degree and generation y to an extreme degree job jump frequently. What they witnessed while growing up as far watching their parents and grand parents being doubled crossed by heartless employers have taught them to look out for number one. My parents the WWII generation joined a company at age 20 and expected to retire or die there and most of them did.(Even so many of them have lost pensions and health benefits) My generation the baby boomers started out with that expectation but boy did we double crossed. Interesting enough the people who write these articles say that the employers are just going to have to learn to live with this reality. On the other hand double crossing employees by outsourcing jobs and bringing in immigrants goes on at an ever increasing rate so it is no wonder these youngsters do not trust. Someone is going to say that you can only bring in foreign labor if there is actual shortage of workers and you have to pay them prevailing wage. Well that is the intent of the law but we are hear rumors of that not being the case.

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Hi,

I'd like to know what other jobs can an RN do besides beside nursing. I've only been orienting for about 4 days now and I feel bedside nursing is not for me. I just can't grasp the pressure and I feel like I'm not effective. I'm a new grad (ADN). Is there another nursing job I can look for before I totally start hating nursing???

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but why wouldn't they? nursing has become a very mobile career, with no shortage of job alternatives. it reflects broader trends in our society as mobility has increased exponentially. two years is becoming a long time to hold the same job.

doing the same thing for years just doesn't cut it for most folks. the average career (not just job) for a paramedic is 5 years. they're beating the bushes to find medics, and paying premiums for shifts... up to 40 an hour to ride ambulance in my town...

we may as well get used to this landscape, because it's not changing anytime soon. i find that it contains a lot of opportunity for those who want to work.

The point of my post is answering the OP's question: reasons experienced nurses get fed up and move on. I'm an old nurse bedside nurse and can speak to this. Lack of respect of their time and overloading them with extra duties in unsupportive conditions, such as expecting them to be in constant train mode along with their already extensive duties, play a huge part in my experience. The problem however is huge and multifaceted and the training expectations are only one of many stressors.

JMHP from a real nurse who has worked bedside for 28 years but is now stepping back and wondering if I really want to continue. Most older nurses (and too many younger ones too) I've worked with during the past 10 years would leave nursing if they didn't need the paycheck...I never heard that 25 years ago. :(

Until healthcare really cares about this I don't expect things to change. Facilities that choose to listen and respond to their experienced nurses will attract and retain them in my experience.

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