2nd day in nursing home and I want to quit

[Msviv17RN]

Hello everyone! I am really glad I found this site. I just wanna know your insights about my situation. I passed the NCLEX on August 2011 and couldn't find a job in hospitals so I applied in nursing home and got hired this October. Is it normal to feel like quitting my job on my 2nd day? They only gave me 2 weeks of orientation which means 6 days because I work 12 hours a day. This nurse assigned to orient me handles 20 or more patients and wanted me to just shadow him on my 1st and 2nd day. He's really nice and supportive but it is just impossible to train me and handle 20+ patients at the same time. He told this to the DON and said, ''the DON doesn't give a sh*t''. I told him to give me at least 4-6 patients so he did but I spent too much time in just one patient preparing his medications. I don't want to harm my patients so I was triple checking meds especially with narcotics. I couldn't ask questions because he's too busy preparing meds for his other patients on the other side of nurse station. I apologize for I'm slowing him down but he said that he doesn't expect me to get it on my 2nd day. Needless to say, I ended up shadowing him again. Now that I'm getting familiar with the residents on this unit they assigned me to a different nurse and different unit on my next schedule. Every minute of the day I was thinking of ways on how to cope in this situation but every time I figure out how it just doesn't work. There are many things going on at the same time. I do love this job but I feel so hopeless and helpless right now. This is so overwhelming, I'm just crying. I'm in my early 20s, I have a BSN degree, an immigrant here in US and still having difficulty in speaking and understanding English but I'm really willing to do everything to learn. Do you think it's best for me to continue? Is this really how the training conducted in every nursing home and hospital? What do you suggest me to do to be successful in this job? Thanks in advance to those who will reply. God bless you all!

[Msviv17RN]

I really appreciate all the encouraging words and support. :) didn't expect that this would be really HARD, very different from the hospital environment in our country. however, knowing many of you had gone through this and didn't quit gave me hope that someday I'll get there. Can anyone give me some tips on how to start a day at work so that I can be organized until the end of the shift which includes reading each chart of 20+ patients? Honestly, it scares me knowing I'll work again the day after tomorrow. -----

[tagutab]

have faith to yourself...if they can do it, then you can do it too! stay positive all the time.

[nurse_autumn]

You could always make yourself a 'cheat sheet' at the start of the shift. Use a list of residents on the hall and make a few quick notes as to who gets meds at midnight, who gets meds at 6am, etc. You can jot a quick note beside the name for who has treatments, etc. I have one that I keep on the computer at work and update it as there are changes. Still always use your books, but it is helpful to have a quick place to look. Also, I don't know if it is an option or not, but we keep an updates list on the med carts for how each resident takes their pills.

[9livesRN, BSN, RN]

Oriented for 2 days, my preceptor qit, and I was on the floor, feeling like walking in egg shells, but I needed the job so I learned quick, I taught my self thanks to school.... I kept thinking I was being challenged by my clinical instructor!

[9livesRN, BSN, RN]

You could always make yourself a 'cheat sheet' at the start of the shift. Use a list of residents on the hall and make a few quick notes as to who gets meds at midnight, who gets meds at 6am, etc. You can jot a quick note beside the name for who has treatments, etc. I have one that I keep on the computer at work and update it as there are changes. Still always use your books, but it is helpful to have a quick place to look. Also, I don't know if it is an option or not, but we keep an updates list on the med carts for how each resident takes their pills.

At The the skilled/ rehab I could not do that, admissions, and discharges daily.....

[9livesRN, BSN, RN]

Just think you often give 30+ shots per day to your diabetics + lovenox, + tb + vaccines + extras....

[SP1CEGRL]

wow i would have killed for two weeks orientation! i started at a nursing home as well with my LPN and was given 3 days orientation, each was a different shift on a different unit. Then set loose to do a full med pass on 40 patients with 15 diabetics who were each to get 2 sets of accuchecks and standing insulins it was a freaking mess. Since they started me on fourth of July, a holiday, I had no charge nurse at the desk and I was stuck at the med cart in tears because I didn't know one patient from another and which keys opened doors and carts it was such a mess. My supervisor ended up doing almost my whole med pass. But I stuck it out, and five months later I've been doing much later but I still get overwhelmed all of the time. It is such a shame nursing homes don't offer better training. I have seen several nurses come and go because they were scared for their licenses.

[laderalis]

I am a recent grad working in LTC too. I take on around 20 residents a day, sometimes more/less depending on if there are 3 or 4 nurses working the shift. It IS overwhelming and it is NOTHING like acute care in hospitals.

The biggest obstacles for me were learning names/faces/rooms and learning how each person likes there meds prepared. fortunately we have pictures outside rooms and in the med book. we also put a sticky in the med book about how meds are prepared (crushed, whole, pudding etc). if you facility doesn't do this, see if you can!

I am amazed at how fast I learned routines and residents. I never thought I could remember so much about 20+ people. I wish you luck. try and stick with it at least 3 months, to give it a fair shake. that's what I'm telling myself.

You WILL get it, it just takes time!