Hi All, I am experiencing a great dilema. Here is my story. After getting my license, I was fortunate enough to get a job in Maternity. When I was hierd, the nurse manager told me that she needed me for L&D, which I was very excited about. However, when I got there, they told me they were trying something different and that I was going to precept in pp and nursery. So I was not too happy about this change but rolled with it anyway. Then to make thing's worse, I had to share my preceptor with another new grad. PP seemed worse then some of the med-surge floors, with increase c-sections. After only a few weeks on the floor, I was resonsible for 3 to 5 patients, not including the babies, and was always asked to take another from the back every day. The floor was so physically demanding, that I exacerbated my bad back. I realize that all floors are like that, but I also had a very discouraging person asking me all the time, if I had regretted my decision of coming to L&D. This person was also my L&D instructor. I would always say no, until one day, when I has having a very bad day, I said yes, today I do. So after great deliberation, I resigned and went into Early Intervention. Which I thought was going to be a great move. The pay was 32$/hour. However, I found out differently. First of all it was fee for service, which really stonk! I was promised 25-30 hours, and was lucky to get 15. One day I worked from 8 am to 7 pm, and only got paid for 3 hours. There was no paid orientation and mandatory non-paid meetings every week. And to top it all off, I had to wait 4 weeks for my first pay check, and only recieved half of what they owed me! And not to mentioned having to go into countless low-income housing projects. Now I am finding that I can not get a job out side of the hospital setting because of lack of experience. The whole thing is very upsetting, and I don't know what to do next. I have been doing some flu vaccination clinics, but now they are being cancelled because of the shortage. I really miss my L&D job. But, I don't feel pyhsically able to handle it some times. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I have a job interview next week with a day care setting. Working there would probably be less physically stressful, but what about experience for later on? I am soo very confused about what to do. I think my dilema is that no place else around here seems to want to hire new grads in L&D, so do I go crawling back to my old NM, and beg for my job back? They did invest 5 weeks of trainning into me. I am afraid of the response that I will get. Maybe working the night shift would be better?
i would call bureau of labor and industry and find out if how they are paying you is legal. to me it sounds really iffy. labor and industry is state dept so will most likely be in blue pages of phone book under state listings. also, when someone owes you money and does not pay you? states have laws about that. in some states if they owe you money they must pay you within three days or receive penalty of three times what they owe. the penalty goes to you. labor and industry is not always great about helping but sometimes if you talk to someone sympathetic from there they can turn you on to a good atty. one time i got introduced to a literally famous atty only because i happened to know someone who knew her, her scruffy buddy, and she tried to help me with some stuff. so if you have any atty friends maybe you could mention whats going on even if is not their specialty. sorry if this advice is too obvious.
Yes it is all totally legal, because you get paid from billing hours. And if all the paper work is not in before the billing period is up, then it goes on the next period, but you only get paid every two weeks. The whole thing really stinks.
i would call bureau of labor and industry and find out if how they are paying you is legal. to me it sounds really iffy. labor and industry is state dept so will most likely be in blue pages of phone book under state listings. also, when someone owes you money and does not pay you? states have laws about that. in some states if they owe you money they must pay you within three days or receive penalty of three times what they owe. the penalty goes to you. labor and industry is not always great about helping but sometimes if you talk to someone sympathetic from there they can turn you on to a good atty. one time i got introduced to a literally famous atty only because i happened to know someone who knew her, her scruffy buddy, and she tried to help me with some stuff. so if you have any atty friends maybe you could mention whats going on even if is not their specialty. sorry if this advice is too obvious.
Yes it is all totally legal, because you get paid from billing hours. And if all the paper work is not in before the billing period is up, then it goes on the next period, but you only get paid every two weeks. The whole thing really stinks.
I am well aware that nurses are used in all settings. I am also a community health nurse doing maternal/child health nursing and I ran our hospital's OB/GYN Clinics for many years. So, I have also done the doctor's office route. Your pay will be very low in an office. I am far from closed minded. You have minimal experience as yet. Give it some time. The unfortunate things about many BSN programs now days is that their graduates are often ill-prepared for the realities of nursing. I see this frequently in the students and some new grads that pass through. Our NM will not even take a new grad in L&D. Stress is part of every nursing job. But no experience makes the stress even worse. When one is experienced, the stress can be a positive and motivating factor. The rewards are many and often:but only if you give the profession a chance. You have not had the time or experience to even get to that point as yet. The reality of it is that you are not going to walk in and get your "dream job" without some hard work and self-reflection. Take a step back, a deep breath and relax. Everyone is NOT out to get you. And no, I am not one of those stressed out nurses; far fropm it. I have 16 years in at my present hospital and would be hard pressed to leave beause I wouldn't be able to find a group of nurse colleagues and docs to parallel those I work with now. I can say in all honesty that I never regret going to work, nor would I change anything about what I do. I am truly blessed. Give it some time. I'm sorry my comments were not helpful to you. However, if you approach everyone as you presented yourself in your first post, you'll be hard pressed to find much job satisfaction at all. If you want stress and paperwork become a med-surg community health nurse. My office mates at my agency do more paperwork that I thought possible.
I am well aware that nurses are used in all settings. I am also a community health nurse doing maternal/child health nursing and I ran our hospital's OB/GYN Clinics for many years. So, I have also done the doctor's office route. Your pay will be very low in an office. I am far from closed minded. You have minimal experience as yet. Give it some time. The unfortunate things about many BSN programs now days is that their graduates are often ill-prepared for the realities of nursing. I see this frequently in the students and some new grads that pass through. Our NM will not even take a new grad in L&D. Stress is part of every nursing job. But no experience makes the stress even worse. When one is experienced, the stress can be a positive and motivating factor. The rewards are many and often:but only if you give the profession a chance. You have not had the time or experience to even get to that point as yet. The reality of it is that you are not going to walk in and get your "dream job" without some hard work and self-reflection. Take a step back, a deep breath and relax. Everyone is NOT out to get you. And no, I am not one of those stressed out nurses; far fropm it. I have 16 years in at my present hospital and would be hard pressed to leave beause I wouldn't be able to find a group of nurse colleagues and docs to parallel those I work with now. I can say in all honesty that I never regret going to work, nor would I change anything about what I do. I am truly blessed. Give it some time. I'm sorry my comments were not helpful to you. However, if you approach everyone as you presented yourself in your first post, you'll be hard pressed to find much job satisfaction at all. If you want stress and paperwork become a med-surg community health nurse. My office mates at my agency do more paperwork that I thought possible.
I think that you are very fortunate to have found a good hospital to work at. During my experience I must have heard twice a day that someone was quitting. Not to mention the scary nurse-patient ratios, especially the nursery, with many times 13-15 babies with only one nurse. Sure they say that everyone tries to help out, but the reality of it is very different. No one has the time to help, because they are just as busy. I think maybe I had higher expectations because during my clinical experience the setting was very different. When I came back as a nurse, thing's seemed to change. Some of the older nurses don't make it very easy, with still calling you "the student" And I would have liked to have had one preceptor to myself! I don't know, I think that I just came in at the wrong time. Seems like there is a baby boom around here, and with the summer time everyone was taking vacations, leaving them short handed, so I had to learn during a very stressful time. Maybe if the circumstances would have been different, I would have stayed. I kind of wish that I would have waited until summer was over, then started my orientation. Now I am left broken hearted , wishing that I would have done thing's differently, but you can't change the past So I guess I will have to put my time in on a med-surge floor, then maybe go back later. That is if this 35 year old body can still take it
I think that you are very fortunate to have found a good hospital to work at. During my experience I must have heard twice a day that someone was quitting. Not to mention the scary nurse-patient ratios, especially the nursery, with many times 13-15 babies with only one nurse. Sure they say that everyone tries to help out, but the reality of it is very different. No one has the time to help, because they are just as busy. I think maybe I had higher expectations because during my clinical experience the setting was very different. When I came back as a nurse, thing's seemed to change. Some of the older nurses don't make it very easy, with still calling you "the student" And I would have liked to have had one preceptor to myself! I don't know, I think that I just came in at the wrong time. Seems like there is a baby boom around here, and with the summer time everyone was taking vacations, leaving them short handed, so I had to learn during a very stressful time. Maybe if the circumstances would have been different, I would have stayed. I kind of wish that I would have waited until summer was over, then started my orientation. Now I am left broken hearted , wishing that I would have done thing's differently, but you can't change the past So I guess I will have to put my time in on a med-surge floor, then maybe go back later. That is if this 35 year old body can still take it
Yes it is all totally legal, because you get paid from billing hours. And if all the paper work is not in before the billing period is up, then it goes on the next period, but you only get paid every two weeks. The whole thing really stinks.
sorry if is overbearing of me since you are convinced is legal, but a couple questions: are you considered an independent contractor, then? second question: who schedules your shifts? ... just because you signed a contract does not mean it is a legal contract. i hope i am not belaboring a point, but people get screwed by employers all the time.
Yes it is all totally legal, because you get paid from billing hours. And if all the paper work is not in before the billing period is up, then it goes on the next period, but you only get paid every two weeks. The whole thing really stinks.
sorry if is overbearing of me since you are convinced is legal, but a couple questions: are you considered an independent contractor, then? second question: who schedules your shifts? ... just because you signed a contract does not mean it is a legal contract. i hope i am not belaboring a point, but people get screwed by employers all the time.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I don't like this scenario at all regarding your pay. I dont' think I would work in a place that does that, esp. the WAY they did it. And I never have. Good luck to you! I am sorry you are going through all this.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
any way you can look for another opportunity---even one that requires you work elsewhere a year first? I just don't like the picture you paint of this place, what with lousy ratios, etc. Really, it may be worth it to move on! (((HUGE HUGS)))
I think my dilema is that no place else around here seems to want to hire new grads in L&D, so do I go crawling back to my old NM, and beg for my job back? They did invest 5 weeks of trainning into me. I am afraid of the response that I will get. Maybe working the night shift would be better?
, wishing that I would have done thing's differently, but you can't change the past So I guess I will have to put my time in on a med-surge floor, then maybe go back later. That is if this 35 year old body can still take it 
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Yes it is all totally legal, because you get paid from billing hours. And if all the paper work is not in before the billing period is up, then it goes on the next period, but you only get paid every two weeks. The whole thing really stinks.