Need advice..i think one of my managers want me out

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Hello all...need help here. I am a new grad nurse who accepted a job because I was promised all this wonderful training and a training class for new grads. I TOLD them in the interview that I was a new grad and had NO experience with this type of nursing nor had any education in school with this specific type of nursing. So they promised me this wonderful training class that I have NOT had or any education for that matter..now 6 months later. Now everyday I go to work and I am told just how bad I am and how the other person they hired is doing so great and how is doing so much better than me. Oh FYI, this other persons dad is a personal friend of the manager. They have catered to the other co worker while I get the shaft. Also, the first week on the job this assist. manager tells me that she didnt think I was going to make it on the unit. I wonder why they hired me! I have always loved nursing and have done very well in school in clinicals. Anyways, now the assist. manager is making up things to get me wrote up. I have NEVER been wrote up in my life!!! The last job I left to go there went GREAT and I NEVER had a write up and always had SUPERIOR reviews. I have been trying to look for nursing jobs else where and have had no luck yet but I do think that this place will fire me if I stay. The managers have repeatedly told me that they dont think I fit there...but you would think that they would try to get me transferred out like they promised instead of writing me up for things I havent done. Should I quit or wait it out or should I sue them for not following the contract I signed? Any tip or advice would be helpful. Thanks!

Specializes in Medical Surgical & Nursing Manaagement.

You don't say what you're getting written up for and the ANM is making things up. That's a huge accusation. Do some introspection and see if that statement really is true. I think the writing unfortunately is on the wall. Look for a new position. You're in a vicious circle, can't transfer, get written up, can't transfer, etc.

With that being said, shame on the institution for promising you a extensive orientation and comparing you to another employee. Everyone progresses at their own rate/speed.

Sometimes the "fit" is really true. My institution is a very fast paced with high patient turnover and occasionally the "fit" really isn't good, but we try very hard to help. We put them on nights with a manager to oversee them, we buddy them up for a couple of shifts with a senior preceptor to see if we can work out the kinks. In my 10 years of management, I've only had to let two nurses go because it wasn't a good "fit" and it wasn't for lack of trying. Our belief is.......we want you to be as successful as you want to be because it is expensive to train new nurses and failure (regardless of the reason) is demoralizing to the entire unit.

Good Luck

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Specializes in Med surg, LTC, Administration.
Go to the CNO, the CEO, and the head of HR. I know someone who did this and her manager left her alone. She was being harrassed and written up for little things. The manager even made a comment to someone else saying "I can't figure her out". My friend was within hearshot and heard it. My friend is quiet and stays to herself.

After she went to the CNO, the CEO, and the head of HR, her manager left her alone. They even pulled the write ups from her file and she transferred to another dept.

Go up the chain.

I am glad going to HR worked for your friend. However, I would never recommend anyone going to HR. They are usually the ones behind all the mess. That has been my experience in large corporations. Wherever there is chaos and confusion, HR is slithering near...

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Kayern--That is good that in your long experience you only lost two nurse for not being a "good fit" because I found out after accepting the job that last year they lost 6 out of the 7 nurses they hired before 6 months. One nurse left the unit after one week. I found out this management is very new and many of the nurses on my unit are encouraging me to tell HR what is going on. Many of the nurses there say it is the worst it has ever been on the unit. But yes everyday I go in I am compared to other nurses..one with experience by the way..and I am told how bad I am. I have been trying to get out for awhile with no success. But I have had enough...I really and truly love nursing...but nothing is worse than what I am going through. I have NEVER experienced anything like this in my whole life..EVER. I specifically went to this job because they promised this extensive training and education. If I would have known all this would have happened...I would have NOT gone. I would not set myself up for failure. I feel being a new grad is tough anyways but I NEED guidance, education, and support and I promise I have had NONE of that. I havent even had a preceptor to help guide me like you had on your unit..that is the problem. I really HATE that my first experience as a nurse is like this! Like I said, I have went over this in my mind..when my manager told me the first week I was there that she did not think I was going to make it on the unit..my heart sank. I honestly wish things were different..this definately was not on my agenda when I took on this job.

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Specializes in Geriatrics.

Run, do not walk, Run! I was in the same boat in my first job. I gave 2 weeks notice and the DON fired me after 1 week. Take a job doing anything, just don't stay. Nursing school doesn't teach you how to protect your name or license from people like this. While I agree to contact HR and let them know whats going on, I would refuse to sign any false warnings, keep a copy of each one, and get out STAT!!

"I havent even had a preceptor to help guide me like you had on your unit..that is the problem. I really HATE that my first experience as a nurse is like this! Like I said, I have went over this in my mind..when my manager told me the first week I was there that she did not think I was going to make it on the unit..my heart sank."

No preceptor??? and they expected a brand new Nurse to figure this out all by yourself? More than ever I suggest you get out of there now before they decide to destroy your license! It sounds like they are looking for a warm body to fill a spot, by not training you properly they are also saving big money. I have learned that when a manager says something like that during your first week, you should leave on the first available bus, you owe her nothing as she is not going to "waste her time" training someone who she has already made her mind up about.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

Life is too short for bad jobs.

I agree with the members who said RUN, do not walk away from this facility. Some years ago, I worked at a hospital where one assistant department manager took a dislike to me, and from then on I couldn't even spit in the right direction. She called me into her office for the most minor of mistakes, gave me the worst assignments, and generally made my life miserable for 18 months. In the meantime, I developed health problems which I didn't realize were stress-related until I quit; in 2005 alone, I had chest pains which landed me IN the hospital for three days, kidney stones, gallbladder attacks and a subsequent cholecystectomy, MRSA (twice!), C. diff., AND pneumonia.

But it wasn't until this manager tried to nail me on a missing narcotic before I'd even gotten my keys---and was actually upset when another nurse 'fessed up to forgetting to sign it out---that I knew she was going to stop at nothing to force me out, even if she had to ruin me in the process. I typically don't like to give people the satisfaction of defeating me, but I valued my license more than I did the job, and promptly resigned.

To this day, I have never figured out why the woman disliked me so, and I suppose I never will. It doesn't matter anymore, although I still have friends who work at that hospital and say they miss me even now, five years after the fact. And it didn't hurt my feelings to learn that the manager was demoted to an on-call shift supervisor position right after I left. But, as I said, life is too short for bad jobs.......and I firmly believe that when one window closes, another one opens.

So, my advice to you would be to "git while the gittin's good". Take some vacation time if you've got it, and look hard for another position; then when you find it, give 'em your two weeks and work hard no matter what. Don't burn bridges---you never know when you're going to need them again---and leave 'em wanting more. That way you can maintain your good name and professionalism, even though your employer is not acting in a professional manner, and you'll come out of this experience smelling like a rose.

Good luck to you!

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Thanks all for the advice..I needed that..now please pray that I can find another nursing job...not too many of those where I am. But anything is better than what I am going through now!

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I need to speak up here- I hate that word of comparision "fit"- the implication is -" Oh she/he just didn't "fit"in". We nurses are not bras. We are people. That word/phrase just cuts someone to their very soul. It's a very soul murdering word. I don't care how many years of management experience someone has- that doesn't give them the right to resort to describing an grown adult, a professional I might add., the way one would walk into a department store and judge a piece of merchandise. Saying some one doesn't "fit" in ( the 'in' has been dropped from this widely used, kicked around phrase but we all know what is meant) sounds like a nasty little clique, a bunch of immature high school girls who have just been caught hazing, bullying some one and this how they justify their BAD BEHAVIOR.

I'm not a manager, an never want to be one. The entire unit this poster worked on has failed, flunked, zero, poor performance, doesn't meet standards, for not ALLOWING her "fit"in- for lack of a better word. More learning is accomplished when it is done in a positive enviornment- that environment doesn sound like it is too condusive to anyone learning anything of any value. Then there's the fact that there were so many others(6 or 7?) before her. That unit including the assist manager and manager should be hanging their heads in shame. What speciality of a unit is this? I'm guessing- a med/surg/tele. I think us nurses should first stop allowing some one to refer to us as a good or bad"fit" It's very derogatory and our managers should know better. I'll shut up now.

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kcmylorn--I agree completely..it is not fun to hear how I dont "fit" constantly. Oh and no I dont work in Med/Surg..actually I wish I did I would be learning valuable nursing skills..no I work in the Operating Room. Like I said earlier, I have NEVER been in an OR in nursing school nor did I learn about the OR in school...so this is my first experience EVER...and now my LAST!

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you could go to a lawyer and "sue" but instead of asking for money - you can set up an agreement that you will leave voluntarily and they will not give negative referrals and in fact will give good ones.

i had a job years ago where another employee stole my purse. other employees were always gossipping about it and i got called in and asked to sign a paper stating if anything else was mentioned about the "incident" that i could be fired. i refused to sign it because not only was it not my fault that i was ROBBED, i couldn't guarantee that one of the employees (especially the thieve's girlfriend or sister) wouldn't lie and claim they heard me talking about it just to get me fired.

i got terminated for "insubordination" for refusing to sign the paper and i went and spoke to a lawyer. my employer agreed that i was a good employee and i wouldn't seek $$ through unemployment or any other means if they agreed to give good references.

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Specializes in Infusion, Med/Surg/Tele, Outpatient.

asdf80, like everyone else has said, get out of there fast. There are almost always nursing jobs available, if one can look outside of acute inpatient care. Right now you need to give your 2 weeks notice, and document everything (minus pt names) that happens every day you work for the next two weeks - I mean everything - clock in time, caseload, scrub team, bathroom breaks, lunch breaks, turnover time, etc. Tonight, make a list of your nursing skills. See what fields of nursing can fit with those. You may have to work LTC or home health, but you can find a job. You have 6 mo. experience. When potential employers ask why you left after such a short time, use my line "I found I wanted more of a (therapeutic) relationship with my patients. I hate not being able to communicate with them." [And thats the real reason I (AggieNurse) cannot stand the OR.]

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That sucks! I am sort of in the same position. I was promised things that now just aren't possible. I don't think you should sue them, i think a lot of companies do that to their newly hired. I think you should look for another job right now before you quit. Do the best work that you can do and try not to get fired before you quit.

Best of luck to you!

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my dear asdf80- THE OR!!- OR nursing training is extensive- takes an 18 MONTH internship(orientation) to train and make some one an OR nurse, atleast back in the day(2003) it did. What in the HE 'double hockey sticks' is this nursing world coming to??????? What is that place thinking???? OR's have to function as TEAMS!! That hospital is not giving you any OR orientation/internship. How are you learning the instrumentation? Those surgeons must be spitting instuments and wanting to dismember the manager and the assistant manager. I bet the complaining is coming from the surgeons and the managment's is sweeping it's incompetence, poor management skills and not doing their job under the rug,( the nurse manager and assistance manager) by blaming you. Does the CNO know what going on?? Your the one getting written up- your the last one that should be written up. I'm no OR nurse but I can sure think of afew who should be written up befor you!!! MY God, take a new grad and turn her/him loose in the OR with no direction. Someone has lost their mind and it's not you. How badly do you want this OR gig. I think I'd go to the very tippy top- the Cheif Nursing Officer/VP of Nursing and see if they know about this clamity. I bet those surgeons have.

I don't think you will need too much med/surg to be an OR nurse- you do have to know how to insert foleys, apply restraints, turn/transfer patients, apply ground pads( I forgot what the technical name for them are) cautery?, insert salem sumps, hook up suction, may need to start IV's if not done in pre op holding area., need to know what papers have to be on the chart, OR check- allergies, ID band, concents, the time outs, when to yell "no can do boys!!", document the case, scrub/ assist, sterile field, sterile technique, passing instuments if no tech, specimen collection and labeling, if using video- how not to screw up the pictures( I was an endoscopy nurse for 9 months - I always screwed up the pictures) circulate, pass meds if needed, Hang IVF's, operate xray equipment- C- arms, break the room down and set up for the next case, get the pt to PACU, may have to give report if the bossy CRNA lets you, do the marc count after each case. Then God help you if there's a code- OH, and NO ONE ever dies in the OR- they get wheeled to PACU for that., Know how to run a Malignant Hypothermia code- what and how fast you need it, the correct dose of the Dantrolene. And no one is teaching you, this stuff??? No wonder you hate the job. The OR culture is very cliquish. I wouldn't approach them very cocky, or whimpy- they will mop the floor with you, eat you alive but I would be very serious and matter of fact "I am here to learn this and I'm going to learn this". I would be doing some home work. Very rarely do the other floors know the OR nurses- they are a breed/culture all to themselves. They know the PACU nurses and maybe some of the ICU nurses but outside of that- forget it. They are on first name basis with the surgeons, anesthesia. You also have to know your anesthesia- your induction drugs, local, regional and general anesthesics, the gases, signs of the 3 or 4 levels of anesthesia( I forgot how many levels there are) may need to know dermatome man. I would get a good OR nursing book- look on the OR nursing website- It's called Perioperative nursing, the certification is the CNOR- find their core curriculium text book.

As a TEAM- you have to know which person plays which role and their function. The surgeon have their individual level of expectation of the nurse or the OR tech. these are teams that have work together possibly for years. what is your function as the scrub nurse, what is your function as the circulating nurse. Anesthesia Dept.- deals exclusively with giving the drugs- anesthesia( they break down their own manchines) they symptomatically treat any problem that arrises with the stabiliztion of that patient( HTN, arrythmias, emesis) They are responsible for the ABC's-Airway, the heart and lungs /perfusion. What is your role in OR codes- cardiac arrest and MH. I don't know if this helps, I'm not an OR nurse- I have no clue as to the instuments but I would imagine you need to learn what instuments are on which trays, and which trays go with which proceedure.

Pick your self up by the bootstaps and don't shake in your boots either. Forget teacher's pet, Forget all the little love notes that the assist manager and manger( they could be just trying to see what your made of) are telling you and do the following; Here's your plan:

1.- I would still go to the CNO( screw HR) and see what they have to say for themself about why no orientation( don't be suprised if you dont' get an answer), AT THE SAME TIME 2.- I would get that core curriculum text/ and start doing homework/reading, 3.- I would keep my nose to the grindstone/focus and 4.- let them know your not playing!! Be nice but firm/assertive/ boundaries!!!( OR is a tough crowd and your going to have to be just as tough) I never got any OR training 30 yrs ago in a diploma program either- I think they stopped that back in the 70's. Good Luck, keep us posted

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