Never Again

well I think my career is over. I am an agency nurse and I was sent to a home on the 11-7 shift. The nurse leaving just said that I only need to check one room during the night as every one self was pretty much self-care and would call me if they needed me . She took off before giving me a tour of where my rooms were (it is a huge place with several halls and the numbers do not follow a pattern. Accu check monitors were all over the place. same had names on them some did not. I was all alone Two aids were on the other side but made it clear that they did not want to interact with me as far as helping me find things ect. The nurse had left without doing her narc count with me. I wanted to run but I was stuck. I went through the MARS and flagged all my meds and accu checks, there were not many BUT I could not find a mans nito topical cream or appliance patchs.I called a nurse on the help list and wake her up and she said it is in his drawer .well it was not .I looked every where. I never found it. All during the night residents were calling and it was taking me forever to find the rooms which were all locked and several residents would not respond when I knocked. I used my master key and answered as many as I could. When the next shift came on an emergancy page came on and I was running tring to find the room. Everyone else was too busy to help me. Finally I did find the room .A lady had falling. I took v/s and assessed her. The other nurses came in and asked for the med keys so they could start their meds.With everything going on I had not finished the my meds. It was quarter to seven and The on coming nurses said they were taking over the meds now.(they did not say it nasty or anything). They did say that I had used the wrong accu check monitors.After I left they called my agency and said they had issues with me and they would talk about it Monday.So now I am so afraid the my career is over.If it is not I will never let this happen to me again.Wish me luck,

Omgosh.....WOW! How traumatic! I'm sorry you had to endure that! That's terrible! I don't think I would be going back there! Or if you have to....speak to your DON or NM about it and see if they can coordinate some sort of orientation for you. That kind of behavour that they exhibited really does compromise the pt's care and sets a bad example for them. Sad sad sad.

You're career isn't over. They took advantage of you. You sound caring and an AWESOME NURSE! Don't give up!

Best wishes!

I too, had an assignment at a nursing home (first time and definitely the last). None of the residents had arm bands, just pix in the MAR. Most of them look nothing like they did when they first arrived. There was no way I was giving meds without being sure of who they were! I had to catch the CNAs in between their duties to find out who the residents were. Talk about giving meds late! I will never again do a nursing home assignment!

dear heart i wish i could tell you what an unusual occurance this is but i cannot

it isnot too late to write a letter to don and to agency and to the state office with an exact description of what happen during the course of the evening,

i have met nurses like that [the one who kept you waiting] they love the feeling of power, if they do this to you the patients probably don't fare any better

i worked with a nurse and she would roll her cart into the dining room and give out 99% of evening/hs meds there. the dumb don thought that she was the greatest nurse since florence nightengale

aren't you glad that you will never, never need their door code again