New grad RN and I'm considering leaving the hospital fresh off orientation for another

[FlyingFishofFury]

So....after all the blood, sweat, and tears of nursing school and the NCLEX, I felt like I had finally won the war only to realize I had drastically underestimated the enemy and that I had only won half the battle. This first year of nursing has proven to be the hardest and most grueling time of my life, more so than even nursing school. Why did no one bother to prepare me for that? A little warning would have been great. Anyway, I landed a job on Med/surg at the hospital I completed clinicals at thinking I knew what to expect. I've been there for 3 months and just now got off orientation and I still hate it.

(an actual picture of me waiting for it to get better)

I still don't feel prepared to take on patients alone without the guidance of a preceptor but they are determined to throw me to the wolves in order to solve their severe understaffing problem. I feel like i'm walking on egg shells every day and I can tell the other nurses get annoyed at me when I ask questions, make mistakes (happens frequently i'm afraid) or beg them to interpret the doctors terrible handwriting for me. (Is there some unspoken rule amongst doctors that all orders must be scripted in unsightly and half assed cursive?)

It doesn't help that I've had three preceptors all of who had different ways of doing things and then when I do something one preceptor showed me, the other one berates me for doing it that way which ultimately leaves me confused and angry. My current preceptor's stand point is it's either her way or the high way and I struggle with this as I was always taught that we all have our own set routines and that when I find mine, things will get easier. Thing is, every time I find one that works for me, my preceptor scolds me in that condescending way of hers until I'm forced to set a routine similar to hers. In other words, all of this adds up to one big giant **** storm of annoying. I hate my job, i'm stressed out every single day, and I feel like the hospital I work at is ****.

which leads me to my next point. I'm considering putting in a 2 week notice and leaving all together to go to another better hospital further down the road. I have two really good friends who work there whom I finished the hell of nursing school with, both of which have just finished orientation there and rave about how great it is. They tell me that the recruiter told them that there are two spots available on their floor for nights and I'm seriously considering applying. Thing is, I'm not sure if that's a wise decision or not. I'm a new grad and it doesn't exactly look great in an interview when I have to explain that my previous work environment sucked (I have never understood why interviews want you to be honest but lie with excuses to cover up negative honesty. It's like saying "we want you to be honest.....but we also want you to pretend that nothing negative has ever happened to you in your previous work environment because we both know that's ********."

It's also not exactly becoming when they see that I'm looking for another job only days after orientation ended. I would also feel really bad about having to turn in a 2 week notice and let my team down and everyone else counting on the hospital to finally being properly staffed. I would really love to just call in a say, "yeah...i'm not doing this **** anymore" but logic tells me that wouldn't look great to future employers so i'm considering a 2 week notice. That means suffering under the scrutiny and judgmental resentful gazes of my coworkers for two whole weeks until i'm finally free to leave.

Has anyone had similar problems? Would turning in a resignation now just out of orientation put a red stamp on my resume forever? and what are some good things to say during an interview about why I left my previous employer? How do you even begin to sugar coat that?

I'm just really confused and lost right now. I went two years through nursing school feeling like everything would all be better and worth it when I graduated and made it to the field but now I feel like i'm only even staying in this profession so all that work and money I invested into it doesn't go to waste. I feel like my only option is to switch to another more organized hospital that will hopefully change my way of thinking. should I stick the year out or should I try my luck with the hospital with better offers?

[RNrhythm, BSN, RN]

By all means, take the better offer if you have one but do not burn any bridges. Try to leave on the best terms possible. I gave a 4 week notice and suddenly no one in management would talk to me. Oh well, I did have 2 going away parties from my colleagues and I honestly love my current job. Your current job has staffing problems for obvious reasons and their inability to keep you is their problem, not yours. DO NOT DO ANYTHING UNTIL YOU HAVE AN OFFER IN WRITING FROM YOUR NEW JOB. Good luck!

[Wuzzie]

I'll take my chances.

I have no doubt.

[DTWriter]

Honestly, OP, do what you think is best for you. As one of my siblings would say: "No causality."

Don't fear being viewed as a "job hopper," or what not. If you are not desperate for money, then do what you feel is best for you. There are nursing managers who take people with even less than a month experience. Though, when applying for a new position, try not to criticize your current employer too much. Yeah, they may suck but don't actually say that.

To be on the safe side, do not turn in your resignation letter unless: 1) you know that they will terminate the moment they can or 2) you have another job secured. Then again, no causality.

[chare]

Deleted.

[ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP]

Hmm...not sure how to go about with this one. I technically started at a SNF. Was there for two weeks, didn't even receive a paycheck and had only been on orientation for three days. It isn't even listed on my resume and because I never got paid, I don't count it. I immediately started my first acute care job on an adult med/surg unit the next day. Stayed there for eight months before going contingent (and have been contingent for over a year) for my current job; I have been in my present position going on sixteen months.

My advice for you is to stick it out and don't quit until you have another job lined up. I never quit my jobs before having another one with a start date and offer letter in hand. Also, be prepared to stick out the next job. I have a new coworker who is on her third job in six months and from the looks of it, she may not last at this job for very long either. You will need to do damage control as I am right now. I plan to stick it out for at least another 1.5 years.

Best of luck!

[caliotter3]

I would not advise anyone to burn bridges with a hospital in town, particularly if you pLan on staying in town. Orientation always sucks. It sounds like you have a pretty strong personality, which may lead to conflicts with preceptors. Find a way to stick it out 9 more months or you may really limit your career possibilities in the future.

You never know, thirteen years from now you may need a new job and this first try place may be at the top of a very, very short list. At least stay long enough to mitigate leaving.

[JKL33]

I think it would be useful to spend some time scrutinizing your current position/workplace and your personal relationship to it. It does sound like a less-than-ideal situation, but it's nevertheless wise to really be brutally honest about what part of this might be "them" and what part might be "you"....or in other words, this is the juncture where it's good to "check your own attitude" before deciding how to proceed. I'm don't mean to imply anything personal with this advice - I just think it's sound practice to know (for your own self and your own future success) that you have done your best to mitigate or improve any of these problems that you possibly can. Your well-being is what's at stake here, both if you stay in a soul-sucking environment AND if you leave without proper contemplation and find out that the next place is just as soul-sucking to you as the first one was. These types of difficult situations in life are often good opportunities for personal growth, so use the time wisely. :)

I personally don't advise going to your current management with a list of "I feel" statements about your orientation experience, or with much of any negative feedback at all at this juncture. If periodic evaluations of your orientation process (with open communication and feedback amongst all parties) has not taken place up to this point, I would not count on this being able to be remedied. Assuming that your evaluation of the unit's situation (what you've told us here) is accurate, this is not a situation that middle management is in a position to improve on any sort of acceptable timeline. It is a problem that stems from higher up. The second reason for my advice is because...how should I say this...I don't trust admins, at any level, to take feedback (even truly constructive criticism) at face value any more. I've seen too many good people vilified because a mentor, or a manager or a hospital system insisted on feeling personally-insulted to the Nth degree when hearing feedback that wasn't rainbows and unicorns. Sad as it is, for this reason alone, I would do my own personal due diligence (brutally-honest self-evaluation) and then if I didn't think I could improve the situation from within myself, I'd find a place that isn't soul-sucking. Life really is too short.

I would not give notice until you have an offer from a new place. Then, I would write a kind and professional resignation letter, give at least 2 weeks' notice, and leave without causing any kind of hard feelings as much as possible. Resist the temptation to have your say and strive to not add insult to injury. Be prepared for them to relieve you of your position immediately when you give your notice.

Best wishes.

[chacha82, ADN, BSN]

You've been given excellent advice here, there's not a whole lot to add. There are significant difficulties restarting a new grad residency; however, this doesn't mean it's impossible. Examine why exactly you are leaving - these problems and others you haven't even thought of can occur in a new setting. You don't like it and that's OK - but as a new grad I would not give your notice until you have another offer. Leaving fresh off of orientation may be a red flag for other employers. How do they know you won't do it to them? It's not to guilt you into staying but just give you some insight into what they have to consider. If there's any way you can make it for over 6 months I'd try to. A year would be even better. You have to do what is right for you of course, but I would not leave one job without having an offer from another.

[RNperdiem, RN]

If you are considering moving to a new job, do some real detective homework and find out if the other hospital is as great as your friends' say it is. Your friends might be going through a honeymoon phase, that a lot of people go through in a new situation, where everything is wonderful. As reality sets in, morale takes a drop.

I guess I am saying is that if you want out, make sure you will be really bettering your situation rather than "same problems, different place".

[TriciaJ, RN]

Reading theses types of threads is really eye opening for me into the world of nursing (mis)communication. Not a single suggestion to develop a written list of comments, actions, behaviors from your preceptors that make you feel __________ or how their teaching conflicts with each other etc. Then sit down with all 3 preceptors and the floor manager and discuss these issues and develop a path to resolution.

At least if you quit after that, you can be honest, explain your issues with that job and how you attempted to resolve conflicts directly and diplomatically in order to create a positive and non hostile working environment. Horizontal/lateral violence is a significant problem in the profession.

A quote I like is "those who complain the most, usually have the least to complain about" in other words, take a critical look at yourself first and look at your own perspectives and make sure you don't need to modify or reevaluate your own thinking, actions, behaviors first.

A meeting with all 3 preceptors plus the floor manager? All of them in the same room at the same time to discuss the problems encountered by a new employee? That would take a planetary alignment not seen in our lifetime.

[TriciaJ, RN]

I have to say I do find it sad that nursing as a profession has come to suck this bad. How many other new grads have we coached about the consequences of job-hopping vs staying in a place that makes them physically ill? In what other professions do newcomers regularly face this dilemma?

We all expected to work hard and deal with stress. But nursing workloads and working conditions have gotten beyond ridiculous. Who is going to look after us in our dotage if everyone runs away screaming?

I don't know what the answer is. I'm just glad I was a new grad back then and not now. Rant over.

[Borntobenurse?]

So....after all the blood, sweat, and tears of nursing school and the NCLEX,.... I feel like my only option is to switch to another more organized hospital that will hopefully change my way of thinking. should I stick the year out or should I try my luck with the hospital with better offers?

AS long as you get the new job before quitting, you will be fine. Tho remember, when you jump that fast, you need to spend at least a year in the next place, so it might be that your friends were wrong (unlikely, but possible) and the unit sticks, but you will be stuck there for awhile for your resumes sake.

But quite frankly, it sounds like your floor is a typical high turnover med surg, where the malignant nurses somehow get seen as leaders and promoted to precepting. I have no idea why this happens so much. But now that you are free of precepting it will get better. Trust your gut tho, if it seems like people are out to get you, start applying elsewhere right away. Better to have another job offer and not need it, then to be kicked out in the cold.