Just wanted some thoughts on my situation, here it is...
I graduated in May-gotta job on a med/surg floor- 4-weeks of orientation-and I'm now caring for 6-7 pts all by myself.
But get this. I have no resource person, no one offers help, and I'm still working under a TEMPORARY LICENSE! What's the legalities on this?
Also, yesterday a doctor asked me why I turned off a morphine drip when respirations were 6, and this pt is braindead after a massive MI. The order said "titrate to comfort". A dnr ofcourse but, I almost laughed and said kiss my a**.
Not really-I just told him i learned it in school and the ativan was working just fine until respirations came back up. LORD HELP ME!
i totally know how you feel. graduated in Dec., boards in March. i started orientation in February but wasn't allowed to do anything till they could confirm my license. now i have been working on my own for a few months, and feel like they are head hunting.
a few weeks ago, a senior nurse on previous shift gave me report at shift change. he stated that their was a problem with a patient's wound vac. in nursing school...we didn't come into contact with wound vacs..didn't even talk about them. he stated that their were no more supplies and if i (emphasize I) couldn't get it running and keep it running. that i would have to apply some type of dressing to the wound after removing the wound vac dressing...vaguely remember something about a wet to dry. I got the vac running and was able to keep it running until about 2 hours before my shift was over. i ended up shutting it off about 45 minutes before the end of my shift. gave report and asked the oncoming nurse what to do. she said to leave it and she would have our wound nurse take care of it when she came in (about 20 minutes later).
yesterday, i was written up for the entire incident. the nurse who was having the problem with the vac in the first place told them that he told me what to do with it....but failed to tell them that the vac was off when i came on shift and the other nurse never notified the wound nurse until 2 hours after i gave report. she wrote me up because it took almost 1 hour to peel the wound vac dressing off the patient.
like an idiot, i stood there with tears streaming down my face and took the blame for everyone else's negligence including my own.
i decided right then and there...never again. the male nurse i work with is a hot shot who gets away with a lot of things he shouldn't and passes alot of stuff onto the new nurses and laughs when we don't do it right and get called on the carpet. i have written a detailed letter to the wound nurse detailing the events of that evening...i admitted my responsibility but also stated that it is important that he be held responsible for his actions as well
and he was......i feel like i won a little battle but not the war cause now they are scrutinizing my every move and nursing action.....gonna have to fire me though....i am not giving up
keep your chin up and talk to someone in management....my ally was the wound nurse's boss....our DON
good job going back and writing it up in your words- yes - you took your share of the responsibility is good and it is also very good to get it in your chart your rebuttal to WHY it wasn't just your fault - i also have the DON or administrator SIGN my rebuttal and tell them it should be out in my chart with my reprimand attached so that anyone who look s back will see what w wrote - not that it will ever get the other person reprimanded or anything but at least i feel better knowing i have it in that chart - i also when i sign the reprimand add that i will be writing and attaching a explanation and or rebuttal to that reprimand within such amount of time right ion the paper we have to sign.
I couldn't even start with hospital orientation or begin my critical care course, let alone take care of patients without the manager seeing my license in person.
Why do people wait so long to take the NCLEX?
i now the 3 i know - 1 took it right away and the other 2 decided they were only gonna work really part time as a grad nurse and take the summer off and have fun after spending 4 yrs in college - kinda spring break before spending the rest of their life working their butts off they say lol. i don't blame em - wish i had had their resources to have been able to take time off back then ( especially as we had to wait 3 months for results lol - talk about nerve wracking - nowadays they don't get the grad nurse position waiting for results cause they get em so quickly like days to not even weeks nowadays.
I couldn't even start with hospital orientation or begin my critical care course, let alone take care of patients without the manager seeing my license in person.
Why do people wait so long to take the NCLEX?
Some states allow you to work as a Graduate Nurse. You still have a license but it is a temporary one(lasts about 90 days) and you work with a preceptor who must cosign your charting etc. I did not take the NCLEX until 8/2/06 for several reasons. 1)the fee-we get paid biweekly and I still had rent to pay etc 2) My BON is staffed with lazy, smug state employees who take forever to process paperwork. Thank God I was able to utilize Pearson Vue quick results. The website for my BON has been down for 2 weeks. 3)I had to wait forever for my ATT. Actually, the people in my class that took it too soon tended not to do well. As part of my GN orientation, we also got a free 4 day NCLEX review. So waiting is sometimes a positive thing.
twotrees2
913 Posts
good job going back and writing it up in your words- yes - you took your share of the responsibility is good and it is also very good to get it in your chart your rebuttal to WHY it wasn't just your fault - i also have the DON or administrator SIGN my rebuttal and tell them it should be out in my chart with my reprimand attached so that anyone who look s back will see what w wrote - not that it will ever get the other person reprimanded or anything but at least i feel better knowing i have it in that chart - i also when i sign the reprimand add that i will be writing and attaching a explanation and or rebuttal to that reprimand within such amount of time right ion the paper we have to sign.