I'm looking for advice. A nurse who recently passed her state boards was hired as a charge nurse. Within 30 days she was fired.
The job description required experience, and yet the facilitity who knew she had recently graduated and had no experience, still hired her.
She can not think of any other reason they fired her after her 30 day evaluation period, except that on one occasion she did not check the the peg tube patency before administering medication, ( she had been being observed by the evaluation nurse.
She had done the procedure properly prior to this particular occasion when she forgot to check for peg tube patency.
She called the nurse who evaluated her and the nurse evaluator said that she had no idea she had been fired.
Further information given to the new nurse was that she was fired because she did not have enough experience.
Why hire her knowing she had no experience without giving her adequate time to learn.
30 days is not alot of time.
Now she needs a job. How should she approach applications? Does she put down she was fired after 30 days ?
I feel bad for her. I think that the facility hired her until they could get an experienced nurse for the position.
This facility is known for going through RN's quick ( they Quit). She was in charge of LPN's who cared for for alzhimers / dementia patients.
I graduted in 2009 from an advanced LPN program. I worked for just a few months in adult day health and then was offered a job in a rehab/ltc facility (rehab flr.) that is rated #1 (lighthouse). They new going in I was new never had skilled nursing experience as a nurse but they gave me a chance and I was up for the challenge. In less than 7 days of floor orientation, 3-4 days with one nurse doing med pass and 2-3 days on a desk being showed the half *ss way to enter info for new pt admissions, I was on my own taking on an entire wing and at times an entire floor. I would ask questions to those I felt comfy asking, those that werent so busy to answer my ?'s and others refused to help me. A unit manager (let's call her Donna) would help me only when the DON was around. The ADON was expecting a lot from me, forgetting the fact that I was new. She always wanted me to ask her questions when there were nothing to be asked because they were answered or their was nothing new happening. She was condescending on many occasions, especially if I asked her a question. Every night on my drive home, I would ball my eyes out because of the intensity of the work and the
lack of help I would get. The fear of failing (considering I had been unemployed for years) or hurting a patient. I'd question myself
to see if I was cut out for the job. When I'd get home, my mind would be all wound
up, going a mile a minute, tensed that by the time I fell asleep, I'd wake up a few hrs.
later from nitemares.
I never hurt a patient, never had a med error, thank god but I was told that in my 90
days probation I wasn't grasping everything up speed and the supervisor now didnt feel safe with me on the floor. But what it really was that I mentioned the Donna didnt want
to hang up and iv and after i was passing meds she had me go to the other wing and
the the ADON (let's call her Roberta) felt I wasn't asking her questions buy asking others instead. I was told it was not in the best interest for me to ask nurses for help
when I should have asked the Donna and Roberta (both of which made me feel belittled when I did ask a question to). I told the DON that from day 1, I wasn't welcomed at
this facility, that their had been many times I got NO help and not that it matter
anymore because the damage was already done but it was not just any nurse that
refused to help but by Donna and Roberta also. I told her Donna was so eager to help only when the DON was around and the second the DON would leave she refused to help, the DON said she knew this was her personality. The thing is for a week the DON kept saying yo me don't worry about the meeting it's nothing bad only to go to the netting and them I'm fired. Someone informed me that before new grads were given 30 days of orientation for that floor and that they couldnt find a full time expirienced nurse so they settled for me until experience came around, also that if after the 90 days was up they would have had to given me a verbal, then written before taking other actions. Either way this all stemmed from Donna and Roberta. The DON said that she will serve as a
reccomendation if a facility calls her she will tell them I serve best in LTC and with
another charge nurse on the floor with me, I'm better off not putting her down then.
I do better in LTC with nurses that at not pretentious as your nurses and in a facility
where odor the reeks thru the air is not from the *sses of the Patients but from the mouth of your so called Great supervisors!
Out of the 4 orientees only 1 remains and they treat her like crap as they do many in there and when the state comes they all put on a show!
I graduated May 2010, did not get a job until October 2010 in a LTC/Rehab. They gave me 3 days of basic orientation: 2 days of med pass, one day of quick review behind the desk, and then on Day 4 I come into work expecting another day of orientation only to find out I was now being left alone all night with 56 sub-acute rehab patients. I quit the next morning, but in desperation for a paycheck in this economy I returned a few weeks later in a PT position on the LTC floor of the same facility. That was much more tolerable, so I stayed for a few more months mostly miserable but incredibly careful to keep my notes thorough and nose as clean as possible. When my charge nurse asked me to forge signatures on the month previous' MAR sheets to cover her ass, I knew it was time to look elsewhere. I did not do the forging, but instead of refusing and making a scene, I politely became 'too busy' to do the work. I knew there was no one I could report the incident to and keep my job, so I dodged bullets until I was able to leave there.
My next job came soon in a slightly smaller, 'better' Rehab. I was fired a day shy of probation's end, for 'not working out'. It was not a loss. They hired me with the intentions of having me come in to help 'fix the ills of evening shift', as per the interview with the ADON and DON. The ADON told me of the Administration's intentions of making me the evening charge nurse on the DAY 2. It seemed a bit unrealistic, but I took it as a challenge and did my best. For the first few weeks, they were gung-ho about my performance and couldn't wait to get me off Orientation. I heard nothing but how good I was doing 'despite everything' and told me to keep up the good work. It boosted my waining confidence, but the fact was, I could not get decent training for trying. I went to the ADON several times whenever I could catch her in passing to keep her updated on my progress/concerns, because I wanted them to know I was serious about this job and making things work out but I was fighting an uphill battle of a brutal clique of evening LPNS. There were two RN's they were looking to fire, something they kept me updated on, which felt uncomfortable to know considering how new I was and made me question the ethics of the uppers. In the meantime, the evening shift were hiding my work, switching orders in charts, and doing all sorts of shady things to make it look like I was suddenly botching up and making all sorts of 'rookie' mistakes. I had to keep Xerox's to cover my own ass. It was so clique-y, and I had no one to talk to about the sabotage. Even the ADON didn't want to hear it, instead they decided to bounce me on and off Orientation several more times on the Day Shift to the point I couldn't keep any personal plans for weeks at a time in case they moved my schedule again. I tried to keep my mouth shut about the sabotage, but ultimately came home crying nightly to my poor boyfriend.
I had my FIRST sit-down since being interviewed with the DON to be told I was fired. I hadn't even had a sit-down with ANYONE at that point about my progress, which after 59 days bothered me and it wasn't for lack of trying. They blew me off with a 'you're doing great!' and I never heard elsewise until that day. That day, the DON sat with a smug face and a pile of my 'mistakes', and as I tried to explain each and every one, she blew me off. The next day, my position had been filled by a close friend of the Day Charge Nurse, and multiple lay-offs ensued with the budget cuts.
I know I got shafted, but it's made me question if nursing is even worth it anymore. I'm ADN, so there's no chance I'll see a hospital job anytime soon. The state budget cuts are making it hard to get jobs in LTC now so I'm back to the drawing board. I've held a lot of hairnet jobs in my youth but never have I worked jobs as terrible as the one's I've had since becoming a nurse. Politics are everywhere, but my license is mine, and I feel between the cutbacks and the politics I simply don't want to return to nursing.
The post above mine says it all. I, too, never hurt a patient, and never made a med error. While I am hurt about the firing, the fact that I'm not home awake in bed, head throbbing, stomach in knots, grinding my teeth nightly after my shift made the job loss so much easier to take. I don't know what the future holds for me. I do know I made an honest, clean attempt at nursing. Finishing school gave me the confidence to feel I can tackle any obstacle and do ANYTHING and as it looks, my return to school might take me in a different direction but I'm okay with that too.
You know what, this stuff happens at the major hospitals too. Especially specialty units. I hate to see anyone treated like this. I truly believe there is a good job out there for you. I have found the short-staffed "drive me crazy jobs"
seem to have really nice supportive people on shift. Even though I end up working a lot harder, I'm happier because I feel needed and supported. Hope you find something worthy of you.
This is going to reveal how ooooolllllllddd!!!!! I am. However, In 1984, the hospital I worked for gave you 2 weeks of orientation to staff nursing, then you had 2 or 3 days orientation to charge and that was it. I begged to not be put in charge! No luck, All the new grads rotated charge. I was the only BSN in the group which meant I had observed for about 2 days what a charge nurse did.
Charge also meant giving all the meds for the floor as well. Oh yes, and there was no ER for Peds so you had to help the residents in the proceedure room. The AD grads had actual student clinical time doing charge. I was sure I was gonna be fired or have a loud public nervous breakdown.
I was picked at and talked about behind my back, but push came to shove, the more experienced nurses held me up, and got me through those first rough charge nurse shifts.
I know people shouldn't apply for jobs for which they're not prepared. And there is the possibility that the young nurse in question misrepresented herself.
But - and I don't know about the rest of you - I'm fresh out of college, and all the advice I ever get is to apply for EVERY job we might be able to get. And to make ourselves look as good as possible.
No one's ever said to me, "now don't apply if you're not sure you can handle it." It's always "get out as many applications as possible." I think people tend to view experience as never mandatory, even if this is untrue.
She may have thought she was just diligently searching for work. Like I said, she could have been a little more nefarious, but I doubt it.
Ihavenews4u
1 Post
I graduted in 2009 from an advanced LPN program. I worked for just a few months in adult day health and then was offered a job in a rehab/ltc facility (rehab flr.) that is rated #1 (lighthouse). They new going in I was new never had skilled nursing experience as a nurse but they gave me a chance and I was up for the challenge. In less than 7 days of floor orientation, 3-4 days with one nurse doing med pass and 2-3 days on a desk being showed the half *ss way to enter info for new pt admissions, I was on my own taking on an entire wing and at times an entire floor. I would ask questions to those I felt comfy asking, those that werent so busy to answer my ?'s and others refused to help me. A unit manager (let's call her Donna) would help me only when the DON was around. The ADON was expecting a lot from me, forgetting the fact that I was new. She always wanted me to ask her questions when there were nothing to be asked because they were answered or their was nothing new happening. She was condescending on many occasions, especially if I asked her a question. Every night on my drive home, I would ball my eyes out because of the intensity of the work and the
lack of help I would get. The fear of failing (considering I had been unemployed for years) or hurting a patient. I'd question myself
to see if I was cut out for the job. When I'd get home, my mind would be all wound
up, going a mile a minute, tensed that by the time I fell asleep, I'd wake up a few hrs.
later from nitemares.
I never hurt a patient, never had a med error, thank god but I was told that in my 90
days probation I wasn't grasping everything up speed and the supervisor now didnt feel safe with me on the floor. But what it really was that I mentioned the Donna didnt want
to hang up and iv and after i was passing meds she had me go to the other wing and
the the ADON (let's call her Roberta) felt I wasn't asking her questions buy asking others instead. I was told it was not in the best interest for me to ask nurses for help
when I should have asked the Donna and Roberta (both of which made me feel belittled when I did ask a question to). I told the DON that from day 1, I wasn't welcomed at
this facility, that their had been many times I got NO help and not that it matter
anymore because the damage was already done but it was not just any nurse that
refused to help but by Donna and Roberta also. I told her Donna was so eager to help only when the DON was around and the second the DON would leave she refused to help, the DON said she knew this was her personality. The thing is for a week the DON kept saying yo me don't worry about the meeting it's nothing bad only to go to the netting and them I'm fired. Someone informed me that before new grads were given 30 days of orientation for that floor and that they couldnt find a full time expirienced nurse so they settled for me until experience came around, also that if after the 90 days was up they would have had to given me a verbal, then written before taking other actions. Either way this all stemmed from Donna and Roberta. The DON said that she will serve as a
reccomendation if a facility calls her she will tell them I serve best in LTC and with
another charge nurse on the floor with me, I'm better off not putting her down then.
I do better in LTC with nurses that at not pretentious as your nurses and in a facility
where odor the reeks thru the air is not from the *sses of the Patients but from the mouth of your so called Great supervisors!
Out of the 4 orientees only 1 remains and they treat her like crap as they do many in there and when the state comes they all put on a show!