New LVN grad, 3 days of orientation with no pay.

Nurses LPN/LVN

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[color=#ff0099]hello fellow experienced lvn's. i'm a new grad who got hired recently at a six patient acute/rehabilatation facility. the person who did the hiring told me that they do one day of orientation (with no pay) and than leave you to yourself. what i mean "by myself" is it's just me and a cna taking care of all six patients. there will be no one there supervising me giving me advice if i need it. she knew i was a new grad, green as ever but she saw something in me that made her hire me. my first day consisted of her walking me through the house, introducing me and showing me where they keep their disorganized supplies. i saw so many red flags already just from the walk through. we than split up our patients, she gave me the med cart keys and left me by myself. three patients does not seem that bad, however since everything was new to me i did take a while to pass my meds. i lagged like there was no tomorrow because i was reading the mar double checking it making sure i had the right drug and i even pointed out a mistake on the mar for her. once i was done with my day i had to write my nursing notes and they were just ridiculous. the reminded me of swiss cheese with so many holes in them and i kept think "malpractice if you don't document correctly" i couldn't believe how stupid i was that day. i went through nursing school with straight a's. i believed this profession was going to be simple. i was so wrong and so disappointed with my progress during orientation.

after my orientation she told me that if i wanted i can come a couple of more times on my free time to get more oriented so i agreed. the second day she gave me all six patients and no guidance whatsoever. i found myself going back and forth asking her questions. i felt ridiculous. i came home that day and just cried. in the back of my mind i was thinking, how am i supposed to take care of these patient all by myself with no help? what if a patient crashes and i freeze and don't know what to do? i was making mistakes here and there (nothing major, thank god) but no matter what the whole concept of my duties was just not clicking. i would go home and stay up at night running through my day trying to figure out how i can better manage my time and pin point my mistakes. finally by my third orientation/volunteer work because that's what it felt like she told me to come at night from 3-11 pm. this wasn't so bad as the morning shift and i had an lvn give me face to face orientation. i still doubted myself and felt that i wouldn't be able to do this on my own. i wanted to just run away from all of it. when i called her to tell her i wanted more orientation she said they were going to go with someone else.

my biggest fear was losing my license because of some major mistake that i might make. did i make the right choice? was i just being a whiny scaredy cat who was just freaking out? it's not like i had 30-40 patients all to myself so why couldn't i handle six?! i feel like such a loser and seriously think that i may have chosen the wrong profession.

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Specializes in Rehab.

I'm a new grad also so don't sweat it, it just wasn't meant to be

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.
[color=#ff0099]hello fellow experienced lvn's. i'm a new grad who got hired recently at a six patient acute/rehabilatation facility. the person who did the hiring told me that they do one day of orientation (with no pay) and than leave you to yourself. what i mean "by myself" is it's just me and a cna taking care of all six patients. there will be no one there supervising me giving me advice if i need it. she knew i was a new grad, green as ever but she saw something in me that made her hire me.

please don't mis-understand my comment. it is not a reflection on you. it is a reflection on the person and institution that hired you.

what she "saw in you" was a pulse and a lack of experience that would cause you to question yourself rather than the poor practices in this facility.

i know of no situation in which it is legal to deny pay for orientation. orientation is a work day, just like any other.

i also know of no reputable institution that would place a new graduate in charge of a full load of patients as well as overseeing subordinate employees without substantial training. in some states, this assignment would be expressly forbidden by the state nurse practice act.

run like hell.

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[color=#ff0099] when i called her to tell her i wanted more orientation she said they were going to go with someone else.

.

that's the best thing that could've ever happened to you.

i can't believe she let you work and pass meds without officially being an employ. something is very, very wrong with this picture.

be glad you're finished with it before you got in too deep!

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Specializes in Hospice Care, Med/Surg.

Baby, she did you a favor...Run, Forest, run!!

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So basically they got three days of free nursing staff and hired an another nurse.

I don't know where you are but honestly, do you think you would be covered by Workers Compensation if you had been injured while working there.

Never agree to an unpaid orientation period.

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Specializes in Oncology.

i would never work on my "free time" sorry! it's dangerous to my license, i could be hurt and not covered by workman's comp, and i am still liable, while working for free? h no.

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Call your board of labor. Ask about unpaid orientation. Call the nursing board. Ask about unpaid orientation in general, and passing meds during an unpaid orientation, in particular.

RUN, do not walk, from this awful situation.

Best wishes!

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Nurse1005, I am also a new graduate and have been placed in situations which I find very disconcerting. Please take the advice of the other nurses here and consider this a learning experience. #1, never pass meds without being fully hired employee of the institution #2, a reputable institution would never expect you to work for free, pass meds and be unsupervised. #3 if you feel within yourself that you are placing your patients or your license at risk, you probably are-run, don't walk from this situation. No job is worth someone's life or you license. As my clinical instructor always said, "baby, you've worked too hard for too long to get your license, don't let your lack of confidence lose it."

As new nurses, we are almost guaranteed to feel inadequate at times, doubt our judgement and lose sleep over what was done or not done during our shifts. When I accepted my very first nursing job two weeks ago, the DON who hired me, told me that she would personally train me so that "I would know how she wants things done, the right way." I jumped at the chance to be trained by the DON. The facility is a 120 skilled nursing facility which accepts PICC, Perm-a-cath and Central line patients as well as long term residents. I was hired as RN evening supervisor. A bit of background on me, I'm in my 40's and just passed NCLEX-RN in February of this year. I have over 7 years CNA experience in a variety of environments from pediatric clinic, to home health to county nursing home and hospital. Anyway, since beginning this job, I have had the sum total of two hours of "training" with my DON. She then pushed me off onto anyone she could think of. She put me with the current LPN supervisor who has only been there a month. He doesn't train me at all and the few times he has sat down with me to attempt to train me, he gets paged or we are interrupted continuously. Two nights since I began, I've been thrown on a med cart "with him." He was to pass the meds and show me how to as well. He gave me the blood sugars to complete, he passed two meds and then was gone........I went to find him-he threw the keys at me and said I would have to finish it myself. This was with absolutely no orientation to the cart, the med pass or the residents. My shift is 3-11, I didn't get to leave until 4am, the second time he threw me on the cart solo, it was 3:15am. Oh, and by the way, 90% of the residents don't have name bands for what ever reason. I asked about the lack of name bands and how I was supposed to adequately identify the residents. "There's a picture on the MAR!" was what he said. Out of 30 residents I was to pass meds to, three have MAR pictures. Last night was the last straw. I won't go into detail, but I will be telling the DON that I'm done putting my license in jeopardy. I resign. I'm not quitting-I'm resigning. I gave it all I had-100%. I'm resigning myself and my license from the practices of this institution.

All that said, find a reputable facility. In the city where I live, the best nursing home is affiliated with the major Magnet status hospital in town. There are 7 hospitals in my area, only one has Magnet status and the employees love to work there so much that the turn over rate is very low. Needless to say, I will be pursuing their nurse recruiter within the next few days. I've applied but haven't heard back from them. Time to step up the search.

Dear one, please know that you are not alone. Most new grads are experiencing a lot of the same feelings you are-it is going to be a learning process no matter what job you take, give yourself a chance and rely on the training you've had. Do not accept a patient assignment when you haven't been properly oriented. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Blessings to you on your search.

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You need to take this up with the Labor Board, or an employment attorney. You performed labor for which you are legally owed pay. Speaking up for yourself will also send a message to the employer to stop treating people this way. What they did to you is illegal. Don't feel too bad about this, they would try to do the same thing to someone with experience if they thought they could get away with it.

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Call your board of labor. Ask about unpaid orientation. Call the nursing board. Ask about unpaid orientation in general, and passing meds during an unpaid orientation, in particular. RUN, do not walk, from this awful situation. Best wishes!
I couldn't have said it better!
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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

To the OP, this in no way reflects on your performance or your competence as a nurse. This place sounds like a lawsuit just waiting to happen and if they hadn't gone with someone else I would have told you "Run, run as fast as you can... You can't catch me I'm the ..."

Well you know how the rest goes... Best of luck in your job search and make sure that you recieve a comprehensive, paid orientation from the next employer from whom you accept a job offer.

!Chris :specs:

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