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

[Nurse1005]

[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.

[Multicollinearity, BSN, RN]

I had no idea that unpaid orientation would be legal. What happens if you get hurt on the job? I'm just shocked that working without being paid is legal in some states.

Hourly pay (or lack of) is a separate issue from providing worker's compensation. For example, I used to be a commission only employee. I received no hourly pay. However, as an employee, not independent contractor, my employer was required to provide me with worker's compensation coverage.

[sauconyrunner]

Well... that is a crazy situation and I think you should be happy to be quit of it. One thing though...straight A's in school does not translate much into the real world of nursing...as you have just learned! You have gained HUGE experience in how to look for/be hired for a job and what will work for you....Hopefully you will find something that fits better, and with an appropriate orientation!

[Maremma]

Indeed lack of proper training seems pretty common for the new grad LPN. I worked as a CNA where I now work as an LPN. I was told that whenever a new grad LPN comes on board there they automatically get three weeks of training then are evaluated to see if they need an additional week. I thought that was just wonderful! Wasn't I lucky?

Out of my "3 weeks" training I was thrown from one hall to another with the nurse already scheduled to work that floor. There was no "trainer" SO REALLY I was nothing more than an additional burden to the LPN on duty that day! Te first one came right out and told me "Geeze I wish they would have sent you to me last week, I was down in census and would have had a little time to actually train you on some things" "I have a full house now so unfortunately this isn't going to be pretty" Well at least she was honest! I only had two days with her and things were a lot worse everywhere else with other nurse's. In that two days she was able to show me how to properly give her G-tub person her meds, made sure I could properly read and understand all the different insulin orders and showed me how we count narcs and document it. That poor woman was run ragged and barely had time to breathe much less teach me anything! Most everyone else saw me as a "break" for them, stuck me on their med carts and went off to the desk to do their paperwork (which they were SUPPOSE to be teaching ME how to do but didn't) One nurse I couldn't even find when crap hit the fan with three patients at once! I had to get a different nurse down a different hall to tell me what protocol was and how to find what I needed on the computer! I have nerves of steel but this "training" was really pushing me beyond my limits of tolerance! Not even a paper trainer/trainee packet was used when I was "training" for the LPN position like there was for the CNA position.(you'd think it would be more imperative the other way around)I had no list to go down and see if I actually knew how to do everything that was required of me or not. I kept asking for one but was blown off every time! I get to the end of my 3 weeks and am asked if I feel confident I can fly solo. I told them flat out, I cannot tell you whether I know everything I need to know to do it alone or not. I will not sign that I am full trained because I seriously doubt that I am. Still they were desperate and so put me on the schedule alone even without me signing. The scheduler said "Well there is to much to learn so it is learn as you go around here anyway.It'll be a good experience for you!" Umm really? Whose license is on the line while I am having this "good experience"? I was very fortunate to have two other very experienced LPN's on my shift, at least one was always in the building if I got "stuck" and could tell me what to do or I am sure I would have failed already.

To be quite frank I worked to hard for my license and if it were not for these other two nurse's being available to me during my shifts I would have went back to CNA work until I could find work as an LPN elsewhere that would have been a "safer" facility to get my experience in. Yes we all have to eat and pay bills but putting a temporary hold on the LPN job is a lot smarter than risking a permanent loss if you ask me.

[1busymaniam]

Nurse1005,

What to hell! This is totally outrageous! I know where I work a unit/floor is req'd to have 2 nurses at a minimum around the clock even if unit is empty. Empty can happen sometimes on Pediatrics. Acute must require 2 nurses. I almost suspect that the DON has a phantom nurse on the payroll and is cashing that check? Stay way far away from that facility.

Thank......

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

I believe from the OP's post that this is a 6 bed ECF in a private home. I forget what the exact name for them is. A couple of friends of mine work for a similar type of facility and its 2 CNA's and 1 nurse for 6 patients per shift. I think acute is a little exaggeration as most of the patients are more LTC/LTAC. My friends don't have too many complaints they actually like it.

[Nurse1005]

Thank you all so much for your input! I really do appreciate it. As most of you said, I did work REALLY hard for my license. This place was full of red flags and that little voice in the back of my mind kept telling me that it wasn't safe there :redlight:. Thankfully I no longer am with this facility and I am now looking for another job. We learn from our mistakes and I now know what to inquire about before saying yes to ANY job offer . I have to watch my own back because no one else will

[tothepointeLVN, LVN]

Rereading your post again and understanding what kind of facility it is the problem wasn't so much the workplace was unsafe though probably not perfect but the fact that you didn't have any experience which is not your fault. A year down the line in the same situation you would have been able to navigate it better including making sure you get paid. Remember also sometimes those training you will NOT train you well because they don't want you taking their hours.

But a year or two down the track handling 6 patients solo along with a CNA will seem like a cake walk.