New nurse in home healthcare

Published Oct 19, 2011

1 Post

I have been an LPN now for two years and have found it difficult to get a job where I can honestly get experience. The hospitals here don't have that many positions available for LPNs so I took what was available with a private duty company. I learned a lot but not enough. Due to some deception by a patient's mother I gave up a secure part-time job because this woman said she really wanted me to take care of her child. Well two weeks later I discovered this woman lied through her teeth and only said this so I would work on her child's case long enough for her friends to have their background checks done and I was taken off the case and couldn't go back to the case I had been given. There were no more positions open in this area so I crawled back to another agency I had a prn position with that takes care of the mentally handicapped. I stayed at this agency until they downsized. I could have stayed on as prn but was let go because I caught two house staff watching Media on the clock. The nurses aren't supposed to have their personal phones with them so I couldn't call my supervisor until I got home 10 hours later. In the meantime I had a family emergency with my mother who is in another state and didn't get through to my boss until 24 hours later. In the meantime, the household staff made up a bunch of c--p about me to deflect scrutiny away from them. There was an investigation of course. I should be glad I escaped with my license considering the things these two little b----- made up but it has made getting another job difficult. I was always told I needed to work in a hospital to get experience before going to an agency. Now, there are very few positions open to LPNs around here and I don't have enough experience to satisfy the mother's of the patients I'm being sent out to take care of. I am being sent out on ventilator cases with experience that is 1 1/2 years old that hasn't had much reinforcing. Help. I need to work at a hospital but it may be months before a job comes up. How do I get confident? I can handle the routine care of a vent patient but have never changed a circuit. Now the parents of the patients I'm sent out to take care of are asking that I not come back because I don't have enough experience on vents. I'm in a catch 22 situation with no immediate way out. I know I can do this but circumstances have kept me from being able to shine. At this point I look like a failure on paper. I'm going to ask for further training before being sent out, but this company doesn't have a reputation for training their people. Help. I'm losing confidence in myself when I shouldn't simply because I have asked for training and haven't gotten it through my employer. Where should I go.