New RN needs advice

[RescueNinja13]

Hello everyone! Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

I just became an RN last spring and started working a "nurse residency program" along with several other RN residents last summer. After 14 shifts of orientation we were put on our own.

One night, I had a patient that needed her blood drawn. I had the patient a few days before and couldn't get blood from her. My charge that night tried twice and finally got just enough. I also knew that the patient had had to have a coordinator do her last iv and it took several sticks and a Doppler. At my job, if you can't get a draw, you call the supervisor. If the supervisor can't get it, she calls the coordinator. I went in and felt all over for anything. If there's even the tiniest deep something, I go for it and I'd not yet had a situation where there was nothing to try for. But I never felt anything at all. My patient says to me "please don't stick me unless you find a vein. I've always been this way. I don't understand why they don't just call in the coordinators instead of torturing me." So, I called my supervisor. (She's on he opposite side of the floor) My supervisor says "oh, I know that patient. I dug around on her 3 times the other day! I'll never get her. I hate to call the coordinator because she was just up here doing a draw but I'll call her."

Then the coordinator comes up. She asks me how many times I stuck the patient and I said I hadn't. I explained that I had felt all over, my supervisor didn't think she could get her and the difficulty they had getting an iv the day before. She is instantly hateful. She tells me that I am not allowed to call for help until I poke a patient twice and that my supervisor has to also poke her twice before she can be called. I tried explaining that if I poked her I wouldn't be going for anything and that the pt didn't want to be poked unless we saw something to go for. She just kept saying that I "had" to go poke the patient twice. I told her that I was not comfortable with that. She kept on insisting. I explained to her that I had never had to have a coordinator get blood on my patient and that I felt she needed to talk to my supervisor because poking my patient for no reason other than to get her to poke the patient went against everything I felt was right. I also asked if having to poke EVERY patient no matter what, twice was a policy. She said no, it was the rule the coordinators had decided. I asked if there were no exceptions to that rule. She just looked at me I was stupid. This went on for 40 minutes. I told her several times that I didn't call her, I called my supervisor. My supervisor won't poke the patient and if she won't either, I need to know what my next resource is. She rolls her eyes at me and says "oh my GOD this is going NOWHERE!" And goes in to the patient's room. She comes back out 2 minutes later with blood in a 10cc syringe and snaps at me "HER IV DRAWS!!" Then she fills up the lab vials and labels them at the nurse's station, shoves them at me and says YOU'RE WELCOME! and walks off.

Two days later I am asked to meet my manager in her office. I go in to work early and as soon as she lets me into her office she says, "come on in. I called you in because, I mean, we have to do something about your behavior issues." I asked her what behavior issues? She says she had heard about my subordination with the coordinator. I asked her had she had any other complaints about me? She said no. (And I'm thinking "behavior issueS?") she then says that I'll get to tell my side of the story but first she just wants to say ... And proceeds to go on lecturing me about how people need to watch the way they behave. I'm floored. I try to tell her what happened and she interrupts me ever other sentence and talks over me. I maybe got to tell her 1/4 of it. The supervisor from that night told her that she told me when I called for help that I had to stick the patient and that I called the coordinator instead. Those are flat out lies! I did ask my manager "do you think I should have poked that pt?" She said no, I should have called the dr and had him cancel the lab order or request a picc line. So why didn't my supervisor tell me that? The meeting ends with me basically feeling like I'm in trouble for asking for help and not obeying a coordinator. I also feel thrown under the bus.

I work my shift that night and keep getting asked about the situation. Why do these nurses even know about the situation? They don't want to say. I feel so embarrassed. Then a nurse tells me that one night (after the situation) the supervisor (from that night) and that coordinator were at the nurses station talking about what a worthless nurse I am. In front of everyone. I feel humiliated. I also feel as if I have no resources if I need help. I email my educator and ask her if transferring is a possibility. She tells me that she doesn't think I'm allowed to transfer for 2 years.

A couple days later a huge snow storm hits and we usually get snow for maybe 12 hours a year and it's not bad. This was bad. I live an hour away from work. I get up and get ready to leave 3 1/2 hours before my shift. I start out and I keep sliding everywhere going 10 mph. I almost went into donuts once and I was scared to death. I'm not used to driving in that. I call my husband and he tells me that there have been several wrecks and one fatality already. I barely make it back home, 5 or 6 blocks away. I call in to work and tell a supervisor my situation. She says I have to talk to the manager. I tell my manager. She says they are not "accepting" call ins and I have to talk to my director. I ask "so I have to drive there?" And she says "well if you refuse, you have to talk to the director. We are not accepting call ins." I tell her I don't feel safe driving and she says she'll give the director my number to call me in case I can't get through. Weird. So I call the director. No answer again and again. I wait. She doesn't call. I call. No answer. An hour later, I get a text from my manager saying I didnt call the director so they assume I'm coming in. I tell her I can't get an answer. I then text the director saying I'm not getting an answer and that I called in an hour before. She responds that I will need to have a meeting with her next week about this. I find out later that they didn't even need to get another nurse to come in. We were overstaffed. I don't understand. Other nurses call in all the time to where they have to offer double time to get them replaced. None have to talk to the manager and/or the director. I never call in and work extra shifts as much as I can. I know another department had 8 call ins that night and no one was in trouble. I don't know what to do. Should I have put my safety at risk? I feel like I just can't do anything right there.

[cardiacfreak, ADN]

Wow, I really don't have any advice, but sounds like you need a big hug.

[calivianya, BSN, RN]

I just have to ask - with your residency program, are you trapped in a contract that's too expensive for you to pay off, or can you leave if you find another job? Attempting to find another job would be a great option if it doesn't leave you thousands of dollars in the hole.

[CarryThatWeight, BSN]

I'm so sorry! I can't see anything that you did wrong, based on what you wrote. You were advocating for your patient, which is what a good nurse does. Agree with PP - can you get out of your contract with this hospital?

[LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN]

(((HUGS)))

That's all I have to offer.

[BSNbeauty, BSN, RN]

For the first situation, I don't think you did anything wrong. I have done the same as you. Why stick a patient more times than needed. If I know someone is going to be a hard stick I immediately call the IV team.

So far as the snow, I think you did the right thing. Your safety is a priority. Now some people can say well you could have stayed the night before, but that is not always the case.

Hugs.