No call no show, and feeling terrible about it!

[omha]

As a background; I have been a CNA since 2012 and worked in both skilled nursing and hospital environment. When I worked in the hospital I was a float CNA, floating between a couple different hospitals and floors. I have just received my LPN in May of 2016 and currently in school full time to get my RN-ASN and of course onto my BSN.

I have recently started a new job as an LPN working in a skilled nursing facility. I am PRN and only work one day out of the week, usually an 8 hour day. I have been with the facility for 2 months. Anyway, I do go to school full time and keep pretty busy with that.

Today, I was scheduled to work day shift. I forgot I was scheduled to work this shift because I have just gotten off an orientation and I assumed I was supposed to pick my own days to work. I picked up yesterday. Apparently they had told me in an email they were going to schedule me for today to work. I must have missed it with everything else going on and got confused with all of the emails back and forth and with school to boot.

I ended up not going into work because I didn't know I was scheduled to work. They had called me that AM and asked why I didn't come in. I was confused when they called because I had already picked up my one day a week to work and had worked it. I told them I never picked up, thinking they were the ones who had made the scheduling mistake. Anyway, I went back to sleep and woke up to another emailing saying I was a no call, no show.

I agree that this has all been my fault. I feel so bad. Anyway, I ended up emailing my supervisor right away, called twice but no answer, and told her about the situation and my mix up. She stated it was an honest mistake and I would just need to check my schedule more thoroughly with this app they have.

I feel so bad about the whole situation. I feel like I look like a horrible employee. I have never no called no show to any job in my life.

My question is, has this ever happened to anyone else?? After all this time in nursing and working with swing shifts and dealing with staffing and scheduling and working understaffed and making a mistake like this..I just feel like I want to throw in the towel and find a different career outside of nursing. I am actually getting tired of this and don't know if this is what I want to do.

I do not know if I can do anything else with my RN. Even if it is just sitting in an office. I would like to be able to have a set schedule and not have to deal with a scheduling person or staffing ratios. I am unaware that this whole situation is my fault. I guess I'm just trying to look for support.

I tend to take things seriously and now I just look like a lazy lump. I guess I am also asking if you know of any other types of careers I could pursue with an ASN in nursing. It does not have to be health related! I have thought about careers in the insurance business, but that is all I really know of. I have questioned some people about it and what they think I should do.

I am not sure that I really enjoy nursing. I am not sure how my article turned into me not liking nursing and wanting a new career, but its true. If anyone has any advice or has ever been in the same or similar situation, please feel free to offer some support!

Thanks!

[LovelyOverload]

Don't feel bad. Email is not the best way to communicate a schedule change. Talk to your manager and tell them what happened. Schedule changes should be made in person or on the phone. I go WEEKS without checking my email.

[GaleSRN, BSN, RN]

I have the best career for you. Try Dialysis. You work 3 days a week, set days. No call. No scheduling person. It is a great career for nurses. You can count on never working Sundays and Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years are frequently shifted so everyone can have them off. Once you are proficient you can move up the ladder to management or go to work for a Home Dialysis clinic, where you work 5 days a week M-F with weekends and holidays off. It is very rewarding because of the close contact you have with the patients.

[nurseysnow11]

The 6th week of my new job I woke up at 10am thinking I was on night shift to find out from a more seasoned employee (God bless her) that I was scheduled for day shift. I was so stressed out from nursing school and clinical and starting the new job I had gotten my WEEKS missed up. I skipped a whole week! I called my manager immediately and told her about my mistake. I asked her if she wanted me to come in right away and she said yes. That was the end of it. The staff was very happy I arrived to help, that's for sure.

The lessons I learned from that experience were 1.) always check and double check your schedule. Me personally, my mind plays tricks on me sometimes. I've just had to accept it! 2.) When you realize you are missing work, go in ASAP. Call on your way in and let whoever know you are on your way. This shows you care. The worst that could happen is your manager tells you they already have someone else covering your shift.

You sound like you've dedicated a lot of time and energy to a career in nursing so don't give up. You'll find the right place. Don't be so hard on yourself. Best of luck :)

[LadysSolo]

Happened to me once, I had looked at the schedule when it first came out, and the powers that be changed the schedule later on and didn't tell us. I was working the original schedule, and not the revised one. After that happened, they told us we had to check the schedule daily (it was a monthly schedule.)

[BeauGrace17]

Be encouraged. Your posts helped me I did this just yesterday and was reduced to tears because I'm in nursing school and don't want to look bad as an employee where I could be employed as a nurse. Don't give up and don't feel bad. I'm proof you're not the only one going through this I wanted to quit my job as well, lol. I felt so bad.

[ksola]

This happened to me when I was working as a residential supports assistant. I had just switched to casual to go back to school full time (for nursing, of course). I was even more at fault than you because I had actually scheduled the shift myself, but when I put it in my calendar I put it in for Tuesday instead of Monday. That morning my boss called but I thought nothing of it cause he would often call about non-important things. I finally listened to the voicemail at noon, and I FREAKED. I called him, then tried calling his director. I left a voicemail, but still felt ridiculously anxious. I drove across town to try to go to her office, but she wasn't there. I finally got a hold of her and apologized profusely. I took full responsibility for it. She accepted that, then matter of factly explained the disciplinary action I could expect. She said it was not the end of the world, I would just need to be more careful from now on and as long as it didn't happen again the write up would be off my record in a year. I still felt sick, but better.

As for coworker related repercussions, I never picked up a shift at that house again. I always felt awkward anytime I saw staff from there, which sucked cause I had previously had a good relationship with them. My immediate bosses were understanding though, they knew I was in school and under a lot of stress. They had a "mistakes happen" attitude towards it. I applied for a transfer a few months later, and in the internal interview I of course brought it up. The manager of the new site brushed it off, and even had it waived (it would've otherwise blocked the transfer). I also made it a huge point to show that I learned from it by being super organized and reliable from that point forward. And I guess my freak out was a good thing, cause a month after at a site meeting, the director was going around the room saying something she liked about each employee, and when she got to me she admitted that she didn't know me well (I was new to the division) but she really admired my commitment to communication.

[KathyBSN]

Sorry but it's their fault not yours. You don't email someone a schedule. I got my BSN in 77, and have worked for almost 40 years, so I have been through all kinds of technology and communication changes, so I didn't just fall off the turnip truck. They need to give you a paper schedule, and consult with you. And being you've never done that before, no big deal.

Second, nursing home work is tough. Clients there were in ICU forty years ago. I couldn't work there either without wanting to quit too.

Have you thought about public health? I've worked that several years. Giving immunizations and STD testing still kept me in the patient care loop but no one was dying. It was a set schedule and no weekends or holidays. It was a relief to finally have a life with no call, no mandations or call offs and you actually had time to pee. Don't quit. There are plenty of nursing jobs you will love. You just haven't found your niche yet.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Most people DON'T enjoy their first year of nursing. It's reality shock. When reality shock sets in, you realized that this job is nothing like you thought it was, that schools didn't adequately prepare you for the job, and that you're scared to death. It happens to all of us. Even forty years later, I still remember vividly the anxiety of my first year of nursing and how scared and stupid I felt.

As far as the scheduling error -- it happens. My husband used to no call/no show frequently (once or twice a year) and he stayed at that job for 17 years. He'd forget to check his schedule, he'd check his schedule but forget what day it was, he'd get asked to go skiing on Tuesday and agree, absolutely forgetting he was supposed to work Tuesday. Getting together with me helped with that somewhat -- if he wasn't at work when he was supposed to be, he was usually at my house and then when we got married, it was his house, too. My husband was an excellent nurse and well regarded by management and colleagues alike and he was always available for overtime. I suspect that someone who was less well-liked wouldn't get away with that.

I slept through my alarm one Thanksgiving morning, and didn't wake up until 10:00. Fortunately, it wasn't busy, but I was horrified, embarrassed and thoroughly scared I'd lose my job. My manager just gave up the patients she was caring for in my place and said it had happened to her as well. Usually, I make the opposite mistake -- show up when I don't have to. I do that every few years.

[lisaksemt, ADN, BSN]

I've done it a couple of times. My first time my boss called me and asked what I was doing. "Nothing much". She asked if I was going to work that night. "Nope". "Ummm, why not" "because I'm not scheduled to ooooooohhhhh shiiiiiit" Mistakes happen.

But if you want a regular 9-5 job, there's always office nursing (utilization review, infection control, that sort of thing).

[BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN]

Don't feel bad. Email is not the best way to communicate a schedule change. Talk to your manager and tell them what happened. Schedule changes should be made in person or on the phone. I go WEEKS without checking my email.

the problem is, there are too many ways in which to communicate (in some institutions) regarding scheduling. I believe this can contribute to such errors. This happened to me; as a per-diem supervisor. I get emails, calls and texts from various people. As a result, I was put on the schedule, not confirmed in any way, and got a 'where are you' call 20 minutes into the shift. The person waiting for me was understanding, but really needed me to come in (one house supervisor, and the one I was relieving needed to be back to relieve me). She was mad- not at me, but at the process as well (since she works there too, she knows the process is sketchy). No one gave me a hard time, but now I am very careful about double/triple checking my schedule EVERY time I am there.

As Someone else mentioned, it's an occupational hazard.

[GA Peach, BS, RN]

That is not an uncommon situation with PRN positions. There is just more room in the process for miscommunication. It takes extra diligence with all you have going on to just make sure the communication always stays clear. You are not alone.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

One of my colleagues just showed me what she does to keep track of her schedule. When the schedule is published in it's final form, she photographs it with her phone. Then she always has a copy of the final schedule. Subsequent schedule changes have to be addressed verbally by the person whose schedule is being changed, then initialed by a charge nurse so it unlikely that the schedule would be changed on someone without their knowledge. (Although I'll admit that in recent years, that phone call has been replaced by a text message and one could argue that "my kid was playing with my phone and answered that text -- I never saw it.)