Oh boy. Let go from job... not sure if this is it. :(

elkpark · Dec 2, 2011

... and that hospitals aren't doing their job in orientation to save money ...

How are hospitals not "doing their job"? When did it become the hospitals' job to train people how to function as RNs? Orientation is supposed to be orientation to the job, not a do-over of nursing school. As others have already mentioned, I fault nursing schools for no longer preparing their graduates to be able to start functioning reasonably successfully at an entry level. IMO, there is something seriously wrong with the picture when people can do very well in school all the way through (as so many post here that they have) but then be unsuccessful in getting started in actual practice.

OP, I'm really sorry to hear that you're in the situation that you are, but, as others have already noted, you're probably going to have a very hard time moving into a case management, management, or teaching position without some serious clinical experience. Have you considered a refresher course? Is that something that might be helpful? Or a slower-paced setting? I agree with the recommendation about LTAC.

Best wishes for your journey! :balloons:

netglow, ASN, RN · Dec 2, 2011

You know OP, family can be lame.

But really if you used to do something else, look into that as well. Nursing is not worth taking so much crap for. If you step back and look at the profession and the quality or rather the lack of, in just ethics in healthcare, just in the very basics of employment... if you could have known this before you took your first class, you would have just easily eliminated nursing from your options.

Go back in the time machine to the level head you had before all of this, and you'll wonder why you put up with it at all.

netglow, ASN, RN · Dec 2, 2011

It has been how MDs are trained and how RNs are trained. In hospitals, since formal education in medicine began.

JDougRN, BSN, RN · Dec 2, 2011

I believe there are several issues at play here. 1. Nursing schools are still wasting too much time with antiquated foolishness like "care plans", instead of teaching what needs to be learned to function. 2. Those who make the rules and regulations that nurses are expected to follow are not people who function at a bedside level- often they are law makers who have no clue how much we are responsible for. 3. Facilities want warm bodies, but aren't willing to pay for experience- to them, they would rather pay 2 new grads, than someone with experience.4. A lot of people in the newer generation of nurses don't seem to be in it for all of the right reasons- I'll be the first to say I wouldn''t put myself through this without the promise of a paycheck at the end of the week, but it's much more than JUST that to me. 5. Society as a whole- are unwilling to take responsibility for their own health, expect the medical community at large, and nurses specifically to be able to hand then a "quick fix" for their problems. These issues combined make it hard for some people to ever "get it" as far as how to function as a nurse. Sad...

elkpark · Dec 2, 2011

It has been how MDs are trained and how RNs are trained. In hospitals, since formal education in medicine began.

Nurses used to be trained in hospitals, in hospital-based diploma schools -- but nursing made the decision quite a while back that it wanted nursing education to be based in colleges and universities and relatively few diploma schools remain. A hospital that hires a licensed RN, even a new graduate, is hiring an employee to do a job, not undertaking someone's education. If hospitals wanted to be teaching people how to be nurses, they'd be operating nursing schools. This is a big piece of why so many hospitals have become resistant to hiring new grads -- they're v. tired of spending a lot of time and $$$ teaching new nurses stuff that they (the hospitals) believe people should have learned in nursing school.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Dec 2, 2011

A lot of nursing situations set you up to fail. It can be almost inevitable. I hade a horrible first couple of years. I *have* learned that, while I can handle it, I'm not cut out for being a hospital nurse. I hated it. HATED it. On the other hand I liked LTC and love hospice.

You'll find your niche. And tell your husband to kiss your fine butt.

LexiRN2 · Dec 2, 2011

I believe there are several issues at play here. 1. Nursing schools are still wasting too much time with antiquated foolishness like "care plans", instead of teaching what needs to be learned to function. 2. Those who make the rules and regulations that nurses are expected to follow are not people who function at a bedside level- often they are law makers who have no clue how much we are responsible for. 3. Facilities want warm bodies, but aren't willing to pay for experience- to them, they would rather pay 2 new grads, than someone with experience.4. A lot of people in the newer generation of nurses don't seem to be in it for all of the right reasons- I'll be the first to say I wouldn''t put myself through this without the promise of a paycheck at the end of the week, but it's much more than JUST that to me. 5. Society as a whole- are unwilling to take responsibility for their own health, expect the medical community at large, and nurses specifically to be able to hand then a "quick fix" for their problems. These issues combined make it hard for some people to ever "get it" as far as how to function as a nurse. Sad...

I agree! As a new grad myself, I felt nursing school wasted too much time on care plans that aren't used in hospitals anymore. Anyone making rules for nurses should be able to function at the bedside! It sounds harsh, but a lot of the newer nurses just aren't cut out to be nurses. I partly blame nursing schools for this... they advertise and tell anyone with a check that they can be a nurse. I went to school with many people who could maintain a 4.0 gpa but suck at bedside nursing. Most people come into nursing for the "wonderful paycheck" but it takes much more than motivation for a paycheck to do the job and do it good. For those who do go into nursing then later find that bedside nursing is not for them, like a few others have said, an insurance job or something else that is not a clinical position would be great!

morte, LPN, LVN · Dec 2, 2011

Nurses used to be trained in hospitals, in hospital-based diploma schools -- but nursing made the decision quite a while back that it wanted nursing education to be based in colleges and universities and relatively few diploma schools remain. A hospital that hires a licensed RN, even a new graduate, is hiring an employee to do a job, not undertaking someone's education. If hospitals wanted to be teaching people how to be nurses, they'd be operating nursing schools. This is a big piece of why so many hospitals have become resistant to hiring new grads -- they're v. tired of spending a lot of time and $$$ teaching new nurses stuff that they (the hospitals) believe people should have learned in nursing school.

I would have been the OP, if I hadn't gone to NURSING SCHOOL. I was bad enough as it was! There needs to be nursing residences just as there is in medicine. Crap wages; more a stipend,really; perhaps 6 months instead of 3 years. Nursing boards need to enforce minimum clinical exposure time, and if they don't, perhaps it is up to us: the nursing community to do so...get some of these programs closed, or at least network and inform prospective students were NOT to go, if that seems too "in your face", at least emphasis the better programs. Effectively done, that would close the bad programs down d/t lack of customers.

And, BSN programs need to step up the clinical experience. No more "you will learn that on the job" nonsense.

As has been pointed out, it is NOT the employer's job!

I would second the thought of an LTAC, but perhaps nocs. Get the skills set before having to deal with the families of patients whom in many cases are never going to recover to any sort of normal.

Tofayelbd · Dec 2, 2011

If you prefer admin job then BSN is not perfect way for you. You should choose a management related course. Also you may choose healthcare or hospitality related management course.

Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN · Dec 2, 2011

How are hospitals not "doing their job"? When did it become the hospitals' job to train people how to function as RNs? Orientation is supposed to be orientation to the job, not a do-over of nursing school. As others have already mentioned, I fault nursing schools for no longer preparing their graduates to be able to start functioning reasonably successfully at an entry level. IMO, there is something seriously wrong with the picture when people can do very well in school all the way through (as so many post here that they have) but then be unsuccessful in getting started in actual practice.
OP, I'm really sorry to hear that you're in the situation that you are, but, as others have already noted, you're probably going to have a very hard time moving into a case management, management, or teaching position without some serious clinical experience. Have you considered a refresher course? Is that something that might be helpful? Or a slower-paced setting? I agree with the recommendation about LTAC.
Best wishes for your journey! :balloons:

Even when I graduated (back in the dark ages), we, as new grads had extensive and extended orientations. It was recognized that nursing school didn't prepare us completely for the role of a nurse and BELIEVE ME!!! we had EXTENSIVE "on the job training" from clinicals (and yes mine was a college education). It was accepted that just passing the "BOARDS" and the lawful ability to place RN behind our names did NOT, by any stretch of the imagination, make us nurses.....Oh, we were competent (barely) and safe (we were terrified) but we readily recognized that we needed guidance and further teaching to become "real" nurses. Nursing school teaches you to be safe....that's all.

Granted we had to wait a few months before we knew whether we passed our ONE-THOUSAND question exam over TWO days....so we had plenty of time to be mentored. I am shocked to see hospitals offering pay less than what they pay nurses aides (MGH for example https://allnurses.com/massachusetts-nurses/mgh-offering-new-531951.html) for the privilege of training at MGH or the hospital in Atlanta the is requiring a $15,000 fee (https://allnurses.com/georgia-nurses/15-000-preceptorship-642703.html) to pay them for orientation. WHAT?? :eek: To me it's a mixed up crazy environment, somethings terribly upside down. I mean really when doctors graduate med schools they are MD"s but are not allowed independent practice and if they specialize it's even longer but the hospitals still pays them.....not near as much as they will make....but a wage nonetheless.

I feel sorry for these new grads struggling to find jobs and being thrown to the wolves and dumped by their nursing school after promises of the holy grail and following the yellow brick road to wealth and riches just because they have a four year degree, had a great GPA, and did well taking care of one or two patients. :uhoh3: The hospital trained me for CPR, the hospital trained me to read EKGs, the hospital trained me in ACLS,PALS, the hospital trained me about their policies for hanging blood, consents, IV's, etc...not school.

I know how expensive it is to train new grads but you just can't dump them without a flotation device and expect them to swim. Granted the OP has been a nurse since 2009, but I don't think she has ever been lead to the tools to make her sucessful. I agree the LTAC (long term acute care) can give her the orientation she needs and maybe an ER setting is not her bag but she shouldn't give up on being a nurse. But to sugesst that she should go into administration and tell people how to perform the very tasks she cannot is, to me, the reason nursing is in this mess. :hdvwl:

Now :sofahiderbefore anyone flames me:flmngmd:.....disclaimer, I am just an old bat pineing for the "good ole days" and how it used to be done in the good ole days....after all we were the ones who have gotten the profession this far ...right?

OP I wish you luck. I am thinking maybe the ED isn't for you right now.....get some med surg under your belt. I think LTAC might be the right choice but it's very high acuity and limited resources, but they will give you an orientation. :hug:

P51Mike1980 · Dec 2, 2011

Its a sad fact of life that not all "book smart" people are "job smart," I encountered this on a daily basis in my former life in finance. That being said, as pointed out here, you have MANY options to choose from, such as LTC, teaching, administration, etc. I don't know what department you worked in, but have you ever thought about trying a different department, such as the ER or ICU - one that might be more challenging? If you're like me, you don't like monotony and those two areas are quite UN-monotinous.

As to those saying her husband shouldn't have said what he said: a spouses role is not only to support the other but to also give them a dose or reality when needed.

sweetnurse63, BSN, RN · Dec 2, 2011

Hi all. Well I have worked in two medical settings and had to resign at one job, and now tonight, was let go at another. AWFUL!!! I am told I am 'very smart' have an 'impressive educational background,' but cannot 'connect' to hands on clinical nursing. At both jobs, I have grown and gotten better, but not fast enough, etc. My husband tells me I am not cut out to be a RN. It's SO SAD... I did so well in school, graduated top in my class, and STINK in the real world. By the way, I went to a BSN program. SO... I have ALL THIS mental knowledge, but no real hands on experience. I am told I would be excellent in admin.
So now I have no job... it's the pits folks.

With no disrespect to your husband, I would never believe what he said about "not being cut out to be an RN". You have what it takes, you should never give up. Experience is the best teacher and everyone does not learn at the same rate. Experience will make you an expert at what you do. Nurses get fired or resign for whatever reason everyday. So, you may feel like you are knocked down on the ground right now, but get back up!!!! and be determined to not only prove it to your husband, but to yourself that you have what it takes and you are a Registered Nurse. I am pretty sure that you did not go through the challenging days of nursing school to give up now. You have to regain confidence in yourself and know that you can do it. When you do get your next job as an RN, try to learn what you can from seasoned nurses and always think about priorities, organization and how to manage your time. You can do this!!!!!!!! believe in yourself.