SunflowerCat12

I made the mistake of taking the first job out of school I was offered at an assisted living facility and quit after 4 weeks while still in orientation due A LOT of reasons. I waited until I passed my nclex (last week) and now I have put in over 10 job applications and have 4 interviews next week. Two private duty and two SNFs. i have put in applications to drug rehab facilities, local jails, psych units, dialysis clinic, lots of LTCs and SNFs, and the hospital I used to work at. So even after going on the interviews, I might get more interviews later. I have no clue where I want to work at aside from knowing I DONT like assisted living. Through all of LPN school haven't found any area I want to do more than others, but I like the hospital i used to work at and I went to school because I have a child with a disability who had a g-tube and oxygen for the first year of his life and at one point was in the ICU on a vent. I feel like I could handle basic cases in private duty (I know how to do g tube feedings and how to change out a gtube) but vents/trachs by myself scares me. i am interested in psych/ drug rehab but is usually you need experience. I want to be more selective this time. Do you ask for a "working interview" where you can shadow for an hour or two? Compare benefits? Is it appropriate to ask if they are short staffed? One of the LTC I am interviewing with next week is offering a $1500 sign on bonus which I feel is a red flag. How did you decide which was the best place to work? And how do you juggle multiple interviews if one gives me a job offer? One place told me to go ahead and bring my social security card and CPR card with me, so I feel like they will offer me a job on the spot.

I am a new grad LPN and have been on about 8 interviews in the last week after quitting an awful ALF during orientation before I passed my NCLEX. I found a long term care/ skilled nursing facility that I really like. I had a decent interview, met all of the supervisors who seemed nice, met a few nurses on the floor, and got a tour of the facility. I can see myself fitting in there plus they would allow me to be on the skilled floor as a new grad because they don't accept trach or vent patients. They had to choose between me and one other person for the job, and they chose me. I accepted the job offer the next day and filled out all of my new hire paper work online. The scheduling coordinator left me a voicemail the day after to set up my first day of work. I wasn't able to respond to her that day, so I tried to call the next morning and the phone was silent. The DON texted me asking me if I was still interested in the job, or if he needed to interview other people. I explained that the phone was silent when I tried to call and asked him to please have the scheduling coordinator contact me when she had a chance. I waited until 4:00 and then tried to call her again and got through. She said the phone lines were down all day and that's why I couldn't get through, and that she would e-mail me telling me what time to be there on my first day of orientation and my schedule for the week. Well it's Saturday and I never received an email from her this week. They might still be trying to figure out who I will orient with. I'm supposed to start next Wednesday. I wouldn't have any set schedule at this LTC, would be required to be on call twice per month, no week end shift diff but required to work every other weekend. Decent benefits and they would get me IV certified. It would be good experience for learning all my skills. Yesterday I got a call from a private duty agency that I had interviewed with earlier in the week. They didn't have any positions available at the time that would work for me, but now there is a full time position available. It would be with a child who has a g-tube and trach, close to my house, set schedule on a 3/4 rotation, every other weekend. The pay is $1.50 more per hour with guaranteed over time. My son had a g-tube as a baby. So even though that's not 'nursing' experience, I do have a lot of personal experience with them. I am nervous about the trach however, but she said I would get all the training I needed and as much orientation as I need with the current nurse and family. If I don't feel comfortable with it, there is a 10 month old with just a g-tube that would be available in a few months. At first I felt like this PD job would be great, but I know if my patient gets put in the hospital I'm out of a job and if something goes south it's only me there to handle it, and I don't have trach experience. But one on one without having to care of 30 people would be great, and having a set schedule and not being on call twice a month would be good. I would feel really uncomfortable telling the LTC facility that I found a different job, but the extra money would be great for my family and less stress on me would be nice. Which job would you take if you were in my position? Any advice is appreciated!

I am a graduate LPN who just had my very first orientation day at an assisted living facility, and it was awful. When I got to the facility in the morning I had to be with the night shift nurse because the day shift nurse who was supposed to train me up and quit without a notice. I was with the night shift nurse for about an hour and a half until the assistant director of nursing came in. I was with her for most of the day. She kept disappearing to do things and I had no idea where she was at or what I was supposed to do. A care giver called out for tomorrow evening shift, and I heard that two caregivers put in their resignations recently. For the last four hours, I was with the DON. She had to leave to go pick her baby up from daycare. When the assistant DON left I was in the med room by myself with no nurse in the facility for a good 45 minutes. The nurse that was supposed to be there on night shift ALSO quit without a notice, so we had to give the night time meds. The DON was pulling meds and handing them to me to pass, which made me feel very uncomfortable. All of the residents were sitting in the dining room and she was telling me to give the med to "name", and I had no clue who anyone was. I had to ask her who that resident was, and what medication was I giving. While we were in the middle of the night shift med pass, the fire alarm went off. We had to get all of the patient's outside and check all of the rooms to make sure nobody was in there. She acknowledged that this was a very rough day and wants me to train with just her next week. I am really unsure if I want to even go back. Should I give it another day? If I do quit, will it show up in a background check and look bad to other employers? And how should I go about quitting?

When I first came in, there was only one caregiver who was freaking out because she felt like she would not be able to go through the day by herself. There was a scheduling issue and only one caregiver was scheduled. The night shift nurse had two falls and said her shift was chaotic. So for the first few hours the assistant DON (who I was with again because no staff) was calling every person she could asking them to come in. While she was calling people to come in I asked what I could do to help. She said to start pulling medicines. There are two carts, and I did one by myself asking her questions as I had them. I also went to patient's rooms and gave medications by myself because she asked me to. One of the upper management came to the med room to drop off medication from the pharmacy and just asked how I was doing as small talk and I told her I was overwhelmed but I was okay. I guess she went and told the DON because she pulled me into her office and told me she heard I was overwhelmed. I told her that I didn't feel comfortable pulling meds on my second day, or giving them, that the assistant DON wasn't really explaining anything very well, and that I was concerned about all the people quitting and the amount of staffing issues. She said under no circumstances should I be pulling or passing medications unless a nurse is watching me do it, and she apologized. She also said that the staffing usually isn't an issue, and that assisted living is actually very easy. And I agree that if there were the proper amount of staff, I would feel completely different about the job. she had me stay in her office for a few hours explaining the charting system, and then instead of me helping with the lunch med pass she had me serve lunch so I could learn the resident's names better. We did the night time med pass together. She was helpful and explained things really well, but the reason we had to pass the night time medications is because there still isn't a night shift nurse to do it. The facility only has caregivers (who are not certified) and a nurse on call. The DON is a great teacher and I feel bad for her trying to run that whole facility. Most of my second day went well but the place is so unorganized and understaffed. My next shift I am supposed to be with just a regular floor nurse and NOT management, so I feel like I could get a better understanding of what my actual job duties will be.

I totally agree. My husband and family think I'm crazy for going in for another day. If after my second day nothing is any better, I am going to tell the DON that I don't think the job is a good fit for me, and i'll quit. I just hate to quit during orientation, but the place is a mess.

The residents are independent for the most part. There are a few who stay in bed most of the time, but can still communicate with you. They were all precious and amazing. I turned down another job and canceled an interview to take this job. So, I probably have a good chance at getting another job. However, I will be much more selective next time. I wish I could spend a few hours at a facility without being hired first to see if I would like it.