Guest1130774

I've only worked at one place that in the past 7 years that wasn't toxic or had managers doing shady things. Unfortunately, that place went out of business. I've only worked at small companies, home health, and nursing homes. They're all doing it.

It's a long story and I don't know how much I should say on the internet. I have a lawyer and I'm suing for retaliation. I turned in an assignment despite objection to report it and filed an HR complaint, then they got rid of me for it. The managers were really shady. Some were already caught and fired, but the rest continued. I'm not the only one suing and the union has grievances against all of them.

I've thought about continuing education. I recently enrolled in an NP program, but dropped out right before the start date. I'm too worried about what advancement might bring me. I'm a nurse without med/surg experience and don't know how that'll affect employment. Would anyone hire an NP without med/surg? Would they hire a teacher without it? I'm worried I'd end up as an unemployed NP or educator who can't get any jobs because they require med/surg.

Your profile says you're in critical care, so you probably have med/surg experience. I've never worked in a hospital and struggle to get work anywhere if I leave my job.

Are you a new grad?

I haven't lived there in close to 10 years now, but I recall hating the 95 into Philly and 287 about as much as I hate LA traffic. At least you guys have decent public transportation. I would definitely get rid of my car if I moved back.

I wonder if it only affects those of us in cities. I'm in LA and you're in NYC. Everyone in small towns say their hospitals will hire anyone. How is it in NY and NJ? I have family in NJ and had considered moving back there. However, that area has a large population. Wondering if they all experience the same. NJ is pretty much the suburbs for NYC. So, I'd probably end up applying for jobs there along with hospitals in NJ.

As much as I'd like to move to Wisconsin or North Carolina, it just isn't possible for me right now. I actually moved to Southern California in 2014 because there were no jobs where I was at. I lived in Virginia Beach. It was the same thing over there. Nobody was hiring, and I thought I'd have better luck in a large city. Guess I chose the wrong city.

Have you checked to see what their requirements are? The hospitals near me have hundreds of positions open, too. They all require medical/surgical experience and will automatically reject my application if I don't have it. So, they're not willing to train new staff for the positions, not even case management where I have years of experience. They require medical/surgical experience for hospital case managers.

You can send an anonymous complaint to the joint commission and CMS. They'll do a surprise reinspection. This needs to be reported. 40 patients means you have 3 minutes per patient on your med pass. Plus you probably have treatments for the rest. It's not possible and you will end up giving meds late and skipping mandatory breaks to keep up with the work.

That's something I have thought about. I'll probably have to move if I want to get a decent job. I'm in Los Angeles, so you can imagine the job market is saturated. Believe it or not, I have never applied for long term acute care. I didn't think about it. I'll have to check it out and see if I have any luck there. Thanks for the advice.

I have never worked in a facility where the nurses or CNAs were lazy. However, I have worked in many where orders such as vitals end up skipped, gotten at the wrong times, or they make up the numbers. I think the best solution is to interview the nurses and try to come up with a plan together. Pushing "Nursing Liability" can sound threatening and may add to the stress they already have. I've seen a lot of instances where the staff are overloaded with work, but threatened by management if they get overtime. It puts a lot of stress on the staff, both the nurses and CNAs. Telling the nurses they need to get these things means they'll end up having to skip breaks or work off the clock after shift. So you can imagine there is resistance to additional work or something small like vitals. Their priorities are life-saving meds/treatments. I can't speak for psych because I've never worked there before. If this were a SNF or LTC, I can pretty accurately tell you that it's because the staff are working off the clock already and don't want the extra work.

Did you have any luck with the blog? It's cheap and easy to set one up with WordPress.

My last few years have been with home health, hospice, and case management. My goal at the beginning of the year was to gain medical/surgical experience so I could work in a hospital system. I wanted to get into a job that wasn't a dead-end like most of these small home health agencies. After some experience as a case manager, I could probably apply for a DON position. There is no career ladder. However, I never wanted to work in home health and I don't want case management or a DON position. I'm just kinda burnt out now. I put in enough applications to realize I won't get a job that I like. Right now my goal is to just find a job somewhere with very low stress, and maybe in a cubicle somewhere that nobody notices me.

I recently lost my job and started applying. Seven years of experience and a bachelor's degree, I thought I'd be a hot commodity. It's 2019 and things are no different than when I graduated shortly after the recession. I apply to jobs and my applications are instantly rejected because I don't have medical/surgical experience. I don't fit the requirements for a new grad program, either. Well there is this supposed shortage where everyone is understaffed and desperate for nurses. I don't see it. Nobody is willing to train new staff and nobody will hire those of us who got screwed during the recession. I think it's all BS. I've met a lot of nurses in similar situations and they all struggle trying to get out of this low level line of work. My last job was at Kaiser where I had a benefits plan worth my annual salary. We were horribly understaffed too. But, I would look at the jobs page for anything available so I could tell my friends where to apply. There were never any jobs there. Management always told us they were going to hire more, but they never did. When the Joint Commission left, they got rid of the travel nurses and stopped hiring. Then, they started instituting mandatory overtime and overloading us past the ratio policy limits. Honestly, I think hospitals and facilities are just happy the way things are. They know there are nurses who want to get in. I've never been in management before, so I don't know why they make that decision. However, I suspect it costs more to hire a new employee than it would to pay overtime for current staff.