oatmeal

well, suddenly this nurse has not shown up in 2 days (called off twice now), so, no "meeting" as of yet. However, I have a witness statement that my cart was clean and checked prior to her taking the keys on said date, and her signature that the cart was in fact checked. When the witness statement was brought in today, suddenly the write up was withdrawn. Just an update.

Situation: a nurse that follows me has tried in the past to set both the morning nurse and myself up by saying she "mysteriously found" drugs in a cup in the cart hours after shift change. This was several months ago, nothing came out of the incident for any of us. The managers and supervisors are aware that there is an issue with this particular nurse getting along with others, yet nothing has been done. To safeguard my license and any further issues, I have had the nurse I work with on my shift witness each night that my cart is clean and no "cups of un-given medications" were left anywhere in the cart, prior to shift change. (kind of like a witness). This has been done without the accusing nurses knowledge. Today it has happened again. The same nurse accused me of leaving an entire cup of meds in the cart for 1 patient. Only this time, it was 2 shifts worth of medications, every single med, with the exception of the narcotics. I only work one shift. I do not "pull" other shifts meds, and to boot, the accusing nurse signed off that the cart was clean prior to shift change, as well as my having the 3rd nurse verify my cart was in fact clean and free of any "cups". I was actually written up for said medications, regardless of the fact that I have an RN witness, and the accusing nurse signed her name saying my cart was clean hours before "finding" these meds! I refuse to sign the write up, and am paranoid to work ahead of this nurse. This is my license she is messing with and it seems I have no recourse! Can I file a complaint with the BON? I have a copy of the paper she signed stating the cart was clean. She is clearly setting me up, and diverting medications to do it. Someone please let me know, I need advice. I have asked to be moved off the hall, and was told a resounding no. I was told I have to continue working with her. I'm literally scared to take the cart tomorrow knowing she is working behind me. The supervisor will not come check my cart because she doesn't want to be involved, and management basically said we either get along or we both lose our jobs...Completely unfair in my book. I am at a loss. I never thought a person let alone a nurse would ever do something like this, let alone twice. I don't know what else to say.

that's the issue. It's only on one shift, at which time management isn't there to "have to deal with it". Several nurses and family members have gone to upper management, which ended up landing myself and 2 other nurses on the shift a stern talking to by management about how we talk to our cna's. We were like, "really? we say please and thank you, have not been mean..etc" yet we were seen as still at fault because the cna "clique" said we were mean for telling them to do their jobs. Example...could you please see that Ms. Doe gets her shower? answer..."I know my job I've been here 5 years I'm grown, don't tell me what to do..I'll do it when I see fit...your not my boss and we already had nurses like you fired so shut up." this is an every day occurrence. It is only happening on this unit. Float cna's are shocked at the behavior they see. They have gone to management. The second time we nurses did go to management we were told we were singling out certain people and it was a personality conflict. Seriously? I'm speaking for 3 nurses here at a loss of what to do. One of which is thinking of quitting to protect her license after being told by other float cna's that she was being set up by the clique to lose her job and potentially her license. Sorry about the long reply..just trying to paint the entire picture and feeling desperate. :/

to be brief, there is a group of unruly cna's on the unit. Management of all levels knows about it, relies on the lpn's to handle it, with no backing. 1 in management is part of their clique. Nurses are threatened by cna's that if they are written up, they will set up the nurses to be fired. It has been done before, 3 times so far. Need advice other than get another job as to what to do. Advice appreciated. Thanks.

Thanks. I've spent the day going over and over in my head what it is specifically that is bothering me, and what it is that is keeping me slow. I've come up with a myriad of legit things that slow me way down during my pass that I cannot control, such as missing meds that have not been re-ordered, and are not on hand. Not knowing who is who because no one wears id bands, and residents frequently bed hop or wander. Taking time to chase someone to help and actually getting them to help or at least admit they know what to do can take up to 45 minutes. Seeing as I don't know the residents, I tend to stay with them while they take the meds to make sure they are ok with swallowing, many times they talk or want to know each and every med, or family wants to dictate what meds they get or they threaten calling state because they're loved ones meds are 10 minutes late. I have not gotten through 1 patient without being interrupted at least twice with petty things that cause me to have to log out of the computer, lock the cart and go take care of it, and logging back in takes a minimum of 5 minutes each time. When I speak of short cuts, I mean others giving both med passes in one so that they're actually only doing 1 pass. What happens when these patients get double doses of bp meds? That in itself scares me to death, I couldn't morally do it. When I ask for help because 1 pass takes 4 hours, others are eating and sitting, telling me that it's my choice to take this long and it looks like I'll be doing a double just to finish what should be done in 1 shift. I was literally taking a 3 minute potty break midst tears when another pounded on the door yelling that I did not have time to pee because i was behind, (while they and 3 others were eating take out and laughing about it). I'm putting other apps in, but much of what I'm seeing is either 1 year experience or 50 miles from my home. A big part of me keeps saying to dig in, suck it up and it will get easier (although I don't know how when I have been on 4 different halls in 5 days), yet another part tells me I'm just not cut out to be a nurse in a rehab/ltc combo. I would give anything to stay on the ltc side, but that won't happen I was told, and it seems that the trend here is all ltc's are doubling up as rehabs as well, so I'm doubtful that it would differ from one place to another in that aspect. Your responses are helping me to see it's not me, I'm just hoping that I can keep that in mind when I head back into Mordor (my nickname for work) for my next round of nervous breakdown. (by the way, I am nor have been a negative person, and even seeing what I have written here has just blown me away because I typically try to find the good in any situation, but I have failed to find it yet in this job.) I apologize for all the negativity, but I need to get it out, it's eating me up inside.

Brand new nurse, 1st job at an ltc/rehab. 1st 3 days I was put on my own, in crazy land, my 1st med pass takes 4 hours, with 2 bouts of tears, guessing at things I should have had help with, (that didn't happen) getting yelled at, no time to potty much less eat, 2nd med pass was in tears, I never got to the treatments much less any charting, and walked out that shift feeling like a total loser, with others snickering over my shoulder. Is this normal? My week as it went on just got worse, with people telling me it should only take 90 minutes to complete my 1st pass, while I was floated to a new unit I knew nothing about, and that day (my 5th) did not get any easier, or faster. When I did watch other nurses do theirs, I saw many shortcuts being used that I dare not do much less speak aloud, for fear of killing someone. I sit here in tears, feeling worthless, wondering if there is something wrong with me, I cannot simply quit, I support my entire family, and finding jobs with no experience has proven to be very difficult. Please, I need to hear the truth, is it me? Thanks in advance.

thanks for all the great info :) I'm currently praying my husband can pick up a part time job, and if he gets hired, this will allow me to find employment elsewhere. I only have to make it through September, and, luckily my school is aware of the situation. My boss actually sent a nasty fax to them telling them I need to be at work. In reply, my school sent one back to her regarding the laws, and is working with me for make up days. I'm working 3 weeks ahead of the class at all times in case I need to miss a day as it is. I just got the news from my school a few hours ago, and I consider myself lucky they are working with me. Ah, six more months and I'll be able to quit this job and breathe easier. By next April, I'll be an lpn and look back on this and smile. At least thats what I keep telling myself.

Hi all. I have tried to look up florida statutes re patient abandonment. I am in school for lpn while working as a home health cna, as an independant contractor. The agency is aware I am in school and does not seem to take kindly to that. I am on a high profile case, with 2 other regular cna's. When I need a replacement for relief in time to go to school, there always seems to be an issue, the agency cannot find cna's that will agree to the case because of the nature of it. That being said, when they do find a replacement for my days off, they are told specifically to show up 2 hours late. I am told I cannot leave (even though the patients family does live in the house and are competent for the patients care) they keep threatining me with patient abandonment if I leave on time. I have had them make me stay as long as 72 hours while waiting for relief when my shift was only 24 hours, again with threats of patient abandonment. I need to know if this is a valid threat, and if so or not, where is the statute that states this specifically so I have a valid resource. I cannot simply "switch jobs", I am the only source of income for my family, and cannot make as much at another job. What I need is facts, so I can present them (or not) in a proffessional mannor. Any help is deeply appreciated. Thanks.

Very true is all I can say..I am still in the lpn program and made the mistake of inquiring about how my grade on a test went from an A to a low C when we actually graded them in class and I had an A. The answer I was given was that the instructor accidentally put RN questions on the test, and later had to throw them out, giving some students points for those questions when they got them wrong, and for the students that got them right, they lost those points, thereby lowering their grade. Shortly after that I had to go into the office for a badge and was called a "trouble maker" by another staff member..all because I inquired about something? There have been a few more "incidents" with staff and lack of respect issues since then, making my life there very difficult.. Without going into more detail, all I can say is I cannot wait until I graduate, I had planned on going through the RN there, but no way will I go now...I'll be heading over to SPC for the RN. I cannot wait to get away from Galen, and am very sorry I chose to attend a school that has no respect for their students, not to mention some (not all, but some) very vengeful staff members. The best advice to those going there, is like what was already said; keep your mouth zipped, and do the best you can to get through it all. I am sorry this all seems a negative post, but this is how I truly feel.

Thank you all, for being supportive and the ideas, and listening:)...I will be speaking with the director monday, I'll let you know how it goes:)

seats are pretty much assigned according to name now that the class is full.

I have spoken with the more mature few in our class, they feel intimidated to go to the professor, they say because we are stuck with him for the next few months, and don't want to further anger him. I did think of going the chain of command route, but also fear retribution from him as well. One person that did speak up to the group had her car "keyed". All this from supposed adults.

How is the best way to deal with an entire group of rude classmates? I cannot switch my seat, (not enough seats in class), I've talked with the professor 3 times now, I was given the impression that he was not thrilled with my complaints,:angryfire and now in skills lab with another professor its getting worse..they stand in front of people trying to see so they block the view, (again not enough room to maneuver around), laugh, joke and snicker so we cannot hear, (we being a few of us who take our education seriously), they have been seen creating cheat codes for tests, and on breaks talk about everyone and single people out to the point of making it quite uncomfortable for us to enjoy our breaks. These are "adults", and it seems like a kindergarten class from he**. Last week one of "the girls" even yelled a very rude comment at our professor, and still he seems to not care. I no longer tape lectures because all I can hear is the rude jokes, comments and laughter, and it is really affecting my schooling, (I had an A+ average, it's dropped considerably over this) and making me very angry to say the least..I am so frustrated, I have to ask the teacher what our assignments are for the next day because I can't hear over their chit chat, and he gets irritated with me for making him repeat it. Sorry for the long post...I just don't know what else to do.

OMG!! I totally forgot about that,lol,I also speak fluent ubby, lmao!!! I'm doing it now, and my kids are giving me the stangest looks, lol:rotfl:

how about sha na na? solid gold? barbara mandrell and the mandrell sisters? I remember my dads 8 trak collection, when the gambler was the "cool" song..and when he got his 8 trak player to work in his old impala, when days of our lives first came out...how about picture pages with the little workbooks you could order to play along with the show? leg warmers? jelly shoes? the oringinal atari? moon boots? I remember when my mom got a brand new ford pinto and her car payment was 39$...and my dad thought that was way to high of a payment...green stamps for the grocery store? Black and white brand beer? Gloria Vanderbuilt brand jeans were the in thing before jordache came out? Remember the huge boxes of powder laundry soap befor the liquid was popular? My mom had an old Kirby vacuum...and I remember the amway salesmen knocking at the door...I even remember before when your phones had clicks when you dialed the round dialer instead of beep tones...lol...