lorabel

Wow! thank you! Since I left that horrible oncology unit, I went into a LTC facilityfor 4 months. My residents cried when I told them i was leaving. Really pulled at my heart strings. imagine..a grown man crying becoz the insulin I gave him would be "the last shot I ever gave him." So sad...... I loved my residents but felt I needed to do more. As I said i am a fairly new nurse...one year now, and i just felt like I needed to learn more and do more. I gained back some of my confidence and decided that I needed to get back on that horse and ride!!!!!!!! I am now on a telemetry unit for 4 months and loving it! I had the most wonderful preceptor! Matter of fact, the hospital just started a new orientation program and i was the first orientee to go through it. i had such a good experience that my preceptor and i were asked to speak to the student nurses at a recruitment luncheon! I was scared to death as I am NOT a public speaker. I managed to get through it. they wanted me to talk about my experience at the horrible unit and kind of compare orientations...so I did. My knees were shaking and my mouth was dry as the sahara but I said what was in my heart. The nurse recruiter said we did so well that they want us back next year! My response...in your dreams! lol! I FEEL like a real nurse! I love my job and the people i work with. Not all nurses eat their young! My preceptor and i came up with some little quotes....fake it til you make, my favorite..."don't poke the skunk!", expect the unexpected, YOU are in control..(because I have a hard time getting out the room when i have a talker!) my personal quote becoz of my previous experience..."I may swim with sharks but i don't have to be their food!" they actually printed the sayings up, laminated them and handed them out to all the preceptors hospital-wide! I am still kind of gun shy with certain things because of things that happened on the oncology unit. I panic over little things sometimes and they laugh at me...not YELL at me! such a good feeling to know I have the support of the seasoned nurses! the docs are mostly great...always a few that are a little less nice......so yes...I think I find my cupt of tea!

So glad you are out of there! There is no way those nurses who can pass meds to so many in 20 minutes is even looking at the MAR. i worked in LTC as an RN for about 4 months. I had 20 residents and it took me over an hour to do my med pass. I did my treatments in between med passes. Safety is ALWAYS first! what goes around comes around and unfortunately it will be at the expense of one the residents! don't beat yourself up over it. Something better will come along. My first experience as an RN was brutal. I was in a hospital but worked with nurses that ate their young at each meal and sometimes came back for seconds! I loved what i did but the Unit i worked on was toxic. i left and didn't have a hard time finding another job. What I had a hard time with was gaining back my confidence. I'm a telemetry nurse now and the experience at this hospital is worlds apart from my first job. I now believe I AM a good nurse! Hang in there, your job will come along. No need to mention the nightmare.......it was only 3 weeks..........

Like others have said, it seems to vary from region to regon. I have been working ona "step-down" tele unit for 3 months now. I am told the difference between us and the PCU (progressive care unit) is that we can't hang certain drips.......we can hang cardizem, but I think the one we can't hang is dobutamine? Could be wrong.....I'm a failry new nurse..............just over a year now. We can titrate cardizem down, but not up. there are a few other things we cant do but really the drips is the biggest difference between the units. We can any patient that "needs tele." We even get nosebleeds!!!!!!!!!! Ya...the doc wants to monitor his heart for 24 hours! Mostly we get the CHFers, pneumonia, AMIs, etc.........I love it but it is crazy busy! Our average stay is 2.5 days..........constant transfers to med-surg and admissions, occassionally transfer to ICU.......learning alot

Shame on the BSN! Coming from a horrible experience as a new RN, I would have LOVED to have had a preceptor that cared enough to encourage and guide me as you are trying to do. What goes around comes around as they say. I am thinking that her over-the-top confidence will be shattered one day soon. I didn't have enough confidence in my skills and that was MY fault. This new BSN has too much and I was told in an interview that they would rather have new RNs that feel scared than walk in thinking they know it all because those type are the most dangerous! I was told they wouldnt even hire nurses like that. You do what your gut tells you and it will be the right thing. Ultimately, you are protecting your patients! At the end of the day, the preceptor is responsible for what the orientee does....I think? You hang in there and let management have a little sit-down with her. I have a feeling you are a wonderful preceptor and one that cares!

thank you so much for you wisdom! I'm not sure at this point what our responsibilities on the unit are. i'm waiting for the call to shadow. That way i will see what it's like. It is med/surg so I would think we will be hanging drips and getting post op CABGs. i will look at the common meds you mention and i will also brush up on reading strips! Problem is...the patient's strips rarely look like the textbook! I'll keep you all posted. thanks again!

Hi all. I have been offered a job on a tele floor......finally back in a hospital after nightmare first experience as anew RN. Does anyone have any tips or pointers such as most important things to remember? Any advice at all is greatly appreciated! I'm really nervous......I have no experience reading EKG strips. they will send me to classes for that. At my other hospital we had a "heart room" that monitored all the flexes and would call and tell us so and so had a so many beat run of afib or pvcs or whatever and fax us a strip. We would then call the MD, etc........in this new hospital the nurses read the strips.....scared but so very excited!

That was probably a better answer than mine! I'm trying to convince myself I'm not a crappy nurse......just an inexperienced one looking for an opportunity to learn and grow from a baby nurse to a confident and skilled nurse! I only have 4 months on med/surg and 2 months in LTC. It will be one year since I graduated in May! So much to learn......praying for the right opportunity.

I don't think I didn't get the job because I'm blacklisted. I caused no harm to anyone. I was on orientation when i quit. I think truthfully, I blew the interview by being too honest. I told them I did not have experience with vents and was intimidated by them, but it would a good thing for me to learn. Found out later, most of the vents will be coming to the floor i interviewed on....this is new since I did my clinicals there. Oh well.......I was honest. To lie is not my first impulse. what if I would have said oh yeah, I've had tons of vent patients and lied,,,,then got the job and had my first vent pt. and was clueless??????? I have to trust that things happen for a reason. There are still opwenings on that floor but since it has been about 4 weeks since i interviewed, I consider myself out of the running. No sense in spinning my wheels and waiting. they were to call and let me know either way and didnt have the courtesy to do so! I'm moving on and finding my confidence. Thanks for the advice! appreciate it!

Hi everyone. I am trying to update my resume. I am new grad of almost a year. I have posted here before and got wonderful support and advice! My question this time is...when writing up my resume, what all should i list as skills? I mean after you write your title and facility, the next section is for job skills i think. what is a good way to word things? Since I'm an RN i would assume they know i passed meds, etc. Do I write something like coordinated patient care ...I'm at a loss here. I want my resume to be the best! I did not get the job I wanted at my local hospital....it went to fellow grad that listed all the "right" references........we had one instructor in particular that was tough and word has it that if you list her as a ref. you get the job. I didnt even think to ask her at the time because I had accepted a job at a diff. hospital........I am now trying to get into the hospital where i should have started at to begin with! boy am I learning to listen to my gut! This hospital felt VERY comfortable to me when I interviewed and toured. I didnt have the same feeling at the hospital I accepted at!.......and went through HE** while there.......my first big mistake! Now i'm hoping to get in to this other hospital. I have a freind that grad with me who may help me get in! Anyway...what do I put on my resume???????? And is it ok to check the box not to contact former employer?.....will that raise red flags? I plan to say it just wasnt a good fit.....leave it at that........opinions and advice???

Well.....The interview went well at the hospital. The problem now is that I was told that student nurses at the community college where I went are considered employees of the hospital and they get the job offers first. there are 3 positions open...2 approved and one more pending.......I was told there are 8 students interested. I was told, however, that alot of times the students change their minds or stay there to learn and then move on and not to give up if the students take the openings...not in those exact words. when asked why I left the other hospital job I told them I wanted something closer to home and i rook the job because this hospital wasnt hiring at the time i graduated. Said they heard that from others as well and that hiring or openings goes in spurts. Also told them I learned alot...which i did. the toughest question was how do I feel about leaving those jobs after a short time. told them I have learned from each job and that sometimes you find what you want by learning what you DONT want..and LTC is not for me. I did my clinicals at this hospital and know the charting system, the type of patients, etc. That would be a bonus for them I think. I didnt tell them that! I'm not feeling very optomistic. Its a bad time for me trying to get in there with the new grads coming. I have some pull there but if policy is to offer to GNs first it might not help. I was told I they will let me know the end of next week after they finish interviews and check references. I will kow either way. At least I wont have to keep wondering...it took them over a month to contact me for the interview! Asked why i took the job in LTC I told them I needed a job and there were no openings posted for this hospital...truth. They dont accept paper applications. You have to wait until an opening is posted online and apply that way. Still crossing my fingers. I'll let you know what I hear next week. Thanks again for your support. This site is wonderful!!!!!!!

Thanks guys. I am praying I get the hospital job. I believe at this point that the hospital is where my heart is. The first hospital I worked at was not a good fit. My old unit I hear is pure hell. I was the 6th RN to leave in 2 months and 2 more have quit since! the problem is management...hope admin sees that finally! I really miss the hospital environment. If I get the hospital job it will be like going home...i did all my clinicals there so i know the facility, unit, charting, and type of patients on that unit! Another grad from my clinical group is also interviewing same day for same floor. hoping they have more than 1 position open!!!!!! thanks for the good wishes! Ill let ya know how it goes. hope i hear soon!

Hi all. I am so confused right now. I'm a new RN that graduated in May took boards, passed them, worked at large hospital for 4 months, went through pure hell in a toxic environment and am currently working in LTC. sigh....I hate my job in LTC. I don't feel like a "real nurse", just a pill pusher. I have 20 residents and 2 med passes per shift. I'm to have my med pass done in 1 1/2 hrs. I'm getting there.........this is my second week on the floor and only my 3rd day on the cart myself...still orienting but theyre giving me as much responsibility as I want but there's always my preceptor if I need.........I do treatments after med passses..........anyway...I seem to be struggling with how laid back LTC is......Last eve I was passing meds and a resident dropped her pill cup and they spilled onto the floor. I picked them up, took them out to the cart and went to throw them in the sharps. My preceptor asked what i was doing. I told her they were on the floor and I was disposing of them and would pull new ones. She grabbed them and said no, they're fine. I said they were on the floor. she said theyll be fine. I refused to give them so she did! I think that is terribly wrong! Do you knmow how dirty the floors are???????? She also told me things here are different than in the hospital...... Then...she decided to double team so we could get done sooner and go over other stuff. So...she does a few med passes to help. an hour later, its now like 6 pm the family of a resident came running down to nurses station and said her mother was unresponsive. I ran down to dining area and assessed her. She was sleeping! I did a full set of vitals including a CBS. all were WNL. I looked at the MAR to see if she was on anything new. Turns out, the preceptor who helped get done quicker, gave her her ativan 0.5 and seroquel at 5 PM but they were schedule for 9pm. I asked her why and she said she goes to be right after dinner anyway!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The poor resident was completely snowed! Is it just me or is this common practice to give all meds in one pass. I can understand if the only meds at 9pm were like senna or prilosec or something....but seroquel????? wrong wrong wrong in my eyes! I think I am a hospital nurse!!!!!!!!! Before this, I got a call from local hospital Ive been trying to get in. I have an interview this tues! I'm so excited and pray i get it. i may stay on casual where i am if I get the hospital job. so what do ya all think????????

Sorry to hear of your concerns. Rightly so, however. If your gut is saying I'm not ready...then listen. I went through the same situation sort of.I told my NM I wasnt eady and was told I couldnt be on orientation longer. I lasted only 4 months. I worked with a group of nasty and unsupportive nurses......plus under poor management. I felt so incompetent all the time. I was given mixed messages and by the time I quit...I had 0 confidence. The unit sapped everything from me. I was losing weight, couldnt sleep and was so stressed. This forum advised me to get out of the toxic work environment. I did. I dont regret it but still miss the hospital environment. but because the experience took away my confidence...I just accepted a position in LTC. I dont kow if this is the right decision or not. My thought is to work there for a year, learn better organization skills and charting, etc. then maybe go to a hospital. I'm convinced that every job teaches us things we can take and apply to the next job. I'm still searching for my niche........when I interviewed for this job I was asked why I left...the dreaded question. i told them it wasnt a good fit and I was looking for a job with less acuity of patients and that I enjoyed patient interaction.....something like that. I was told it takes a while to find where we belong and its expected that we will try several positions our first year or so to find "our fit." I felt so much better. I was welcomed by nurses, aides, and management. It felt much warmer than the hospital where I worked. I start on Feb. 18th. I'm a little nervous. I know nothing about LTC but I will learn and it seems its a much more supportive environment. I asked about orientation. I was told it will be however long it takes me to feel confident.......WOW! Hoping it works out well for me. If you have doubts or reservations...walk! There are other opportunities out there. It doesnt sound like a safe environment...patient safety is priority....isnt it?

Thank you. What you say does make sense. I guess I am obessing because I truly love nursing. I even find myself thinking about patients I cared for and wondering how they are. I worked in onco and many patients stayed in the hospital for weeks at a time and sometimes came back. We established relationships with them. I will try to put it all behind me. I think part of me is afraid it will follow me to my next job. As you say I need to take what I learned and I did learn alot, to my next job. I have said before that i am at my strongest when others are at their weakest. Thats a good and bad thing. If I was in a situation with no one else around, I would take charge. If there were others there I would probably tend to stand back a bit.......I'm not at all aggressive. I need to work on that! I have not been in a code situation and it scares me to death! I wont know what to do! I still have so much to learn. I'm praying confidence does come with time for me as well. I'm not sure if I should jump back on the horse as they say and go back to a hospital or try something slower like LTC. I am waiting for the LTC place to call me to schedule my physical.....I also applied to another floor at the hospital where I worked.I'm not sure if thats a good thing or not? The manager on the floor I applied knew of my situation and was angry that I was treated as I was....my daughter worked as an aide on that floor and spoke to the manager about it.......I guess time will tell.......

Hi all. I'm still stressing over my former job and replaying things in my mind...did I do a good job? Was I a bad nurse? I keep hearing in my head things that were said to me and I'm obsessing.......my preceptor told me I had a confidence problem.....very nicely and was trying to help me. She said I was smart and I was wonderful with patients...the part I keep hearing in my head is I have a confidence problem......How do you gain confidence? And...is this something I can overcome? It must be a problem? It is true...but its because I'm scared to make mistakes.....how normal is that?????? :innerconf I went on a job interview last week at a LTC facility. I was told they would call me this week for a time for a physical, etc........ They said they liked me and looked forward to me joining them. I think thats a good thing. I know nothing about LTC.......but I'll learn. I don't know how to be confident! I'm somewhat shy and very laid back and very compassionate......I'm not at all outgoing and it seems outgoing people are more confident.......I'm so stressing! Help!!

jojotoo, Thank you so much for the post. I'm not the original poster but you said things I needed to hear!!!!!!!! I posted above and I ended up quitting my job because of toxic work environment, etc. But, i was told when i was hired that organizational and prioritizing skills come with time. I left after only 4 months. I feel that while we are still so new and have so much to learn we need extra positive encouragement. We need to be told that organization comes with time. I got written up for organization. My director told me i needed help with organization and i agreed. so, the next day she called me into her office and had a plan written up...I was ok at that point.....after we went over it, she then said, oh and you need to sign this! she wrote me up!!!!!!! I feel that is totally unfair. There was no patient harm done. I feel like when we are so new they should come to us and ask if we need help with anything...like..are you ok with organization or need help? or are you ok when you get a new admission or do you need to go over the forms again, etc. Instead, where I worked, the suppport disappeared after my first week off orientation. From that point on, the nurses ran to the director and told them every little flaw they saw. I think we shouldnt be written up until after our 6 month probation period. I think in the meantime they should focus on helping us get to where we need to be. I openly acknowledged my lack of skills and organization, etc. I was told it wasnt a problem! They would come in time and staff would be there to help me and nurture me along. I saw no nurtuing after week one. I couldnt take the nasty nurses any longer and finally broke so I quit after 4 months. We as new nurses do feel incompetent and we are in some aspect. We need to gain confidence in our skills and ourselves as a new nurse and it takes time. so thank you for understanding how we newbies feel and letting us know its normal. I was told that my first week but never after that. Maybe it took me or was taking me longer to get to where they needed me to be? I just know I couldnt learn in that hostile environment.

I feel so badly for you! I felt the same on my former job. I was to the point that I dreaded going in to work. My coworkers were NOT supportive...just snitches! I ended up quitting. When i left I told them i knew there was a place for me in nursing, it just wasnt on this unit! dont let one job experience chase you from the profession. i'm still looking for a new job and even applied for a job in the same hospital on a different floor!!!!!!!! Only applied yesterday online...but that was a MAJOR step for me! Maybe you need a position with a little slower paced environment...I did. Its tough being off orientation...thats when you need the support of your coworkers the most! There is soooo much we aren't taught in school! It is a major reality check isn't it? I guess the main thing to remember is that you are still learning and to ASK questions and as many as needed and also ask for help! Patient safety is priority........if you need help...ASK!

Good point. and YES a verbal order! I called the doc because the son was in earlier and said he wanted his dad a DNR. Son had to leave and couldnt wait for doc to call me back. So..the doc called me, I explained the situation and gave the doc the son (who is POA) cell number. the doc called the son and confirmed he wanted his dad a DNR. So the doc gave me a verbal order to make pt a DNR, I had to have another nurse confirm and we signed the form like a verbal order. The doc came in the next morning and signed off on it. Its a mid-size hospital..about 365 beds. Its part of a large network of hospitals.

Thank you. That helps alot...I'm just worried that I burned the bridge when I quit...the place i worked is part of the large network including the major hospitals..university hospital..which are the teaching hospitals! Guess I wont know until i try! If worst comes to worst I can work for a year somewhere and then reapply within the network.

I have some hearing loss as well and LOVE it. I can pick up all kinds of murmurs, lungs sounds, etc. My only complaint is using it to take manual BPs. You have to have it placed just right it seems. The bell is not as flat as other models or something. I think its the model you are referring to. i paid about $260 or something? It has abutton for bell and diaphragm and you can turn the volume up or down and requires batteries........I love it but prefer a standard littman for BPs.

We did go see a lawyer........no grounds for suit...or more like no suit for a big enough settlement to make it worth their while.....see when you file a medmal lawsuit, first you have to another professional state that first there has been malpractice, secondly there must be permanent injury or severe injury/pain/suffering, etc as a result of the malpractice......medmal suits arent as easy as some think........Since my mom suffered no permanent injury..depression is not considered permanent nor is anxiety...no one would take the case. I feel my parents deserved something for all they went through...I didnt mention that my dad was 80 at the time and has many cardiac problems.......I'm surprised he didnt have a massive MI when he walked in and found her. He called me on my cell and told me "all these people are running into moms room and they told me I had to leave". That was the condition C that was called.......like a code without cardiac arrest..........Yes, there was very poor and substandard nursing care but no permanent physical harm.......

Sorry! I've been helped so much on this site, thought i would try to return the favor.

trmr, Very interesting! My dad raises honeybees and sells the honey and bee pollen. You would be amazed at things honey is used for. I don't want this to sound like a sales pitch..but...here goes. Honey is the purest food......bacteria can't grow in it. When we get a cut we put a lil honey on it and it heals 10 times faster! A teaspoon or so of PURE honey is better than any cough syrup on the market... It is also a natural sugar substitute. When buying honey though, make sure it's pure and not pasteurized or watered down or whatever they do with it. Search the web and you find lots of info on honey! At my hospital we were not allowed to give any info on drugs, etc. that weren't approved by our facility. I would recommend that you tell your patient you can't advise him but recommend he search the internet or ask his MD? I'm sure buying pure honey is cheaper than "medihoney"!!!!!

Read my earlier posts! I felt the exact same way as did many others. I quit my job after 4 months...it truly was a toxic environment; poor management and nasty nurses......I was miserable...so I got the courage to quit! I do not have another job yet...but I couldnt stand one more minute in that place! This forum has been VERY supportive of me! Its like my counseling session!!!! Dont kow what I would have done without it. I was getting physically sick fom job..losing weight, insomnia, depression......now I feel free! I know a job will come up and I will be happier. Do whats right for YOU. Hang in there........I'm very sensitive too and that was part of the problem......I cared too much and never stood up for myself.......I felt guilty at first....I miss my patients! I was in onco and I sometimes see my pts in my dreams!~ crazy isnt it? I find myself wondering how this one is doing and if this one has come back in d/t complications........I absolutley loved my patients...........you will be fine!~ start looking for something different......

Do you think a "teaching hospital" would provide a better orientation than a community or other hospital (for lack of a better word)? I think as newbie nurses we need sufficient orientation to gain some confidence and get our feet under us before throwing us out there. In hindisght and analyzing my situation to death...I think that if I had longer on orientation I would have felt much more confident. I told them I wasnt ready but they cut me loose anyway....I have been hearing from other newbies I graduated with that their orientation was much longer than mine and they were not off orientation until they felt confident. I had 6 weeks...5 because one was classroom. My fellow grads went to the city and bigger hospitals and had minimum of 3 months....most of these hospitals were teaching hospitals...I guesss what is considered teaching hospital is one that is affiliated with a University.....:icon_roll I didnt want the drive to the city but if it makes me a better nurse I'll go for it! I need to go where they really care about you as a nurse and will teach me. I'm willing to learn and contnue learning...I just need some nurturing in the process! Thoughts?