evilolive07

As an update, my social media accounts are now being targeted and reported to management. I am going to close this conversation out by saying I'm disappointed to hear that some think my uppers are correct in their actions, but will accept this as they are your opinions. I just wish there was actually a bit more compassion from those who call themselves nurses, whether they are staff or management. Goodnight and god bless. This will be my last post.

This past Friday November 3rd, I had an experience with a member of my upper management team that left me in tears, and questioning whether or not I want to stay in my hospital system or leave the career altogether. I was about to take my lunch break when my program director approached me and asked if I would have a few minutes to chat today. Historically we have had a good working relationship, she keeps an open door, and has been very approachable. Based on our history, and other issues that have been occurring in the office, I told her that I had time as I hadn't yet started my break. We close the door to her office and she began by asking me how I have been doing. I responded that I've been better, and was just getting over a chest cold, for which I had to take Tuesday/Wednesday off (I work 4 x 10 hour shifts a week). She continued by stating that is actually why she called me into her office. She stated that the amount of PTO I have taken this year, specifically sick call-outs has "gotten ridiculous." At this point I quickly realized that this meeting was not going in the direction I had planned, and immediately became tense and defensive. As some back story, this has personally been the worst year of my 15 years in nursing. My mother was diagnosed with breast cancer early in the year and I returned home at one point to support her s/p lumpectomy. In the Spring, I began having GI issues and learned that I have a wheat/gluten intolerance. Over Memorial Day weekend my 36 year old younger sister died of complications from long-term alcoholism. My bereavement time was spent cleaning out her hoarder-like apartment with my father, and rescuing her cat (which was extremely traumatic). I traveled for the first time in three years in July and developed COVID-19 on my last day, requiring me to take additional PTO to quarantine (as pandemic was declared over, and my personal time had to be used to cover the required time off). I've had food poisoning one day, a GI bug in August, and most recently this chest cold. I make good money but I am living paycheck to paycheck during this awful inflation period. I'm the breadwinner in my home and cover the majority of the home expenses. Needless to say my body has been under an immense amount of stress, which I feel is the cause for the multiple illnesses I've experienced this year. I was taken aback by the verbiage that my director used during our meeting. She essentially stated that my use of PTO has been excessive, told me that "You blew through your protected sick time by March," and reinforced that my team has been quite flexible in giving me my allotted PTO (took 3 weeks of vacation, and assorted hours off for appointments, etc). She told me that "things need to improve next year," and coldly asked if I needed help from Employee/Family Relations. I am a highly sensitive person and by this point in our conversation was bawling crying out of frustration and for being completely unprepared for the conversation. I told her that EFR could only help me if they could prevent me from getting sick. I responded to her numerous times by saying this has been the worst year of my life and that I cannot help that I have been sick this much. I explained that looking back at my 15 years of service to this system, that I have never taken as much time as I've required this year and I am equally as frustrated. She inquired if my manager had broached this topic with me, to which I responded "no." We have an attendance disciplinary process in our system (my manager has not given me any verbal or written warnings), which I am familiar with. I stated that if I was going to face discipline, I would accept it. My director told me "no disciplinary process is going to be initiated, we are going to consider this a 'counseling' session which would not be a part of my record" which to me, meant an off the record conversation. She ended our 8 minute meeting by telling me she would ensure that my manager was aware of my "counseling," and then asked me to go take a walk and get some air before I return to my duties. She asked if the other RN I was working with should take my next patient in clinic, to which I responded "no, I will take the patient." I went home livid, and extremely hurt. I felt as though she was questioning my personal integrity as a person, and almost insinuating that I was taking personal days instead of actual sick days (very untrue). Worst of all, I was not comfortable with her calling this a counseling session, as it felt like more of an empty threat against me than counseling. There was no sympathy or empathy in her tone or actions. No "it will be okay, don't worry about it" or pat on the shoulder on my way out. I left her office feeling unseen and confused, and utterly frustrated that this would occur two weeks before my yearly review/raise meeting. I was extremely depressed for my weekend, had some very dark moments, and ironically had to call out today and tomorrow due to testing positive for Flu A (after getting my flu shot). Am I overreacting or am I correct in thinking that this is a shady form of bullying to someone who has 15 years experience, maintains 2 certs and my level 2, and is on a nursing professional governance council for my hospital. What would you do in my shoes? I've considered filing a grievance because of this interaction, as well as writing top nursing leadership. I'm 100% considering leaving the health system altogether because of how this situation was handled. Best, evilolive07

The internet sadly did not reflect my tone. Perhaps I'm coming off as disgruntled and entitled, but what I'm really feeling is deeply disappointed. I realized a long time ago to never expect great things from "the man," but this was some new level stuff IMO. Happy Nurses Week.

The nurses week activities, beside for ice cream, started the year of the acquisition. The only change this year is lack of a gift. Not even a generic printed thank you card. I used the burlap sack as a reference to compare the old system to the new system re:thoughtfulness. When the old Catholic hospital was on its last legs with little to offer, they still made a conscious offer to try to reward its staff for a job well done. To me, that speaks volumes. I'm expected to make a conscious effort to provide excellent care nightly to all my patients. Am I selfish to expect a little reciprocation from my leadership once a year? If so I own it.

Zosyn is given on any unit non-ED over 3 hrs in my hospital. It's been this way for years. Never read any literature about it.

I have worked for a large hospital system for about nine years now. My initial Catholic hospital was acquired by a larger hospital system in the same area more or less because of a failure to thrive. My "old hospital", even when in it's imminent demise, still provided a Nurses' Week gift to all of its employees. The gift was equivalent to a burlap sack, but it still represented the respect that upper management had for its nurses at the time. Fast forward to 2018 - this year the Nurses Week committee voted to not hand out individual gifts to nurses but instead offer them "plenty of events" to participate in throughout the week. These being the same events that we've had every week for the last 5-6 years since rebranding/acquisition. These events include chair massages that run primarily on day shift, ice cream socials that simply will not work for those of us trying to improve our health, and CE credits that are generally unavailable to staff who work the off shift. The individual gift was the one part of the week that united all of us as nurses. It made us feel good. It was the one giant "thank you," that we received from those who do not work the front-lines everyday. That thanks is now gone, due to what seems like whatever budgeting crisis the system is currently experiencing. 2017-2018 has been another average year. Another year with poor RN staffing, little show in improving employee satisfaction (IMO), and what seems like little thanks for again earning Magnet designation, proving HRO accountability, and meeting/exceeding other metric performance measures. Forgive my selfish-sounding rant, but I find it difficult to believe that unit clerks are entitled to a gift, and the nurses are not. A $5 coffee mug or tumbler for each nurse surely cannot surpass a CEO/CIO's bonus each year. Shame on my system. Shame. Thank you for listening.

Errors do happen, and as nurses we must take responsibility for our actions. If an error is made, we have to take it as a learning experience. I've administered incorrect medications, stopped infusions at incorrect times, and given incorrect doses of meds (despite ordered by MD and approved by pharm). Nursing is a human profession, and so mistakes are made - but by recognizing our errors and receiving feedback, we become more aware of ourselves and our actions in medication administration!

Here are three words to your direct management team that I'm almost 100% sure will get them to perk up and address the issue with your "mean" coworker: "hostile work environment."

I graduated in 2008 from a Bachelor's program, and I cannot recall learning more than the theory of placing a peripheral line. I'm pretty positive we practiced placing Foleys, but I'm not 100% sure - it was so long ago. Needless to say, 8 years later and I still have never inserted an IV. I've been fortunate to work for a facility that has an IV team. They've seen better outcomes (fewer instances of phlebitis, etc) with lines inserted by IV team as compared to floor nurses. I also am blessed to have a phlebotomy team. Maybe I'm just a lucky gal?

Location is correct! I started as a new grad in LTC at $22/hour in MA. I think new grads in acute care (in CT) now start around $27-28/hour.

On days that I am going back to work, I usually wake up around 8am (like I would on a regular day off), and then try to lay down for a nap by 1pm until 5pm. Sometimes I'm lucky enough to stay awake the entire night before, and will go to bed by 10am and sleep until 5pm. By my 2nd shift, I'm in bed by 9:30am and sleep until 5:30pm. On days I have to flip back.... let's say I'm coming off 3 midnights - I sleep the entire day until my body tells me to get up, usually around 9pm. Then go back to bed by 2-3am. This is usually enough to get me back onto a day schedule. Of course, sometimes it doesn't work, and I do not have a family that requires me to be awake early on days off. This pattern of mine also assumes that I'll have at least two days off. If I don't, then it's kind of a crapshoot as to what my body does. Please avoid the Ambien on your nights off! I took it for a year or two, made a few steak and cheeses in the middle of the night, and was left with intermittent anxiety attacks and a few pounds from the grinders I made. I use benadryl 50mg to help me get drowsy if I have at least 6-7 hours to rest. Good luck!

The issue has been being unable to take it at all. One RN managed to get a day off because a part-timer was on vacation one week. Management has instructed us to continue to request days we need off, but not PTO days. We are also entitled to take a PTO cash out, which I am doing, but the fact of the matter is that even though 12 hours of PTO in my paycheck is nice, sometimes I don't want to work 3 shifts a week. Even if I found coverage for a shift (let's say, for example, a per diem) and requested PTO, it would be denied because it would essentially be "double paying" - paying me for my time off, and that RN for working my shift. Here's to hoping this is a short-term problem....

I'm curious to see if other floor nurses are currently in the same situation I find myself in. We use a PTO system in my hospital, but it seems that lately it's nearly impossible to use any unless it is for a scheduled vacation. I've been told by management that if any two RNs are on vacation the same week (day/night) then there is realistically no time for her to give, since she is budgeted for 80 hours/week. There would *maybe* be 8 hours available, and since we work 12 hour shifts, that available PTO would not even cover a full shift. This was not the case in past years. I used to be able to strategically take a PTO day every two months or so to give myself a stretch of time off. I've pushed this up to HR who seemed to be clueless, as apparently every department has their own rules regarding PTO. Is anyone else having issues with PTO because of bigger issues such as budgeting?

I worked in a SNF for 15 months before transitioning into a Med-Surg hospital unit. I feel as though my orientation to my unit was great, and knowing the nursing basics (time management, assessing my patients thoroughly, med pass, wound care, tube feedings, etc) really made the transition much smoother. I had a lot to learn, but felt as though the foundations I learned in the SNF were nothing but beneficial! By the way, going to a 4-8:1 patient ratio from 50:1 may not be as easy as you'd think, trust me!

I tend to agree with the simple snack ideas. I have a big lunch bag, and it's generally filled with granola bars, guacamole cups, hummus cups, wheat thins, yogurt, mixed nuts, fruit cups, and maybe a turkey or ham sandwich. I never eat everything in my bag, but it definitely gives me options if I'm not in the mood for one particular item on any given night. I probably wouldn't do well with the pre-made meals, because I only work three nights a week, and between the pre-prepared meals for work and what I'd have to buy for my off days, I'd be spending a fortune.