can'twait2B1

I have been working on an acute adult inpatient unit now for nearly three years. I have been feeling increasingly burnt out and have been looking for a different job. I love my patients, I really want to help the mentally ill have some normalcy to their lives. Sometimes I feel relieved when I see a "repeat customer" because at least I know that they are still alive. I worked an outpatient community mental health clinic for three years prior to starting the job I am in now. I feel like I really know my stuff. I am one of three nurses on the unit that actually have a psychiatric nursing background and I have been working as charge nurse for quite a while. Our director feels the need to continuously make changes to the unit structure to make things go smoother. Only she never works on the floor with us, her day is composed of meetings and taking off early for this and that. We have staff constantly changing roles and the ones that tattle and backstab everyone get to be advanced. If you complain that you can't charge from the desk you get awarded a glamorized unit secretary position with a dollar an hour raise. You work your butt off on the floor as charge and help at the desk you get told that you cannot be a the desk for any reason, must be on the floor with the patients (not a biggie ) but they cut charge pay a dollar to pay the rn unit secretary. Then there is the "supervisor" who is always charge when she is there but never has to take patients and sits at the desk all day working on some paperwork that supposedly is necessary to the director. We have a program director who is a msw and who hates nurses she feels she is way smarter than us. We have great doctors but they are in fear of our program director because she has worked with the Doctor that runs our unit for years. So as a nurse you have no back up. Too many chiefs but nobody willing to work! My director was told by one of the busybodies on the unit that she/he heard that I was looking for another job. BANG! change of status, no longer can I be charge nurse. At that time I was not looking for another job, but when that happened I did. I tried to transfer to sister facility which is closer to my home to get out of the unit. I was given a new payrate, a start date, and gave my 3 weeks notice. Everything was looking up I was escaping from hell, and then, HR blocked my transfer. A "verbal" write up for attendance ( I missed five days in a years time, 3 of them from surgery) was looked at as being a write up and so I was not in good standing to transfer. But they were going to uphold my resignation. I looked for options, there are no jobs here right now except for at the sister hospital which I could not transfer to. I had to rescind my resignation. I was told that clinically I was one of the best nurses on the floor but I hav been negative ( by trying to leave)They agreed to let me, after 4 days of not knowing, but with a price. I am not on probation for a negative attitude. All because I tried to leave. Now everyone is out to get me. Everything I say has to be carefully thought through because it will be turned around, taken out of context and used against me. I can't even frown on my unit without the program director walking up to me and saying, "what's wrong now? You are frowning" Really? I mean I can't keep walking on eggshells constantly. I have to go in weekly for a recap of what I might have said or done that week that got back to my boss. I feel like I can't trust anybody, like they are looking for a reason to write me up or fire me. I am a really good nurse I have worked tons of overtime and have came in when the unit was short, worked nights to cover, even stayed at the hospital for a week straight to cover the floor during a big snow. I feel that I am being mistreated and I don't know what to do. I can't not have a job, and I live in a rural area so there is not a lot of jobs available. Any advice?

I think my biggest complaint was the tone/way the lead therapist (who is also the program manager) addressed my question. Had she said, "Hey I heard you had a question about the nursing role during process group, and I would prefer that you guys just let the social worker handle it if someone is disruptive and they will let you know if they need your help, but thanks for asking", then it really wouldn't have bothered me. The way it was addressed definitely "put me in my place" but it also offended me. I work really hard for my unit and I really care for my patients and co-workers, I really wasn't trying to start a ruckus. As far as editing my post I figure that less is more. Thanks for your imput.

Thanks for your reply. I am going to just steer clear of the social worker's daily group and mind my own business and bide my time until I can find something else.

We have a very structured program, activity therapy, leisure group, circle group, nursing education and goal setting and reflection (setting in the am reflection in the pm) we also have personal time (adls, showers ect) visitation time, snacks, tv/nap/free time From 7 am to 8:30 pm every minute is on a schedule As far as techs and nurses go, sounds like management needs to step in and take control, MHT's should have to answer to the charge nurse or team leader, if they are not doing thier jobs then they need to be written up, Patient care and safety should be everyone's main concern. If your dept isn't doing groups but is billing patients insurance for group time, its fraud, and could result in some serious issues. Sounds like a mess, good luck to you.

I work on an inpatient behavioral health unit, we have 20 beds at this time. The days are very scheduled and we as nurses spend most of our day in the rec room with our patients whether it is meal time, activity group time or free time. We also have social workers on staff who do a circle group or a process group. Everybody works well together and usually a nurse and tech will be in every group for safety reasons and to pull a patient who is disruptive, its always worked this way on this unit. Well last week was a different story, a coworker of mine said that a patient who has BPD really railroaded the circle group with her behaviors and complaints, this significantly upset several patients, she said she didnt feel that she was allowed to remove this patient because the lead therapist did not want nursing to step in. Being the charge nurse, I took it upon myself to ask the social worker what was expected of nurses during these types of situation because we had always helped out and removed them for some one on one time to get the group back on track, He was very offended and said "the groups only need one facillitator, you guys are just there to watch and listen" He went to the lead therapist and told her the situation Keep in mind this is just a professional courtesy type question. The lead therapist came to me in private and said, "My social workers have master's degrees, if they want someone out of a group they will tell you and then you can take them out" "you are supposed to sit in there and listen quietly":eek: Well, I got ticked :mad:because I felt like she had downgraded nurses in general, and said basically that I would not be attending anymore circle groups and if they social workers had master's degrees then surely they know how to remove a patient themselves, :argue: I worked outpatient clinic psych before this and it was the same way, social workers and therapists are higher ranking and nurses are treated like crap, Does this happen in all psych facilities, because I love psych but I don't need to be made feel worthless because I don't have a master's degree. We are the one's with patient's all the time, more than one hour a day in a circle group and we don't get to leave at 4pm, we don't get every weekend off. I just feel very underappreciated. :angthts: I am leaving the unit anyway just as soon as I can find a new job, I just need to know if I am being petty. I do respect our social workers I think they are great, but we have some great nurses too and they are not treated well. As one of my co-workers said, "I hope the social workers have a nursing degree too because they are going to be running the unit by themselves":hpygrp: Sorry so long, had to rant, :oornt: thanks in advance for your replies.

Thanks for all of your replies, I have sent out a couple of resumes, I applied for a hospice job, its closer to home and I think my psych nursing background could be very helpful, thanks again, its so hard to leave :crying2:but I know that I am doing whats best for me and my family. God Bless!:heartbeat

I recently saw a very pregnant woman get into a car with the plate LMP, I thought it was kind of ironic.

Interesting.... your psych position is driving YOU nuts??? LOL, yep, that about sums it up. Thanks for your replies. I have actually already emailed a contact of mine about a position at the hospital that is closer to home.

I have been working at a inpatient psych unit since last year. I work as charge almost everytime I am scheduled, we have a team lead who works the other days, she doesn't work weekends and if we happen to be scheduled the same day she is always charge. She gets paid quite a bit more for the team lead position but it seems that since she does the schedules I get the crap hours, I usually end up getting scheduled for the big interdisciplinery treatment team meetings as well, since a charge has to be present. They are three days per week and are very time consuming. I was told that there would be a second team lead position opening up, and I could apply for it when it did, since i am basically doing the job anyway. That was 8 months ago, no job has opened up. I just picked up six weeks of weekends to help out because we had a nurse unexpectantly quit, now another has given notice and that means we will only have 5 nurses on dayshift to cover 7 days a week. Our unit is tough, our admission process takes roughly two hours sometimes more depending on the patient. Everyone is tired and stressed and its just not a good environment. The pay is mediocre, really it is, most of the people I graduated nursing school with five years ago make 5-10 dollars more an hour than me, and most don't work a specialty like psych. I love psych and I love most of my coworkers and my doctors are the best. However, we have a few "bad eggs" that like to backstab and try to get people in trouble all the time. Our call-ins are through the roof, at least one person calls in pretty much everyday. I feel like I have handled myself well and that I am a very good employee. I am not looking for a pat on the back everyday but I would like some sort of recognition for all that I have done to help out the unit. I live an hour away from work and I constantly work overtime to help out my peers. I have a hospital 15 minutes from home that has current openings that I know I could get. I feel very unappreciated and am really considering transferring out. Even with saying that I would feel very guilty of what I would do to the unit as a whole by leaving because they are already so short staffed. Any advice? This is driving me nuts! Thank you!!!

Are you the newest nurse on the floor? I can't see why they would schedule you as the "fill in " nurse unless you were lower seniority. I would def talk to supervisor and if things don't get better I would take it higher, "weeding out" nursing staff sounds highly unprofessional to me. I would consider transferring to a different unit or finding another job all together. Good luck.

I applied online Monday had two phone calls the same day and interviewed Wed, which was yesterday

Hi guys thanks for reading this, I am having some job issues that I really need advice on, Some background info, I have worked on the med-surg unit since April of 04, first as an aide while I attended LPN school, then as an LPN while I attended RN school, I worked weekend option nights for the first two years and since last April Weekend option days, 12 hr shifts. On my floor LPNs and Rn's do basically the same job, primary nursing, not that it is a bad thing, but I graduated RN school in May, I want more than what I have already been doing, I know the floor inside and out, I have dealt with all kinds of situations and I am ready for something more mentally stimulating, I asked to train for charge nurse, ours is on indefinite medical leave and probably won't be returning they only have two charges working days, they are both worn out from working so much and covering weekends,my supervisor (brand new in his position) states that I need at least 6 months RN experience before I can train as charge, I am doing the same job I have been doing since I got my LPN in 2005! I asked how that is giving me RN experience because if that is what it is then I have got plenty of experience, so does every LPN who works on the floor, so I am pretty pissed :madface:and think maybe I need to get off of that particular floor and try something different, ICU and OB have only registry positions, surgery has a full time circulator with a 10 grand sign on, so I thought I would throw my hat in the ring for it, HR told me that there is no way I would get the job and I shouldn't even try because I don't have OR experience despite the fact that the job description says it has a 6 mth training period and new grads are welcome.:angryfire So I have been looking around my area trying to find something else and there are really no RN jobs available. I thought getting my RN would open some doors for me but I am not finding anything, I have been a good worker, one minute med error in 2005, 2 absences all year, and I am distraught, Is my hospital being unfair to me? Should I leave or am I just wanting too much too soon, I have worked hard for my education but with the lack of jobs in this area I wonder if nursing was a bad choice. Please help me any advice would be appreciated!

Well I am a new RN grad myself (was an LPN prior) and I have been wondering the same thing, I am interested in L&D but as I have spent my whole nursing career in Med surg it is a scary step. But for you my advice would be go ahead and start your nursing program, you will get some clinical experience in each area and that will help you decide what you want to do. When I was in LPN school I was gung ho L&D but when I got finished I decided that I liked med-surg, lots of experiences there lots of change in type and age of patients, I do recommend a year in med surg for for new grads, as it was recommended to me by a nurse whom I trust very much and I have never regretted it. Just take your time and start the process for school sometimes it takes a while to get into a nursing program. Everything else will fall into place, you don't have to decide what dept you are going to work in right away, and when you are finished and you pick one that doesn't mesh well with you then try another thats the beauty of nursing . Good luck to you!

Okay, this is a very common problem where I work, I myself worked as a CNA for ten years before going on to LPN and later RN school. I have never seen such disrespect between nurses and aides anywhere I have ever worked prior. There are some nurses who expect the CNA to do the job they are assigned to do and anything else that particular nurse doesn't want to do. I have been there I have seen it and its plain ridiculous that a nurse will chase a CNA down halfway across the unit to have them help a patient put on a gown, something that nurse could have done herself. These nurses give all nurses bad names because then we get the lecture at our staff meetings that nurses are being mean to the CNAs. BUT, that is not always the case for instance, I don't mind helping a patient use the commode or cleaning up an incontient patient, I don't mind or feel that it is below me to help a patient put on a clean gown or give a bath, that is basic nursing. And When I have time, I do these tasks to help out. However nowadays the CNA's (where I work) have attitudes and when you ask them to do something they are insubordinate, state you are not their "boss" tell you flat out "no, why can't you do it yourself?" :angryfire Our CNA's are not patient focused and on more than one occasion I have heard that. Then I even had one aide/RN student pull me aside and tell me "I don't want to do anything you ask me to because I don't respect you, you are not my superior only the charge nurse is over me" :angryfire I politely told her that she should respect her job and the fact that these patients are our primary concern and whether or not she likes me she should do what she is being paid for. I don't know what has gotten into the work ethic anymore but it is bad, and the sad part is the patient is the one who ultimately pays for it. Personally I can't wait until that particular cna is a nurse working on the floor and finds out that nurses really do have more to do than sit around and write. Maybe she will respect me then?

I got my temp RN today! Finally! My paperwork was turned in on June 4th, I am still waiting on my ATT but so far so good! Good luck to you guys hope you get yours soon!