evette74

Thanks for your comment. It helped me put alot of things in perspective. To answer your questions No Corporatn e did not support me. They would come with their bright ideas on how things need to be, ask me my opinion but still go with their plan. Thats what irritated me the most. I am there I know what I need to have to run a successful building but i was not allowed to do that. To be honest I inherited a mess and I was only in the position for a year and it was gonna take a lot longer to fix the problems in that building. I did have some things improve but it was only because they became my personal projects and my ADON was no help to me, but it wasn't her fault. Corporated decided to drown her in other duties. The previous administrator that was there was great we got along very well and worked together and dealt with issues head on. We both believed in being out there on the floor and seeing what was going on. but when this administrator resigned. and the corporate administrator came I feel she had her on agenda already to replace me because we definitely did not do things the same way. We were not compatible at all. Reading everyones comments has helped me put things in perspective but I still dont know if I would ever take another job as DON even though I still feel I could make a difference and change the culture of LTC, but I dont feel like i would be given the power to do so as long as corporate wants to run the show.

Thank you for the advice

Your charge nurse could be a very serious problem for you in the future. Obviously the RN is much more qualified for the position than the LPN because of she has more experience. This is obvious. People cannot be placed in positions simply because you like them. As the DNS you must stand your ground and choose who is more qualified for the job. And if your charge nurse has a problem with that then she can find another job. You also need to be careful with people like your charge nurse. They will bring down morale at your facility and turn staff against you. Watch Her!!!

I need to tell you all a story because i have read some other threads of some nurses dealing with a decision i once had to make. I have worked in long term care for almost 15 years. I started out as a CNA in long term careand went back to nursing school and received my associate degree in nursing. I have worked in the er and telemetry/med-surg but decided to return to long term care because I feel good skilled nurses are desperately needed plus it is what i have always loved. I have been a nurse for 5 years. I worked as a RN supervisor but was approached to consider the job as DON. At first I thought maybe i needed to work and get more experience first, but it was my dream to become a DON at some point and time so I accepted the opportunity because I wanted to make a difference. Well it did not turn out how i planned. I know now I was not prepared for this challenge just yet. I still don't know where I went wrong, but nothing went right. I felt as though even though I was the DON none of the decisions were made by me but corporate. And when the #### hit the fan the responsibility fell on me. It got to the point where i could not depend on the staff that was hired to do a job could not be depended on to do their job which put more responsibility on myself because i wanted it done right and so did my boss. After leaving the position I was devastated because I have never failed at anything like this before. I take so much pride in my work and wanted so bad to succeed. Where did I go wrong!!??? Is my dream of being a DON over???