Silverbird501

Hi! I am going to be moving to Raleigh or the surrounding area and was wondering where to start applying. I'm an RN with 3 years experience. Half of that in a sub-acute facility and the other half in more of a LTC/assisted living facility. Both night shifts. The second place, I'm charge nurse, the only nurse in the building at night. I'd like something similar to what I have been doing. Any suggestions? Where have you heard that provides a good work environment for their employees? And I'm all about teamwork, people have to work well together for it to be a good place to work. Where do people just love to work in the Raleigh area? Thanks for any suggestions!

Very interesting comments to my post. So to answer you, yes, I knew about the possibility that my manager might not keep me on about a month before she actually told me it wasn't going to work out. She talked with me the first time, told me she was going to give me two more weeks (4 shifts on my part-time schedule) to get better, and I had better do it fast. She wasn't mean about it. But I sure did try hard. I was very proud of myself. And my coworkers had a lot of praise for me. By the end of the two weeks, we talked on the phone and she said she was still on the fence but that as along as I continued to improve like I had been doing, she had no reason to let me go. She said she wanted me to succeed. I will tell you, there are about three other people on this unit who started there as new grads. And they were successful. So I guess it CAN be done. But at the same time, she put me on full-time my first 14 weeks as I worked with my preceptor, but then when I went on my own, I was put down to part-time, which is what I was hired for. At the same time, I started in March. The end of RSV season (should just be called respiratory season for kids. haha) So it was busy for my first few weeks. Then the census just dwindled down to nothing until about the time of my first talk with my boss in August. So I really didn't get that much experience. Especially with only being there two days a week. And several of my coworkers thought it was crazy that I was only part-time, since that extra 12 hours can really make a difference. And I agree, expecting me to be able to be on my own at night after only 6 months experience is crazy. Maybe I should have questioned that in the beginning, but hey, I'm new at all this. And YES! JACHO came to our hospital only a few weeks after I started. Now the lovely hospital nursing supervisor who loved me so much (sarcasm) and wanted to have more shifts on Peds is now picking up shifts to fill in the spaces I left. And my ex-manager has a job posting for a new grad position, FULL-TIME. Joy. Well, I have learned that I need to be cautious about any manager or anyone willing to "help me succeed" It's okay to let people help you, but at the same time, be cautious about it. That's so sad. And now I have a job interview at a nursing home tomorrow. Total other end of the spectrum for me. But they do pay more than the hospital, and it's a full-time job. :) Wish me luck!

I recently had a similar experience. I was hired as a new grad to a pediatric unit, went through orientation, and was "out on my own" as an RN. This hospital has a 6 month probationary period for all new hires. Throughout the course of my preceptorship, everyone was very supportive, gave me lots of pointers and encouragement, etc. I felt at home and like things were going well. Then one day, we discharged all the patients on the floor (we are a very small unit), and so the hospital nursing supervisor took my co-worker that day off to help somewhere else while i finished up the last of my charting. While they were gone, I got a call for a patient being admitted who was pretty complicated, in my newbie mind. And I sort of panicked when I couldn't get in touch with my co-worker or the hospitals nursing supervisor. Long story short, that was a bad day. MY preceptor had had talks with me about my confidence level. The didn't question my knowledge or potential, but they were concerned about my confidence. Really, I had thought confidence comes with experience. but I've leanred that YES you have to FAKE it most of the time. I never had a problem faking it in front of patients. I know they need to feel like you have a handle on things. But I would go out and talk with my coworkers if I had questions. Besides that one day, i felt that most of the time I did well, made a normal amount of small mistakes, and learned a lot. But about three weeks to a month before the end of my 6 month probationary period, my manager (who never sees me work) had a talk with me and basically, I had better get more confident quick or else she'd have to call this an unsuccessful probationary period. She gave me two weeks (which i am part time, which means only 4 shifts) to get that....umpfh....that she's looking for. At the end of the two weeks, she tells me shes still on the fence but a little further up the fence. gives me another week. By this time I am feeling so much more confident because I am taking all the patients, and doing all my own work and asking minimal questions of my coworkers. My manager brings me in to tell me she felt i was doing better, but some things came up (an unhappy and nitpicky physician who everyone complains about). And that it's not going to work out. Sorry for the book. but the confidence that I had built up, was shattered. right before the end of my 6 months and right before a vacation to see my family who i haven't seen in two years. Great timing. And probably planned timing. I think it was a mostly personality thing. My co-workers were upset with her for doing this to me. most of my co-workers have had some sort of ER experience in their backgrounds and I am just not that kind of nurse. ER is the LAST place i would want to work. And so, now I don't qualify for new grad programs, yet, i don't have the year of experience most places require. And what's with doctors offices requiring one year of acute care experience, or ER/critical care experience?? It is all just very frustrating and discouraging. So you're not alone in all this. It is a very unfair thing, but I hope that whats others say is true and that we just have to keep trying and something will come along.

I graduated a year ago and have got my first job as a new grad RN in pediatrics at a community hospital. I've been there almost 5 months now. My probationary period is 6 months and my manger had a meeting with me already to give me a heads up on what she's looking for. Basically, I'm not aggressive enough yet for the unit. I LOVE peds, working with kids, babies, new moms and families! But this unit is small enough that we only have two nurses scheduled per shift. And there are nights that I will most likely be on my own on the unit. This worried my manager. She discussed with me if I had ever thought acute care nursing was a good fit for me or not. Honestly, I hadn't. I have been talking myself into the fact that I think every new grad needs one years of experience in a hospital. So I thought acute care nursing is what I wanted to do. Her talk with me made me start wondering if that's really the case. She said she would have no problem keeping me on if this was a larger unit that always had other nurses on it. But on my unit, I could be working nights, alone, with a couple really sick kids. Long story in order to get my concern across that is that really what I want to do. Maybe I should be looking into public health or community nursing where I get to work with more healthy populations, but still get to work with families and kids. So my problem? I only have about 6 months experience on pediatrics. I'm not even sure if anyone will hire me with so little experience. So do I beg for her to keep me on, or start looking into community or public health, which may be a better fit for me personally. Any advice or past experiences would be greatly appreciated!

So my instructor was pretty nice during my eval. She didn't say sorry or anything and referred to the "incident" and just a learning experience and that I just need to make sure I think things through before I do them. I'm glad she calmed down since yesterday though! Thanks everyone for the thoughts. It makes me feel so much better. I was fairly confident about next semester, but that "incident" knocked me down a peg or two. But at least she was nice to me today. I'm going to try not to take things so personal and just do my best to think it through before I do something....even if the instructor is telling me to get on with it. lol. Thanks everyone!

Thanks so much everyone for your replies!

I'm in my second semester of nursing school. In my clinical today on the Med Surg floor, I got to hang an IVPB. The nurse already had the main line primed. With my instructor and another classmate and the nurse, I primed the IVPB. We all went to the patients room, and I hung the saline and IVPB. Then I went to connect the main IV line to the patients IV on their hand. I took the cap off the main line and wiped it with an alcohol swab....Well, yes, I made a mistake. Since the IV line port is sterile since it just came out of the packaging and had a cap on it. But my intructor flipped out! She seemed very upset that I would wipe the sterile end with an alochol swab, she exclaimed to the nurse about, who said we could just get some new tubing, she took me aside and said, "Why did you do that?!" Then later had a discussion with me about my thinking process and why I did what I did. She is holding my end of semester evaluation until tomoorrow, and might take points off for it. My question is, Did I do something horribly wrong?? I know I shouldn't have wiped the sterile end with an alochol swab, but is it as huge a deal as she is making out? I thought changing the IV tubing was an easy fix and I had determined not to do that again. But I'm thinking I just commited something very horrible. Can anyone give me any insight?