BradenRN30

Hi everyone, I am a new nurse, and I really am in a bad situation and don't know what to do. I made a mistake earlier this year (please see my previous post if you would like to know the details), and ever since then I have been picked on, made to feel stupid, and now wrongly accused of something I did not do. I have proof that the person is lying, but I dont know what to do since I already told my manager that it wasn't true, but she wasnt willing to look in to it. She wrote me up and said that one more mistake and I would be fired!!! I have been applying elsewhere for about a month now and finally got a job offer that I REALLY wanted. I had to turn it down though because they wanted to speak with my manager for a reference. I gave them 12 other references, including current co-workers, former bosses, former co-workers and teachers. They were unwilling to budge . I feel as though I am stuck in this job and I really dont know what to do, but I fear very greatly that I will be fired! I tried applying to other units in the hopsital, but they told me that I wasnt allowed to since I am involved in the disciplinary process. I really feel like just quitting altogether . Every day I go to work is torture, and I live in so much fear. I am unable to sleep and keep getting sick because I am so stressed out by this whole situation. Is my nursing career over?? How do I get another job without them talking to my manager? Is it really better to stay in this job, or to quit and have no reference at all?? I am so confused and depressed. Please help!!!

Thanks for all your advice!! I am going to listen to it and count LTC out. I did talk with my manager about the one nurse who seems to want to get me in trouble, and I also asked her to speak to some of the other nurses that I regularly work with (because I know they will say good things about me). She thanked me for letting her know and told me that one person alone is unlikely to get me into trouble, because she will see that it is always coming from the same person. She seemed to want to work with me on things, but I dont know how much I can trust this? What if she is just saying that so that I stay my year (my floor has a high, HIGH turn over rate) and then right before it's up she fires me? I told her that I feel like I am walking on eggshells and I'm very worried. There are just so many things that can go wrong......

Thank you all for your reply!! The mistake that I made was sort of an omission, but a very bad omission. I had a patient transferred to me that I did not have on the tele monitor for about 2 hours. I assumed the nursing aid did this because I saw her in there fooling with it, and then I trusted the monitor to alarm if anything was wrong. In report I got that the patient was in sinus rhythm, and again I trusted other people and technology too much. I cant even believe that I did this because knowing what rhythm your patient is in is part of your assessment. Since then I have totally changed everything I am doing, and I am constantly checking and rechecking myself. I do have a checklist that is quite long and it does help me. The position in the nursing home that I was thinking of applying for is a supervisor position, so there is actually very little direct patient care. I dont know if that is the same as what you guys are referring to or not? The reason I am so scared to stay is because my manager said that "one more mistake like this will lead to your termination". I know that I will make mistakes because I am human, (though hopefully not such big mistakes!) and I am scared that she will fire me before my year is up. There is also an older nurse on the unit who does not like me at all , heard about my mistake and is now trying to get me in trouble for every little thing. (She went to my manager to tell her that I walked right by a call bell that was ringing--this is true but I only did it because I had a STAT med in my hand that I needed to give). Thankfully my manager could look and see in the documentation that it was true, but it worries me that this nurse seems like she is out to get me. The last thing I want to do is get fired from my first nursing job!! I have never been fired or even gotten in trouble at any job before.

I recently got my RN about 5 months ago and have been employed on a medsurg unit. It is a very busy unit that is at times understaffed and it is a lot to adjust to. I started with 2 other nurses and we have all made mistakes, however I made a very big mistake that is resulting in having a 3 day suspension from work . I am horrified that it even happened (dont worry nobody died or was harmed!), and I have definitely learned from my mistake and have completely changed the way I do everything. The problem is that now I am paranoid of making any mistake at all and I fear going to work every day because I am afraid any mistake at all will get me fired. Even though I made this mistake, I still feel as though I am a good nurse, and I always try my best. I really want to change jobs and work at a nursing home because I realize that maybe I am just not cut out to be a medsurg nurse on a very busy unit. The problem is that I do not know how to go about applying, since I am not sure if I should put my current employer on there or not. I know that I will not get a good reference from them, so I am tempted to leave them off since I have only worked there for 5 months. Is this dishonest to do this? What would you suggest would be my best course of action to find a job that is less hectic and stressful? Thank you so much for your reply!! This whole thing is very disturbing to me .