lmd-RN

Thank you for replying! My cardiac symptoms are an exacerbation of a pre-existing condition that only appear when I am under extreme stress. The cardiologist doesn't want to treat it at this point because it is intermittent. In his words, if stress is the trigger, then stress reduction is the best treatment until we have no other choice (he is thinking I will be in my senior years before I need medical management). Under the normal stress of life, I am symptom free. That said, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to pin anything on this job. My orientation paperwork - including all the positive reviews from my preceptors - has mysteriously disappeared. It was turned into the DON and no one has seen it since. My "performance improvement" plan is vague: improve time management, improve critical thinking skills, etc. Since these are difficult to objectively gauge, it is a subjective evaluation by my superiors. I am uncertain how I could prove I have made progress. Of course I need to improve time management and critical thinking - what new grad doesn't?!? The first year of nursing is all about gaining experience and making improvement in all areas. I think you're right - they are trying to build a case against me and hang me on technicalities. At least I have the comfort of knowing I have not made any patient care errors. The more I think about it, the more sense it makes for me to try to get the psych position while I'm still employed. It's easier to justify leaving one job for another than to explain why I might have a gap in employment. I have a history of employment in the mental health field, so I think my only obstacle would be if there are any current openings - I feel like I'm in a race against the clock. Wish me luck.

This is my first ever job as a RN. My orientation did not go smoothly - I had been handed around to 11 different preceptors, including a float nurse! There was no coordination among my preceptors and conflicting information was routinely given to me. Needless to say, there were many things that should have been covered in my orientation that weren't, but I've managed to piece together enough to get by. Or so I thought. About 3 weeks into all of this, I was unexpectedly pulled into a meeting with the DON and new floor manager and threatened with termination if I did not show improvement in 30 days! At that point, I had not made any patient care errors and the list of charges against me were vague and unsubstantiated by actual examples ("poor time management," "trouble prioritizing," etc.) To this day, I have not made any patient care errors that I am aware of, handle a patient load independently of up to 9 patients, and get very positive feedback from my patients - but I am frequently pulled into the manager's office and threatened with termination over things that NO other nurse on my floor is reprimanded for. My charts are audited regularly - picked apart and every minor error is held against me. I have now been a practicing nurse for a total of 4 months and I feel broken and beaten. My co-workers have been tremendously supportive and have rallied behind me to no avail. No one has been able to figure out why I'm being targeted and all have said I am exactly where I should be as far as ability and speed for a new nurse. As the other nurses have stated to me many times - if you look hard enough, you're going to find charting mistakes or omissions made by even the most experienced nurses, and I'm at a point in my career where it should be expected that I will make mistakes! The issue has gone above my DON to a higher level (not my doing - other nurses voiced their concerns about my mistreatment to upper management). Although upper management seemed sympathetic to my plight, it was implied that it is easier to replace a floor nurse than a manager, and without the support of the DON behind me, moving to another area of the hospital would be difficult to arrange. My health is suffering from the stress of it all to the point that I am having cardiac symptoms (I am the sole support of my daughter and I and most of my family has died. I need this - or another - job to survive!!). My only other option for employment as a new RN is at a psych hospital 45 minutes away, but then I wouldn't get that magical 1 year of med/surg experience that I need to get away from hospital nursing altogether (my career goal has always been to do community nursing: prevention, teaching, and outreach). So here is my question: Do I stick it out until I am fired (which appears to be a certain outcome at this point, the question is when it will occur) which will close off all future opportunities with this health system (not just this particular hospital) and make me appear to be a bad nurse, or do I try to get into the psych hospital and forfeit my med/surg training for a clean slate? It seems that all employers in my area require 1 year of acute care experience, and the psych hospital won't count toward that.