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Thank you for your feedback. To follow up - I met w/the DON once more to report more targeting. The DON did speak w/the nurse manager. The manager is resigning. I don't know what went on behind closed doors, but the letter was removed from my file. I know that I am well liked by others in Admin, because I do strive to learn and take more on. Thanks again folks! For once, I feel as though speaking up for myself was well worth it!

Thank you for your reply. I was going to let the incident go, but a co-worker who has had negative encounters w/this newly appointed nurse manager, encouraged me to meet w/DON even though a month had passed. Do you suggest going to HR? My past experiences w/HR in other establishments have not been supportive - but instead a negative reflection on me, so I hesitate. However, how can someone so blatantly prevaricate be trusted and kept on? That stymies me. I would have been fired, and indeed, I watched a fellow nurse, who had been w/this company for 11 years, let go because of an incident w/the same co-worker who did not pull her load, and refused to help. Crazy world. I thought that becoming an RN would be like stepping into a sisterhood, not a step-sisterhood. It is disappointing.

I was in a situation recently w/a co worker (who does not do share of work, but bemoans and groans the whole shift) and confronted this individual to pick up her load. The nurse manager pursued a witness and concocted and embellished a story stating that this witness had stepped forward and complained about this confrontation. (This did not occur at all - witness was pursued.) I was written up and asked to sign a statement which I declined to do. I was off w/scheduled personal time for a couple of weeks. Coming back to work made me anxious w/this nurse manager - who is very abrasive and unapproachable. I finally met w/DON to clarify incident and the fact that nurse manager pursued witness, that witness did not step forward to complain. The DON did listen - it was a good meeting. I am uncertain if the nurse manager was confronted on this new detail. But, I am wondering how a nurse manager could lie to exploit an employee and not get fired. I could have gotten fired. I have been w/this organization for 8 months and have strived to take on new duties, help agency nurses, picked up shifts - even on holidays when my family was gathered. It was quite frustrating to be in this situation. I am wondering if I should report this situation to HR. Any suggestions?

Good luck!

I empathize w/your situation. I am an older new grad w/a background in sports medicine & I found 12 weeks orientation to not be enough. Unfortunately, the unit in which I began did not agree & so the cycle began. I went to another hospital who thought that since I had 12 wks orientation @ one hospital, I should be set to go on their unit & they were very disappointed w/me when I did not shine after 4 weeks working 12 h overnight shifts in their hospital as a new grad. I had thought I would have more time to settle into nursing and a new area, but was sadly disappointed. After some contemplation and several promises that were not fulfilled by management, I left. I am now @ a SNF where I handle 12 patients as opposed to 5 & 4 at other places. It is extremely busy and I spend most of my time passing meds & processing paperwork. Admissions are stressful as the paperwork adds 2 hours easily to a shift per admit. Fortunately, we are not punished for staying late, but it is difficult leaving a 8 h shift 12 h later & makes for an exhausting recovery when repeated 4-5 days in a row. I find myself stressed a lot of the time. Even experienced nurses have a difficult time processing new admits while handling a 12 patient load which necessitates staying later to complete the paperwork. I know w/o admits, I handle the unit well and work to make good decisions. But admits take me back. We do not have a unit manager, and the supervisor assigned to our unit is not helpful I believe admin is aware, but turns their heads to this. We also lack CNA help & are required to serve meals to the residents! It is very frustrating. I would love to move on to acute care vs subacute, but need to put my time in. I hope that you will stick it out & speak up for yourself. I have learned that some managers are better than others in listening. Unfortunately, it is a business and there are nurses waiting in line to fill your position. As much as I love my patients and caring for them, I hate the stress and blatant disrespect which stems from other staff members that comes w/nursing. It is unfortunate that we tend to stab each other rather than help each other grow. My daily goal is to aim for professionalism & completing tasks in timely fashion while giving good care to my patients. It is not easy as many distractions bar my way and it is easy to be overwhelmed - even w/a plan in place. I send my best wishes to you - stick w/what you love and try to be the better person. All the best.

Dear Flatlander Thank you for sharing. My experience with this local hospital was fairly recent. I am still seeking employment and determining how to sell my skills and abilities despite this bad personal experience in that particular setting. Recently a perspective employer requested a reference from the institution; here is my reply: "I do not have a reference from (this institution). My time there was short and it was not a good experience. I learned many skills and I loved my patient care and my patients were very receptive of me, however the floor was poorly managed. Six RN's resigned in a 5 week period and the floor was down 10 RNs all together. As a new grad, an older adult and a good person, this was not an encouraging place, a supportive place, nor a good fit for me. I have many other references listed. I recently applied for a position in the school district and would be happy to share the letters provided for me for that position." Apparently, this was appeasing. A fellow RN encouraged me to remember that I am not a bad person and how much I have to offer. This first few months "out" and licensed have certainly been a journey. I hope you are well and best luck in your search. I hope to be able to use this degree and go back to work soon. All the best!

QuaT - I had similar experience w/similar background - 2nd career, and am wondering the same. It's a struggle to remain positive and seek work. And it is sad when the environment is so hostile. I hope you are well and all the best to you. Know you are not alone in this process. I'm still seeking after being employed in a temporary position for 12 weeks, then a permanent position for ~12 weeks. It's a struggle mentally and physically.

INDUSTRIAL look! Not MEDICAL!

Peer Review is in place to hopefully protect the RN, promote patient safety and to cut down on errors. However, in my experience, I have found it to be more like being thrown under a bus by my peers. The floor I last worked on tended to report any errors to management before discussing the error w/the nurse. That did not develop good morale on the floor and in fact 7 RN's left in 6 weeks. Management cannot figure out why. :) I want to point out that I worked nights and we often worked with a shortage of nurses and CNA's on this very busy floor, hence, it could be very rushed. We did not take breaks in our 12 h shifts. It was very high acuity. Promises were made, promises were broken. I believe we need to encourage and uplift one another w/in safe boundaries. It does not mean that we let a patient be injured, or over medicated, but that we help each other out so that those errors can be avoided. A wise instructor reported that most errors occur due to a cumulation of events, not just one event, but that the blame, although from cumulative events, usually is placed on the person closest to that error. JCO would have a field day on the floor I just left - lights were out in patient rooms due to burned out bulbs, (fall risk), computers w/o ground plugs (the ground had broken off) - electric shock risk, and management had no clue. But management was all about reporting on one another. I was given 5 weeks (3 on the floor & 2 in hospital orientation) to be prepared to take on a full load on this floor - I'm a new grad w/experience in telemetry - this was an intermediate med/surg floor in a new hospital environment. It was not a safe environment and management was not supportive or encouraging, nor did they fulfill orientation needs that were promised. Was the peer report extreme here? Absolutely! It was a blood bath. I don't think it has to be a negative experience; very dependent on the managment. All the best to you.

I am a new grad recently working in a very new area. I went from telemetry to intermediate Med/Surge Post Op patients in a different organization and was expected to be completely trained and ready to work independently nights w/in 2 weeks. During the interview process, a complete orientation was discussed, but after hire, I was given 2 weeks on the floor to be up to snuff. True. There were many new learning curves and I committed to being patient with myself while learning about new areas in medicine. During orientation, which upon my request, exceeded 2 weeks, my preceptors reported med errors to the administration (w/o discussing w/me) and I was recently asked to resign my new position. It would have been ever so helpful to me if the error had been discussed and reviewed instead of reported, so I could learn from my mistake. No one suffered from the error but me. It was a very unsupportive environment where nurses were rewarded for reporting on each other. Very punitive. I was treated like an unreliable reporter (a liar) throughout the process. Although I learned a lot in this environment (positive & negative), I am glad to move on. The floor was toxic and actually 7 RN's resigned w/in 6 week time frame. Equipment - BP machines, Computers - are inoperable, and light bulbs in the rooms are not replaced. These are things that are easily fixed, however, management continues to blame the hospital for the deficit while punishing the staff for resultant errors due to stress. I am not sure how I will handle future interviews - not a good fit, nights were hard on me (all true). I am great w/my patients and strive to learn the job, the protocols, the computer systems, in order to give competent service. I strive to support other personnel as well - we need to work as a unit and not eat our young. Eating the young is for hungry male polar bears, not nurses. I am wondering if other new or experienced nurses have been in this situation and how they handled it. I will not work for this organization again - had I not resigned, my license would have been reported to the state board of nursing. I have interviews coming up and would like to reflect a positive attitude, learn from these mistakes and put a good foot forward w/honesty to my new employer while assuming accountability for my actions. I would like to hear positive suggestions, not critiques of my practice. Seriously, I can beat myself up for my own mistakes and have had some super anxiety moments during the 8 weeks I held this position. I believe we need to encourage and uplift one another, not seek to destroy. Thank you.