LWSLPN

I'd like to thank you all for the kind advice, it was just what I needed to decide if would be making the right choice. I had an interview today and I have accepted a home care position, and I'm very excited (and relieved) to start a fresh chapter in my nursing career.

First, I'd like to apologize for the length of this post. But I could really use the advice. I'm an LPN working in a trach and vent group home setting. I've been working here for a little over a year, it's my first job since graduating. The company I work for is family owned, essentially meaning that all management is either related or a close friend of the family. Very cliquey upper management to say the least. Recently, a "friend of the family" RN who has worked alongside the rest of us was promoted to Staff Educator, which basically makes her responsible for all education and training. In her non-management RN position, she has been caught voice recording other nurses' private phone calls, voice recording nurses' complaints about management causing them to be terminated, gossiping, cursing/using foul language with staff etc. Very unprofessional. Long story short, these behaviors have continued into her new position. Various nurses have voiced their complaints to our department manager to no avail. I have constant anxiety about going into work, and shudder at the thought of her randomly showing up to assess my skills. Our work environment was once fairly low stress and now it just feels constantly stressful and tense. Our manager, who seems to not really be bothered by the complaints voiced by my colleagues, is the son of the owner of the company. He has no medical/nursing background. Manages the trach/vent group homes with no formal management education or experience. One morning, I showed up to relieve night shift, and walked in to find that my patient had been hospitalized days prior, with no one even bothering to contact me. I have an hour commute so I was rather irritated, but accepted it and went home. A few hours later, I was called and texted repeatedly that I needed to return to work immediately because my patient was being discharged. I was livid. Not only do I have young children and relieved my sitter for that day as I had not heard anything from management period, my manager insisted that I could bring my 1 year old daughter into work with me. Procedure for a patient returning from a hospitalization requires a post hospitalization assessment as well as a crap load of paperwork, so bringing my infant to work would have been an absolute disaster. Not to mention- is that even legal?! I responded that I would not be coming in, I relieved my sitter and stated the fact that no one had even called me to inform me of my client's hospitalization in the first place. Flash forward 5 months later, I was written up last week for excessive call-outs, all occurring in 2017 with this incident being included. I do admit that I did call out a few times too many, so naturally I signed the write up and kept it pushing. Last week, I came into work not feeling my best but able to still train a new hire and perform the essential functions of my job. Around 3am, I spiked a fever of 102 but stayed to complete my shift until 7am. The following day, I was very ill- fever, chills, cough, shortness of breath, body aches, the whole nine. I've never felt that sick in my life. Went into the ER with a HR of 180, sp02 of 91%, fever of 101. Turns out I had the flu, and received a doctor's not excusing me from my next two shifts, which were Tuesday and Thursday. Emailed my manager to let him know and attached a copy of the note for his review. Thursday morning, I recieved a text from him, asking me to come in for the shift and that he would include a bonus. This, at least for me, is absolutely unacceptable. Not only was I not fit to even perform the essential functions of my job, but it was completely unsafe for me to even be in close proximity of my clients who already have weakened immune systems and respiratory issues. The disregard for patient safety and my health and well-being has just sent me over the edge. Along with all of the work related anxiety, I have a lot of issues going on at home too. Husband recently lost his job, meaning we also lost about 70% of our household income, my 2nd grader has severe behavioral issues which warrant many school meetings and psych appointments, and my 1 year old recently started physical therapy due to a gross motor delay. The more I think about it, the more I seem to hate a job that I once actually enjoyed. I try to leave work at work, but it's gotten to the point that I'm just generally miserable, even at home. I literally feel like I can't hang on much longer. I'm just looking for some advice to see if it's really that bad, or if I'm overreacting. Please help.

Thank you! :)

Thank you all for your input. After wrestling with the idea, I emailed the HR rep that I initially interviewed with and anxiously awaited his response. He called me a few hours ago and told me that they'd still love to have me, and that taking a leave in November will not be a problem. I'm starting to wonder if I was just overthinking things. Thank you all for your thoughtful responses!

Hello everyone, I'm new here so please bear with me as I figure everything out :) So, I just graduated as an LPN in July, took my boards August 1st and passed! I unexpectedly got pregnant in the last few months of school, and am currently 7 months along. My EDD is November 12th. I applied for a few jobs that were PRN or per diem, knowing that it would be unfair to any employer that they hire me for any full time positions. So, I interviewed yesterday (in a loose fitting shirt, mind you) with a healthcare company that does pop-up flu and wellness clinics and it went fabulous; In fact, it went so well that they said they'd like to keep me as an employee even after flu season in their home care department, where they typically don't hire new grads- which has me even more worried about how to break the news. I am not planning to take an extended leave, and I'd really like to be a part of this company long term. I'm scheduled to attend orientation on the 29th, where I'm likely going to be filling out my new hire paperwork. I'm wondering if I should break the news then, or wait until after? I'm excited to have found my first nursing job, but also so afraid of how things could go. I don't want them to think I was being deceitful, but I preferred that they got to know me during the interview without having a biased opinion based on my pregnancy. What do you all think would be the best way to approach this?