Quit during orientation

Published

what are my chances of ever working in that hospital again?

I recently quit this past week my 1st ever tech job as a Nursing student b/c i felt it was unsafe. I had to juggle up to 15 patients, some mentally unstable and some being total/complete care with not much help from the nurses/techs and unsupportive management. I thought i'd be gaining valuable skills but all i did was clean patients for most of the day. This was something i was already taught in NS, so i dont need the additional practice. i felt like i was doing all the grunt work. The nurses were mainly charting and giving out meds, but they too seemed busy but their work is alot less physical. I was thinking of just working at my friends dads company as an administrative assistant until i graduate. It pays more and its a lot less work....It was a nice hospital, id like to go back, but only as a nurse.

Getting your foot in the door in a hospital setting doesn't guarantee a position there as a nurse upon graduation but would almost guarantee it. If another hospital hires you I would recommend staying. It is very physical and different type of responsibility but also gives you the opportunity to network with the nurses (if they get a free moment or are mentor friendly and willing to give some pointers). Nothing wrong with the alternative job you've mentioned until graduation, but, I still stand by getting the foot in the door as an assistant at a hospital. Hospital jobs can be very hard to come by as a new grad if you don't already work in that system. Good luck in your studies!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

Hold that thought. You're going to think the same thing once you're working as an RN. Assuming you ever get hired for a job that isn't beneath you.

Yeah. A UAP's job is very impt. It would make the nurses job very difficult if they had no aides on their floor. Me personally, i felt i wasn't getting paid well for all the work i was doing.
Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Hospice.
Exactly. I don't mind cleaning patients, i think ppl misunderstood what i wrote. Its the unsafe working conditions that drove me away as well as poor management that doesnt really care bc they don't deal or work with patients so they don't know what the floor staff goes through. Specifically the high acuity/pt. load. I felt like a chicken with its head cut off , trying to get tasks done on time otherwise id get in trouble for not finishing. I wasnt providing the type of care that i wanted to give, not to mention, i wasnt gaining any new skills that i could apply to being a future nursearrow-10x10.png, and the low wage, all combined, drove me to quit. Since i was orienting, i didnt feel a need to give any notice but i let them know that i wouldnt be coming back. I do agree that nurses also dont get paid as well as they should for the work they do but atleast its a liveable wage, i cant live off a cna salary that i was making.

I worked as a CNA in LTC during most of my ADN program. You aren't taught new skills as a CNA that you can use as a nurse. You learn these skills in nursing school and clinical. If you're smart though, you assess every single patient every single time (practice!). You watch what the nurses do. You learn time management skills. You learn prioritization skills. I now have a job in the same facility as an RN because I didn't quit along the way. I did drop to PRN in second year due to the demands of school. But I did it officially, with a letter of intent, as the company required. Leaving during orientation really hurt you. Not giving a two week notice makes you ineligible for rehire. Trust me, they keep that on record FOREVER. Not only will you not be able to work there, you may not even be able to do your clinical there, if this facility was on your school's list. I have personally seen this happen to a student from a similar incident years prior.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Oh how I wish you could take my office job (that has nothing to do with nursing) and I would take your tech job. I would love to have the experience before I enter the nursing program. To answer your question, I don't think they would rehire you after you left without a notice. Good luck with school!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

And where I work, if you leave without a notice, you aren't eligible for rehire SYSTEM wide, not just at that specific hospital. That's 5 different hospitals in a 60 mile radius. Talk about burning bridges. What's done is done at this point. I think you are in for a shock when you get out there and get a nursing job.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Peds/Neo CCT,Flight, ER, Hem/Onc.

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/why-become-a-993984.html#post8545291

I think the OP found the "real world" not to her liking.:whistling:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-student/why-become-a-993984.html#post8545291

I think the OP found the "real world" not to her liking.:whistling:

Ha! Guess so! And like a few other PPs have said, this person can't practice nursing skills. She was hired as a tech/aid. I guess she thought she was going to get to do all the "fun" nursing stuff and not have to do any of her assigned work.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank god that even as an ungraduated nursing student, I don't harbor these kind of disillusions.

Honestly, I would have gladly taken your job for you. Nursing is a smelly, sucky, difficult, sometimes reward-less job. But you know what? After having to deal with all that, seeing the smile from a patient after something you have done, regardless of whether it's changing a bedpan, a wound dressing, helping with a transfer or just educating the patient on dietary issues, it's worth it.

If you think you're too hot to trot with the grungy nursing care, why should you be allowed to experience the joys of the so-called 'fun' nursing care? Honestly, I really wish that my instructors allowed us to do more. I'd love to change someone's dressing, and I've already changed dirty bedding several times. The gratification from my patients after I've done this for them has actually helped keep me motivated through the trauma and BS of nursing school.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in hospice.
Honestly, I really wish that my instructors allowed us to do more. I'd love to change someone's dressing, and I've already changed dirty bedding several times.

I wonder about some instructors, why they seem so stingy about what they let students do. I just finished my first semester of a LPN program and I did several dressing changes. One was even sterile! My instructor was right there, so making sure I didn't screw up was easy. But she even got to the point where, once she had seen each of us satisfactorily pass oral meds and do a subQ injection, she allowed us to have only our supervising nurse present while doing those things. Was I just uncommonly lucky?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Quitting during orientation is definitely not the way to make a good impression. I worked as a nurse extern on a med-surg floor with high acuity and a typical patient load of 12 patients if not the entire floor. After I was oriented and the staff felt comfortable with my skills I was allowed to work on certain nursing skills (inserting foleys, trach care, etc) with supervision. It was the best experience I had. If you had given it more time, perhaps you would have had the same opportunity. As some pointed out, you missed on a great way to learn time management, organizational skills, and prioritizing. All these skills are necessary as a nurse and are not easy to learn as a student nurse when you only have 1-2 patients. Also you were hired as a tech and should have learned in school about practicing within your scope of practice which as a tech is limited in what you deem "nursing skills." Also most hospitals make you sign a waiver of job duties and responsibilities so how this was a surprise for you I'll never know.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Women’s Health.
.... Welcome to the world of nursing kid any kind of job in nursing you clean the pts and answer lights maybe you should find a new career i always help my CNA's and Techs but sometimes i am too busy charting or taking doctors orders thats why we have you to assist us infact in California its a requirement to have at least 6 months working as a CNA or NA before you can even graduate nursing school which is great so people like you realize how hard the job can actually be

Are you sure? I have never heard of this before and I live and go to school in California. Do you mind providing a link to the source where this information is provided? If this is true, then I have to let several of my classmates know. I'm actually the only CNA in a cohort of 20. We have LVNs, EMTs, and Tele techs but about half my cohort has no prior healthcare experience.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I personally cannot feel sorry for the original poster. I'm looking for a job in acute care myself and it has been very hard. One hospital I contacted does not hire student nurse as techs due to people like the op who quite early and end up wasting the hospital money. The original poster is complaining about pay, patient load, types of patient and tech tasks, these are things she should have inquired about before she started working. Her job could have be given to someone else who would have appreciated it.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion