"Bad" Evaluation..I'm So Frustrated and ready to quit!!

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I transferred to my hospital's ICU/CCU at the end of February. Anytime a nurse transfers departments, they evaluate you at 45 and 90 days after you started the new job. I've been an RN for 5 years with 4 years of med-surg experience. I started off my orientation on day shift(7a-7p) for 6 weeks. My 45 days were up on April 12th. I had my eval and it was good! They pointed out a few minor things that I need to work on.

April 16th, I went to night shift(7p-7a) for 3 weeks of orientation. Night shift has no official preceptor so I had two different Senior RN's precept me while on nights. Before I started my night shift orientation, my head nurse "warned" me that the night shift crew can be difficult at times but that I needed to "earn my stripes" so to speak. My head nurse has been on medical leave since April 1st and won't be back until the middle of July/beginning of August. Well, almost all of the night shift crew is female. There is one male RN in my ICU and he is the Assistant Head nurse on night shift. Excellent critical care RN. I figured that I would have the most difficulties with him. WRONG!!!

One night, while on orientation, I ws assigned to care for a pt with DKA who had been in the ICU for a few days and should have been transferred to the floor that day but wasn't. I got out of report at 7:15pm and looked at the pt with the off going RN from day shift. After the day shift RN left, I stayed in the room to assess her and get vitals, etc. I was in the room for 10-15 minutes. Did a full assessment etc. She was my only pt at the time. So, since I was up for next admit, I then left the room to go do my charting. Fifteeen minutes later, I get my preceptor to help me change and clean this pt. While we are turning the pt, my preceptor says, "Did you chart your assessment BEFORE you assessed her?" in a condescending tone of voice. I said no, I assessed her, why? "Well, you were awfully quick about it, weren't you? I explanined that I listened to her BBS, BS, and all that other stuff. She didn't say anything. Well, I was upset that she would accuse me of falsifying records? Turns out, she reported to the Asst. Head Nurse on Days , who is acting as the Head nurse while she is on leave, that I am not thorough enough with my assessments and this showed up on my 90 day eval which was done yesterday.

My eval also stated that I act as if I "know it all" and am "over confident" and don't ask enough questions and that I drew blood from a central line and didn't know what I am doing cause I didn't have the proper syringes(am I not allowed to have a brain fart?) I've drawn blood from central lines my entire nursing career.

Well, I was intimidated by the night shift preceptor cause she was so blatantly rude and I have never been talked to like that ever!!! So, I've been hesitant to ask her questions. I've not jeopradized pt safety mind you but I didn't know You HAD to take 15 minutes to assess a pt? I didn't do my assessments any differently on nights than I did on Days and there was never a problem with it then? I explained all of this to the AHN, the DON was also present and she said that I am right where I should be with my critical care skills and it takes a year to get comfortable in an ICU. How am I gonna get comfortable if I don't get to work in the unit and am always bumped out to the floors because I am the low man on the totem pole. I knew that I'd have to float when I took this job. But I don't know how they expect me to be a good ICU nurse if I never get to work in ICU!!!!!!

If I am uncomfortable around people then I am quiet which the other night RN's perceived as being "cocky". I had NO idea I was being perceived this way and I explained this to the AHN. We talked for 45 minutes yesterday. I still don't feel any better even though the AHN said it wasn't a bad eval per se. I said well it doesn't sound like a good one either! I was so upset that I almost started bawling. I'm getting tears in my eyes as I type this.

The night shift ICU RN's who have worked there for over 10 years are cliquey and can be hard to deal with. I knew this going in but didn't think it'd be this bad. They don't talk to me when I'm there unless I initiate a conversation. Another RN who I worked with on my old floor transferred to ICU last September and they LOVE her! I don't know what to do, I'm ready to quit! Please give me some advice. Sorry this is so long!

Kelly:o

Brownms46 I think it's a GREAT idea! Bring in something sweet! You make it the type of place you want to work in! And Yes, they will want to take you under their wings but just keep in mind that you can't trust these people... they already proved that. You are just trying to make it a bit more tolerable for yourself.

It's all game playing, they play the tattle tale hag game and you play the sweet game!

Trying to get pregnant... hmmm well in that case I say do what's good for you... You are not the only one being evaluated here, you evaluate them! In your mind give them a time limit when you eval if you want to work with these people or not. If they don't change their ways then it's time to move on! Don't make yourself miserable, it just isn't worth it and you deserve to work in an environment where people appreciate you. (I'd still try the sweets thing though...)

Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

The AHN said to me that I HAVE to prove to them that they can trust me, especially since I work in a smaller hospital and there are no residents to fall back on in case of an emergency on nights.

One of the reasons that they like the other RN that transferred from my old unit is that she is a suck-up and that she brings them food! One night she cooked an enire pork roast dinner and brought it in on her day off!!! Once she bought chicken wings from the best place in town and brought em in to work. I am not one to suck up. If you don't like me then that's your problem but you have to work with me so lets try to make it pleasant! Hmm?

Not ALL of the night shift RN's are bytchy--only a few of them. The one that precepted me that night and another RN who is actually married to my hubby's cousin and has worked in ICU for 12 years. It might be another month before I get to work in the ICU again. Wednesday night, it had been over 2 weeks since I last worked there.

Well see there is your number one problem, you have integrity! They are probably not use to it...

A few doughnuts is one thing (and yes you are right sucking up is sucking up) but an entire dinner on your day off...:eek:

That is definitely sucking up material! (hey wait a minute... maybe if I am an @$$ to the new nurses they'll make me dinner too... :devil: okay okay, bad idea)

The sad fact however is that they will take the nursesuckup over you... Why, because you have morales, integrity and they are threatened by you.

Keep being the positive role model! You are to me:)

Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

Thanks nursegoodguy,

You made me feel a whole lot better! That's why I love this board. The support from people all over is phenomenal!

Kelly:)

Specializes in Everything except surgery.
Originally posted by nursegoodguy

Brownms46 I think it's a GREAT idea! Bring in something sweet! You make it the type of place you want to work in! And Yes, they will want to take you under their wings but just keep in mind that you can't trust these people... they already proved that. You are just trying to make it a bit more tolerable for yourself.

It's all game playing, they play the tattle tale hag game and you play the sweet game!

You're sooo right nursegoodguy! And trust them?? No way! They already showed they couldn't be trusted...the minute they didn't address any concerns they had to kaknurse themselves before running behind her back! She just needs a way to grease them up...and slip out from under the death grip they're trying to put on her aspirations to be an excellent criitical care nurse!

Trust Them??? NEVER!!

Specializes in Everything except surgery.

I always say to each their own. Whatever works for ya....do it! I prefer to keep things civil...and if I can do that with a little food...:cool:. But if it's gets too be too much of a problem I have no problem walking...as I have just recently proved!

I will take so much and then....the "Dragon Lady" will show up....and folks are looking around wondering where SHE came from!!!

I hope your situation works out...no matter what you decide to do...:cool:

Specializes in Med-Surg Nursing.

I'll see how things go. If I can't take it then I'm gonna apply at another hospital. No floors though, I want Critical Care.

Yo Kelly. I wish I could tell you not to feel bad, but that would be silly, right? A similiar situation happened to me.

For all my yapping about nurses who eat their young, and how that would not happened to me, I was taken down 2 weeks ago and have scars now from an attack from hungry, rabid nurses.

I was floating and pretty much liking how easy it was. I floated into an environment that produced bad feelings 2 weeks ago, but am out now, yet damage was done.

If you don't know, I am starting RN school in the fall, and have been devoting alot of time to learning to be an RN. 2 months ago, I landed a great position as a CNA in a great hospital. xKnowing no one, and having no documentable experience in health care made this position for me a very fortunate break. Many people said Iy'd hafta work at smaller facilities before I can work on a hospital med floor, yet I interviewed and got on. This is now extrememly important to me, since I am going to be an RN in 2004 like I said.

But, the census was low weeks after I started working, so I went into the float pool as a CNA and all I did was go sit places. The census is back up now, BTW.

When you sit with a person for 12 hours, you tend to talk with them. Long story short, i had some unknown RN's not liking me for reminding them to communicate verbally to me. I know what your saying about staff ignoring you, and having to initiate all communication with the RN who only communicate in packs. Being new to the whole scene, I depend on RN communication to let me know about a patient. You know.

Blah - blah blah three RN's from a unit not my home wrote me up for some pretty embarrassing things. Wrote me up, and I didn't even know you could do that. they didn't even talk to me, I don't even know their names at the time, yet, they must have each spent a good 20+ minutes writing a story about how I was not proffessional in working with the patients. Three nurses from the same unit all wrote me up, and I was just a cna sitter.

So here is me, just passing me 2 month mark, and the next time I am in the supervisors office after I am hired was to have elequent deragatory write ups read to me by my boss.

My boss hired me, and obviously had confidence in me to work on the cardiac telemetry unit with my experience. Do you know how pissed off I was that people I don't even know wrote official and serious statements against me and my demenour?

Talking about being eaten by a nurse is one thing, but actually getting attacked in real life is another. They attack me, and I bleed, but my Vit K, and prothromin and clotting.sys worked on my angry emotions too, and I am feeling better now and healing. Those RN's who attacked me could care less about me. It was a shock.

You get a pack of nurses and they will attack because it's their nature as a group to attack lone prey. It's dangerous stuff, and can take your life/vocation. I learned to try to act like a spirit if I ever float there again. And, I am learning why some people don't make eye contact and seem to have withdrawn expressions. It's because they are perhaps thinking it's better than risking an attack by anyone who just might not like the way they look at them.

My evaluation....I don't know. I haven't passed 90 days yet, and my boss told me not to take those write ups too seriously, but it does bother me to have to modify my behavior to a defensive posture. Why should a health care worker hafta be on gaurd against other team members.

I usta think I could be all positive and factor people, but some RN's DO have mean temperments.

So don't you fret none, because there are the good experiences that happen in life which make the miserable ones that mush more miserable. Just remember other people have these things happen, perhaps we all do, and it's just a product of the environment and other peoples personalities/behaviors.

Poor Mario! I can't imagine with as much personality as I've seen in your posts that you wouldn't be adored by most let alone written up by 3 at once! It does happen and it is a tremendous blow to ones ego but Mario you just keep being you! Like Kelly, you are honest & have integrity and you are an up front kind of guy and some people are just threatened by a dynamic person. You're gonna be just fine.

You just have to decide if its worth the aggravation. Many people have said to stick it out etc. I am of the vein.....If you try it and dont like it move on. It will be their loss.

Just try to get in 6 months experience first.

Mario, sorry you had such a horrible experience. What is with these crazy people???:rolleyes: i promise you, it's not like that everywhere. My first job was horrble, like I said, but I have worked with so many great people, nurses, drs support staff, etc. that it makes up for it. I work in a great place now, fun staff and great boss, ao hang in there!! Tose jobs are out there! :cool:

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