I recently obtained a job PRN in a nursing home. I am a new grad LPN and we are only allowed a 5 day orientation (today was day 5 for me), although I was told I could have a few more days if necessary. I must say I knew this would be no bed of roses, but it has turned out to be nothing short of a nightmare:( At this point I am not sure if I am going to be able to handle this job. I feel totally overwhelmed. The med cart is a jumbled assortment that I don't think I could have memorized even in my younger years lol. I am trying hard to memorize the 30 something odd folks on this hall, but as they are all over the place it is hard to keep track of a lot of them. I have also noticed that many of the residents don't have ID bracelets on, which I thought was very strange.
I don't want to just "give up", but really feel stressed out. Everyone keeps telling me it will get better...which I truly want to believe. This job is only two days a week every other weekend and every other Monday and Friday, which would allow me to return to school in January, as I had planned. I know that LPN's seem to have limited places that they can work and I don't want to job hop all over the place.
Hopefully I can make it work. I hope everyone has a great evening!
i feel exactly how u feel. im also a new grad, and wasted a lot of opportunities bec of anxiety.
ive already quit 3 jobs, my longest was 1 month. ^_^ i know its wrong.... but im just trying to get in to my previous job when i worked as a cna and Im gonna feel better.
its really hard, but we have to start from somthing. 30 pts is not bad.
my recent job offer was 50pts, and low pay rate, so i turned it down.
but i still thank them for giving me a chance.
still now i dont know how to start my vn career.
so for you i suggest to hang on, and dont be like me.
You sound like me... I graduated in '07 as an LPN and have already quit 2 jobs because of pt. load & anxiety! One was LTC, the other was an urgent care clinic that was swamped! Im also a SAHM, and not able to work full time right now. I can't find a hospital job anywhere part time because of no experience and everyone wants RN's. I got my LPN through a comm. college, and took classes torwards my RN degree. I graduated early as an LPN from that college, but only need 3 more classes (including one I'm taking in the spring) to be an RN. I'm seriously considering going back to get my RN if possible. It's just hard to being a SAHM & wife. I just don't think I wanna be an LPN anymore. I hate LTC, & wanna work in L&D so bad. I just know only the RN's get those jobs these days. I really don't wanna put my baby in daycare all day while I'm in RN school, but I could be an RN in a year, and I'm seriously considering it. I know in the long run it would be better pay & more job security in the future.
If the lady is not there to give meds, then chart that meds not given and why. Do not back down on this. As long as you stick to your guns on each little thing like this, it does not matter what the others do. They can not force you go to go against the rules. You don't even have to argue with them. If the subject comes up, politely tell them that you are fine practicing nursing the way you were taught. If the boss DON gets on your back about falsfying records, then it is time to go out the front door and not come back. And make cheat sheets with the resident names on it. Keep it in your locker or id by room, bed number and keep with your personal things. Nobody memorizes everything in the first five days of employment.
I am definitely not signing anything else that I didn't do. If they aren't happy with that I will hit the road then and not wait. I wanted to give this job a fair shake and not be a quitter, but since I have had these last few days off to think on it I have made my mind up that I am not lowering my standards because they just don't give a rat's patoot (unless as they stated on numerous occasions.. "state is in the building"). As you mentioned I have made some "cheat sheets" to help me along the way. I pretty much got all the residents faces memorized... just not whether they take meds crushed or whole etc.
I was thankful at first to get these daytime hours because of wanting to go back to school and also so I would be available for my mom.... but sheesh is the stress worth it?.. I am thinking not. I looked on craigs list while ago and saw several medical assistant jobs listed that are paying pretty much what I am getting now. I am sorely tempted to try and get one of these. I just didn't want to work full time, which I am sure they would want. Hopefully I will find something else soon if I can't make this one work for me.
Well unfortunately I decided to give my PRN job up today. I really hated to do it, but it simply was not the place for me. Even though I hate feeling like a quitter I know in my heart I gave it the best shot I could. There has to be somewhere else out there for me that is safer for my license (and sanity) etc. One of the CNA's confided to me today that she has been there a year and I am about the 15th PRN nurse that has been there on that hall in that time. She said some last through orientation and some a few days afterward, but all of them have quit within a few weeks of being hired. That is a lot of nurses! lol
I was on the cart pretty much by myself for the last couple of days. I really didn't realize how bad it was. Out of 30 residents to pass meds for... only about TEN of them actually had all their meds on the cart. For the ones missing you then had to look in a bottom overstock drawer... if not there... then lock cart and go through an office taking time to unlock yet another room and search through literal piles of medicine, which weren't under names or anything else.. they were simply stacked in a plastic storage bin. I could understand a couple of the residents not having their meds on the cart, but 2/3 of the freaking population??? OMG was it time consuming. Then once again it went back to them wanting me to sign for stuff I hadn't done. So enough was enough and I gracefully gave the position back to them lol. Hopefully something will come up that will work better for me. If not then I at least kept my integrity by refusing to "follow the crowd" with dishonest practices even though I constantly heard, "it is this way everywhere".
There was a lady inspecting the carts the last couple of days... they told me she was like someone who came around before the state did. The hall I was on did terrible. I overheard her telling them about too many of the residents medicines not being in the cart and several other issues... expired meds... sheesh was so many I can't even remember it all lol.
Anyhow guess it is back to the drawing board. I may just wait until after the holidays to even begin searching again. I sure hate my first job turned out this way.
Have a great evening everyone and thanks to all that have listened to me vent and responded:)
Specializes in Pediatric Private Duty; Camp Nursing.
In my facility, we have to put our initials for every med under the block for the day in question, but if it's not given for one reason or another, we circle our initials and on the back we write the date, time, and reason for the med not being given (refused, not available, leave of absence, etc.) that way we show that we were aware that the med was to be given, but circumstances prevented its administration. That's covering your butt!
Working in ltc is challenging! I have always wondered how nurses do it. I've been in a Causual (prn) position for almost a year. I work when there are opening. It seems to be feast or famine. I rarely get out on time. I find meds that look alot like narcs in the top drawer with resident initials on the cup. Everything is checked out and signed, but here are meds. Because I have no idea what they are, I toss them. I only hope the poor resident who I suspect is not getting their pain meds is doing ok that particular day. It's not an easy job and most of the time I think the pay should be doubled :nuke:
I really hated that my first job experience turned out this way, but I am not sorry I let it go. It was more than just challenging it was a terrible environment. The longer I was there, the more I saw. I don't MIND working hard in the least... however, there are things I am simply not willing to do. Such things as being told when I asked about a particular resident's tube feeding not to worry because, "we have taken care of everyone who can TELL on us"...THAT is just NOT for me. After sitting back a few days and thinking on it.... I see why these nurses began to "cut corners" because of the enormous amount of work that is placed on their shoulders during one shift, but that still doesn't make it right. Believe me I do not have a halo above my head but I do have an extremely active conscience.... maybe because "I" have an elderly parent residing with me and in each of these residents I can see HER. I don't want to even BEGIN to think that such things as I mentioned above are okay:(
I am going to enjoy my the holidays and then I will begin to search again. Surely there has to be some place out there that is better than this one was. If not I will get a job at a darned Walmart... a convenience store.. or anywhere until I can finish my RN, which hopefully will open more avenues for me. I found after I had already quit this establishment that it had a one star rating on the net.. from .. I guess it is medicare...I can surely understand why that is:(
I obtained my LPN in September and started a new job in LTC in October. I was so excited to get a new job so quickly. The excitement quickly turned to dread. I was supposed to get 5 days of orientation before working on my own. The first night the nurse I was working with was wonderful and supportive, answering all of my questions calmly and cheerfully. The next night I was assigned to another nurse, one that was barely polite to me when I asked questions. By the second night of working with this nurse, she was rolling her eyes at me when I asked her questions at the beginning of the shift and ignoring me towards the end of the shift.
We were almost an hour late starting to pass meds due to a meeting that we had attended at the beginning of the shift-she stayed with me for about ten minutes before going to sit at the desk, leaving me to pass meds to patients that I barely knew by myself. There were pictures in the MAR but most of them were outdated and barely resembled the patients. The names on the room doors were supposed to be arranged so that the name on top was in the bed closest to the door but every second or third room would be arranged just the opposite. At one point, this nurse told me that I didn't have time to double check the meds that I was passing since I was so far behind in my work. That made me so nervous that I started to make small mistakes and finally I slowed down again b/c I was so afraid of making a major med error.
By the time I was supposed to start my third night of work with this woman, I was so sick to my stomach that I wanted to vomit and I couldn't stop crying. I got a call from the DON an hour before I was supposed to go in to work and was told that they needed a nurse that could "hit the ground running" and that I should let my next employer know that I would need a lot of orientation. Huh? I'm a brand new nurse with a brand new license. I told them that on my application and at my interviews (both of them). I had been told before being hired that they understood that I was a new nurse and that they would make sure that I felt comfortable before they turned me loose to work by myself. If that didn't make me mad enough, I know that another new nurse (one that I graduated with) had also been hired a week before me and that she received two and a half weeks training with an experienced nurse before they expected her to run the med cart by herself. Why wasn't I given the same courtesy? I feel like there was something that I could have done to prevent this but I just can't think of what that would be. Now, I'm afraid of getting another job in LTC because I'm afraid that I will have a similar experience.
I can understand 100% how you feel. Since I let that job go I have even wondered if I am going to be able to work in LTC because if ALL places are like the one I was in, I refuse to do it. In reading your post it sounded similar to what I had experienced. Don't let them make you feel bad about yourself because you tried to administer the resident's meds the correct way. Just imagine if that were YOUR parent.
I plan on beginning to look for another job in the upcoming week since the holidays are now over. I do have a couple of prospects, but like you, have that dread of landing in another hellhole. I don't want to quit one job after another so I truly pray that whatever I find next time will be more suitable.
I also told my employers that I was a new nurse and was well aware I had much to learn since nursing school barely scrapes the top. It quickly became apparent that in that establishment the only thing you needed to "learn" was how to be dishonest and not care about the individuals housed there.
By the fact that I need a part-time job instead of full time this also narrows down where I can find employment. I have seen a couple of doctor's office jobs advertised, but unfortunately they are all full time. Right now I am unable to work full-time.
I hope that we will both find something we can do in the upcoming future. Let me know if you find something better because believe me... "I" also need all the encouragement I can get!
Thank you Pegasus65. It really helps to know that I am not alone in this experience. I have been feeling so bad about this experience and it doesn't help that my former classmate is still working there and I'm not. My husband has pointed out to me that she received 3 times the orientation time that I did and that this was a big help to her that I was not given.
I hope that something comes up for you soon and that you are able to find a job that is a "perfect fit" for you. Good luck!
One of my friends is still working at the place I quit too. BUT from what she has told me it is totally different than the hall I was on. For one thing she doesn't have to go on an "expedition" to find each resident's med, as they are in the cart. Nor has anyone been requiring her to sign for stuff she isn't doing....I was on 7-3 shift and she is on 3-11 so I am not sure if that has anything to do with it.
She doesn't really like it there though and is still applying for other jobs AND has already bluntly stated that as soon as she can find something else she is "out of there"..... soooo that says a lot too eh?
.thumb.jpg.421493329dd1f136a4222fe8e9399213.jpg){kind=small}
SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN
10,263 Posts
I would not consider this to be "job-hopping." At all. Protect yourself and your license, and don't acquiesce to dangerous practices.
Good luck! You'll do well.
:)