Should I resign and drop out of school?

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I was having a really rough night at work, I work as a psw/cna and we aren't allowed to use soaker pads at the longterm care home I work at anymore because they are "a risk for residents developing skin tears" I had to strip multiple residents beds 3 times and we often don't have enough linen to do out job because they got rid of 24 hour laundry in a longterm care home. I had finished changing the residents bed when I noticed his shirt was soaking wet so, I went to his closet to find a shirt as we didnt have any hospital gowns and I forgot to put the bed down and he sat himself up in bed and fell on his backside as I was coming back to the bed with his shirt. I'm probably going to get fired and charged now and kicked out of nursing school, I'm so useless and stupid ?.

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Specializes in None yet..

Worrying is praying for something you don't want. You don't say the effect on your resident. Howe badly was he hurt? What did you do in response? Hopefully you took appropriate action to care for your resident after the accident.

Admit you made a mistake, say what you learned from it and don't give up. I have seen some mistakes made bigger than yours. I'm sure you will never do that again.

Watch Galaxy Quest and repeat "Never give up! Never surrender!"

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Specializes in Cardiac. Intermediate Care..

Nobody is perfect and it sounds like there are a lot of SYSTEM errors connected to yours. Most of that was out of your control. Mistakes are learning opportunities, not failures. It is a failure if you give up or don't learn.

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You are not useless and stupid. This facility sounds substandard in not providing the necessary supplies to do your job. Yes- not putting the bed down before going to get a shirt was a mistake, but would he have still fallen out if the bed had been down? Unless his bed is a mattress on the floor you would have needed another staff member there to prevent a fall- extra staff is a rarity at nursing homes. I would look for a job somewhere else where you are not put in such a position. Stand up for yourself and write down all the ways this facility's rules and lack of supplies (and probably staff) is putting patients at risk and use that to defend yourself if you are given a warning or fired. And in future job interviews if this comes up mention these points. Most health facilities know nursing homes are notorious for short staffing, overburdening the staff and putting patients at risk to save money.

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Specializes in Ortho, CMSRN.

You are not going to get kicked out of nursing school if you get fired. I don't think that the facility and nursing school even communicate. One thing that my first nursing preceptor said frequently has always stuck with me: "You're going to make mistakes, come up with a way/process that you don't make them again". That's my best advice. If you try to constantly improve your performance, even with mistakes, I think that anyone would find you as a valuable nurse. Even if one of your former patients at a facility falls... which they don't have to know about.. If you can find a way to make this fall change your performance in a way that you can discuss with a future hiring manager, it might actually be a good thing. One of the questions that they ask is "What is a challenge or setback that you faced at previous or current job, and how did you correct it?" I think a good answer to how you had a patient fall and made future similar falls less likely is a huge plus in your favor if you can make it happen.

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Thanks I really appreciate the help and advice! I need to find another job at a better facility or just leave longterm care all together, it's not worth putting my health or career at risk because management sets you up to fail. I do admit to making a mistake however based on managements rule for honour guard I was left on the floor by myself. I have been a nervous wreck lately and need to treat my anxiety so that I can start building self confidence and bettering myself as a person.

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5 hours ago, ClaraRedheart said:

You are not going to get kicked out of nursing school if you get fired. I don't think that the facility and nursing school even communicate. One thing that my first nursing preceptor said frequently has always stuck with me: "You're going to make mistakes, come up with a way/process that you don't make them again". That's my best advice. If you try to constantly improve your performance, even with mistakes, I think that anyone would find you as a valuable nurse. Even if one of your former patients at a facility falls... which they don't have to know about.. If you can find a way to make this fall change your performance in a way that you can discuss with a future hiring manager, it might actually be a good thing. One of the questions that they ask is "What is a challenge or setback that you faced at previous or current job, and how did you correct it?" I think a good answer to how you had a patient fall and made future similar falls less likely is a huge plus in your favor if you can make it happen.

I agree with this completely. And the last part about that dreaded interview question, "tell us about a challenge you had" is excellent. This is a perfect example for that question followed up with what you did to ensure it wouldn't happen again. You've got this cjp1994!!

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