Should I resign or wait for being terminated?

[txsky SRNA]

This is an awkward situation, but I have to face it.

I am an ICU nurse with 2 yrs experience. I switched job into a hospital and was on 6th weeks of orientation.

I made a mistake by telling my manager that I was planning to apply for crna school and asked if she could write me a recommendation letter. Of course she refused to do so.

From that moment on, she started to find my practice errors, and finally she found 3 errors and requested HR to put me on suspension. HR held a meeting for me and my manager to give both sides a chance to talk.

I denied all these 3 errors. Two of them are untrue; the third one is very confusion.

I realized that my manager knew I was going to apply crna school and she made the decision to get rid of me.

She started to collect my errors. No matter how hard I worked, how much progress I made. There is no use. All the eyes of my preceptor and manager were looking for my errors. My friends said I fell into a "death spiral" --- I made an error, then management team are watching over me; since more eyes were over me, they will find more errors, which will cause more attention. Ultimately, they will find enough errors to send me to HR.

HR would start their process. They asked me to hand in my badge and go home and wait for their further decision.

I feel HR and my manager are in the same boat. HR listened to my explanation but did not write down on their notes. When my manager stated my errors, HR wrote it down.

I am still in orientation stage. I do not have to worry about stuffs like FSA account etc. I do not have so much to lose if I quit the job.

I don't even want to go back to work in the same unit since they gave me such a hard time.

At this moment, should I resign or wait for being terminated? Can anybody explain which one is worse and will possibly affect my chance for looking jobs in other hospitals? I already started to send out resume. This is my first time to face such a stress. I have no idea how to handle it.

Thank you in advance.

[BedsideNurse]

Well, obviously it was a colossal error in judgment to tell your boss in your 6th week of orientation that you plan to ask for a recommendation

for CRNA school (understatement of the world). I can't imagine how you thought that would be a good idea. But what is done is done, so think it through and learn from it. If I were in your shoes I would have a Come to Jesus Meeting with the manager. I'd try to make professional amends and find a way to resign or transfer on relatively decent terms vs.staying there miserable till you make a paper trail long enough to be fired....Sorry that you feel so stressed. It's self induced misery for sure, but we've all made mistakes. Fix what you can, burn as few bridges as possible, and move on. Don't let this weigh you down. Good luck!

[caliotter3]

It is almost always better to resign instead of being terminated.

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

It is almost always better to resign instead of being terminated.

This is my thought. Don't wait around to be canned, which is almost certainly coming the way that the OP described it. If it's going to happen, leave on your own terms.

[amzyRN]

You know the answer to that question, of course, it's better to resign. It's never better to be fired. Next time use common sense and not disclose your desire to leave while you're still on orientation and/or without another opportunity in hand. Additionally, I think a 6-week orientation for an experienced ICU nurse is pretty generous, your manager was probably angry when she realized the financial loss of bringing you on board if you only stayed a short time. Cut your losses ASAP and resign tomorrow graciously and chalk this up to a valuable learning experience.

[smf0903]

Wel personally I think you've got some pretty crummy management. We have a couple of float RNs who made it known to our DON that their long-term plans are to become CRNAs and they make sure that those people get floated to ICU as much as possible to get them exposure to the ICU environment.

While I get the whole "we're spending time/money to train" I find it sad that places don't support their employees in their endeavors when possible.

Just my .02

[Orca, ADN, ASN, RN]

While I get the whole "we're spending time/money to train" I find it sad that places don't support their employees in their endeavors when possible.

I suppose that depends upon what you mean by "support". I am an upper level manager, and if it is possible for me to accommodate a school schedule and still provide adequate coverage for the unit, then I do that. The one time that I had an employee who went to school to become a mid-level provider, there was an endless string of ever-increasing demands for schedule adjustments and days off until I finally said "no more". The employee was only scheduled for a couple of shifts per week, and she was calling off for those about 90 percent of the time. There was one month in which she worked one day - and she was filling one of my full-time RN slots.

This is the kind of nightmare scenario that makes nurse managers less than receptive when employees hit them with news about going back to school, especially if they are recent transfers or new hires. You have just arrived, and you are already telling your new boss that you likely won't be able to do all that you were hired for.

[smf0903]

I suppose that depends upon what you mean by "support". I am an upper level manager, and if it is possible for me to accommodate a school schedule and still provide adequate coverage for the unit, then I do that. The one time that I had an employee who went to school to become a mid-level provider, there was an endless string of ever-increasing demands for schedule adjustments and days off until I finally said "no more". The employee was only scheduled for a couple of shifts per week, and she was calling off for those about 90 percent of the time. There was one month in which she worked one day - and she was filling one of my full-time RN slots.

This is the kind of nightmare scenario that makes nurse managers less than receptive when employees hit them with news about going back to school, especially if they are recent transfers or new hires. You have just arrived, and you are already telling your new boss that you likely won't be able to do all that you were hired for.

I can understand that! Some people take that mile when given an inch.

I'm looking at this from my little corner of the world...in our facility, those who go on for higher education (NPs and the like) tend to stay within the facility in their new role, so our management, by and large, are pretty accommodating with schedules. Then again, most don't abuse those accommodations.