Should I stick it out or run?

[njbikernurse]

I lurk here daily but hardly ever post........ today I am so down, I need some advice. I left a good job for a promise of a better one in a LTC sub-acute unit. I have found this new place to be a three-ring circus most of the time, and decide to go back to my old job, which was thankfully still available. So, I can't start again at the old place until Sept. 3rd, and the new place is more than happy to keep me until then. I thought I could stick it out, but after today I'm not sure. The staff on a 52 bed sub-acute unit was 4 LPN's (3 for meds and one for treatments). The charge nurse and unit manager (the only RN's) called out sick and were not replaced. I have been a nurse three years and the other three just graduated. They came to me all day with questions, which I did my best to answer, having only been at this new place 1 month. It was a very touch-and-go day, we just made it through by the seat of our pants. I want to just not come back after this weekend........ but that's certain to burn my bridges there, and it's a big company that I might need to work at again sometime in the future, who knows? I'm afraid for patient safety, and for my own sanity. What would anybody else do? Run, or stick it out? Any advice is appreciated.............

[CarVsTree]

I say stick it out. You only have a few more weeks. In addition to it looking better for you and your future, it is better for those you leave behind.

What you described sounded not great, but as such that you could make it through as best you can. Just keep telling yourself a few more weeks.

[grammyr]

How big is the company and how many facilities do they own in your area and what are the chances that you would have to work for them? I would go to work tomorrow and see how it goes, maybe today was an unusual circumstance and won't happen again while you are there. If the same thing happens tomorrow, I would have to think hard about returning and risking my license. Is there someone on call for the facility you could go to for problems that need an administrative person to take care of? If so, then by all means call that person and tell them you don't feel uncomfortable and ask for backup. And above all DOCUMENT any calls you make in a journal.

Good luck and let us know what you decide.

[carol72]

Run, don't walk

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Actually, that ratio isn't bad at all. However, you absolutely should know who is next in line if your supervising nurses call out lest things not within your scope of practice nor your realm of expertise fall on your shoulders.

If you can get the names of who to call after A and B have called off stay. If they say there's no one get gone fast.

[CapeCodMermaid, RN]

52 patients, 3 nurses for meds and one for treatments??? That's a wonderful ratio.

[njbikernurse]

I forgot to mention........ one of our sub-acute patients is a trach who is also on TPN and lipids and normal saline, all running into a single lumen PICC line at different times, with a Y-connector. None of the new LPN's are IV certified and just choose to ignore what they don't understand. I came in yesterday and today to find either the TPN not running, the saline not running, or the poor woman begging me to suction her because nobody else "knows how" and won't do it. I'm scared for her life, and for my responsibility in this whole mess. There's no supervisor on the weekends, by the way. I had to ask our only RN to mix the TPN and hang it, the rest I can do. Geez, this is a bit more than I want to handle, being in the facility only a month. Then we get a call from the staffing person from home today, who says there are complaints about call bells not being answered, and there's no reason why I can't answer bells................ I basically decided to end this nightmare at the end of this week. I don't care if I have to eat cat food and panhandle for two weeks until my new (old) job starts!!!!!!!