So upset got passed for charge

Nurses General Nursing

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I am a 45yr old mom of 2 that graduated from nursing school may 08. Got a job in a large hosp that is 45min from home. Now I work 3 nites a week was 4 until I asked to decrease with summer coming up. I found out last nite that a girl 21 who started exactly 1month after me is going to be trained to be a charge nurse. Now she is a 1.0 and is 1/2 my age with no kids. But I am still upset I feel that I am not doing it. I have not been told anything bad, I do ask alot of questions vs many other nurses. But I am the one who is left on the floor alone when the others are on break, I am the nurse answering call bells. I am the nurse who goes around to other nurses and aides asking if they need help. I am the one who empties trash cans. I am the one who gets 2 admits while others have 3 empty beds. I feel so used and like I am not making it. I truly try my best I do not sit and gossip or read the paper or play on my phone. I am always checking labs looking things up. WHY.

Thanks for listening

i don't want to upset you or anything, but honestly, in just that one little paragraph, I got the impression that you whine a lot. You do a lot of "well i do THIS and THAT and yada yada yada". She's probably cool, calm, and collected. I also get the impression you think your job is a competition. It sort of sounds like the only reason you do those things is to get the recognition for it. Sorry!

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Specializes in MS, OB, PEDI, VNA, TELEM.

And you have a college degree...stop emptying the trash cans for gosh sakes. charge nurses don't empty the garbage!

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Just because she is 21 doesn't make her incompetent. Looks like she has the same amount of experience as you do. I, myself, am 22 and I am being trained for charge. Maybe she was more straight-forward about the position. If you really want it, go for it! Advocate for yourself.

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First of all I don't think she is incompetent at all she is very smart and calm and cool about everything. There is nothing wrong with her she is a wonderful nurse. I am upset because I started before she did and I think the manager should have told me that they were going to train her before me. I know eventually I will be trained but the fact that I started before her and she is being oriented to charge before me is why I am upset.

As far as why I do the extra things not to get recognition but the fact that someone has to do these things. I am not the kind of person who says that is not my job. Not because I want the recognition but because it needs to be done. If someone is sitting there and a bell is ringing someone has to answer it. If a trash can is overflowing instead of just putting more trash in so it falls on the floor I empty it. That is why I do these things. I was just upset because having someone who started a month befroe me go to charge upset me. That is all. Sorry I won't plan on venting here again.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Education.
And you have a college degree...stop emptying the trash cans for gosh sakes. charge nurses don't empty the garbage!

I have several advanced degrees and have managed a unit before. Still able to empty the trash if it needs it. Obviously this doesn't make up the majority of my work, but I do hope I don't ever consider myself above any task. To me this is part of prioritization. If I am not occupied with a more pressing matter, I will certainly empty the trash if it needs doing. It's funny, I've been lucky enough to be promoted at every job I've ever had. I think it has something to do with this. I just hate the phrase "that's not my job."

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Specializes in CCU/MICU.

I understand how you feel... I was in somewhat of a similar situation. I work on a busy critical care unit. Someone who had been hired right around the same time I was, was asked whether or not he'd like to take the charge class. I was talking to the person who did the schedules if she had heard anything about the management putting me in the charge class. this person said something like... "oh, no, you aren't ready for that." Naturally, I left thinking... well, what's wrong with me? It's not necessarily that I even wanted to charge... but I was wondering what it was about me that made them pass me up? Was there something that I was doing wrong? So I went into my managers office and just said, "I heard that there was a charge class coming up... so and so said I wasn't ready, and that is okay... but I was wondering if there was something that I needed to work on?" My manager looked at me blankly for a second, and then was like, "I don't know why and the world she would have said that, you are already on the list!" Now, if I hadn't already been on the "list," atleast I would have known what I needed to work on and it also made me appear like I was sincerely looking to better myself, which was the truth. If I were you, I would try this. Atleast then, you won't be at home agonizing over why they didn't pick you, and it will only score you points if you are polite and humble.:twocents:

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Specializes in Community, OB, Nursery.

I thought about this thread at work the other night when several people told me they were thinking about telling mgmt not to put them in charge ever again.

Just saying.

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Shocker29, that is exactly how I feel. It really is not that I really am dying to be in charge, but the fact that someone who started after me was asked first. Thanks

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Specializes in tele, oncology.
First of all I don't think she is incompetent at all she is very smart and calm and cool about everything. There is nothing wrong with her she is a wonderful nurse. I am upset because I started before she did and I think the manager should have told me that they were going to train her before me. I know eventually I will be trained but the fact that I started before her and she is being oriented to charge before me is why I am upset.

As far as why I do the extra things not to get recognition but the fact that someone has to do these things. I am not the kind of person who says that is not my job. Not because I want the recognition but because it needs to be done. If someone is sitting there and a bell is ringing someone has to answer it. If a trash can is overflowing instead of just putting more trash in so it falls on the floor I empty it. That is why I do these things. I was just upset because having someone who started a month befroe me go to charge upset me. That is all. Sorry I won't plan on venting here again.

I'm not trying to be harsh here, so please don't take it that way.

You were given what I think is good advice as to how to handle the situation you're in. Instead of coming on and responding along the lines of "Thanks for the advice, I'll go and talk to my manager about this next time I work" or something like that, you focused instead on the post that was not so positive. Which is fine to an extent, but saying "I won't plan on venting here again" says to me, without knowing you personally, that you focus on reacting negatively to criticism instead of taking what others have to offer and going with it. Basically, you ignored the good posts and focused on the negative one, and overreacted IMO. Which is the exact opposite of the attitude that a charge nurse needs to have, given all of the BS that comes along with the position. Honestly, it makes me wonder why I even bothered to respond to your post to begin with...but I'm stubborn, so here I am again.

There may be ways that the other nurse is a better fit, just b/c you started earlier than she did by a negligible month does not mean that you should be entitled to training for it first. There are many aspects to being a charge nurse, and going strictly on seniority is a recipe for disaster IMO. For example, we have a nurse on our floor who has over twenty years of experience, but can't even manage to take care of her team of four or five patients adequately. There is no way that she will EVER be able to be a charge nurse on our floor, in any situation.

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Hi to the original poster. You mentioned that this charge-nurse-in-training was 21 and had no children. Are these the reasons you are possibily objecting? Just playing devils advocate as it could be potentially viewed by others that you are objecting because of the candidates age and the fact she has no children.

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Specializes in MS, OB, PEDI, VNA, TELEM.

I'm sorry if i've offended with my comment about the garbage emptying. Possibly i'm jealous because I don't work in a hospital where the charge nurse would have time to even THINK about emptying the garbage. Perhaps what I really meant was if you want to be a charge nurse, you have to be self confident; own your assignment. Make positive suggestions. Carry yourself proud and strong.

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First of all I don't think she is incompetent at all she is very smart and calm and cool about everything. There is nothing wrong with her she is a wonderful nurse. I am upset because I started before she did and I think the manager should have told me that they were going to train her before me. I know eventually I will be trained but the fact that I started before her and she is being oriented to charge before me is why I am upset.

As far as why I do the extra things not to get recognition but the fact that someone has to do these things. I am not the kind of person who says that is not my job. Not because I want the recognition but because it needs to be done. If someone is sitting there and a bell is ringing someone has to answer it. If a trash can is overflowing instead of just putting more trash in so it falls on the floor I empty it. That is why I do these things. I was just upset because having someone who started a month befroe me go to charge upset me. That is all. Sorry I won't plan on venting here again.

On my floor, even the nurse manager empties trashcans and answers call lights if need be...that's nursing 101. My old nurse director used to also...but then he got promoted, now he is the assistant Nurse Exec. of the hospital...maybe it's just the culture of floor I'm on that certain things nurses are never "too good" to do no matter their position.

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