Started a new faculty job...[rant/need advice]

[delilas]

I just hired in to be a full time faculty member in a school of nursing. I am on my second day of orientation and already wondering if I should be looking to jump ship.

My first big red flag was that after long discussions in my interview about my seeking work/life balance. I discussed that I was okay with the paycut I had to take to work there, because I would no longer be working crazy hours and weekends. The ADON I interviewed with agreed. I was given a sample schedule that was M-F. On my first day, it was casually mentioned that I would be taking on a Saturday/Sunday clinical group. They want me to work more weekends than I ever did as a bedside nurse.

Second, this school has gone through multiple DONs/Deans in the last 5 years. The most recent left after less than a year. The current assistant DON is extremely new and attempting to do the job of several people. On top of that, several teachers have recently left, leaving them with very serious holes in their program.

I oriented to the site of one of their clinicals today, and discovered that the school is on extremely tenuous standing with the hospital. In fact, the students are barred from passing medications on site, and are on their last legs and close to being removed from the site entirely.

In attempting to talk to the interim DON and clinical manager about these issues, I was told that all schools have such problems, and that teaching shortages are an issue everywhere and that none of this should bother me.

Is this true? Are these not red flags waving in my face?

[meanmaryjean, DNP, RN]

Is this a for profit school by chance?

[delilas]

Yes. Even so, they had a relatively good rep until the last few years, apparently. They were purchased by a large national for-profit at some point.

[LongislandRN23]

Honestly these sound like huge red flags! I would leave and like they said of there is a large faculty shortage then you should be able to get a faculty job elsewhere easily.

[sailornurse]

This sounds very similar to a local LPN program I taught at times Spring of this year

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses

[elkpark]

You're right, those are big red flags.

[JBudd, MSN]

No, not all schools have this problem. Not allowing students to pass meds? seriously? Sat/Sunday clinicals.,,, no thank you, especially on top of M-F classes.

Paycut? now that is common! but the trade off was supposed for better hours.

I think your instincts are spot on, in fact, screaming at you!

[nurse2033, MSN, RN]

I agree! Unless you see a big improvement in the short term, I would leave immediately. It seems they misrepresented the schedule hoping you wouldn't bail once you found out. I don't think there is a shortage of teachers, just a shortage of teachers willing to overwork and be underpaid. Good luck!

[CraigB-RN, MSN, RN]

I agree with all of the above. I'm just sitting here wondering which school it is. Having seen the DON and ADON shuffle happen to many of them. Even the one that changed to not for profit just before the DOE changed the rules.

The passing meds, well that happens at places, but it's not a good sign. The facility I'm at now only lets them pass with their faculty there and almost 100% of the faculty is employed here, so that's the only reason we allow it.

Keep an eye out for other jobs and put your ear to the ground for rumors about looking accreditation or loosing clinical sites. Unless you signed a contract, I'm not sure I'd be allowing the weekend clinical. Are they doing the weekends because the traditional schools have the weekdays locked up?

[everlongRN]

Many of these ARE red flags.

-Weekend clinicals are usually picked up by adjuncts; If they can't get adjuncts to do them (who usually do weekends if they are M-F in their full time job) that seems problematic. Are you actually working 7 days a week (please tell me you have two weekdays off to compensate)?

-Changing of DONs so frequently: why? It seems to be the case with for-profits. I worked for one that turned for-profit (very briefly, and got out- but still heard all the stories from my colleagues). They are run in a very cookie-cutter way; no such thing as academic freedom, they have to answer to the big-wigs. Often they recruit from the outside, because no one who is in the system already wants to be promoted to that position (because they know better).

-faculty shortages are everywhere, it seems. A for-profit school will continue to admit the same number of students, and will not even consider who will teach them once they are in. They will also likely lower their standards to keep their numbers. This becomes a tremendous burden on the faculty (which could likely lead to the rapid turnover of faculty).

-The med-pass restriction is an issue too. We have current clinical affiliations that restrict our med-pass (a certain number, or temporarily on-hold because of system changes), but it is for all schools, not just ours.

If you really want to teach, I'd say give it the semester or the year (whatever you feel is appropriate for you to make a clean break), and start looking for something in a private (not for profit), state or city school. It's not going to be 'less' work, per se, but the conditions will likely be more suitable.