Horrible experience, threat to report to BON

U.S.A. Texas

Published

Ok, sorry. Its long

I am usually ICU traveler

Signed on with local agency for PRN work, wasn't getting very many shifts.

Agency offers shifts in inpatient Psych unit, I sign up

Never workes psych

3days orientation, was plan.

Day 1, no pyxis access or Cerner until 2pm, day was just about complete waste. Om the phone half of shift trying to sort it all out.

Day2, placed in the acute unit. Charge informs me I am to be the med-nurse, and her and other RN will take patients. That didn't sound very beneficial for me, I've been passing meds for 7 years. I interject and ask to have a few patients as I have never workes Behavorial Health (BH) and need assessment training the most, as I haven't watched a core nurse in the daily assess proces..

This interjection really pissed her off. She huffs and puffs and assigns me 2 pts.

And then disappears, comes back, has bad attitude with me. Tension was high. I grab my pt chart start readimg

about my pt, walky-talky, I visualize in dayroom briefly, and there are 3 agressive pts at the desk, and they are escalating....so I open Cerner look around at the assessment verbage, trying to get a feel. I can't step out from bwhind the nurses stations as I have no keys to get back in, and clients are agitated.

Now while this is all going down charge is condescending and passive aggressive with everytime I ask a question. Awkward to say the least. I keep seeing her and the other chit chating about me, very obvious and so.uncomfirtable. Needless to say WOW/COW cannot be in the dayroom, and I have no key, but have visualized my patient.

I still have no idea how to assess for BH discipline. I go through the process in Cerner, kinda play with it to learn. I ended up saving some data durimg. She is in and out, and not really precepting at all. She walks up and asks what I am doing, I explain, learning your assessment info, she asks if I had laid hands, I said no just reading and getting feel.. all assessments (physical) are identicle for this individual (medical) body systems are WNL. So, naturally she becomes condescending and states I nees to be in the dayroom etc, etc. I knew where she was headimg. Tried to explain I just needed the "verbage" I've never done or seen MH assessment, while tryimg to explin my needs, she walks away. I follow her into the medroom and asked her plainly, "can I shadow your assessment" she laughed with condescension, gow did You do in ICU?" With more passive aggressiveness and again walks away and states "you're fine" "its goid" "stoo apologizing"

Long story short, this behavior went on all day, and she was talking to co-workers about my mistakes, and va ruous other alienating moves....you get the picture. All day long, but we can do anuthing for 12 hours right????

Bottom line, I almost quit, but went back, and orientation with a different preceptor worked great. Until Noon, I was terminated for precharting assessment, without them hearing my side of the story, and they said its going to be reported to the board.

This place was a complete **** show. And a 1 year exp nurse who has control issues wrote me up for stupid crap.

She knew how I was trying to learn in that first assessment, she didn't stop it and offer education, just set the trap.

I don't feel I did anything to deserve a BON complaint, and she was precepting, isn't she responible too????

She writes me up for precharting, I was termed without seeing the compaint docs and without explaining my side of the story. DON said he is reporting to the board

Am I going to receive disciplinary action from the board?

Shouldn't she be partly responsible as preceptor and letting me finish vs offering education? She didn't take time to show me anythimg, just threw me out there and then pointed out my errors without constructive criticism...

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

"Day2, placed in the acute unit. Charge informs me I am to be the med-nurse, and her and other RN will take patients. That didn't sound very beneficial for me, I've been passing meds for 7 years. I interject and ask to have a few patients"

Here's the problem right here. You are agency- you are asked to do something you KNOW how to do, that the charge needs done, and you basically refuse. As agency- you are there to meet their needs, not the other way around. See, when you are agency, it is not how the employer can benefit you.

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Unfortunately when you are agency, you are pretty much expected to do whatever they ask without question because you are not there to advance your career, it is purely to help fill a gap in their staffing.

I'm not saying I agree with the way they behaved towards you, but it does sound from what you have written that you expected them to accommodate your preferences which is just not something that is ordinarily done when you arrive via an agency.

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Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.

If you are agency you have to hit the ground running. You were way out of line and charting an assessment without doing an assessment is obviously falsifying a medical document. You knew you didn't know what you were doing but insisted on doing it anyway. The fault is yours. They were unprofessional but honestly I understand their frustration. They are likely short handed, figured out a way to use this person who has NO EXPERIENCE that will help them at ALL other than passing meds and this person (you) decides to throw a monkey wrench in the whole thing, go rogue and not do the job you were brought in to do, thus making mistakes, potentially dangerous ones, putting them in a bad situation and then making demands on them for training they should NOT be having to provide in the first place. You were unsafe and out of line. You were endangering them, the patients and yourself! Working as an agency nurse does not equate to on-the-job training for a new specialty. It is meant to be competent assistance in a critical staffing shortage. I am having a hard time imagining what you were thinking.

I have no idea what the BON will do, but it sounds like informing your and getting a lawyer through them would be a good move.

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"Day2, placed in the acute unit. Charge informs me I am to be the med-nurse, and her and other RN will take patients. That didn't sound very beneficial for me, I've been passing meds for 7 years. I interject and ask to have a few patients"

Here's the problem right here. You are agency- you are asked to do something you KNOW how to do, that the charge needs done, and you basically refuse. As agency- you are there to meet their needs, not the other way around. See, when you are agency, it is not how the employer can benefit you.

This is it in a nutshell. Agency help doesn't tell the employer what the agency nurse "needs", it is the other way around.

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Frankly, your approach probably wouldn't go over well with a permanent employer either.

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