The hospital from very close to hell...Long vent.

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Last night was my 2nd orientation day at this LTAC. When I walked in, the supervisor couldn't figure out who to team me up with coz there were 2 other orientees, and a couple of agency nurses. Finally she pairs me with this nurse and tells me 'she's a good nurse, only I have to tell you she's a little bit negative". So ofcourse in my mind am already dreading the night.

I meet up with my nurse, and the first thing she straight up tells me is "I have been here for 4 years and I can tell you am the best nurse they have here. They take advantage of my goodness and want me to do extra work, which I don't mind doing" Then, she tells me "they want me to give you all 5 patients by yourself, while I supervise you, but am not going to do that. You and I will work together. Ok?"

So, we take report and she tells me to do the initial assessments on the pts. then set up meds before 2030, because pharmacy leaves @ 2100 and 'we' have to get any missing meds before then. I do my assessments on all patients and sit to transcribe mental info into my 'brain'. I find my nurse sitting at the desk drinking coffee and as soon as I sit down, she says "see you don't listen. I told you to do the assessments quickly and then set the meds otherwise we'll run behind" I look at my watch and it's only 1945 hrs. I continue writing on my sheet and then she says 'you need to face me when am speaking to you' and I tell her that I can hear her just fine. The space is (II) that close and there's no way to turn around without being in her face (or her being in my face:devil:) I turn around and smile then ask if we shouldn't go get our meds. She says "I don't set my meds in the medroom, I have been here so long, I want to avoid the chaos of the medroom, so I just take my trays out here to the table and set them up. She tells me to go get the trays one at a time. on her request, I read out the med name and dose, she pulls it and puts it in a cup. I return the meds and I get to set up all the other pt meds by myself. ( I sure hope that coffee tasted good).

3 of our pt have peg tubes and were getting meds and flushes. I turn of the feeding and do the placement check and then get ready to do the medpass. I unhook the tubing intending to use the bigger port. She stops me, tells me to reattach the feeding and use the side port pass my meds and flush. I say, isn't it easier to do it my way? and she says it has to be done the way she ways.

I could go on and on and on about just how bad the night was, but I survived it. I took care of all her 5 patients all while she sat and talked on the cell phone or went outside Q15 for breathing tx. She said 'we' were working together, but not once did she ask if I needed help. I bit my tongue and did what I was supposed to do and none of the patients were in danger. At about 0300 when I had everything pretty caught up, I said I was taking my lunch and you know what she asked me "why do you need to take a lunch?"

The thing is, there were 2 agency nurses and one was barely floating all night. No one asked how they could help! No one. She kept asking questions and getting half a** answers as if she was bothering them. When in the morning she was running waaay behind, and still had 5 lab draws and all kind of medpasses, no one helped her and everyone was just complaining how slow she was and how she did not know what she was doing. I felt soooo bad for her. I am sure she will not be back to that facility.

Personally, I don't know how I feel. I know for sure if I get set up for another orientation with last night's nurse, I will refuse. (did I mention that in the middle of the night, she got into it with one of the CNAs coz she felt he wasn't doing his job and he felt she wasn't doing her job, and the CNA feigned illness and left. So for 8hrs, we had 1 CNA for the whole place!).

On one hand, I am proud of my self knowing that after 1 orientation day, I could hand with the boys, but also pissed off about the going ons last night. I don't think I can fit into that environment. I would probably be at odds with everyone all the time.

At the end of the shift she had the nerve to me if I liked her???? My answer.."What does that have to do with anything???. She told me that she had talked to the superviser and had given an excellent review,, she had also requested that she orientate me tomorrow night..................like heck she is:angryfire.

Sorry I had to vent,,,,and it always feels much better after expressing my feelings. I can now reflect on what what happened and see what I can do differently next time.

Thanks

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Specializes in ICU, telemetry, LTAC.

Good grief! I'm glad you survived... I don't know what else to say.

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Yikes! That is close to hell.

I would speak to the DON before your next shift and say what you just said here. IMO, this nurse treated you like a child asking "look at me when I speak to you". If the DON knew you were new why did she not schedule her or you on one of the best nurse's nights? Poor planning on the DON's part. Sounds like this nurse rules the roost. It was you're first night and she should have been there with you side by side the whole night! Orientation is not telling you to do her crap so she can sit and drink coffee.

Doesn't sound like a pleasant work environment if an aide feigns illness to go home after a confrontation. This could well be a hostile working environment and you do not want to be caught up in that mess. You need to evaluate if you really want to be there or not. Do you feel like your license is in jeopardy? If so get out NOW!

Or you could confront her and ask her to get off her orifice and orient you.

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Specializes in Case Management, Home Health, UM.
I could go on and on and on about just how bad the night was, but I survived it. I took care of all her 5 patients all while she sat and talked on the cell phone or went outside Q15 for breathing tx.

And WHO died and appointed her........?? :angryfire

I would last at that place about as long as a snowball in hell.

She clearly took advantage of you, in order to sit on her butt all night, and I would make certain that your DON is made aware of that fact. :trout:

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Yikes! That is close to hell.

I would speak to the DON before your next shift and say what you just said here. IMO, this nurse treated you like a child asking "look at me when I speak to you". If the DON knew you were new why did she not schedule her or you on one of the best nurse's nights? Poor planning on the DON's part. Sounds like this nurse rules the roost. It was you're first night and she should have been there with you side by side the whole night! Orientation is not telling you to do her crap so she can sit and drink coffee.

Doesn't sound like a pleasant work environment if an aide feigns illness to go home after a confrontation. This could well be a hostile working environment and you do not want to be caught up in that mess. You need to evaluate if you really want to be there or not. Do you feel like your license is in jeopardy? If so get out NOW!

Or you could confront her and ask her to get off her orifice and orient you.

I have to agree but speaking from personal exp don't bother going to the DON because paybacks are He11. Confronting her will only end up making things worse. I just finished applying for another job myself due to the exact same type of behavior. I am really not sure why older nurses go out of their way to make new grads have it so rough. I started out as an LPN for 17 yrs and have been an RN for about a month My experiences in my Hosp have been almost identical to yours, I have been there for 5 months now and everytime I think things will improve I find there are even more ways things can fall apart. I have finally come to the conclusion that it is time for me to move on because I don't think I can take much more.:o

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Specializes in Utilization Management.

I wouldn't last another night there. I'd quit and find a better job in the morning. There has to be somewhere better than that to work.

Teamwork has to be a factor for today's nurse and that can make or break the unit and this one's broke bigtime.

Best of luck to you. Let us know how it goes.

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Specializes in Adult and Pediatric Vascular Access, Paramedic.

hi,

I recoomend you talk with your nurse manager so that you can hopefully get set up with another preceptor that fits better with your personality and who wants to be a preceptor. If you let this continue you will probably be setting yourself up for failure.

Swtooth

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Specializes in ICU;CCU;Telemetry;L&D;Hospice;ER/Trauma;.

of course she has requested to orient you another time....YOU ALLOWED HER TO SIT ON HER BUTT ALL NOC WHILE YOU DID ALL THE WORK!! A true orientation involves both people working side by side....

I would make it clear that you are requesting someone else, "so you get a more broad view of the facilitiy".....(sounds nice and diplomatic)....I woudn't complain just yet...you don't know who she is best friends with....I would instead look for a position elsewhere.....then I would file an anon. complaint against the facility for hiring/employing an individual who has been observed sitting all night long talking on the phone while patients' meds are just left sitting....I would make the complaint to the state agency that monitors nursing homes/LTC in your state....they are required by federal law to investigate neglect.....and this is neglect....she isn't walking the halls, checking rooms, making sure people aren't falling out of bed, etc....she's OUTSIDE talking on her cell phone....NOT OKAY!!

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Wow, I'm surprised you were able to bite your tongue. Good job for not saying anything and stooping to her level. I also think you should request a new preceptor, but be very careful in complaining. I've found that in the long run, going to the supervisor isn't always the best. Remember, you're going to have to work with this girl in the future. You need to get to know what the supervisor's like and if you can trust her. I had a supervisor go directly to the person I had reported for not pulling their weight. It was very uncomfortable when my fellow employee confronted me. Obviously the supervisor should have never done that, but you really need to get to know people before you start disclosing info. Lots of dynamics to consider. Good luck.

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Specializes in Jack of all trades, and still learning.

More power to you! I think I would refuse to work with her another night as well. Surely having a CNA walk off would give the institution some sort of idea what she was like...

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Specializes in orthopaedics.

how sad. a better nurse manager would have planned for you to be there and made a preceptor aware that they would be working with you. there are so many other places that are better you could work at. best of luck.

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Sounds like a preceptor from He**... but please, Jade, just because she is old, don't think that all old nurses do that to new ones... I love precepting, and the new nurses I work with are with me, side by side, the entire shift... It would be nice if that particular idea would just go away... Mean people come in all ages...

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