threw in the towel

[mtnmom]

well, I had to give it up for my sanity. I absolutely loved and felt fulfilled by hospice work but the office I worked for was SO disorganized. THe DON is a very sweet, very knowledgeable person but is also very much the wrong person for her job - she just cannot keep track of things!!! There was no tracking system to keep up with who had been seen or not seen, so sometimes nurses would arrive to see a pt and find they had already been seen that week. This week I drove an hour to a destination only to be called and told that I was needed back in the office to help with paperwork...so 2 hrs total wasted. Also she would tell nurse A that nurse B was coming to help her or make a visit for her and then send nurse B somewhere entirely different without ever telling anyone ( I was stuck in the nurse B role a couple of times, and it is very embarrassing when A calls and says "I thought you were coming here" when I knew nothing about it)

I could go on and on with examples but suffice it to say that the turnover rate for nurses is very high...another RN left just before me that had only been there for 6 weeks as well. I do not feel that I got a thorough orientation because of all the confusion, as did the other RN that left right before me. And we are by no means the first from what others have told me.

Its really sad because the administrator and the DON are best friends and no one feels that it does any good to tell the adm. what the problems are because they will not be addressed. I made an effort to tell her some of the problems, being very careful not to "blame" the DON. I suggested that the adm have a meeting with all of the nurses to get input. THe reward I get for this is that 2 days after giving the notice I was told since census is down and I was obviously so stressed I did not need to worry about completing my notice. "No, you're not being fired",.... but I really have to wonder. The other RN that left just 3 days before me opted not to speak out and she completed her notice with no problem. Don't you all think that is more than just a little weird???

The whole time I was there I was told what a good job I was doing and how thorough my paperwork was. So I dont think there is any chance that I had any kind of performance issues.

One of my coworkers wants me to contact someone in corporate office and relay my concerns. She is afraid for her job or else she would do it. I am on the fence...on one hand, I am outta there and need to get on with my life...on the other hand, I care about my former coworkers and about the continuity of care (NOT) that the patients are getting. Plus I am more than a little hacked off that my efforts to give a decent notice and to be honest when asked for suggestions came back and bit me.

sorry this is so long, thank you for bearing with me. I think hospice is an awesome specialty. I'm sorry that the situation did not work out for me.

[kelluvanurse]

Hey Im with you, I love this job but I just dont know how much longer I can do it. My organization is very organized there just isnt enough of us and they dont want to hire anyone else. Im checking with another hospice about just working part time and maybe Ill do something else partime. I just dont think I can do this day in and day out, I always take it home with me and I really just want to be done at the end of the day. If I were you I would most defintely talk with corporation about what is going on, just think about how poor care the pts are getting. Good Luck!

[doodlemom]

mtnmom, if you talk to corporate then maybe you can make it better for others coming down the line. If you do talk to them - give good feedback and solutions. They are less likely to listen if you are whining about how horrible it was for you. Then again, it may be such a lousy agency that, no matter what, they may not listen...but at least you tried. If you want to stay in hospice , I would recommend checking out another agency.

[mtnmom]

doodlemom, if I do end up talking to corporate then your approach is absolutely what I am going to be doing. I do not want to come off like a whiner, believe me. As far as solutions, I can offer some suggestions. Already have, but to the wrong people.

I think that overall they are a decent company. Sure there are some things I do not agree with but you find that in any corporation. I really think that most of the problems are at the local level with things being so disorganized, and with the DON and the admin. being best friends joined at the hip. I tried giving constructive suggestions (in a VERY tactful manner) and all I got was shown the way to the door a little earlier.

And I have learned a valuable lesson. Next time I interview for any position I am going to ask what kind of longevity the employees have. Had I known the degree of turnover of staff that would have been a big red flag. Of course I cannot blame them for not telling me that....but I fault myself for not asking the right questions.

I just have too much else going on right now in my life to have added stress from poor orientation and disorganization in daily work. Add to that the expectation that I was going to need to work 50-60 hrs a week including mandated call (amount of call was not represented truthfully at interview). I would have been paid well but at what cost?