Time off for Hesi

[OhioMary]

I'm so mad I could spit!

So, I'm going to a bit of a disorganized school for my LPN-to-RN transition and I didn't find out until Monday when my Hesi (nursing school exit exam) was going to be. When I did I immediately called the scheduler. I was told to put it in writing and give it to the DON. I went to the facility the next day and when I tried to talk with the DON about what I needed she was more interested in reminiscing with the other nurses standing nearby about when she took her exit exam and talk about how I dressed to my interview (I wore a suit, I looked nice... apparently that's really really crazy behaviour on my part). Anyway, she more or less blew me off and then just walked away before I could make my request clear in person. I slid my paper under the door to her office and left... quite confused.

The ADON sent me a text yesterday afternoon asking if I could come to work. She also asked if the schedule (which was electronically released yesterday would work for me). I replied this morning that I need the 2 days off the week before my Hesi to have a normal sleep cycle (I work 7p-7a) and finish preparing for the exam. I got a text back reminding me that schedule change requests must be submitted by the 15th to be considered and I would have to find someone to trade days with me if I wanted time off.

I was hired barely over a month ago and I'm having a rough time. Bad aides, short-staffed, woefully lacking supply closet, and generally being treated like I'm the enemy by my peers because I spend time trying to give good care to my residents instead of rush through so I can get more smoke breaks. I was already feeling ethically twitchy about not being well-equipped to care for my residents and being in a facility where orientation included helpful hints like "don't time/date your dressings in case the change gets missed for several days" and "oh, yeah... you are out of that medicine, just chart that you gave it and send another request to pharmacy for it to be filled" and "the feed goes in faster if you mix the flush in with it, instead of flushing after at all. Oh, don't worry about the black fuzz growing in the g-tube."

I'm grateful to have gotten a job in an area that's saturated with nursing schools. I'm feeling pretty crappy about it and have only a few weeks until I finish RN school. How do I figure out if I'm just a bit miserable adjusting to the job and throwing a bit of a tantrum about my schedule request not being honored or whether I have legit justification to throw in the towel?

TL;DR: Asked for time off to prep for Hesi and was denied. New to the job and find the facility a bit trashy. Wondering if my instinct to run is a knee-jerk reaction to expected discomfort or justifiable.

[WookieeRN, BSN, MSN, RN]

I was already feeling ethically twitchy about not being well-equipped to care for my residents and being in a facility where orientation included helpful hints like "don't time/date your dressings in case the change gets missed for several days" and "oh, yeah... you are out of that medicine, just chart that you gave it and send another request to pharmacy for it to be filled" and "the feed goes in faster if you mix the flush in with it, instead of flushing after at all. Oh, don't worry about the black fuzz growing in the g-tube."

That's really disconcerting.

I personally would give my 2 weeks and hope I can find an RN position elsewhere after finishing.