Too good to be true?

go with the new offer, it can't be worse!!!!!!

its gonna be okay.

Getting involved with a bad employer can really yank a person's insecurity cord! I worked for a couple of really unpleasant places before I found a good match and know from first hand experience that you can start feeling really bad about yourself, your skills, and your employability when working for a bad employer. Heck, at one point with one employer, I was pretty sure that I should not be a nurse anymore! Then I realized that most of the nurses there were unhappy and that they were all questioning their abilities as nurses. The company uses that as a tactic (I guess) to keep the staff in line...as you said, much like an abusive partner ("you're ugly and stupid - who else would want you" sort of stuff).

Give your bad employer a nice letter of resignation and 2 weeks notice. Thank them for the opportunities for growth, yada yada...

Maybe your next job is "too good to be true" but it will likely be no worse than the current job and may well be much better. If they are not what you need to practice your nursing effectively look for another job.

Good luck to you. Don't let the bad guys get you down.

You'll never know unless you give it a shot. Sometimes we have to step out and take the risk. It cant be any worse then the situation you are in now if your feeling the way you describe. I did something similar recently leaving chronic dialysis (management) to go to HH as a clinical manager and I was terrified!! I have a great deal of nursing experience and case management but no HH. My team nurses know it and I have been shocked at how well they treat me and how supportive they all are. So far it turned out opposite of what I was afraid of. Now I'm sure I made the right choice but if I hadnt had taken that step I would have down the road always wondered and probably continued to be miserable in what I was doing. Just my 2 cents go for it!!!

Can you call off sick ("mental health day") and request a ride along with new agency...and let them know after that? May help you be more sure/certain of your decision. Good luck to you!!!

sounds like we are working for the same bad comapny!!

Well, after the events of this week, I turned in my notice and say "Good riddance to bad rubbish." I was given less than 24 hours notice that I'm on call this weekend. I'm sitting here in my jammies, eating breakfast, and procrastinating starting my day. At least the patients I have to see this weekend are pure delights and I love to see them any day. Then to have the whole Bumex issue (see other thread), which I refused to administer based on safety and the pt's history. I think they may can me over that one as a pre-emptive move, which won't hurt me in the least, but they don't have any other field RNs right now, so who knows. I am so over it. The place is so badly run, by two people who don't have any field experience as home health RNs, and they just can't see what they're doing wrong. I just gotta get through the next 2 weeks.

hope the next 2 weeks go by swiftly!!!! we can do anything when we know there is light at the end of the tunnel.

I hope things are better for you in your new job. Sorry you had such a bad experience. Sounds like that agency needs to hire some real home health managers. I've seen the fallout before when an agency tries to hire management from other genres of nursing - it's almost always a miserable disaster. I just don't see how anyone that has not done hands-on home care can possibly have the knowledge and insight to manage something as complex as a HH agency! Best of luck in your new venture!

I agree with all the posts. Sorry, I haven't responded sooner. The new job sounds a lot better than the one with managers who have no HH experience.

Good Luck!!

Well, I officially signed up today. Need to do some computer-based training (how I hate that crap) and then start ride-along next week. Fortunately, I have used their standard forms in a previous agency and won't need much help with those, just have to get to know their process--which so far looks a lot better than what I'm doing now. Thanks for all the good wishes, folks. Greatly appreciated.

I know you've all been waiting anxiously for an update on my situation, LOL. I actually worked out my notice for the old agency, last Friday 1/29 was my last day, and was the only nurse to work out a notice in the time that I've been there. The rest have just up-and-left. It was hard to do, lemme tell ya.

So I go in to the new place Monday morning, totally different atmosphere. Everyone's smiling, "Hi, how are ya, welcome." The nurse I'm riding with is a dream, totally laid back. Shows me the forms, talks to me about the pts we're seeing, and by the end of the day had me start filling out notes. Yesterday I started seeing my case load on my own.

I met the administrator, who turns out to be a fellow survivor of the former McHealth Care agency, she totally gets why I feel like a dog that's been kicked too many times.

My family has noticed that I'm a completely different person, much less stressed, smiling and joking again, almost happy even. I've been home to make dinner every night this week and didn't bring a mountain of paperwork home with me. I have a key to the office so I can go by anytime, I don't have to juggle my route to get there while someone is still there to use the fax machine or whatever.

The bonuses: I have a territory all of my own (other place I was covering 5 counties by myself), I have an LPN for help, the office is less than 1.5 miles from my house, and they're paying me $5k/yr more.

Only negative: the health insurance sucks.

I'm so glad I made the switch.