Undecided... and need moral support

Nurses New Nurse

Published

I know from reading the posts I am not the only person in the world to feel this way. I just need to vent some where and I hope you don't mind me venting here. With that said here is the story in a nutshell.

I am a paramedic to RN new grad. Passed Nclex on Dec 31, 2008. I was offered a Job at the place where I did my preceptorship. I had worked there previously as a unit secretary several years ago, and I still know some of the people working there, so I thought this would be a good place to start my career as a RN. Now the big Issue when I was hired I was asked my the unit manager what my biggest fear was about being a nurse. I told her this and I quote " to be left alone with a floor full of patients and me the only RN" (this is a med surge position and we have 40 beds on the floor and all of them full right now with the overflow from ICU.)

Day 1 of orientation:

RN #1 calls in sick, leaves RN#2 and me to cover the entire floor together.

at 10 am RN#2 childs school calls and her child has ruptured her eardrum and is screaming at the top of her lungs she needs to leave.

Leaves me with the ENTIRE FLOOR...??? now I call down to Nurse manager and she is in a meeting and tells me to handle it for about an hour until she gets there... HANDLE WHAT ??? I don't know WHAT I am handling yet.. In the mean time I get critical labs for H&H on 2 patients one 6hr post op surgical pt. the other a lower GI Bleed. Call and fax results to MD and get orders for BLOOD.. ON 2 patients at one time. Still keeping my cool, and medicating all the IV pushes to the rest of the floor, I ask one of the Case managers for assistance (she is a RN) and her response was "sorry you will have to handle it, I don't do meds or blood anymore." ??? OK whatever. This is just an example of Day one.. I was there until 9:30pm. And yes the unit manager finally came to the floor AFTER HER LUNCH for a few hours then had another meeting and left again for about 3 hours... she said I was doing a great JOb.. I know she lied cause how the heck could I be I didn't know the paperwork or what needed to be done in that aspect I just gave blood and pushed IV meds.

Day 2 orientation:

RN#1 calls in again, but RN#2 stayed all day a little better but I was responsible for 10 patients. but at least I had someone to ask questions of..

Day 3 get a message I am off orientation for the weekend because they really needed a 2nd RN and not an orientee???

Day 4 same as Day 3 and by now I have a patient load of 20+ patients, to assess and give IV pushes to among other things, and a NEW LPN and a LPN who has 2 months behind her. and RN #1 today has been an RN for 5 months, so between us we had 6 months exp as RN's. I feel real confident now.:bugeyes:

Day 5 back on orientation...:o wait sorry RN#2 has to go to another unit to help them. On my own again.

Day 6 back on orientation..:bowingpur I only had 10 patients this night.

Day 7 Phone call from nurse manager... "YOU ARE OFFICIALLY OFF ORIENTATION":yeah::down: not what I wanted to hear.. I voiced my concerns and was told that due to my paramedic exp (11 yrs) that I was way more advanced and progressed faster than a new grad... (then why didn't the salary reflect that) I was started with a new grad salary, stated it didn't apply to salary...:angryfire

SO I am good enough to take of orientation officially after 7 days due to my medic exp. but not good enough to be paid like a nurse with exp. SO SORRY I don't buy that.:angryfire:angryfire:angryfire

I feel like I have been pushed to the wolves.. not to mention the RN in ICU who told me when I asked if this was normal for this facility, told me and again I qoute "you just need to get you some prozac or zoloft and you will be OK!" I told her their was a difference in being "DEPRESSED" AND "******" just because they ended in "SSED" did not mean they meant the same thing.

I know this was long but thanks for letting me vent, I am really considering leaving now and getting a different position. I have a part time position at another facility and would love for it to be full time but they don't have the openings and well gotta pay those student loans somehow!!:twocents:

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As exciting as this may all be, especially for a paramedic such as yourself - GET OUT. You're putting your license on the line. Guaranteed if something happened the administration would not back you up.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

tj,

Wow, what a terrible experience for you. I would advise you not just to quit - but to take some additional steps. I get the feeling from your post that you have a pretty strong moral center - and that you actually want to help fix this problem if you can (because you have a responsibility to the patients) instead of just escaping to another job.

I would suggest that you go talk to the Chief Nurse Exec, but they are usually not very approachable, so make an appointment with your HR employee representative - they are called by different names, but this is the person that you go to when you have problems with your manager. Tell him/her exactly what you have outlined here. Be sure to mention that you are finding the workplace a "hostile environment" - this will usually trigger a strong HR response because they don't want to get sued or have to deal with your claim of disability due to stress.

If that doesn't work, call your organization's "hot line" for integrity problems. Every health care organization has to have one - Federal requirement - for reporting Integrity issues. However, "integrity" doesn't just mean HIPAA or Fraud & Abuse -- it also means problems with patient safety & quality. So use it. You can remain anonymous if you want to, but the process is more effective if you don't. The line is usually managed by an outside agency & they forward the calls to the right person in your company. Once the call is recorded, it MUST be addressed.

If you still aren't getting any satisfactory responses - complain to your state hospital licensing board &/or CMS. At this point, you better be prepared to quit and go to another job.

Be courageous! You are NURSE!!

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Thanks for the suggestions, I will take them with much thought. After I posted I was called by the nursing educator and asked if I could come and Teach ACLS and PALS for them that the state inspectors were due any day now and they had some nurses that were "not quite up to date" and needed a class really quick, and while I was at it could I update everyone who needed CPR at the same time... Gee I thought.... Now just who would have done this had I not been employed there? Well I found out our nurse manager quit and refused to do any more classes, her last day is the 28th. Wonder WHY?

I respectfully declined and told them that I coordinated under the local community college and I rarely taught off campus due to the responsibility of the equipment. She said that I needed more pride in my employer and that I needed to help out my fellow employee's more... WHAT!!

I am just at my wits end and I have only been there 2 weeks. I don't think I have ever had this much bothering me at one time; not even while I was at nursing school.

I am determined to make it work one way or the other... not sure how :) but I feel like everyone else is jumping ship and well quite frankly, this is my hometown hospital that my parents go to and so do the rest of my family. If I stay at least I can make sure they are taken care of and not just someones number...eventually the RIGHT ones will leave and maybe we will get some in the right positions that know how to handle the situation.

tj

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good luck sticking with it and trying to make your hometown hospital a better place =) I'd have already high-tailed it out of there, so I respect you for trying...haha

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Specializes in ICU/CCU, Home Health/Hospice, Cath Lab,.

First the moral support: You've chosen a hard road to make things better for your hometown and the people you grew up with. I truly hope you can help.

Now the realist in me: Getting the right people in will not do anything unless the structure of your hospital is changed. 2 RN's for 40 people? That is insane. Someone getting floated off to help another unit so an orientee has to take 20 patients? Even more insane. How do you expect enough good people are going to stick around with numbers like that?

And realistically how do you expect to provide good care to your family if they should ever be admitted there? On a "good" day you have 19 other people to watch and give meds to. Someone could go south right after you leave a room and you would never know since you have so many other patients to see.

To truly change the care given there you have to change administration's staffing practice which is going to be very difficult as long as people continue to come to work in such conditions. Your comment about the experience level of your colleagues is telling - RN 1 = 5 months, You = brand new, LPN 1 = 2 months, LPN 2 = brand new. And this is on dayshift which is one of the more desirable shifts. It says they can't get or keep experienced people. How can you learn in such an environment?

I think if you truly wanted to make a difference there - i would organize all the nurses and aides and walk out. Make them hire travelers to staff the place. Most companies would charge over a $100/hr to work there. Hopefully sooner rather than later they would see it would be cheaper to hire more staff. 40 patients should be at minimum 7 RN's with assistance.

I really want to be supportative of your decision but I truly think it is a bad idea both for you and the patients. That staffing goes beyond unsafe - it is downright dangerous!

My somewhat blunt opinion,

Pat

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I agree with patwil73! The management of you hospital is clearly in need of some serious restructuring, and unless you have support behind you, I don't think one new grad's voice will make much difference. I'm amazed there haven't been serious mistakes made with those insane ratios. I admire you for wanting to change things, but I think the best thing to do would be to report them to JHACO, or contact your state nursing association or dept of health, or your local nurses union or somebody before someone in your community gets killed. Seriously - document everything that's happened so far and get help! Good Luck, and I hope you are able to open peoples eyes to the terribly unsafe staffing and management policies at your hospital.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Ortho.

I would document the original post and send it to your employer in a letter

of resignation. Don't put your license on the line. That was ridiculous what

they did to you, un-called for! It just ticks me off. I have a great

employer, they back me up so good. They wouldn't dare put me in situations

as these you describe. Please, take care!

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I agree with patwil73! The management of you hospital is clearly in need of some serious restructuring, and unless you have support behind you, I don't think one new grad's voice will make much difference. I'm amazed there haven't been serious mistakes made with those insane ratios. I admire you for wanting to change things, but I think the best thing to do would be to report them to JHACO, or contact your state nursing association or dept of health, or your local nurses union or somebody before someone in your community gets killed. Seriously - document everything that's happened so far and get help! Good Luck, and I hope you are able to open peoples eyes to the terribly unsafe staffing and management policies at your hospital.

I have looked into it.. we are not JHACO accredited... I asked about the patient to nurse ratio and I was told that an LPN was to have max 11 patients, and the RN's up to 20 .. because the LPN's pass meds, but we are still resp. for all the assessments and IV meds, and any other issues that come up. I guess I am wanting things I don't think will ever happen because they have an endless supply of student nurses who do clinicals during the day thanks to the local college teaching LPN and RN. But I am on night shift now and we don't have the help they do on days.

I did document everything and went to my HR and clinical coordinator. They said they would look into it and get back to me.. I am still waiting.. in the meantime I am also job hunting for a full time pos. I have a part time pos with adolescent and I am falling in love with it, they just don't have a full time opening.

Thanks for all the support and kind words of wisdom. I knew I could come here and get moral support.

Tammy

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I am working with adolescent psych. part time.... sorry left that part out.

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Specializes in behavioral health.

I think this is going on because 'it could'. If you were an average RN newbie, this would not have happened. There would have been a house supervisor making sure someone was found to come in. Does your workplace have a float pool? I'm sorry that you were taken advantage of.

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