Unprofessional people

[MandySoGreat]

I have been working as a psychiatric LPN for the past 5 years and I love the field however; the people you work with can be very challenging (needless to say). If the workplace does not hold value on professionalism; walk away. I recently picked up a part time job to earn cash for school so I can work towards my RN with less frustration and financial burdens I went through while obtaining my LPN. The place I was working for was located in Kissimmee, Florida. I can tell you from witnessing these things myself; the staff members are dealing with more insecurities, bipolar mood instability, and anxiety then expected and it's beyond a nightmare. The medication room looks like a hurricane walked through it, medications are everywhere in sample packets, and all the MARS are hand written... Let's just say some nurses never learned how to spell or write in kindergarten. I thought I'd go blind trying to make out some of the hand writitng. Expired medications being administered, un-scored tablets cut in half and in quarters to attempt administering the appropriate dosage because they do not have the appropriate dose available. It is scary when you run out of a specific milligram of capsules and the nurse gives the patient more medication than ordered because the doctor ordered 75mg and all you have on hand is 100mg capsules. The nurse just said, "we give what we have" Nurses, if you walk into a place like this and find nurses doing unethical and unsafe things like this leave. As a nurse who cares about what she does and the people I serve I ask that you walk away. No one needs a job this bad or should have to put aside their ethics to keep one. The DON thought I was just complaining and started writing me up when I brought these matters to her attention. I saw a nurse give a patient Buspar when the order said Celexa. When I brought this to the nurse attention as she was dispensing the medication from the bottle she stated, "oh well they all do the same we are out of celexa right now." Instead of writing "not available" on the back of the MARS she was going to give the med anyway. I tried to inform her this is not what's ordered and she then said, "you are new here so back down." I got the hell out of there and I want all good nurses to avoid such a horrible unethical, unsafe, unprofessional place.

[Davey Do]

There is so much I could write about your Post, MandySoGreat, but please allow me to address some highlights:

the staff members are dealing with more insecurities, bipolar mood instability, and anxiety then expected and it's beyond a nightmare.

It is surprising how many People with problems are attracted to this Profession.

Akin to that is something along the lines that Wendy Kraminer conceptualized in her book, I'm Dysfunctional, You're Dysfunctional: One of the most difficult things about finding a good Therapist is to find one that has fewer problems than you do.

Dysfunctional People are everywhere. And we will always have to deal with them.

No one needs a job this bad or should have to put aside their ethics to keep one. The DON thought I was just complaining and started writing me up when I brought these matters to her attention.

Good for you- do not put aside your ethics; Never compromise your priciples.

As you probably very well know, MandySo Great, sometimes the Messenger becomes the Problem, so the real Issues never have to be addressed.

I got the hell out of there

As a Wise Man once said, If the people in the town will not welcome you, go outside the town and shake their dust off of your feet. This will be a warning to them."

One of the most difficult questions we often have after leaving place like this is "What's my responsibility?" Allow your conscience to be your guide. There are Bulldog Agencies out there that will investigate complaints against such Facilities. Chances are, your complaint won't be the first.

However, it's like Edgar Caycee said: "You can't get anyone in more trouble than they can get themselves into".

The Best to you in whatever you decide to do, MandySoGreat.

[Umberlee]

The facility where I work has some pretty serious issues as far as I'm concerned. The med rooms and MARs can end up pretty disorganized but I attribute part of that to working with men (sorry, men) as there are a couple man-childs I work with regularly who do NOT clean up after themselves. Pulled/refused pills just sit in a cup til someone else disposes of them, old papers pile up and are not sorted or shredded, cups and OTCs aren't restocked but are just left for someone else to take care of. It drives me nuts. We do our MARs by hand and there is an epidemic of MARs being done half-assed. Allergy info is hardly ever filled in and even the dates on the MAR are just written in for the first couple days and then someone else has to finish it or it's just left blank. I've griped about the allergy info lacking before but it just hasn't gotten better.

The thing that irks me the most in this entire facility, though, is running out of stuff. Really basic stuff like med cups or routinely used OTCs...or not having supplies that someone needs medically. We don't even have 4x4 gauze here! We just have telfa pads. It's just aggravating and I get tired of of constantly not having something we need. There is apparently no system for keeping on top of that stuff so once we are low or out we are supposed to let one specific office staff know but more often than not everyone thinks someone else has notified her so we are out of stuff for prolonged periods of time.

I'm kind of stuck here because I'm going for my PMHNP and this is the only psych hospital within 4 hours so I'll definitely be here for the long haul.