I was in the chat room last nite and talked to a few people and got some pretty good advice but was trying to still process what would be the best thing for me to do. I am a new grad since May of last year. I began working at a hospital in Sept and they just recently began training me for a Team Leader position, since they do team nursing there. Well, it's been a complete disaster. Their turnover is tremendous, they understaff all the time. They only gave me a two week orientation! Most of my friends are getting 6-12 weeks at their hospitals. Well, on my last nite of orientation something happened and I don't know if I could even go back to work there. I was trying to wait until my six mos and transfer to a hospital within the same system. And if I didn't do that, I wanted to give a two week notice to cover my references. People are telling me that nursing jobs are so abundant that it shouldn't be a big deal but I don't want to burn any bridges. Okay, here's what happened in a nutshell---WARNING! It may contain some graphic material but I may not be able to explain it and the depth of it without going into detail. Sorry if I offend anyone. Okay, I work on a med-surg, post surgical unit. We had a lady come from the ER who was in the process of a miscarriage. She was 17 weeks and her US showed that the baby was in her pelvic/lady partsl area. She came to the ER stating that she felt the "baby was coming out". Okay, so I admit this woman - I'm still on orientation supposedly. First of all, she shouldn't have even been on our floor and second, I should have had someone help me through this mess. Well, I get her admitted, she's comfortable, and then the doc shows up. My preceptor or whatever you want to call her, sends me in with the doc and disappears! At this point, the doc is asking for some gloves and lubrication. And before I know it, she's pulling out this fetus. Oh my gosh, I didn't know what to do. The patient was basically in shock. Then the doc says she needs a clamp and sterile scissors which we don't carry on our floor because we are not an OB floor. We had to call the OB floor, and the house supervisor. In the meantime the doc is waiting like 20 mins to cut the cord....then she asks me for a blanket to wrap the baby in. Hands the baby to me!!! I didn't know what to do. And the patient is right there. She tells me to put the baby in the STORAGE ROOM until the mother decides if she wants to hold, have a burial,.....etc. In the meantime, OB comes down, weighs it, takes footprints, and explains all this stuff we need to do, the forms, etc. the grieving materials for the mom....and that we need to take some polaroids of it. I had a new grad nurse with me who was very brave, thank god. Well, then we were told that if the mother decided to "dispose" of the baby that we would have to put it in saline water. So they gave us the things we needed and left. I know that I may have to deal with things such as this in my career but I feel it was totally wrong for me to be left alone. Now I feel like I'm suffering from PTSD or grief or something like that. I am ready to just leave this place but I want a good reference....or at this point I don't know if I care. I was going to call on Monday and tell them I can't work under these conditions any more, that my license is on the line. Someone here mentioned to me to go get a doc's note saying I can't return to work but then others are saying that may look incompetent when I go to the next place. I need some serious advice before Monday when I have to go back to this place. I don't feel safe here. I have only had two weeks of training and they are throwing me to the wolves.....
