Urgggggggg!!!!!!!!!!!

Published

Ok....my story...hang in there. I am 21 years old, I am a registered nurse, I graduated last December. I work night shift 7P-7A on a medical- surgical floor. 6 days on and 8 days off. I am house supervisor and charge nurse. House supervisor- no pharmacist (I carry keys to the pharmacy so when someone needs a med not in our medication system I have to call the pharmacist at home and get a code and then meet that person at the pharmacy doors and go look for the med), no purchasing ( I carry keys to purchasing, when a unit is out of gloves, pillows, etc. or a dr needs something then i have to go and get it), no medical records (I carry keys to medical records- when a unit (ER mainly) needs an old record- I have to go and find it), I sometimes have to administer meds to our sleep center patients, and keys to various other departments. I organize code team...and lastly I am th ONLY RN on my unit and I take my own FULL LOAD!!! The other night I had 6 patients because we were short a nurse and It was awful!!!!! Our DON would not come and help us. Our CCU had 3 nurses and 6 patients (only 1 really critical patient) and everyone of them refused to come and help us!!! :banghead: I am so aggravated at the fact that she bribed a nurse to come and help CCU the next day (which means they had 3 nurses) because CCU got one admit!! She doesnt care about night shift at all and treats us like pions!!...getting so tired of it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Specializes in ICU, M/S,Nurse Supervisor, CNS.

I've never heard of a house supervisor taking an assignment on a floor and especially being the charge nurse for that floor as well. I am a bedflow coordinator and this job is busy enough, there would be no way I could work on the floor and do this, plus we also have a nursing supervisor and another set of bedflow coordinators for the other side of the hospital. Although I work day shift, this is the same staffing 24/7. Like everyone else has stated, I think you are in way over your head. The least that hospital needs to do is separate the charge nurse and house supervisor to two different positions.

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There is soooooo much of this going on. They only thing that will stop it I am beginning to think is manditory patient/nurse ratios.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.

Run far and run fast, while you still have your license. As a new grad, I could never accept such an unsafe assignment.

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Last time I checked, the BON holds a nurse responsible for the assignments she accepts. This 21 yr old 8 mo exp nurse CHOSE TO ACCEPT this assignment. I have been asked numerous times in my career to accept an assignment I thought was unsafe, AND I CHOSE TO REFUSE. She HAD TO KNOW she did not have the exp to handle the job.

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Specializes in ER, Medicine.

Wait a minute...

You're a new nurse? Who hasn't been nursing for a full year?

You work six days in a row!!!

You're house supervisor AND Charge nurse?

You run the code team?

You have a full load of patients?

GOOD LORD!

Are you serious?

Wow.

*speechless* :eek::eek::eek:

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Specializes in CVICU, Burns, Trauma, BMT, Infection control.

Get out while the gettings good,they took full advantage of you as a new grad. There is no way that you have the experience to be house supervisor and/or charge nurse while taking pts. If something happens however they(BON,etc) will hold you liable.

Give them 2 weeks or not but find another job and get the experience you need.:twocents:

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You work 6 12s before you get a day off? :eek:

You needed to quit, like yesterday, if you value the license you've worked so hard to get. :twocents:

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Specializes in OB/Neonatal, Med/Surg, Instructor.

Having worked in a small hospital in the south a few years back, this assignment does not surprise me at all. In the rural south where hospitals are few and far between, refusing an assignment is easier said than done, especially for a new grad. IF you choose to stay there out of necessity, you need to have a sitdown with your DON. IF you are truly empowered as the house supervisor then assign all of the patients to the available staff and help them as you can, don't take a team. Good luck!:nurse:

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Wait a minute, are you saying that as a new nurse you are house supervisor??Huh??

What kind of a facility is this, is it a really small hospital or something?

Yes, a new nurse, and house supervisor. Yes, it is a small town hospital

hmmm, a new grad is house supervisor?? are you nuts? it's not a criticism as it's not unheard of for new grads to be naive enough to be talked into unsafe situations, however a few things did come to mind as i read your accounts of that awful night......nurses "refuse" to help another unit in a more accute need?? um as house, you don't ask.....you tell them one of them needs to be pulled to work wherever.

yes...new grad and house supervisor...yes....i was naive when i took the position because they did not explain to me what the job entailed (not even during orientation. I have tried the "demanding the CCU nurses" they call kimberli...our DON and she called me and said "you can handle it":banghead:

Um, no offense, but an experienced nurse wouldn't accept this position with what you've described...it sounds like you're being taken advantage of because you're so new...how big is this hospital?

it is a small hospital, and i did not know what the job entailed

I've seen many nurses who do not have the experience or any business accepting a charge nurse or house supervisor position take it.

In my opinion, you got what you deserved by not having the integrity to turn down these positions KNOWING you were not ready to do them. And when you lose your license, you will have gotten what you deserved.

You know, this is a site for encouragement...you need to find a place else where to debate.

Last time I checked, the BON holds a nurse responsible for the assignments she accepts. This 21 yr old 8 mo exp nurse CHOSE TO ACCEPT this assignment. I have been asked numerous times in my career to accept an assignment I thought was unsafe, AND I CHOSE TO REFUSE. She HAD TO KNOW she did not have the exp to handle the job.

Once again, I did not know what the job entailed.

Wait a minute...

You're a new nurse? Who hasn't been nursing for a full year?

You work six days in a row!!!

You're house supervisor AND Charge nurse?

You run the code team?

You have a full load of patients?

GOOD LORD!

Are you serious?

Wow.

*speechless* :eek::eek::eek:

yes...a new nurse...not even a year :banghead:

i work 6 12hour shifts and then I am off 8

I am house supervisor and charge nurse

I manage code team

and finally yes....i do have a full load of patients

I didnt know what i was getting myself into :devil:

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Having worked in a small hospital in the south a few years back, this assignment does not surprise me at all. In the rural south where hospitals are few and far between, refusing an assignment is easier said than done, especially for a new grad. IF you choose to stay there out of necessity, you need to have a sitdown with your DON. IF you are truly empowered as the house supervisor then assign all of the patients to the available staff and help them as you can, don't take a team. Good luck!:nurse:

someone who understands!!! yay :yeah: i have tried sitting down with her and she just says you can handle it ( I have heard that phrase so much) it is just frustrating because i dont want to job hop my first year of nursing and i am getting married in december and have saved up my vacation time....urggghhhh.....frustrated :banghead:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
I've seen many nurses who do not have the experience or any business accepting a charge nurse or house supervisor position take it.

In my opinion, you got what you deserved by not having the integrity to turn down these positions KNOWING you were not ready to do them. And when you lose your license, you will have gotten what you deserved.

Ill. I love this site, but when I see rude people making unsupportive/unconstructive comments like this it infuriates me. How can you say she has no integrity? She deserves to lose her license? lol.

You seem rude and judgemental--definitely not traits that are desirable in a good nurse. Hmph!

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hmmm, a new grad is house supervisor?? are you nuts? it's not a criticism as it's not unheard of for new grads to be naive enough to be talked into unsafe situations, however a few things did come to mind as i read your accounts of that awful night......nurses "refuse" to help another unit in a more accute need?? um as house, you don't ask.....you tell them one of them needs to be pulled to work wherever. it's admirable that you took an assignment to help fill a need but how did you think you'd do a good job while being pulled off the floor to several hundred times a night to go fetch? i'd have a serious conversation with the DON and get in writing the guidelines to such situations for future reference. it's your butt ultimately, your license ultimately. if the DON won't help, he'd be getting calls about every hour informing him of the needs of the hospital....if you aren't sleeping......why should he?? :smokin:

Suppose she does issue an order and it is refused. She then can order the insubordinate nurse to leave, which the nurse probably won't go. And if the nurse does actually leave, the facility will be that much shorter-staffed and OP's boss will likely punish or fire her for sending home an insubordinate nurse. She's through the looking glass, where up is down and good is bad.

For OP: they are taking advantage of your youth and inexperience. I bet they aren't even paying you anything extra to perform the "House sup" duties, in addition to taking a full assignment. You have learned a hard lesson. Now either step down from house supervision or from charge nursing, one of the 2. You can't do both and live to tell about it too long. I guarantee you the older, more experienced nurses are laughing and that they don't want to be bothered running to pharmacy, central supply, the linen room, the sleep center, wherever on God's creation. They want to take care of their 2 CCU patients and that's it. They won't even help you on the floor. Can't say I really blame them, BTW, because, if they do it once, they will have to do it next time, too.

I am terrified of ever being a patient after reading stuff like this, how wonderful young people are brutalized into reality awareness in our wonderful profession.

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