Venting - First post

Hi all! I have been reading posts off and on at allnurses and finally decided to become a member. This is my first post so I know it should probably be more positive than it is going to be, so thanks for bearing with me through this vent. Suggestions/constructive criticism and support are all welcomed.

I have worked in LTC for almost 5 years now. Over the past year we got new management and things have been sliding downward. As things stand now, there are 4 full time nurses - one on each shift with 2 being on 2nd shift. The rest of us, including myself, have just recently started PRN or went PRN at the beginning of the year because we are all burnt out.

The first shift supervisor left within months of management changing. A new shift supervisor was just hired and is already burnt out. Our DON's last day is the end of this week.

Initially, when things started getting bad and going downward, several of us went over to HR and talked to the director. That was supposed to be confidential. Apparently the administrator was told who went over to HR and had a meeting about it to say "Changes are difficult - no one needs to go over to HR." The director of HR who half a dozen of us had gone to go see was sitting right next to him during this meeting (this occurred almost 6 months ago) and didn't say anything. We were told by the HR director everything was to be kept confidential. The administrator concluded with saying "If anyone else wants to go to HR, let me know and I will gladly hold your hand and walk across the street with you." Nothing was said by the HR director.

Without going into too much detail, the new administrator is a bully. That is why the DON is leaving. Our facility used to be up at the top of the facilities in our area. Now, because everyone is jumping ship, we are getting a bad reputation.

Night shift has 2 nurses. That is 1 nurse for 40 plus patients. Night shift has had to stay over several times because there is no one on day shift to take keys. They are exhausted, but told "you don't have a choice. there is no one to take keys from you so you need to stay and start the med pass on one of the halls until someone does get there" meaning the DON (who is leaving soon) and/or the 1st shift supervisor, who is getting burnt out of there being no coverage every.single.day. The DON didn't/doesn't have time to even interview people because she is on a hall passing meds because we are so short staffed.

HR is aware of all of this. The director of HR sees the changes. The HR reps that handle our PRN requests are saying "what is going on over there? Is everyone going PRN? They can't find anyone to work over there anymore?" but nothing is being done. Not that I have seen. Not that the DON has seen.

Today, for example, there are 6 admissions in the entire facility. Short staffed. The RN's that are there have to handle admissions. There is no where else to pull from.

I write this novel to say I know I need to go. I am so burnt out - so burnt to a crisp - that on my days off I am so exhausted that it makes me question if I even want to continue nursing. It is "just me" that I support but I know going into customer care/administrative work won't cure what ails me. I am just so sad about all of this. Sad to see so many hard workers trying to push this rock uphill to help residents that are there and just getting so burnt out that we don't know which end is up.

Maybe someone reading this will be able to pull some threads of knowledge out of this. I'm glad I am PRN now. It's been a saving grace. But I worked hard to become a nurse and I don't want a "bully" to win - but I am really burnt out on nursing. Thank you for listening to me. I promise my future posts won't be this long. XOXO