Wanting to quit new LTC job

[needhelppp]

I need advice on what to do. I'm a new grad LVN and just got my first job at a LTC facility. This facility is not one of the good ones as far as I can tell but I was desperate and needed a job because I have bills and so on. I'm on my fifth day of "orientation" but I've technically been working the floor alone the last two days of my orientation while the nurse I'm supposed to be shadowing sits at the nursing station and does nothing. I do not feel comfortable enough being left alone and feel like I need more training. Not to mention that I've already been mocked/made fun of by some of the CNAs and other nurses here. No one seems to want to help, when I ask a question it always seems to go unnoticed or ignored and I have to really just figure everything out on my own and hope I'm doing it right. Long story short, I want to quit and I have an interview somewhere that's not LTC in about a week but I don't think I can handle working on my own before my interview comes up. What do y'all think I should do? I know the smart thing to do is continue working until I get a new job but I just feel scared about what might happened to my license and also my sanity if I have to wait that long.

[Alex Egan, LPN, EMT-B]

So. I want you to search first job and seee how many people feel loved and supported at the first job they find. Bet you can't find three. This is for two main reasons.

1. Places that hire new grads are in severe need.

2. You do not even know what you don't know about nursing.

You're supposed to feel this way. This is what nursing feels like when you're new. You will be overwhelmed, you will feel anxiety. You will make mistakes. Did you think nursing school was hard? Well that's the hill you climb to get to base camp for the Mount Everest that is your first year.

I know how much this sucks I did it twice, once as an EMT, again as an LPN. I'm in school to do it again once I get my RN. I'm also sorry to report that it never gets easier. In my 10 years as an LPN I have moved specialities 3 times and each time repeated the cycle of overwhelming anxiety, simple mistakes, and feeling inadequate. It does get better, and eventually what was new and scary is routine.

Now. Let me bounce the ball back to you. If you're not getting a good orientation, it won't come to you, go get it. Walk to the desk and ask a million questions. Use phrases like "I need help" "I don't understand" "please show me" if you don't get an answer make a note and call or email a supervisor until you get an answer. Also study P&P, and any work aids they have around. It sucks if the unit staff aren't supportive. It makes a bad job horrible, I understand. Try and keep you're head down and focus on doing your job, the love will come with time. Exactly what might happen to your license? I promise what they told you in school isn't correct nurses are not getting their licenses yanked for every little mistake. (Are you making up orders? Not keeping count of the narcs or custody of the keys? Ignoring declining patents? Do you leave the unit unattended for long periods of time? Showing up to work drunk? Because those are things that actually can harm your license)

Let me not stop you from spring-boarding off your first crappy job into a better one. If that opportunity comes up take it. However the job you have is worth way more then the job you want. And rapid quitting jobs is a red flag that you can't stick it out. My advice? Keep applying, keep trying, and eventually you'll get there one way or another.