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Hello! I've recently started working at a LTC facility as a new grad LPN for about a month or so. We work 12 hour shifts, and most of the time, I work mornings, but I decided to try out night shifts a few days ago. A little background about the facility, it has a very high rate of turnover and I was made aware of that before I started working there. What I wasn't aware of was just how demanding and unorganized the facility is on a daily basis. There are two nurses on the floor, one on each station, with a census of about 45 residents. One station specializes in skilled residents, while the other is LTC residents. In a typical work week, I as a full-time employee will work 3 days a week, and get the other 4 days off. However, in those 4 days that I should be able to rest and decompress, I'll get calls and texts from the staffing coordinator, asking me to come in and work shifts that other nurses have called off. During my first few weeks, I was averaging 80 hours per week, and I was starting to feel extreme fatigue. As a new employee, I didn't feel like I had the right to say no, that is the way the facility makes me feel. Recently I've become more willing to say no and refuse extra shifts, and just a few days ago, I was asked to work a night shift, to which I agreed. About an hour into the shift, the nurse on the other station comes to me and tells me that he will be leaving after he finishes passing his 11 PM medications. This is the first that I'm hearing of this, so I called the staffing coordinator. I was met with an answer of "don't worry, he'll pass the night meds." During our entire 10 minute conversation, the staffing coordinator managed to avoid answering my question of "why wasn't I made aware that I would be the only nurse in the building, taking care of 45 patients." Not only was the nurse's early departure pre-planned, but the staffing coordinator was very much aware of it when she asked me to work the night shift. I had no warning of any kind, and I was basically forced to take report from the other nurse, who then proceeded to skip his way out the door. So there I am, a new grad and a new employee, pitch black nighttime with two aides and 45 patients. I was quite honestly scared, because some of the residents were high fall risks, and I had no one there to turn to if I needed help. The aides were helpful as much as they could be, but with several residents to themselves, they had their hands full. A few of the high fall risks were also dementia residents who tended to wander at night. Somehow, I managed to get through the night and I passed meds to all 45 patients, which was like it's own circle of Dante's Inferno. After all was said and done, I contacted the DON, because I was not comfortable with how the night had gone down. I ended up calling and texting the DON eight times, and every single attempt was ignored. It made me feel like she was basically condoning what had been done and I felt that I had no one who would stick up for me as a nurse. My question to you guys is this; am I being a crybaby about this situation and do I just need to suck it up and roll with the punches? Or was this an unsafe situation for both me and the residents that I took care of that night? From what I've come to understand about this facility, this same situation has happened to several nurses before me, and the administration and the DON have done nothing to fix the problem. I'm still working at this facility, but I am considering terminating my contract with them, because I find myself feeling a sense of dread every time I drive to work and every time I get a call or text, because the staffing coordinator continues to badger me about working extra shifts.