Weird Job Shadowing Experience

[SookieBSN]

So I am still fairly new to AN, so if I do something wrong please let me know what it is and how to fix it.

So I have been looking for a nursing position for approximately 10 months. In the past 10 months I have had some of the oddest interview and job shadow experiences. For example....about three weeks ago, I interviewed for a PACU position at a small ASC on a Wednesday. She invited me to job shadow for the next two days. The first day went really well. I felt very comfortable with the position and really thought the job would be a good fit for me. The next day, Friday, I show up to job shadow to discover that I am the only nurse on for that day. So I am the it girl for pre-op, OR, and the PACU. We only had two procedures with one surgeon, so not a bad day. We finished up around 3:00 pm and since I was asked to shadow until 7:00 pm, I asked the nurse manager how else I could help. I was asked to organize a storage closet. Odd I thought, but went along with it. Maybe she wants to see how I "think outside the box." In the storage closet, behind boxes of toilet paper and old charts, there were boxes and boxes of expired fentanyl, propofol, dilaudid, brevital....It was insane. So I finish up organizing the closet (it's a little after 7:00 by this time) and I tell the nurse manager I was finished. I bring up my "little discovery" and ask if she needs help disposing of the controlled substances (which would have taken hours if we had to dump them all down the drain.) She smiles, says that I did good work, and says she will call me to let me know if I have been selected for the position. Needless to say, despite a thank-you note and two follow-up e-mails and one follow-up phone call I have not heard back from this job.

So was I just completely used because she had no one else to work that day? Has anyone else had a weird interview or job shadow experience?

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Reading your first post, and now this... I must conclude you are pulling our leg.

Especially when you describe yourself as male on your homepage, and refer to yourself as the "go to girl" in your "story".

Perhaps, getting a life would be in order.

[SookieBSN]

Did I refer to myself as a male? Can you tell me where so I can fix it? I looked on the homepage and couldn't find it. You are absolutely right, I do need to get a life. What I really need is a job, but that is taking a little longer than I expected. No, but really, I've had some really odd experiences these past few months and I'm really not sure why. Those were the two weirdest ones. My husband claims it is because I am applying to jobs advertised by craigslist that are anonymous. I know I should have just walked out of that ASC, but I think I am getting so desperate for a job that I tried to stick it out. I have an interview with a urology group tomorrow. Hope nothing weird happens!

[SookieBSN]

Found it! I changed my profile. Thanks for pointing that out.

[dah doh, BSN, RN]

Job shadowing should be just that...shadowing another nurse; not you doing the job by yourself! You don't work there so you aren't covered by the employer if something should happen!

They kept the expired meds in a closet with the toilet paper? Geez! Run away!!!

Don't be that desperate for a job that you work in an unsafe work environment! It could cost you your hard earned license!

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

Job shadowing should be just that...shadowing another nurse; not you doing the job by yourself! You don't work there so you aren't covered by the employer if something should happen!

Yeah, if there wasn't a nurse for me to shadow I would've left. I hope you have malpractice insurance.

[dah doh, BSN, RN]

You're fast! I had to save to go back & read the other part of your message...so I edited 😁

[OrganizedChaos, LVN]

You're fast! I had to save to go back & read the other part of your message...so I edited 😁

Lol. My fingers are like lightening!

[Altra, BSN, RN]

So.

A nurse with 14 years of experience is looking for jobs on Craigslist.

A nurse with 14 years of experience doesn't blink when s/he arrives for a job shadow day and finds ... no nurse to shadow. Instead, s/he *volunteers* to work, apparently, as pre-op, scrub, circulator, and PACU nurse.

Nurse continues the day by being directed to reorganize a specific storage area, in which there happen to be a large quantity of unsecured controlled drugs. (bonus points - nurse notices that the drugs are expired)

And we're supposed to buy this story.

Considering taking a break from AN, and doing something I've never done - watching Maury Povich/Jerry Springer/whoever else is on the air. The stories might be less outlandish, and insult my intelligence less.

[Momma1RN, MSN, RN, APRN]

Wait...what?

[SookieBSN]

Okay, so your job as a "Guide" is what?

Yes, I have been out of the "hospital setting" for over two years. Therefore, I have found it very difficult to get a position in a hospital despite six years in a NICU.

Due to present circumstances, I am looking for a day shift, weekday position. This generally limits me to an office nursing position. In the area I live, I have found most office job positions are listed on craigslist and/or indeed.com. This may/may not be the right place for me to look.

My operative experience was in the NICU. The operative procedures I assisted with were at the bedside. My duties during these procedures were mainly to obtain instruments needed and to recover my patient. The nurse manager was aware this was the totality of my PACU experience.

I did not "volunteer" to work. I walked into a situation I felt was an on-the-job interview and did my best to "impress" the person hiring. Retrospectively, I should have left. For some reason, I felt bad that they would have to cancel the two procedures. Plus, multiple other employees at the facility (ST, doctor/owner, and nurse manager) promised they wouldn't let me drown.

I was in the storage closet for close to four hours. I was in the process of organizing the meds from oldest to newest when I noticed they were expired.

I'm sitting here trying to figure out why I am justifying this to you.

Does it make you feel better about yourself that you have to tear down someone that needs to look on craigslist for a job? Would you rather I sit on my butt all day and collect welfare? If you don't like the thread, and don't have anything positive or constructive to say, move on!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I would think that a shadowing experience that doesn't involve a nurse to shadow is a situation that no one should ever take part in. I would never have stayed in the facility under the circumstances you described nor would I ever work for them. Patient care as a non-eomployee is nothing but a liability. With 14 years of experience (and even with no experience other than nursing school clinicals), any person should recognize that this is not an okay situation.