When I was in nursing school two years ago I posted on here with a different account and got a few good responses and a few funky ones that made me wonder. I am currently a little confused and worried about my career.
For starters nursing is not my first career. I am in my early 40s. In approximately 2 years I currently on my fifth job. I am also struggling with nurse practitioner school. Also, like some other people I got other things in my personal life outside of work I am struggling to overcome. So it happened like this.
Right out of nursing school I got a job in a small hospital back in my hometown. The hospital didn't have a good reputation at all. I was a new grad working in the ER. It was overwhelming and I felt disrespected by my coworkers, unwelcomed, and that the chain of command was disfunctional. One day at work my preceptor said some really-things to me and I finished the shift never went back. So I worked there approx 2 months.
I then got hired at a large hospital a level 2 trauma hospital as a cardiac telemetry nurse. It was very hectic and face paced. I noticed the CNAs were very manipulative and lazy.I was there for appox 6 months I thought moving to a large booming city would be a good career move and I got into NP school shortly aftermoving to the BIG city.
In the legitimately big city the unit I was on was non tele. The patients primarily needed/ wanted pain and nausea medicine and charting was much more micromanged.Things there didnt go as I had hoped but I stayed employed there for a year. I thought I left on good terms.
I went back to my previous hospital with the lazy CNAS. The unit had changed and I was 6-1 at nights with close to 30 beds and 2 CNAs and codes were a daily thing. I felt bullied and spoke up about it. The behavior didn't change. I was failing one of my classes in NP school and took a leave of absence. My personal life was also suffering and one night when census was low and my preceptor started in on me. I politely said I was going home. I had already texted my manager but got no response one hour previous to experiencing some negative attitude. I clocked out and went home. The wheels of justice turned for a few days. I had interviews at other places lined up and thought the hospital would side with me since lateral violence is a hot topic. NOPE. I was fired.
One week later I am on the pay clock for a home health private duty comapny learning a couple new skill sets and patient age group. The pay is better, but no PTO, and the commute is very long.
NP school cranks back up in Janurary and I got a few questions I would love some feedback from you guys on... MY old manager in the big city wont give me a recomendation I discovered...why I really don't know and my last manager fired me, so how do I go about getting back into hospital work if I wanted too? Home health might be a better fit for me... I don't know.
5 jobs in two year? Does that make me a bad hire? I kinda think yes, but nursing in hospitals is a GRIND.Everyone says be honest about your work HX, but I think it best to not mention anything about the hospital I was fired from. What do you guys think? I hope to hear from some of yall. This is rather troublesome since I have to find clinical placement soon for NP clinicals, and its the holidays.Hope some one can relate and exchange posts with me.
Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.
Things are good at my new job. Just got done with 5 12s. I sure don't seem to have a problem finding work.Personally I think the true issue that I am a very strong and powerful man that commands respect and has a powerful presence. A young Donald Trump on steroids if you will. It drives the man haters and cuckolds in the hospitals insane. I will ride out this job tell NP clinicals and when I finish I will acquire the means for providing the lifestyle I was born into, rather ashamed it has taken so long to get there.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Thank you for all of the feedback.I was just trying to get the information out there and see what type of responses I would get. Thank you again. I would like to point out that when I walked out census was low we were staffed 4-1 and 5-1 and had a free charge and my "preceptor" could have take my pts or divided them up amongst the lazy free charge, her, and the other nurses. It was a re-occuring problem with this nurse and prescedent had been set in a previous situation...but I would like to be real clear that I would never just leave sick pts to fend for themselves. Also I don't but into this slave mentality I am seeing in the workplace and on the internet. I deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, I also shouldn't be worked into an early grave. You don't screw people out of the opportunity to feed, clothe, and provide shelter for themselves, and then turn around and think to yourself what a wonderful person you are, or maybe you do. I am in my middle aged years now. In two years I dont think I will be able to run the floors like I could a few weeks ago and certainly not like a semi fit 20 something year old. So I am on my 5th job in 2 years. Yeah that does look bad... For now the plan is to get through a couple more semesters of NP school and start clinicals. How do you think my work history will affect my ability to find clinical placement? Again thank you so much for yalls opinions. Hope to hear more from yall.
You walked out on two jobs without notice, and once in the midst of a shift, because you didn't like what someone said to you. Five jobs in two years. And you have nothing to say but negatives about all five jobs and your co-workers.
I'm thinking that the common denominator here is you.
Yes, you may find it difficult to find a clinical placement; and you may find it difficult to be hired as an NP unless some manager out there fails to do her due diligence and overlooks your employment history. I agree with the person who told you to stay where you are for a couple of years to rehabilitate your employment history a bit.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
It's standard practice in academia and professional settings to simply advise an individual that you can't be reference for them if you feel you can't give them a good reference. Most people consider it bad behavior to agree to be a reference for someone when you know that you're going to (have to) say negative things about them if asked. We all know that there's a lot more to being a good, desirable employee than just showing up on time, not calling off sick, and not getting into enough trouble to get a formal write-up. I'm sure that the previous manager declined to serve as a reference because s/he felt that s/he couldn't say anything particularly positive about the OP as an employee.
And the OP should be grateful that she declined to serve as a reference rather than agreed and then wrote a poor reference.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
things are good at my new job. Just got done with 5 12s. I sure don't seem to have a problem finding work.personally i think the true issue that i am a very strong and powerful man that commands respect and has a powerful presence. A young donald trump on steroids if you will. It drives the man haters and cuckolds in the hospitals insane. I will ride out this job tell np clinicals and when i finish i will acquire the means for providing the lifestyle i was born into, rather ashamed it has taken so long to get there.
Specializes in Psych, Corrections, Med-Surg, Ambulatory.
Things are good at my new job. Just got done with 5 12s. I sure don't seem to have a problem finding work.Personally I think the true issue that I am a very strong and powerful man that commands respect and has a powerful presence. A young Donald Trump on steroids if you will. It drives the man haters and cuckolds in the hospitals insane. I will ride out this job tell NP clinicals and when I finish I will acquire the means for providing the lifestyle I was born into, rather ashamed it has taken so long to get there.
Cuckold? Isn't that a husband who is being cheated on?
I don't know where to begin. To start with, nursing requires an extremely high BS tolerance. Yours seems really low. Unfriendly coworkers? Lazy aides? Incompetent managers? Welcome to the club.
"Preceptor started in"? What exactly does that mean? Your preceptor probably believed he/she was giving you appropriate feedback. What was so bad about it that you felt the need to walk out in the middle of a shift? Was there nothing that you could use?
I get that you've had some bad jobs with rough working conditions. As a new grad, it can be really hard to sort out whether the job is that bad or you just haven't hit your nurse stride yet. But as we keep saying here on AN, the common denominator in all this is you.
You might have to do some soul-searching to decide if nursing really is for you. A lot of the crap you described is pretty much what the work entails. I've had some pretty stellar jobs, and some I had to run away from screaming. (But not literally.) But I always gave every job my all; I always sucked up feedback when I was new, and made it my mission to prove myself. I always left every job on good terms: gave and worked my notice (sometimes the longest 2 weeks of my life) and didn't give them attitude on my way out the door (but it was tempting).
I think if I was in your shoes now I would focus on career damage repair, if you even decide nursing is still for you. That means put grad school on hold. Find a job in a crappy place that's desperate for warm bodies. Suck it up with a smile on your face for at least a year. Re-evaluate at that point. Give proper notice before you quit and work it through. Or just decide that life is too short and nursing isn't worth the aggravation. Your call. Good luck.
OP...with 35 years experience, I say follow this advice given. I have too many questions to answer you well, except that leaving in the middle of a shift without permission is NEVER a good thing. I assume since you mentioned a preceptor, that the patients were covered? I hope so, because that is patient abandonment....Definately a wrong move.
I understand how difficult it may be to be treated badly, but there are not enough details in your story to make a judgement on if that in deed, would justify your leaving abruptly. As far as your other position where the manager will not give you a reference, that puts up a huge red flag. It may be possible that you have had very bad luck with being treated poorly in several jobs, but you have to know, that nursing comes with tremendous responsibility. You cannot just up and leave when things get tough. If you have trouble tolerating what comes with the work, then quite possibly, this profession is not for you.
On the other hand, if your personal life problems have contributed to your intolerance, and you believe that once these problems are taken care of, that you can function better, then give it a try. Only you can know this answer.
That word means a guy who uh..likes to watch his partner "be with" another person.
Since when? I've heard the word all my life, and it has always meant what TriciaJ posted. When I Googled the definition just now, that's what came up on multiple sites. A man whose wife is cheating on him. I did think the OP's use of the term was pretty odd.
I can't believe the OP got away with posting that!
That word means a guy who uh..likes to watch his partner "be with" another person.
That definition is hinted at in the urban dictionary, but the traditional definition of that word is simply that it's a person whose wife is an adulterer, not one who is okay with it, and certainly not one who enjoys watching it happen. Traditionally, the cuckold is ashamed of this and feels he has been emasculated by his wife's behavior.
Things are good at my new job. Just got done with 5 12s. I sure don't seem to have a problem finding work.
Then why did you just post yesterday that you are looking to leave that job too? You were asking the same questions you got answers to here, so I don't know what you'd learn that would be different than what everyone has already told you.
Personally I think the true issue that I am a very strong and powerful man that commands respect and has a powerful presence. A young Donald Trump on steroids if you will. It drives the man haters and cuckolds in the hospitals insane.
This is strange and borders on the fantastical. If you really believe this is the true issue as to why you can't maintain employment, that it's your physical presence that makes you unsuccessful so far in keeping jobs in nursing, how do you see things changing for you? A new degree doesn't change that strong and powerful presence that commands respect, and yet you are denied it, according to you.
Your self-image is what is impressive here, but as it isn't likely the truth as other people see it, it could very well be just that you are projecting an image of yourself that is not what other people respond to favorably. In my experience, someone who is physically impressive is often the person who can get away with things that someone else can't, so if anything, if what you are saying were actually true then the opposite should be happening for you. You'd have an advantage, not a disadvantage. Which is what tells me that the problems you are experiencing are coming from inside your head, not something that is an outward appearance.
I will ride out this job tell NP clinicals and when I finish I will acquire the means for providing the lifestyle I was born into, rather ashamed it has taken so long to get there.
Getting a higher paying job doesn't provide you with the lifestyle you were born into, it's an improvement from the lifestyle you were born into, which is why you'd be doing it. Something to keep in mind is that getting an APRN license doesn't change who you fundamentally are, or how people respond to you. It doesn't make you more likely to be successful in employment, you have to correct the problems that are creating workplace issues for you anyway, or you will be back here telling us that you have gone through 5 NP jobs in 2 years and it's all because people don't give you the respect you deserve.
Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
Since when? I've heard the word all my life, and it has always meant what TriciaJ posted. When I Googled the definition just now, that's what came up on multiple sites. A man whose wife is cheating on him. I did think the OP's use of the term was pretty odd.
I have never heard of that definition of the word. I guess nowadays people are using it in a different way. I don't know, all I know is that is the definition & use of the word I have heard as of late.
ETA: Apparently the definition I use is a fetish term. This thread took a turn.
Things are good at my new job. Just got done with 5 12s. I sure don't seem to have a problem finding work.Personally I think the true issue that I am a very strong and powerful man that commands respect and has a powerful presence. A young Donald Trump on steroids if you will. It drives the man haters and cuckolds in the hospitals insane. I will ride out this job tell NP clinicals and when I finish I will acquire the means for providing the lifestyle I was born into, rather ashamed it has taken so long to get there.
NurseCard, ADN
2,850 Posts
You're funny.
