What's the best way to resign?

[southlandrn]

Well, I lasted 8 mos. on the floor. Pure hell, hated almost every minute of it; I am lucky to escape with a mostly intact back; But I think I have a kidney infection...who has time to pee? :chuckle

I now have a wonderful opportunity to work in academia, M-F, 7-3, no weekends or holidays. So now I must resign. How do I do it? Do I give just a two-wk notice or longer? Should I agree to flex even if I know I won't be avail. very often? Honestly, i'd resign over the phone if I thought I could get away with it without jeapordizing my license!:typing

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

Check your policy manual or ask HR (anonymously, if you can) how much notice you have to give...then that's the exact amount of notice you give. If you can't find an answer in the manual or from HR, the standard notice period is 2 weeks. Then write a plain, simple letter stating that you're resigning and your planned last day of work. Save any grievances or complaints for the exit interview (if you have one).

Make a few copies of the letter and hand-deliver the original to your manager, then hand-deliver copies to HR and anyone else that needs one. Don't rely on interoffice mail as important things tend to get "lost." If you're going to mail them your letter, then used registered mail with a return receipt.

You want to leave on the best terms possible, as you never know if this place will become a reference for landing a future job.

[Katnip, RN]

2 weeks is the standard. If they tell you a month then they are lying! You are not required to stay that long. 2 weeks is long enough for your manager to get a replacement and long enough that you don't burn your bridge just in case you need to walk it over there again.

The standard is whatever is in the employee handbook. Some hospitals require a month.

[Moogie]

Thanks so much to all of you for your advice! I will try and hunt down the info online in the employee manual.

My comment about "jeapordizing my license" has to do with patient abandonment. But I would not do that anyway, I do have some professional scruples!

Ah, I get what you mean. I'm still not certain that resignation by telephone would be considered abandonment. My understanding of abandonment is that it occurs when a nurse leaves during his/her shift without securing a replacement and the patients are left without any nurse coverage whatsoever. It's not abandonment to take a meal break off the floor---unless, of course a nurse doesn't tell anyone and there is no one available to tend to those patients' needs while the nurse is on break. Sometimes nurses are threatened by management that they will be "abandoning" their patients if they don't do mandatory overtime. Frankly, I'd check the state nurse practice laws, employee policy manuals and union guidelines before working in a place in which mandatory overtime is the norm.

To the OP, you would be surprised at how many people have no professional scruples. Some people simply never bother to show up for their shifts; I knew of one facility that no one ever quit because it was the "norm" to just stop coming to work. Of course the employees would be written up for no call, no show and eventually fired but they didn't care. They just wanted to not work there anymore. I've also heard of people sending resignation e-mails to their supervisors. I don't think it's a bad idea to give one's immediate supervisor a heads-up that one is leaving, but institutional policies must be followed to ensure that the employee will get a decent reference and be eligible for rehire.

Have never heard of anyone resigning via text message----yet. Doesn't sound terribly professional to me.