Dave
Well-Known Member
here ya go Les. as promised.
ok. about May-ish, i was out in triage and missed how sick a patient was. they looked sick, but i misjudged how sick. they ended up waiting for about 5 hours before being brought into the ER and waited another hour before a nurse saw them. by then they were really really sick. i honestly do not remember if i told my charge nurse about this patient or not.(the triage nurse tells the charge about the really sick ones that need to get in sooner) it was one of those horrendously busy days. there was a 6 hour wait that night. i think i triaged about 50-60 people in an 8 hour shift. give or take a dozen.
i got called into the office and reprimanded for my actions, or inactions as the case my be. when i saw the triage sheet, i had absolutly no idea how or why that patient waited so long. needless to say, it seriously shook my confidence. i decided then to move on someplace else. maybe get out of the ER entirely.
not a week after that, i was called into the office to be verbally reprimanded for an error another nurse made. i had signed the patient off to the other nurse and she didnt give a medication. the med order was given after i signed off to the next nurse and i got a portion of the blame for it. i have no idea why other than my name was on the chart.
that was when i was ready to quit. had the notice all written up. one of my friends there made an excellent suggestion that i get my head back in the game before moving on.
over the next 6 months, things got pretty decent at work. i got my head back into the game. didnt make any errors. was doing a good job overall. except i'd get called into the office once or twice a month. it was all for paperwork. i didnt write something in the right spot. forgot to put a weight on the chart. didnt do a clothing list. minor stuff like that. the boss would inevitably ask how the job hunting is going because she would hate to see something happen to me while i was there.
i tried to get into the psych floor there twice. it didnt happen twice so i went out and found another job. hoping to get some per diem time on the psych floor for the experience. may want to do that full time at some point but for now i'm switching ER's.
the one i'm going to is literally half the size. the current place has 34 beds. the new one has 17. the hours are the same. its a bit more money. benefits are similar. i met a few of my soon to be co-workers at a seminar last week and 2 of them knew me from a previous job. there are a couple of current co-workers who work at the new place per diem too so it wont be a completely alien crew. about a week after i accepted their offer, i found out they are offering a $10k signing bonus for ER and ICU nurses. i have to remember to ask them about that this week. someone else mentioned they saw it in the paper about a week and a half after i accepted the job. i am so eager to get out of the current place, i'm not all that worried about them not giving the bonus to me.
i have recieved an enormous amount of support from everyone i work with. fellow RN's, the doctors, registration, lab, radiology, interpreters. all have said they will miss working with me and they are sorry to see me go. some of my fellow RN's have said some very nice things over the past few weeks. its been very heartening to know i have earned their friendship and respect. the people i worked with are all top notch. i will miss them, but i wont miss the hospital itself.
thats my story and i'm sticking to it.
phew. that takes a lot less time to say than actually type out.
ok. about May-ish, i was out in triage and missed how sick a patient was. they looked sick, but i misjudged how sick. they ended up waiting for about 5 hours before being brought into the ER and waited another hour before a nurse saw them. by then they were really really sick. i honestly do not remember if i told my charge nurse about this patient or not.(the triage nurse tells the charge about the really sick ones that need to get in sooner) it was one of those horrendously busy days. there was a 6 hour wait that night. i think i triaged about 50-60 people in an 8 hour shift. give or take a dozen.
i got called into the office and reprimanded for my actions, or inactions as the case my be. when i saw the triage sheet, i had absolutly no idea how or why that patient waited so long. needless to say, it seriously shook my confidence. i decided then to move on someplace else. maybe get out of the ER entirely.
not a week after that, i was called into the office to be verbally reprimanded for an error another nurse made. i had signed the patient off to the other nurse and she didnt give a medication. the med order was given after i signed off to the next nurse and i got a portion of the blame for it. i have no idea why other than my name was on the chart.
that was when i was ready to quit. had the notice all written up. one of my friends there made an excellent suggestion that i get my head back in the game before moving on.
over the next 6 months, things got pretty decent at work. i got my head back into the game. didnt make any errors. was doing a good job overall. except i'd get called into the office once or twice a month. it was all for paperwork. i didnt write something in the right spot. forgot to put a weight on the chart. didnt do a clothing list. minor stuff like that. the boss would inevitably ask how the job hunting is going because she would hate to see something happen to me while i was there.
i tried to get into the psych floor there twice. it didnt happen twice so i went out and found another job. hoping to get some per diem time on the psych floor for the experience. may want to do that full time at some point but for now i'm switching ER's.
the one i'm going to is literally half the size. the current place has 34 beds. the new one has 17. the hours are the same. its a bit more money. benefits are similar. i met a few of my soon to be co-workers at a seminar last week and 2 of them knew me from a previous job. there are a couple of current co-workers who work at the new place per diem too so it wont be a completely alien crew. about a week after i accepted their offer, i found out they are offering a $10k signing bonus for ER and ICU nurses. i have to remember to ask them about that this week. someone else mentioned they saw it in the paper about a week and a half after i accepted the job. i am so eager to get out of the current place, i'm not all that worried about them not giving the bonus to me.
i have recieved an enormous amount of support from everyone i work with. fellow RN's, the doctors, registration, lab, radiology, interpreters. all have said they will miss working with me and they are sorry to see me go. some of my fellow RN's have said some very nice things over the past few weeks. its been very heartening to know i have earned their friendship and respect. the people i worked with are all top notch. i will miss them, but i wont miss the hospital itself.
thats my story and i'm sticking to it.
phew. that takes a lot less time to say than actually type out.
....did it work?