Hi Everyone,
I'm new to this website. My nursing experience is vast. I spent 10 years in the navy as a nurse, I should have stayed 20. My last nursing job, on L&D was a nightmare. I stayed for 4 days due to doctor on nurse violence. I applied to another hospital, had a very positive interview, and the manager wanted hire me. HR treated me like dirt, so I turned the job offer down. A couple of months later I received a letter of termination. Was I fired, or did I quit, no one in HR will talk to me. I went and got a real estate license, and changed careers. Are nurses not in demand? I want to work in nursing, but is this what you all deal with as civilians? What do you all think, and what would you all do?
Have you thought about working for a government facility.
For instance the Veterans Administration, they use a lot of
nurses.
Nurse are in demand everywhere if you've been following the Nursing Shortage. They'll be in much greater demand as time goes on.
Guess the question in your case is how much crap and nonsense are you willing to put up with.
Some nurses can simply change hospitals, facilities or units and find things are better. Others find they need to leave nursing entirely.
The decision is up to you, the opportunities/needs are out there long as you keep your license current.
You may find the articles on this page helpful:
Nurses' Views of The Nursing Profession:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/views/
After spending that much time in nursing, I'd hate to throw it all away over a couple of bad incidents.
Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.comClarify if you will: Did the letter of termination come from a job you did not accept or from the job you quit?
In either case it sounds like you are just a nurse trying to work in an acceptable workplace, doing what you already know how to do. This sounds like another case of a good nurse's talents being wasted. For example, as I understand it, there are 500,000 nurses in Texas, but only about 250,000 are currently licensed (who knows how many are actually working?). The HR's, Administrators, Managers (Suits, if you will) DO have a clue, but they don't care. I figured this out some time ago and it took some getting used to. As nurses, we have no advocates but ourselves and other nurses. Patients are too sick, families are only concerned about their sick loved ones; the suits just care about numbers, no law suits, not being bothered and looking good (translation: $$$$). That is why I feel so strongly about nurses supporting each other. We have no other advocates. We also need to be advocates for our selves. Here is what I have learned: 1) Be as excellent in knowledge and skills as you can be and always be open and willing to learn from anyone 2) Always be polite and considerate to others (even if they are not) 3) Always stick up for yourself (you may have to carefully pick the right time, place and means) 4) Assertive is good, aggressive is bad 5) Take notes, make a paper trail and for Heaven's sake, keep it private until you have to use it 6) Be flexible, be willing to give in occasionally--you don't have to win every battle 7) Realize it's a game--learn the rules, devise your own strategy, be prepared for any eventuality, ALWAYS BE HONEST, don't be afraid to admit you made a mistake, then go try to rectify it as soon as possible 8) Don't worry--be concerned, do the best you can, and let it go 9) If you are in an abusive job, make careful plans to safely extricate yourself without destroying your professional or personal reputation or credentials; if you can't do so immediately, make a plan, bide your time, be as happy as you can, and act when the time is right 10) Take time to go back to the real reasons why you became a nurse. I almost always find something that heals me and helps me to put on my white shoes and go do it all over again.
The letter of termination came from the job I did not accept.
I moved from Indianapolis (where the nursing shortage is horrible, but there is plenty of money to be made) to Chicago and found that the nursing shortage in Chicago is not really a shortage.
WOW, From Nursing to Real Estate quite a switch. NURSES ARE IN HOT DEMAND. I do not know about elsewhere, but in South East Florida, the working conditions are marvelous. I am a nurse with more than 20 years exoerience.
My hospital is a 156 bed not for profit Community medical center, vert reknowned is South East Florida, All the Rich and famous come for care here. They treat the nursing team like family, everyone pulls together, HR is the Core of the Nursing Team as it is them who hires.
I would not work anywhere else.
We are hiring, come work with us and you will never want to leave the profession again, they will assist with relocation, tuition reimbursement, GREAT benefits and Hourly Rates.
COME BACK TO NURSING...HAVE YOU HEARD THERE IS A SHORTAGE
SUNNY FLORIDA NEEDS YOU
Great Answer !! I agree. I see you are in NJ, is it cold??? Snow??
Why does everyone asks me if I know there is a nursing shortage? First of all there is not a nursing shortage. There are many nurses, but none of them care to work in the field, and I don't blame them. The fact is, there are is shortage of good nursing jobs.
CHIEFRN1, if I want to work with the rich and famous, I would have no trouble, California is full of them. Like I'm going to pull up roots, move to Florida just to work in a crapy profession? I don't think so. I know nurses from FLA who moved out here, plus in FLA everything is in the 80's, the people, the weather temp, and everyones IQ.
It is funny. There is no nursing shortage at the hospital I work at . Almost all positions are full. But, the unionized hospital has plenty of openings
we only have a 2% vacancy rate at my hospital in Western KY and there are 4 nursing schools within 30 miles.
Well Dixie, I am definately sensing a very strong negative attitude. If you hate/hated nursing so much, why consider even going back? I love my job and feel very satisfied. You have to try several jobs before finding the right one. Don't let people who have bad attitudes and hate their jobs affect your attitude and make you miserable. If you really want to be a nurse then go for it, if not, stay in the real estate business....
You have to figure, if you went through the trouble of getting through nursing school, passing your boards and going out in the field to work . . .that is a helluva lot to give up over a few bad experiences.
I do bedside nursing and have had some pretty hairy shifts, abusive co-workers and nursing managers/administrators who could care less. I've found that a better job and work environment could be as close as the next unit or hospital over.
Call me the eternal optimist but I believe there's always something better out there. Your outlook and attitude towards your job will play a large part in whether you can function/enjoy/find satisfaction.
Do you think you might have been getting a bit crispy around the edges? Burnout is no joke and very common. You can find some resources on it here:
http://www.nursefriendly.com/burnout/
Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.4nursing.comIt is so hard to say. I think for many nurses, such as myself, they want to work but simply cannot abide all the grief that goes along with it. I have been a nurse going on 24 years. There are many things I like about nursing, but I find it so hard to do anymore and that is not because of the patients, their families, doctors or anything else. It is mostly the lack of respect from nurse administrators and recognition that what staff nurses do is important. A couple of years ago at my "magnet" hospital the woman who did most of the nursing education relocated to Florida. She has not been replaced. We have virtually no nursing education department. Every month the calendar is loaded up with the same old mandatory stuff that we have to do year after year. It used to be highly unusual for us to work short, one of the reasons I have stayed at this hospital, but now it goes on routinely. Someone in a position to know told me that while this is not a policy that will be announced nurses will be expected to work short if there are sick calls, etc. I only work weekends and took care of a man who was bedridden. The first week I had him his skin was perfectly intact. The second weekend he had a small stage II on his coccyx and a large stage I on his left outer heel. By week three he had a very large stage II on his coccyx and the heel was darkening. He also received extremely poor medical care to boot. I do not want to criticize fellow nurses too much here. The unit is quite busy, we often have no extra pillows to use to turn patients, no one to get some for us if we need them, etc. In spite of all this, a drastic decline in the ability of nurses to provide direct care, the nurse administrators are all in a twitter about what color uniforms the nurses wear. Talk about priorities!
there is a huge shortage in chicago!!
ILRN wrote:there is a huge shortage in chicago!!
Absolutely!
September 30, 2008: Illinois: Chicago: Outbreak of stress afflicts nurses:"Nobody ever told her being a surgical nurse would be easy. But even now, in her 15th year, there are days when Judy Berglund's emotions are so spent and her body so taxed that she can barely dress herself in the locker room after her shift.
"You don't realize how stressed you've been until you can't lift your leg to pull your pants on," Berglund said. "Your whole body aches."
Bruises and pulled muscles, hope and heartbreak—emotional and physical fatigue have contributed to a profound nursing shortage in hospitals across Chicago and the country."
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-nurse_health_30sep30,0,3097663.story
Wed, 28 Sep 2005, Chicago-based Organization Announces Initiative to Help Ease Severe Nursing Shortage In Illinois:"Citing warnings from a report released last week by the Metropolitan Chicago Healthcare Council (MCHC), which revealed that by the year 2020, Illinois would have a shortage of 21,000 registered nurses, the Chicago-based Provident Foundation has announced plans to step up its efforts to help reverse this dangerous trend."
http://www.send2press.com/newswire/2005-09-0928-005.shtml
Andrew Lopez, RN
http://www.nursefriendly.com