Found this site while surfing and signed up! I am a 40 year old Licensed Massage Therapist and LVN. I have been a nurse since 2003 and LMT since 2000. I have been married to the love of my life for 23 years, we have a 23 yr old daughter and a 16 yr old son. I also have a really cute, curly, redheaded, grandson named Caden, who just turned 18 months.
I started my career in Ortho/Neuro at TMF Hospital just after graduation in order to master my skills. After a year I began to really become aggravated with the long 12 hour shifts and the charge nurses seemingly not caring or wanting to help out when the LVN's became swamped with new admits and discharges and the ridiculous amount of meds we had to give out on the Ortho floor. I often had to go into the bathroom for a good cry because I was so swamped and stressed out. The final straw was when the director called a nurse meeting for all nurses. In that meeting ( in front of the LVN staff) he announced how much the hospital appreciated their RN's and that all RN's effective that day would be recieving up to a 5% raise! The LVN's in the room weren't even acknowledged nor were we offered raises. Although I was doing EVERYTHING the RN's on the floor were doing except actually connecting a transfusion line I wasn't good enough to even be acknowledged by this hospital and the pay at $12.35 an hour was a joke. I knew then and there that my career with TMF was over.
I had enjoyed my internship at a SNF while in nursing school, so I set out to try that field out. I found a happy place at a local nursing home and was happy there for nearly 3 years. The pay was much better at $16 an hour. Administration loved me and I was being trained for a promotion as a wound nurse. A week or so before I was to get this position, another nurse in medical records who was not doing her job and was in jeopardy of being fired because of it, was transferred to the wound nurse position by the administrator. The DON of the facility was fighting mad about it because she was campaigning for her dismissal. But the administrator was over this particular employee due to her former position. When I confronted the administrator about this lateral move and the breaking of promises to me, I was told that they could not fire this person due to her being of a different race than I and they had to keep her to satisfy company bylaws and protocols. I was thrown back onto the floor with nothing more than an "wait it out", someday there will be another position available in administration. After another 6 months that promised position never materialized so I moved on. A few months after I moved on the administrator moved on and the wound nurse who got my position was fired for not doing her job.
The stress of that situation really left a bad taste in my mouth and I actually took 6 months off to reevaluate my decision about becoming a nurse. The mentality of "nurses eat their young" was just not something that I anticipated having to deal with in the nursing field. After 6 months I did go back into nursing and took a 10p-6am position at a local SNF. After only 6 weeks of my employment, the other nurse called in for the night, ( I was one of two nurses on this shift) the on call nurse had the intention of leavng me all alone for an 8 hour shift with a census of 86 telling me that one of the CNA's who was also a CMA would help me "watch the other two halls". I used voice this time and absolutely REFUSED to be left alone with that kind of census all night. The on call nurse argued with me and belittled me making me feel as if I was causing a "rift" by not just doing what I was told. I was firm and continued to refuse to work in this dangerous situation and the on call nurse did come in, however an hour late. She dissed me all night long and refused to talk to me. The final straw was when one of my residents slit his own throat around 6:15 in the morning, 30 minutes after I had given report and left to go home as my shift ended at 6am. She didn't find this resident until near 7am as she was out smoking instead of making her morning rounds. She then tried to blame me that I had not checked him on my last round and questioned my night CNA behind my back. The CNA validated my story that we had both visualized this person at 5:30am and he was fine. But just being blamed for this situation was very unnerving. I gave notice and left this facility within two weeks.
I then really questioned my nursing career decision once again. I was so stressed out that I began having high BP and anxiety attacks. My doctor advised me to find a "low stress" job. Do those exist in nursing? I took another month off and then took a positon at a local temp service and travelled all over Texas giving flu shots for the last 6 weeks. The job was definetly LOW STRESS, sometimes boring, but gave me the opportunity to nurse, which I love to do. The clinics have ended and I am now in search of another "low stress" job. I interviewed for a MSO ortho clinic position yesterday and am hopeful that this setting in a doctors office however fast paced and busy, will be a less stressful position that what I have done in the past. I have also looked into home health and working in the field for the state.
I am not trying to discourage new nurses, I am only telling my story to let others know that there is more ugliness in the nursing field than one realizes when they sign up for this career. My advice is to use your voice, speak up and don't allow yourself to be thrown to the wolves. I look back and think if I has used my voice when I first began working as a nurse at TMF I could have saved myself alot of heartache and stress. There are avenues that I could have taken to try and right some of the wrongs done to me. Know your limits and don't let yourself get stressed to the point of letting your physical and mental health suffer. I think if I has to do it all over again I would have went into PT or OT which I still may do when I pay off my school loans.
I started my career in Ortho/Neuro at TMF Hospital just after graduation in order to master my skills. After a year I began to really become aggravated with the long 12 hour shifts and the charge nurses seemingly not caring or wanting to help out when the LVN's became swamped with new admits and discharges and the ridiculous amount of meds we had to give out on the Ortho floor. I often had to go into the bathroom for a good cry because I was so swamped and stressed out. The final straw was when the director called a nurse meeting for all nurses. In that meeting ( in front of the LVN staff) he announced how much the hospital appreciated their RN's and that all RN's effective that day would be recieving up to a 5% raise! The LVN's in the room weren't even acknowledged nor were we offered raises. Although I was doing EVERYTHING the RN's on the floor were doing except actually connecting a transfusion line I wasn't good enough to even be acknowledged by this hospital and the pay at $12.35 an hour was a joke. I knew then and there that my career with TMF was over.
I had enjoyed my internship at a SNF while in nursing school, so I set out to try that field out. I found a happy place at a local nursing home and was happy there for nearly 3 years. The pay was much better at $16 an hour. Administration loved me and I was being trained for a promotion as a wound nurse. A week or so before I was to get this position, another nurse in medical records who was not doing her job and was in jeopardy of being fired because of it, was transferred to the wound nurse position by the administrator. The DON of the facility was fighting mad about it because she was campaigning for her dismissal. But the administrator was over this particular employee due to her former position. When I confronted the administrator about this lateral move and the breaking of promises to me, I was told that they could not fire this person due to her being of a different race than I and they had to keep her to satisfy company bylaws and protocols. I was thrown back onto the floor with nothing more than an "wait it out", someday there will be another position available in administration. After another 6 months that promised position never materialized so I moved on. A few months after I moved on the administrator moved on and the wound nurse who got my position was fired for not doing her job.
The stress of that situation really left a bad taste in my mouth and I actually took 6 months off to reevaluate my decision about becoming a nurse. The mentality of "nurses eat their young" was just not something that I anticipated having to deal with in the nursing field. After 6 months I did go back into nursing and took a 10p-6am position at a local SNF. After only 6 weeks of my employment, the other nurse called in for the night, ( I was one of two nurses on this shift) the on call nurse had the intention of leavng me all alone for an 8 hour shift with a census of 86 telling me that one of the CNA's who was also a CMA would help me "watch the other two halls". I used voice this time and absolutely REFUSED to be left alone with that kind of census all night. The on call nurse argued with me and belittled me making me feel as if I was causing a "rift" by not just doing what I was told. I was firm and continued to refuse to work in this dangerous situation and the on call nurse did come in, however an hour late. She dissed me all night long and refused to talk to me. The final straw was when one of my residents slit his own throat around 6:15 in the morning, 30 minutes after I had given report and left to go home as my shift ended at 6am. She didn't find this resident until near 7am as she was out smoking instead of making her morning rounds. She then tried to blame me that I had not checked him on my last round and questioned my night CNA behind my back. The CNA validated my story that we had both visualized this person at 5:30am and he was fine. But just being blamed for this situation was very unnerving. I gave notice and left this facility within two weeks.
I then really questioned my nursing career decision once again. I was so stressed out that I began having high BP and anxiety attacks. My doctor advised me to find a "low stress" job. Do those exist in nursing? I took another month off and then took a positon at a local temp service and travelled all over Texas giving flu shots for the last 6 weeks. The job was definetly LOW STRESS, sometimes boring, but gave me the opportunity to nurse, which I love to do. The clinics have ended and I am now in search of another "low stress" job. I interviewed for a MSO ortho clinic position yesterday and am hopeful that this setting in a doctors office however fast paced and busy, will be a less stressful position that what I have done in the past. I have also looked into home health and working in the field for the state.
I am not trying to discourage new nurses, I am only telling my story to let others know that there is more ugliness in the nursing field than one realizes when they sign up for this career. My advice is to use your voice, speak up and don't allow yourself to be thrown to the wolves. I look back and think if I has used my voice when I first began working as a nurse at TMF I could have saved myself alot of heartache and stress. There are avenues that I could have taken to try and right some of the wrongs done to me. Know your limits and don't let yourself get stressed to the point of letting your physical and mental health suffer. I think if I has to do it all over again I would have went into PT or OT which I still may do when I pay off my school loans.