I started a nursing position at a hospital approximately 30–40 minutes from where I live. I was working on the acute medicine floor, and I went into this position with the expectation of eventually taking my career further. The hospital has specific partnerships with certain schools that allow employees to advance their education, and that was ultimately one of my biggest reasons for wanting to work there. Now, the timeline is really important here. I started my one-week online orientation on September 14. It consisted primarily of seminars, presentations, and various information sessions. I didn't actually step onto my unit until September 23. On September 24, my second day on the floor, I was already left on my own because my preceptor had to deal with some other matters. I'm not a completely inexperienced nurse. I have a nursing background, so I wasn't going into this position without any clinical knowledge. However, this was a new hospital, a new charting system, and an entirely new set of unit-specific policies and procedures. Three days later on my day off, I was called in and pulled aside to speak with my manager about my charting. I was told that my documentation wasn't up to the expected standard. I had only been on the unit for two days at that point, and my second day had been spent largely working independently. To their credit, they acknowledged that I was still new and gave me some grace. They explained what needed improvement, and I took that feedback seriously. I continued with my orientation and spent the majority of my shifts working alongside my preceptor. However, I only had two night shifts during my entire orientation. During my first night shift, I was accompanied by another nurse. During my second night shift, I was essentially expected to remember and apply everything I had learned during the previous two days. Needless to say, my night shifts were not particularly productive from a learning perspective, and I didn't feel that I had enough exposure to become comfortable working independently overnight. I recognize that I could have asked more questions and sought out additional help early; which to my degree I did with tasks I was unsure about , but I also felt that there was a lack of consistent support from management. My manager was rarely available on the unit, and I never really had a proper sit-down conversation about how my orientation was progressing. I had the occasional check-in with a PCL, but it was usually along the lines of, "Do you need help with anything?" There wasn't much discussion about how I was feeling, what I was comfortable with, or what areas I needed to work on. After approximately three weeks, my orientation was over, and I was expected to work independently. On my very first shift off orientation, I was asked to float to another unit, which was a stroke unit. I agreed to help and completed some vital signs, assessments, and documentation to the best of my ability. I wasn't particularly familiar with that unit either, but I did what I could within my scope and abilities. In total, I completed approximately 12 shifts in my home unit, including three shifts working independently. After one of my night shifts, I remember feeling particularly discouraged. I genuinely felt like I didn't know what I was doing. I knew I needed more experience, particularly with night-shift routines, and I wanted to speak with my manager about getting additional training or support. I knew she was supposed to be in that week, as I hadn't seen her for approximately a week. After completing that Wednesday night shift, I actually drafted an email to my manager explaining that I wanted additional training because I wasn't feeling confident working independently yet. Before I could even she called me and informed me that I would not be attending my scheduled Friday, Saturday, and Sunday shifts, but that I would still be paid for them. Instead, I was asked to attend a meeting with her on Monday, November 9, to discuss concerns regarding my performance. At that point, I had no idea what specifically these performance concerns were. I hadn't even had the opportunity to send my email asking for additional support. Honestly, I already had a feeling about where things were heading. My partner kept telling me that I was preparing for the worst-case scenario, but deep down, I felt like I knew what was coming. I started applying for other positions because I didn't want to be caught completely off guard. I find the timing of this comical since when I driving to said meeting, the dream position I wanted at another hospital called to set up an interview.When I attended the meeting on Monday, I was informed that my employment was being terminated. The explanation was essentially that they didn't feel I was a good fit for the role. And that's the part I'm still struggling with. How do you determine that someone isn't a good fit after approximately 12 shifts, especially when only a handful of those shifts were completed independently? How much time is reasonably needed for a nurse to become comfortable in a new hospital, with a new charting system, new policies, and a completely different working environment?   submitted by   /u/Ellie_xoxo2145 [link]   [comments]