Grad program

Um well my educator came around today and told me they were going to do a few plans and not put me on night duty yet. She wil come around 2 days a week and help me out. Apparently i create too much work for myself sometimes, according to the acting NUM....but i wasnt told how or why....which is annoying.

the educator asked waht i needed help in and i said general skills and knowledege of the procedures done, like what do they do in acrimoplasties (spelling) and rhizolysis..etc etc, and general health knowledge like how diabetes works.

I am on light duties at the moment coz on Tuesday, I was moving a patient from a shower chair up to the rollator to their chair, with another nurse and i was in front of the rollator, and steped back, and felt a twinge in my bum when i put my foot down. The pain just got worse over the next few hours and after leaving work i decided to see the WHS lady who said to go to the ER to get myself covered. The doc put me on light duties for 3 days...so yesterday when i gave the acting NUM the workcover form, she got angry at me for not notifying anyone the night before, and i had to explain that it wasnt till after the shift going home that it got really bad and stuff, and the PEC or WHS lady didnt tell me to tell the after hours person!!

So i got sent to the admissions area and had to take patients bags and stuf to the wards on a trolley and take them to theatre wtih the orderly and i was thinking hm how on earth is bending over and twisting etc light duties? When i was getting the spasms, i had to stop walking until the pain went and press my pen into my bum to stop the pain.

Then i was meant to do a late today, but the ANUM said i had to do a early and to turn up on the ward to see where i can do light duties, which is rare in nursing, esp on a ortho ward! So i ended up doing obs and BSLs etc during the shift, though i started at 10 coz i had a specialist apt, and finished at 5...so not realy a full shift.

So yeah um im not goin to be moving to that other ward. But the educatr said if i want to move in say october then its fine. She will help with getting me up to scratch with the competencies, so that when the NUM returns from leave and does my assessment, i will ace it.

I hope soo......I hate not being told what i am doing wrong...

Thanks. Well yes I could research stuff myself but doing shift work makes it hard to study as well...yes i know poor excuse. But i wnt to UQ the other day to get some anatomy books from my bro's library and will read through the relevant parts over the next few days.

Yes its workcover here, well in the private system it is...sam thing anyway. Physio is going well, though he told me that it was a facet joint strain rather than muscle strain in my arse lol. he was pressing on my arse muscles the past few days and it hurts like hell! It feels like he's just driving a knife into the muscle. I was like holding my breath every time he would press on it so that i wouldnt scream in pain or start crying like i did in one physio session when the stupid bitch pressed really hard on my spine.

Well this is my 10th month of my program..started in January. Cant believe how quick the year has gone!! And I have to say that i havent learnt as much as i wanted, there has hardly been any education. Half the time the eductors dont know what is going on or they will pass the buck.

Well a lot of shit has gone on since i made this last entry. Not sure if i posted an entry about having to see the NUM and getting the union involved coz they reckon i wasnt doing my job right. But yeah that was one really rough patch. They said they'd rotate me to medical ward for my next rotation even though everyone else had mostly rotated by then.

They mucked around with the date to move, aug 18. So that date i turn up with much hesitation to that ward coz i had worked there once and its very heavy etc. The NUM tells me that im gng back to my old ward for that shift and she doesnt know when ill be starting there. So i turn up at my old ward, sit around till the proper start time since the med ward had staggered starts.

So im put on 3 night duties..at the same time i have to move house and shit (thankfuly i had most of my stuf packed etc) and then I was put into the casual pool, yet i wasnt paid as a casual.

This for a new RN who they've said im not up to standard apparently, isnt acceptable at all

On Sept 23, i was doing a late ( i had opeted to do lates and went to shitty wards) on the medical ward where i was meant to rotate to, and i was trying to get a bed rail down.....its onle of those beds like y ou see in US medical shows. The button thing wouldnt come and then it did suddenly and i felt a bit of pain and was like ouch. Then went on and durign the night the pain got worse as i was rolling patients over etc and doing ADLS. Now me and my team member had a few patients who were incont several times so naturally that was a fair bit of turning.

by teh end of the shift i had to report it, and they sent to me ER and i wa slke um its not too bad. Eventually got it diagnosed as a sprain. So anyway i had 3 days off and I was called up and told by the staffing manager that she was going to be putting me in the gen surgery ward for good as its not good for a grad to be in teh casual pool. And im like ah good. All I was thinking was well of ocousre its not good!!! Especially for me. espe when im trying to get a transfer to another hospital coz of all the shit that was going on.

So yeah im on workcover at the moment so im only allowed to do ams mon=fri. I love the new ward. The staff are nicer, the atmosphere is nicer etc.

Thanks anga23. Yeah well thats what I kept saying to people, that grads, espe when they had 'problems' with my skills, should not be in the casual pool except when they are confident to go anywhere. That isnt me for sure. it took them that month and a bit to reaslise oh yeah she wont be moving up to the medical ward.

LIke they had a few months warning to move me, from the time when i had that 2nd meeting with the DON to the end of august so its not like they had plenty of time. And the NUM was always wanting to know for the sake of rosters and stuff. The new NUM had plenty of warning that i was coming. Yet the educators were always like oh i dnt know i dont know...etc etc.

I like the ward where i am now. Am gng to havea progress meeting next week...hopefuly its all good.

Well last Sunday the NUM asked me to see her and she gave me this letter, from the DON saying that, in summary, despite all the excellent clinical support blah blah that youve been given your still underperforming and so we wont be extending employment beyond Jan 16'...

Now i have to say, there hasnt been much support really, i thought i was doing ok coz after that meeting where i broke down, they didnt say anything to me, so i assumed that I was doing well. I never saw a learning contract and no one was interested in signing off my competecies. its a load of utter bull!!!

So now i have to madly find a new job, this time I am definately going to the public sector!! Or i might try like day surgery where i can do theatre stuff.

But the past few months i have naturally considered leaving nursing coz its very stressful and this year i havent been well and have taken heaps of time off as a result and obviously that put an effect on my employment.

if i leave nursing im thinking of doing event management which would be interesting to do. And maybe keep onto nursing just in case i decide to go back some time......definately not to the public sector!!

Hi Liz

I am in the same position as you New Grad in a Private hospital. I too am feeling frustrated as I feel I am not getting enough education and support. I had to take two weeks off recently for severe depression due to mostly work issues. These hospitals lure you in with the promise that their Grad programe is going to be full of support. What a load of rubbish. I meant to due my second rotation soon. I was told by the educator they were going to come and see me a couple of weeks ago to discuss where I wont to go. Thats a joke I havnt seen her. I feel like leaving before my twelve months are up. Does anyone have any suggestions. Good luck Liz I hope you have found a job and you are happy. Cappa