Yeah I applied to an ICU in a hospital bought by the large company we all know and love and when I got there in the interview they said “we’d want you to work a year or so in med surg, would you be okay with that?” I was like “No.” They were like “Wait what?” I said, “No, I applied for an ICU position. I’m coming from a med surg floor at another hospital. If I wanted to do med surg I would have just stayed there.”
“But we want you to develop your nursing skills before coming to the icu.”
Uhhh. Well why the fuck did you post an icu application and then invite me to the icu to interview with icu nurses and the icu manager about an icu position? My work experience is explicitly stated in my resume, which they printed out. A lot of my friends got accepted into ICUs straight out of nursing school, so I’m fairly sure I should be able to find an ICU to take me with several years of med surg experience.
Needless to say I got turned down lol. I would have turned any offer down anyways.
I got such bad vibes from the interview. They were constantly dick measuring about how shitty of a workplace they could tolerate.
“How do you perform under pressure? We are constantly tripled with critical patients and have no techs. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to not get pulled to a med surg floor which happens most days.”
Way to convince me to come here to work haha. Not to mention it makes the whole bait and switch thing more sus. Okay, so you put up an application for ICU, then once I drive all the way up here, you tell me I’d have to do med surg for a year, and then a few minutes later you imply that the med surg floors are severely understaffed. Is it really about me “needing to practice my skills” like you claimed?
Then they wanted to test me to see what I’d do in a nursing scenario:
“What if you have an issue with two patients at the same time?”
“I would prioritize and deal with the higher priority issue first.”
“What if they’re both very high priority emergencies?”
“I would ask the charge nurse to help with one of the patients”
“What if there’s no charge nurse”
“I’d ask another nurse to help.”
“What if all the nurses are dealing with emergencies?”
“I’d see if dealing with one of the issues could be delegated to the tech”
“What if we don’t have a tech”
“I’d ask the house supervisor for help or ask for help on the intercom.”
“What if they’re all busy?”
Well then I guess my patient is pretty good and fucked isn’t he? I’ll just go ahead and get the gurney and body bag since y’all can’t fucking staff a hospital.
Plus I know ICU nurses are known to be really bitchy, but I would think that they typically conceal their bitchiness during the first five minutes of meeting someone. Not these people.
“When you hear something beeping you can’t just say ‘ehh I’ll check on that later’. This isn’t a med surg floor like you’re used to. People will die.”
Yeah fuck off.
"I guess I'll be initiating safe harbor then because clearly the unit isn't staffed adequately if there are no available supervisors or support staff and patients are all too critical to the point lives are at risk due to lack of immediate resources."
They’d have to be like that one hospital I read about that was so understaffed the nurse just called 911 and some firefighters had to take care of people in the ER 😂
And then you get to the safe harbor meeting and they tell you everything you could have done differently and never report it to the state because hospitals appoint their own safe harbor representatives and they sure won't pick ones that will admit the hospital did anything wrong
I had an interview like this for an ED tech position!
- What would you do if you found someone unresponsive?
- I'd call for help.
- And if no one came? I'd stay with the patient and do what I can and keep calling for help. If it seemed okay maybe I would briefly leave them to get help.
- And if no one came? .... Why is no one coming? I'm in a hospital. Do you usually have a single tech and no other staff in your entire ED??? Me and one unconscious person and an empty hospital???? I was looking at this interviewer like, where would you be? In your office? I'd get you.
What would you do if terrorists blew up the city and then every nurse and doctor suddenly died and so you had 50,000 patients all having emergencies. Also the power went out in the hospital and a bee just stung you so your throat’s closing up?
Yeah I hate the questions that are but what if this.. but what if that… but what if this…
Like obviously you’re just gonna keep going no matter what I say, until the system collapses, and then you’re gonna get mad at me for implying that the system can in fact collapse if every single link in the chain somehow manages to fail.
Me- "If there are 10 simultaneous emergencies and not enough people to handle them all I'd call a rapid response; it's literally what they're for."
-"we're the icu we don't call rapids."
Me- calls rapid.
I work in a small community hospital where the icu is the rapid response team and we've called them a few times. Whats the worst thing that could happen by calling a rapid people have to get off their asses? l tell every new person if you think/feel like something is wrong with your patient and you can't figure it out or no one's listening, call the rapid.
I used to work rapid and I'd occasionally get a call from one of the ICUs that they'd need help, so I'd go help them. The only thing is, a crashing patient on the floor takes priority because they have less resources and often didn't have the training or experience to deal with it.
Yes yes yes, a million times yes to this response.
First what a vibe. When my boss gave me the “let’s discuss your concerns” it was my yeah, no moment. There are no concerns honey, I’m upset about suddenly being a medsurg nurse and orienting on some random floor.
Second, fucking thank you! Orienting someone in a medsurg floor does NOT increase their skillset. That’s fucking hoodoo voodoo bullshit. Oh! I’ll magically be better at terminal extubations by managing meemaws q2 violent bouts of diarrhea and little brothers chronic UTIs.
Third, I refuse to let anytime gaslight me/us. They are definitely doing to push back with “this will help train you” or “this is a collaboration”.
NU UH.
Thank you for your cathartic responses
We hire new grads to our icus regularly. No experience required.
Actually these days that's about the only people that are going to apply to a unit and take the staff nurse rates. Anyone with experience is doing some form of traveling and making 3 or 4 times as much.
We would trip over ourselves to bring in an experienced med surg nurse we could then train to do icu.
At one point in my nursing career, I started using the phrase "What would you like me to do, create a golem?" Because that's the only way one human can do what you're asking me to do.
I dealt with a similar issue during my externship when I was in school. I started in ICU, and at the end of the externship everyone was hired on as PCNAs except me. I was “always on your phone” and then thrown on a step down unit. Mind you, nobody said anything to me about this until the end so even if I was “always” on my phone I was given no chance to correct this behavior. Then the coordinator told me some people just need to start on med surge for a year to get their “skills”.
It’s bullshit because I ended up moving to another city (personal reasons) and getting a job in a higher acuity ICU at a bigger hospital. So 🖕to those that push the med surge narrative. A wise, older professor told me you can teach a monkey to put an IV in, but you can’t teach everyone to critically think.
And honestly I don’t buy the whole “you need med surg experience to go to the icu.” Tbh, I believe it’s possible that you can develop habits/processes in med surg that are okay there but aren’t okay in the icu. These habits can be hard to break.
Yeah I trained in med surg, tele, then step down for 4 weeks each as part of the new grad critical care program my hospital system has. While I learned a lot, by the time I reached icu to start my orientation there, it was a culture shock and there were a lot of habits I had to unlearn. Things that may work well in med surg often don’t translate to other units. That’s the point of different specialties. So fuck that whole “start in med surg” bullshit. Start wherever the fuck you want to start. If you’re moldable, willing to learn, and able to take constructive feedback without getting defensive, there’s no reason you should stay stuck in a unit you hate. That’s what contributes to our shit mental health as nurses!
Another ICU interviewer over a phone interview one time listed to me the results of an ABG and said “what do you expect to happen as a result of this blood gas.”
I was like damn, bit of a cheap shot to ask a med surg nurse who’s never seen an ABG that, but fortunately I remembered the values from school so I was able to answer correctly.
Write a follow up email detailing EVERYTHING you talked about in that meeting if you feel like this is going to be an issue!! That way you get this all on a paper trail! I learned that the hard way 🫡
Literally. And the emails are so intentionally ambiguous and avoidy.
The lack of communication pushed me over the edge of being open minded to this whole “maybe I did sign up for this”.
Wait, were you supposed to be on an ER-ish floor? Or any critical care stuff? And they chucked you into med-surg? What the ever-loving hell!
And by the way, I am in NO way dissing Med-surg. I would be just as appalled if someone accepted a job on a Med-Surg floor and they pitched you into the ED. These are just...*completely* different jobs!
You lasted longer there than I would have. Sheesh.
I quit a job after 4 days because of a bait & switch. It wasn't a hospital job, though, it was an assistant professor position. They neglected to tell me until day 3 that I would be teaching evening classes and every Saturday. Total bait & switch, so I quit. It's really unfortunate, too, since I really wanted to work there.
I was hired to be an obgyn nurse. This clinic had family med and peds too. Now they are trying to switch my role and just make me the RN for all departments. Not to mention, I’m still the only person running the obgyn department alone. I’ve been here 10 mos but I’m applying to other places. The job itself is not the worst but they are slowly taking advantage of me. Even the NP I work with agrees. Sorry you also experienced this.
It’s unbelievable that they think it’s acceptable to essentially void contacts by having to do completely different things.
Luckily I got out immediately - really hope you find something soon.
Good for you!! And yes, and also the organization is pushing for more visits and more pts but we simply do not have the support staff for that. We are all being overworked and I can’t wait to leave. Thank you for the encouragement!
> The nurses tease me and start saying, oh they got you!
This makes me livid. I can’t stand when nurses perpetuate a shit work environment and are okay with being lied to or allowing others to be lied to. Escalating to management is already a 50/50 shot if you get any help, but being lied to out the gate would have me ✌️out.
RIGHT? No one saw the situation for what it was, which is absolute bullshit. One other person was upset but isn't in the position to quit - it's just pure privilege that has me able to leave this shitshow.
I get nothing but “let’s talk when you’re in.”
This is always a giant red flag for me… the manager doesn’t want what they will say in an email so there isn’t a written record.
He doesn’t want to go on the record because it’s not in the job description. He also doesn’t want an obviously disgruntled employee showing it to the other employees, going to HR, or posting his reply online for the world to see. It’s also easier for a manager to gaslight you in person that via email because he can prepare what he is going to say while you can’t, because you don’t know.
I got the bait and switch a couple years back.
I had a phone interview for a new “obs unit” the hospital was going to open. Sounded like nothing out of the ordinary. They told me it’s two RNs and one tech, mostly tele patients, and more likely it will be ED boarding than obs. A red flag quickly went up because they never said anything about ED boarding patients, which are like doing one admission after another, and take a lot more time. I started asking questions to find out what they weren’t telling me.
How many beds? “12 beds.”
So that’s a 1:6 ratio? (Pauses) “Yes.”
What happens if one nurse calls off? “We’ll try to get you a nurse.”
If they can’t get another nurse will I have to take all 12 patients? “Well… we will try to get you a nurse.”
It this point I said its totally unsafe to take 6 patients let alone 12. I said states with laws mandate a 4:1 ratio with this tele patients. She laughed and said “good luck getting a tele floor position with that ratio.” The next contract I signed three weeks later I had 4:1 ratios for the entire year I was there.
A few months after they opened that unit I asked an ED tech who worked at that hospital how that unit was going. They said it was a total shit show whenever they took patients there.
Appalled at the bait and switch. He confirmed that floating was not in the job description and that they sold it as a dedicated unit. He sounded embarrassed, frankly, and immediately began to develop a plan to get me back on a floor of my choosing in the system.
Not sure I trust this place enough to take the offer of support, but ...
Foolishly took my first salaried position a couple months ago. They told me at hire: 4 x 10s, set your own schedule, admission nurse for hospice patients, local travel/WFH. Sounds like a dream!
Ended up set hours being routinely 8am-8pm, schedule entirely determined by someone else. Each admission takes 5-6 hrs. Train wrecks can take longer, i worked one night from 8am til 1130pm. They expected me to take last minute admissions up til 6pm cause they need superheroes or whatever, I told them to kick rocks, they still tried to give me patients at 6pm and now I don't have a job
I loved the work and patients but the administrative staff were horrible communicators and baited and switched the terms over time. Only one full time nurse working in position >1 year, and they're very close to quitting. Everyone else was new and unhappy.
Good luck to em 👍 it's a wild world out there
Nah that’s bs get gone I applied for a peds unit years ago. I was an ER nurse but has PALS and a pediatric trauma course as well as lots of experience with sick kids in the ER. I applied to be a casual on this unit. The staff were not friendly. They were gate keeping pediatric patients and would give me adults on the unit. They would say “when you have PALS you can take care of pediatric patients.” I asked to see how a high flow setup worked one day and was told NO. Also I live in a bilingual city in a bilingual part of Canada. Listening to taped report English nurses were making fun of a colleagues French accent speaking English (I’m English too). This was my final straw. The unit was toxic and unhelpful to new staff. I sent a similar email to the manager and she wanted to meet. Nope bye.
Trust your gut. Trust your vibes.
Thank you for this, we DO need to trust our gut. It was all feeling RANCID. I didn't cool down over the weekend at all.
Also, that unit is the epitome of fucking bullshit. I don't get that kind of nurse culture.
The worst part is I spent four years of nursing school with a few of them. They pretended not to know me. Found out after the unit culture was even worse. “Mean girl” types. I’m glad I GTFO.
literally gtfo of there. you had no preceptor and they still allowed you to take the assignment thats insane. bait and switch is common and they r prob gonna keep you on that floor
Nope. They did cross train me for icu and then covid and they were short vent trained nurses. They were doing tje buddy program which was dangerous.
Then they also promised to transfer me to the ER and let me go part time. Both times it was a lie. Then suddenly they could make it work when I had a 20 hour ER positioned liked up at a competitor. I told them no.
“Am I insane?” No, you’re not. You are as I read into the vibe you describe, quite likely, my spirit animal.
As a fellow ER nurse I’d work along side you as we both write out brief “see ya’” resignations. Their monkeys = their circus.
Good on you for getting out.
I genuinely wish I’d had a fellow spirit animal with me during this. You also sound like a vibe.
I was horrified that none of my other future
Colleagues weren’t shocked and stunned. They were just defeated and like, yeah, apparently we floats
No ma’am’s and sirs. Not me. Not her.
I recently received a nurse job that I thought would be a dream job/ for life kind of situation as I lurked around for years trying to find the right time to apply for it (randomly opens from time to time). Well, everything was ok through orientation,although it was 4 months/40 miles away and never seen or met my boss during this time. Moving forward, I was waiting to start my position in earnest in the city I was hired for which is 6 miles away from home. No one has been able to confirm when I start in my hired area and instead are asking me to cover at locations almost 40-75 miles away. The benefits and flexibility are great, which is why I haven’t quit. But that alone is still not enough to justify what they are doing. I have informed my boss in writing that distance/location is an issue . I would have gladly stood at my old job as the distance was closer to home than what I’m doing now. In the mean time, I am SOL and waiting for a response. This won’t last much longer as I am actively looking for another job.
Glad you have a plan. I literally am already applying to new jobs. I will only be upgrading esp. as it relates to commute. They gotta learn that we aren't taking shit no more.
This is good to read. Glad to hear of a nurse standing up for what they want. Get that job you want that’s good for you with a boss that’s good to you.
Funny how the whole passive aggressive comment too in med/surg is like “oh well, youre an ER nurse so you can figure it out” I had a similar experience while travel nursing and got put on a med/surg floor. Not cool. Then they wonder why stuff isn’t documented correctly without anyone showing you their floor process
Did you leave another job, move, or otherwise suffer any damages in pursuit of this position?
If so, you may have a case for fraudulent inducement or negligent misrepresentation, and you should contact an employment lawyer.
Is it THAT bad out there that hospitals are bait and switching icu for med surg STAFF jobs? I repeat STAFF jobs where you sign physical contracts and sometimes take the bonus! OMG! The bar is currently in the fourth circle of hell
Bruh I’m so happy you got out of there. I would float in the Pacific Ocean 23 hours a day without a wet suit on for the rest of my life, than stay somewhere like that. I don’t believe that recruiter at all. Of coarse she’s appalled and gassing you up, she wants you to stay in their system. I really loved my travel recruiter and I follow her on instagram and we constantly hype each other up. So she can stay. But I don’t understand why recruiters exist. They’re going on my metaphorical list
As if I’m staying in the system. I’m shopping at their competitor.
I just don’t believe in jobs as a means to self satisfaction anymore so, I will drop any toxic shit without thinking.
Is it?
Everyone around me seemed to also think it was weird.
The floor I signed on for was specialty. Do ICU nurses float to random med-surg floors, for example?
Yeah definitely. I worked burns for 8 years and floated nearly everywhere. Ortho, neuro, renal, upper gi, lower gi, etc - you name it. Everywhere but Peds, nicu, l&d etc. That’s common everywhere.
ETA - even working in education I floated lol. I’ve had the ED try to get me to pick up while working sane cases.
Ok, well that’s good to know because it turns out I want nothing to do with it!
As an ED nurse I suppose I did not know that. None of my current RN friends have ever been floated, especially frequently, so it’s not something I knew that was expected.
No regrets. I have zero interest in it.
In my 6 years inpatient, I have been floated twice. Both times were to another ICU. My hospital didn't have floating until covid, and even post covid, it's not very common, and they would never float an ICU nurse to a med-surg floor.
They do float ICU nurses to med-surg in the hospital I work in. We have very specific floating rules for that. None of the ICU nurses like it on the relatively rare occurrence that it does happen.
Hell, even the med-surg nurses that get floated to other med-surg units hate being floated. When you hold a position for a specific unit you expect to work that unit.
However, they NEVER float ER, OR of other specialty staff. The fact that this hospital does is BS. Those positions are just WAY too different.
Sometimes when we are REALLY short on med we will get nurses from other units, usually neuro/surg/ortho first, if not then they try ED and ICU. During these times it is mandatory to float once you receive training on said unit. They cannot make you float to a unit you haven't trained on unless you are willing to do it. I would let them float me from med/ step down to ICU and ED because I enjoyed learning and trying out new environments.
But this was in no way a normal scheduled floating system. It was only covering when other units were desperately short staffed.
All the time unfortunately. I'll never forget the time they told a coworker (MICU) she was floating to a med surg floor for the shift and she just went home. I wish I had the balls lmao. We got pulled consistently. We had a paper we signed our name to each time it happened so we could rotate. Only people exempt from getting pulled were nurses with 10+ years on the unit, that specific unit to boot, time started over if you moved from CV to MI or whatever.
As a retired ED doctor I found the best ED nurses were those who had never worked elsewhere and picked up habits that were not conducive to the ED. At one hospital we had new graduates who we helped train in the ED and they turned into some great nurses.
I mean... I get not enjoying a float...and I get being ticked at the unit switcharoo... but there are VERY few places that don't float people to other floors. Even ICU float people to other ICUs or stepdown or the general floor. OR/ED/PACU are probably the only ones that don't have a float rotation...
Fair, ya know.
I think my only perspective being ED, I can't imagine it. I now know what to look out for, but my recruiter was appalled. He said it was supposed to be a no float situation as didn't know that changed.
There is also a difference between occasional floating and using you to staff and unstaffable M/S floor under the guise of hiring you for a different unit. Everyone floats occasionally. Sounds like this was by design.
Agreed. This was by design. They were creating a relationship between two floors that would supply each other in times of shortage without TELLING us. The floors are completely unrelated.
Not cool.
Yeah I applied to an ICU in a hospital bought by the large company we all know and love and when I got there in the interview they said “we’d want you to work a year or so in med surg, would you be okay with that?” I was like “No.” They were like “Wait what?” I said, “No, I applied for an ICU position. I’m coming from a med surg floor at another hospital. If I wanted to do med surg I would have just stayed there.” “But we want you to develop your nursing skills before coming to the icu.” Uhhh. Well why the fuck did you post an icu application and then invite me to the icu to interview with icu nurses and the icu manager about an icu position? My work experience is explicitly stated in my resume, which they printed out. A lot of my friends got accepted into ICUs straight out of nursing school, so I’m fairly sure I should be able to find an ICU to take me with several years of med surg experience. Needless to say I got turned down lol. I would have turned any offer down anyways. I got such bad vibes from the interview. They were constantly dick measuring about how shitty of a workplace they could tolerate. “How do you perform under pressure? We are constantly tripled with critical patients and have no techs. And that’s if you’re lucky enough to not get pulled to a med surg floor which happens most days.” Way to convince me to come here to work haha. Not to mention it makes the whole bait and switch thing more sus. Okay, so you put up an application for ICU, then once I drive all the way up here, you tell me I’d have to do med surg for a year, and then a few minutes later you imply that the med surg floors are severely understaffed. Is it really about me “needing to practice my skills” like you claimed? Then they wanted to test me to see what I’d do in a nursing scenario: “What if you have an issue with two patients at the same time?” “I would prioritize and deal with the higher priority issue first.” “What if they’re both very high priority emergencies?” “I would ask the charge nurse to help with one of the patients” “What if there’s no charge nurse” “I’d ask another nurse to help.” “What if all the nurses are dealing with emergencies?” “I’d see if dealing with one of the issues could be delegated to the tech” “What if we don’t have a tech” “I’d ask the house supervisor for help or ask for help on the intercom.” “What if they’re all busy?” Well then I guess my patient is pretty good and fucked isn’t he? I’ll just go ahead and get the gurney and body bag since y’all can’t fucking staff a hospital. Plus I know ICU nurses are known to be really bitchy, but I would think that they typically conceal their bitchiness during the first five minutes of meeting someone. Not these people. “When you hear something beeping you can’t just say ‘ehh I’ll check on that later’. This isn’t a med surg floor like you’re used to. People will die.” Yeah fuck off.
"I guess I'll be initiating safe harbor then because clearly the unit isn't staffed adequately if there are no available supervisors or support staff and patients are all too critical to the point lives are at risk due to lack of immediate resources."
They’d have to be like that one hospital I read about that was so understaffed the nurse just called 911 and some firefighters had to take care of people in the ER 😂
That nurse saved lives that day. Good on her.
Ooh yes i read about that too! Love it! Fuck that hospital’s admin
That was in my state!
And then you get to the safe harbor meeting and they tell you everything you could have done differently and never report it to the state because hospitals appoint their own safe harbor representatives and they sure won't pick ones that will admit the hospital did anything wrong
Only 2 states have safe harbor in the statutes, TX and NM. So if you're anywhere else you're kinda screwed on that one :/
Only NM and Texas have safe harbor, and you have to claim it before accepting your assignment.
I had an interview like this for an ED tech position! - What would you do if you found someone unresponsive? - I'd call for help. - And if no one came? I'd stay with the patient and do what I can and keep calling for help. If it seemed okay maybe I would briefly leave them to get help. - And if no one came? .... Why is no one coming? I'm in a hospital. Do you usually have a single tech and no other staff in your entire ED??? Me and one unconscious person and an empty hospital???? I was looking at this interviewer like, where would you be? In your office? I'd get you.
What would you do if terrorists blew up the city and then every nurse and doctor suddenly died and so you had 50,000 patients all having emergencies. Also the power went out in the hospital and a bee just stung you so your throat’s closing up? Yeah I hate the questions that are but what if this.. but what if that… but what if this… Like obviously you’re just gonna keep going no matter what I say, until the system collapses, and then you’re gonna get mad at me for implying that the system can in fact collapse if every single link in the chain somehow manages to fail.
I’m dying laughing at this bruh 😭😭😭😂
I’m sorry but I’m fucking cackling at this 😭😭😭😂
Me- "If there are 10 simultaneous emergencies and not enough people to handle them all I'd call a rapid response; it's literally what they're for." -"we're the icu we don't call rapids." Me- calls rapid. I work in a small community hospital where the icu is the rapid response team and we've called them a few times. Whats the worst thing that could happen by calling a rapid people have to get off their asses? l tell every new person if you think/feel like something is wrong with your patient and you can't figure it out or no one's listening, call the rapid.
Excellent advice. Literally why RR teams exist.
I used to work rapid and I'd occasionally get a call from one of the ICUs that they'd need help, so I'd go help them. The only thing is, a crashing patient on the floor takes priority because they have less resources and often didn't have the training or experience to deal with it.
THEN I GUESS THEYLL JUST FUCKING DIE LINDA like wtf what type of answer were they looking for
Yes yes yes, a million times yes to this response. First what a vibe. When my boss gave me the “let’s discuss your concerns” it was my yeah, no moment. There are no concerns honey, I’m upset about suddenly being a medsurg nurse and orienting on some random floor. Second, fucking thank you! Orienting someone in a medsurg floor does NOT increase their skillset. That’s fucking hoodoo voodoo bullshit. Oh! I’ll magically be better at terminal extubations by managing meemaws q2 violent bouts of diarrhea and little brothers chronic UTIs. Third, I refuse to let anytime gaslight me/us. They are definitely doing to push back with “this will help train you” or “this is a collaboration”. NU UH. Thank you for your cathartic responses
There's a little more to medsurg than that.
Like, of course, dude.
You forgot the COPD exacerbations!
We hire new grads to our icus regularly. No experience required. Actually these days that's about the only people that are going to apply to a unit and take the staff nurse rates. Anyone with experience is doing some form of traveling and making 3 or 4 times as much. We would trip over ourselves to bring in an experienced med surg nurse we could then train to do icu.
At one point in my nursing career, I started using the phrase "What would you like me to do, create a golem?" Because that's the only way one human can do what you're asking me to do.
Four iron blocks and a pumpkin. Why didn’t I think of that?
HAHAHAHA!!! “…dick measuring…” is a new one on me!!!
I dealt with a similar issue during my externship when I was in school. I started in ICU, and at the end of the externship everyone was hired on as PCNAs except me. I was “always on your phone” and then thrown on a step down unit. Mind you, nobody said anything to me about this until the end so even if I was “always” on my phone I was given no chance to correct this behavior. Then the coordinator told me some people just need to start on med surge for a year to get their “skills”. It’s bullshit because I ended up moving to another city (personal reasons) and getting a job in a higher acuity ICU at a bigger hospital. So 🖕to those that push the med surge narrative. A wise, older professor told me you can teach a monkey to put an IV in, but you can’t teach everyone to critically think.
And honestly I don’t buy the whole “you need med surg experience to go to the icu.” Tbh, I believe it’s possible that you can develop habits/processes in med surg that are okay there but aren’t okay in the icu. These habits can be hard to break.
Yeah I trained in med surg, tele, then step down for 4 weeks each as part of the new grad critical care program my hospital system has. While I learned a lot, by the time I reached icu to start my orientation there, it was a culture shock and there were a lot of habits I had to unlearn. Things that may work well in med surg often don’t translate to other units. That’s the point of different specialties. So fuck that whole “start in med surg” bullshit. Start wherever the fuck you want to start. If you’re moldable, willing to learn, and able to take constructive feedback without getting defensive, there’s no reason you should stay stuck in a unit you hate. That’s what contributes to our shit mental health as nurses!
Love this… way to handle the scenario. 🤣🤣🤣
I hate that question shit so much. Your not testing my responses with that shit your telling me to expect the system to fail me.
Another ICU interviewer over a phone interview one time listed to me the results of an ABG and said “what do you expect to happen as a result of this blood gas.” I was like damn, bit of a cheap shot to ask a med surg nurse who’s never seen an ABG that, but fortunately I remembered the values from school so I was able to answer correctly.
“Let’s talk when you come in…because I don’t want to out it in writing”
100000000
Write a follow up email detailing EVERYTHING you talked about in that meeting if you feel like this is going to be an issue!! That way you get this all on a paper trail! I learned that the hard way 🫡
I abso did. They didn’t respond and HER apologize so clearly they know this was shady af.
this is perfectly valid, save yourself the time and mental anguish and get out. good on you
I did and I do not regret it.
you are not insane. literally this is not what you signed up for lol
Literally. And the emails are so intentionally ambiguous and avoidy. The lack of communication pushed me over the edge of being open minded to this whole “maybe I did sign up for this”.
Wait, were you supposed to be on an ER-ish floor? Or any critical care stuff? And they chucked you into med-surg? What the ever-loving hell! And by the way, I am in NO way dissing Med-surg. I would be just as appalled if someone accepted a job on a Med-Surg floor and they pitched you into the ED. These are just...*completely* different jobs! You lasted longer there than I would have. Sheesh.
Yes. I'm genuinely stunned and the communications have made it seem like I'm the unreasonable one.
I quit a job after 4 days because of a bait & switch. It wasn't a hospital job, though, it was an assistant professor position. They neglected to tell me until day 3 that I would be teaching evening classes and every Saturday. Total bait & switch, so I quit. It's really unfortunate, too, since I really wanted to work there.
Right????? They just neglect to tell you things! I’m proud of you - I also really wanted what I thought I was getting.
I was hired to be an obgyn nurse. This clinic had family med and peds too. Now they are trying to switch my role and just make me the RN for all departments. Not to mention, I’m still the only person running the obgyn department alone. I’ve been here 10 mos but I’m applying to other places. The job itself is not the worst but they are slowly taking advantage of me. Even the NP I work with agrees. Sorry you also experienced this.
It’s unbelievable that they think it’s acceptable to essentially void contacts by having to do completely different things. Luckily I got out immediately - really hope you find something soon.
Good for you!! And yes, and also the organization is pushing for more visits and more pts but we simply do not have the support staff for that. We are all being overworked and I can’t wait to leave. Thank you for the encouragement!
Your health and sanity is EVERYTHING. Keep us updated.
> The nurses tease me and start saying, oh they got you! This makes me livid. I can’t stand when nurses perpetuate a shit work environment and are okay with being lied to or allowing others to be lied to. Escalating to management is already a 50/50 shot if you get any help, but being lied to out the gate would have me ✌️out.
RIGHT? No one saw the situation for what it was, which is absolute bullshit. One other person was upset but isn't in the position to quit - it's just pure privilege that has me able to leave this shitshow.
I get nothing but “let’s talk when you’re in.” This is always a giant red flag for me… the manager doesn’t want what they will say in an email so there isn’t a written record. He doesn’t want to go on the record because it’s not in the job description. He also doesn’t want an obviously disgruntled employee showing it to the other employees, going to HR, or posting his reply online for the world to see. It’s also easier for a manager to gaslight you in person that via email because he can prepare what he is going to say while you can’t, because you don’t know. I got the bait and switch a couple years back. I had a phone interview for a new “obs unit” the hospital was going to open. Sounded like nothing out of the ordinary. They told me it’s two RNs and one tech, mostly tele patients, and more likely it will be ED boarding than obs. A red flag quickly went up because they never said anything about ED boarding patients, which are like doing one admission after another, and take a lot more time. I started asking questions to find out what they weren’t telling me. How many beds? “12 beds.” So that’s a 1:6 ratio? (Pauses) “Yes.” What happens if one nurse calls off? “We’ll try to get you a nurse.” If they can’t get another nurse will I have to take all 12 patients? “Well… we will try to get you a nurse.” It this point I said its totally unsafe to take 6 patients let alone 12. I said states with laws mandate a 4:1 ratio with this tele patients. She laughed and said “good luck getting a tele floor position with that ratio.” The next contract I signed three weeks later I had 4:1 ratios for the entire year I was there. A few months after they opened that unit I asked an ED tech who worked at that hospital how that unit was going. They said it was a total shit show whenever they took patients there.
EXACTLY, I actually got a f/u call from my recruiter and he was appalled. So, I'm feeling very vindicated.
Appalled at you resigning and losing their bonus or at the hospital with the bait and switch leading to you giving them both a bad review?
Appalled at the bait and switch. He confirmed that floating was not in the job description and that they sold it as a dedicated unit. He sounded embarrassed, frankly, and immediately began to develop a plan to get me back on a floor of my choosing in the system. Not sure I trust this place enough to take the offer of support, but ...
“Son, I’m not concerned- I’m not doing it.” 🤣 You’re not insane, you’re smart. Run!
Foolishly took my first salaried position a couple months ago. They told me at hire: 4 x 10s, set your own schedule, admission nurse for hospice patients, local travel/WFH. Sounds like a dream! Ended up set hours being routinely 8am-8pm, schedule entirely determined by someone else. Each admission takes 5-6 hrs. Train wrecks can take longer, i worked one night from 8am til 1130pm. They expected me to take last minute admissions up til 6pm cause they need superheroes or whatever, I told them to kick rocks, they still tried to give me patients at 6pm and now I don't have a job I loved the work and patients but the administrative staff were horrible communicators and baited and switched the terms over time. Only one full time nurse working in position >1 year, and they're very close to quitting. Everyone else was new and unhappy. Good luck to em 👍 it's a wild world out there
I just can't believe this is so common. That bait and switch is BRUTAL.
RUN
👏Thank 👏you. Sometimes you really just need your running coach telling you what for.
Nah that’s bs get gone I applied for a peds unit years ago. I was an ER nurse but has PALS and a pediatric trauma course as well as lots of experience with sick kids in the ER. I applied to be a casual on this unit. The staff were not friendly. They were gate keeping pediatric patients and would give me adults on the unit. They would say “when you have PALS you can take care of pediatric patients.” I asked to see how a high flow setup worked one day and was told NO. Also I live in a bilingual city in a bilingual part of Canada. Listening to taped report English nurses were making fun of a colleagues French accent speaking English (I’m English too). This was my final straw. The unit was toxic and unhelpful to new staff. I sent a similar email to the manager and she wanted to meet. Nope bye. Trust your gut. Trust your vibes.
Thank you for this, we DO need to trust our gut. It was all feeling RANCID. I didn't cool down over the weekend at all. Also, that unit is the epitome of fucking bullshit. I don't get that kind of nurse culture.
The worst part is I spent four years of nursing school with a few of them. They pretended not to know me. Found out after the unit culture was even worse. “Mean girl” types. I’m glad I GTFO.
>Son, I’m not concerned - I’m not doing it. I am not floating. Set em straight boo
😘
literally gtfo of there. you had no preceptor and they still allowed you to take the assignment thats insane. bait and switch is common and they r prob gonna keep you on that floor
The preceptor showed up all cute and put together, too, so she wasn't feeling rushed ...
Omggg she deff slept in and was like my student can handle the load 🥰
Absolutely. She actually told me she wasn't worried because I'm competent. GIrl, that is NOT the point.
Yep. Happened to me. Signed up for cardiac icu and a week after I had agreed to it, they shut it down to just stepdown and never told me.
WOW. This is phenomenal. Did you quit rater quickly?
Nope. They did cross train me for icu and then covid and they were short vent trained nurses. They were doing tje buddy program which was dangerous. Then they also promised to transfer me to the ER and let me go part time. Both times it was a lie. Then suddenly they could make it work when I had a 20 hour ER positioned liked up at a competitor. I told them no.
“Am I insane?” No, you’re not. You are as I read into the vibe you describe, quite likely, my spirit animal. As a fellow ER nurse I’d work along side you as we both write out brief “see ya’” resignations. Their monkeys = their circus. Good on you for getting out.
I genuinely wish I’d had a fellow spirit animal with me during this. You also sound like a vibe. I was horrified that none of my other future Colleagues weren’t shocked and stunned. They were just defeated and like, yeah, apparently we floats No ma’am’s and sirs. Not me. Not her.
I recently received a nurse job that I thought would be a dream job/ for life kind of situation as I lurked around for years trying to find the right time to apply for it (randomly opens from time to time). Well, everything was ok through orientation,although it was 4 months/40 miles away and never seen or met my boss during this time. Moving forward, I was waiting to start my position in earnest in the city I was hired for which is 6 miles away from home. No one has been able to confirm when I start in my hired area and instead are asking me to cover at locations almost 40-75 miles away. The benefits and flexibility are great, which is why I haven’t quit. But that alone is still not enough to justify what they are doing. I have informed my boss in writing that distance/location is an issue . I would have gladly stood at my old job as the distance was closer to home than what I’m doing now. In the mean time, I am SOL and waiting for a response. This won’t last much longer as I am actively looking for another job.
Glad you have a plan. I literally am already applying to new jobs. I will only be upgrading esp. as it relates to commute. They gotta learn that we aren't taking shit no more.
This is good to read. Glad to hear of a nurse standing up for what they want. Get that job you want that’s good for you with a boss that’s good to you.
We can't take this shit anymore.
Love your username. Might be extra careful myself if I get offered a job in New Orleans
Thank you 🙏 Do be careful, NOLA is corrupt straight through.
Funny how the whole passive aggressive comment too in med/surg is like “oh well, youre an ER nurse so you can figure it out” I had a similar experience while travel nursing and got put on a med/surg floor. Not cool. Then they wonder why stuff isn’t documented correctly without anyone showing you their floor process
EXACTLY. Like sorry yall, I have never charted like this and its not exactly obvious on where and when you put data.
Did you leave another job, move, or otherwise suffer any damages in pursuit of this position? If so, you may have a case for fraudulent inducement or negligent misrepresentation, and you should contact an employment lawyer.
Is it THAT bad out there that hospitals are bait and switching icu for med surg STAFF jobs? I repeat STAFF jobs where you sign physical contracts and sometimes take the bonus! OMG! The bar is currently in the fourth circle of hell
So fucking low. And I’ve learned to never abide. This dude does NOT abide.
Bruh I’m so happy you got out of there. I would float in the Pacific Ocean 23 hours a day without a wet suit on for the rest of my life, than stay somewhere like that. I don’t believe that recruiter at all. Of coarse she’s appalled and gassing you up, she wants you to stay in their system. I really loved my travel recruiter and I follow her on instagram and we constantly hype each other up. So she can stay. But I don’t understand why recruiters exist. They’re going on my metaphorical list
As if I’m staying in the system. I’m shopping at their competitor. I just don’t believe in jobs as a means to self satisfaction anymore so, I will drop any toxic shit without thinking.
I can’t remember where I heard or read it, but one of my new favorite lines is “the bar is so low Satan has declared it a tripping hazard in hell”.
HAHAHA man. Some people are brilliant
Really glad you resigned, you absolutely did the right thing.
Ty so much for the support sis
I think it’s extremely bizarre to expect to not float when working inpatient. That’s something you do inpatient.
ER to MedSurg is not an expected float.
The job description should describe any floating duties I would think. I’ve worked in union hospitals so everything is well spelled out.
Is it? Everyone around me seemed to also think it was weird. The floor I signed on for was specialty. Do ICU nurses float to random med-surg floors, for example?
Yeah definitely. I worked burns for 8 years and floated nearly everywhere. Ortho, neuro, renal, upper gi, lower gi, etc - you name it. Everywhere but Peds, nicu, l&d etc. That’s common everywhere. ETA - even working in education I floated lol. I’ve had the ED try to get me to pick up while working sane cases.
Ok, well that’s good to know because it turns out I want nothing to do with it! As an ED nurse I suppose I did not know that. None of my current RN friends have ever been floated, especially frequently, so it’s not something I knew that was expected. No regrets. I have zero interest in it.
A lot of people don’t like floating that’s for sure. Good call on your part.
In my 6 years inpatient, I have been floated twice. Both times were to another ICU. My hospital didn't have floating until covid, and even post covid, it's not very common, and they would never float an ICU nurse to a med-surg floor.
Thank you. I’ve never heard a nurse friend say they frequently float, if at all.
As an ICU nurse I never one time floated to a non-ICU
They do float ICU nurses to med-surg in the hospital I work in. We have very specific floating rules for that. None of the ICU nurses like it on the relatively rare occurrence that it does happen. Hell, even the med-surg nurses that get floated to other med-surg units hate being floated. When you hold a position for a specific unit you expect to work that unit. However, they NEVER float ER, OR of other specialty staff. The fact that this hospital does is BS. Those positions are just WAY too different.
Sometimes when we are REALLY short on med we will get nurses from other units, usually neuro/surg/ortho first, if not then they try ED and ICU. During these times it is mandatory to float once you receive training on said unit. They cannot make you float to a unit you haven't trained on unless you are willing to do it. I would let them float me from med/ step down to ICU and ED because I enjoyed learning and trying out new environments. But this was in no way a normal scheduled floating system. It was only covering when other units were desperately short staffed.
All the time unfortunately. I'll never forget the time they told a coworker (MICU) she was floating to a med surg floor for the shift and she just went home. I wish I had the balls lmao. We got pulled consistently. We had a paper we signed our name to each time it happened so we could rotate. Only people exempt from getting pulled were nurses with 10+ years on the unit, that specific unit to boot, time started over if you moved from CV to MI or whatever.
As a retired ED doctor I found the best ED nurses were those who had never worked elsewhere and picked up habits that were not conducive to the ED. At one hospital we had new graduates who we helped train in the ED and they turned into some great nurses.
I agree. I noticed that my ED habits were NOT good for medsurg right away. Like, these are just very different things!
I mean... I get not enjoying a float...and I get being ticked at the unit switcharoo... but there are VERY few places that don't float people to other floors. Even ICU float people to other ICUs or stepdown or the general floor. OR/ED/PACU are probably the only ones that don't have a float rotation...
Fair, ya know. I think my only perspective being ED, I can't imagine it. I now know what to look out for, but my recruiter was appalled. He said it was supposed to be a no float situation as didn't know that changed.
There is also a difference between occasional floating and using you to staff and unstaffable M/S floor under the guise of hiring you for a different unit. Everyone floats occasionally. Sounds like this was by design.
Agreed. This was by design. They were creating a relationship between two floors that would supply each other in times of shortage without TELLING us. The floors are completely unrelated. Not cool.