? How would you quit? UPDATE**POST 46

[Dar]

As many of you know I work as a home care nurse... I recently got a job with a Nursing Home, (not to be confused with a Long Term Care facility)

During my orientation my hours were modified to allow my orientation to over lap my other job (the one I was leaving) While I gave my 2 weeks notice. Well this last weekend I did a 2 full shifts in the new place, and there were some things that concerned me. In ontario LTC facilities MUST adhere to at least minimum standards because they are run by the government. In a nursing home there is NO standards of minimum care because they are privately owned.

the things that I witnessed were: all the things mentioned below are AGAINST ministry rules)
changing the residents briefs while they are hanging from the mechanical lifts
not allowing for residents privacy while changing their briefs
changing their briefs in bedrooms other then their own ** this one is a grey area
when resident does not have a BM they will not clean the residents bottom before they put a clean brief on **another grey area
they use the mechanical lifts without a spotter

some other things I observed:
not changing gloves in between clients
using the same cloth to clean faces and bottoms (they do the face first then the bottom second) EVERY place i worked before there is one cloth for face and one for peri care (bottoms) and one cloth is usually a different colour then the other to tell them appart

AS you can tell by me posting this.. my standard of care is so much higher then the care given at this nursing home. I am not given the time to provide the care that is up to my standards.. quality takes time.. I am slotted 3 hours to fully bathe and dress lotion, mouth care and put to bed a resident and get the tub room sanitized between residents and I have 4 residents to to per night + assist with 2 others that do not require baths on my nights. with all the other tasks i have to do it breaks down to 20 minutes per person IF i dont take my 30 minute dinner break. (my total shift is 3-9) baths happen from 6-9 changing and feeding residents is from 3-6

I have decided to leave this job because i have another job offer... I have only worked 4 shifts with the nursing home... How would you quit?

 

[annie3001]

oh boy. wow. i feel so sorry for all those residents. Is there a higher up you can tell all of this to?
If you have a job lined up, just quit this one,, who wants to work under those conditions. sounds like you are an excellent nurse,, because those conditions really bother you. i dont know what else to say, hopefully someone else chimes in...as i am sure they will.
good luck to you.

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I'd just be as honest and plite as possible and tell them that this job is just not as good a fit as you once thought it might be and you can already tell you won't be happy working for them. SO, to save both of you the trouble of leaving on bad terms you'd rather just give a weeks notice rather than the standard 2 weeks and then get the heck outta there! That's what I would do if it were me. Hope that helps

 

[redhen]

I would tell them your concerns about the time to do patient care issue...
Its such a shame they put so many patients on one person...Its typical in those places though..
I did it for like 15 yrs... finally i had enough..I'll never go back for that abuse again... They expect too much from one aide..
There is NO way to give quality care in that amount of time... << Thats what i'd tell them...

 

[beerman]

I would tell them I am quitting and ask if they want to know why, they might not even care. You might not bother explaining yourself because you might be labeled a troublemaker and word does travel.

 

[Dar]

this is a family run business

the mother started it 30+ years ado in her home
daughter is the director of care
husband of daughter is payroll and maintenance

sons of mother who started are execs.

so really there is no one higher... I was trained by the DOC


ETA: they are currently being sued because a resident fell and broke a hip and other unexplained marks on resident

 

[Opa]

I think the advice given by cindiloohoo is very sound. Not much while be gained by pointing out that their standards of care is less than an enviroment you prefer to work in. I'm sure they are completely aware of it. It would be better to leave as soon as possible it sounds like a place that leads to too much heartache.

 

[debilorrah]

Dar I am not sure what it is like there, but here there are standards of care the can get a facility shut down, whether or not privately owned, and all those thing you mentioned not only put the residents in physical and infectious danger, but the other employees too. That right there is just nasty. Those poor people have families that are paying that facility to take QUALITY care of their eldery relative and that kind of treatment should not be tolerated. Quit, be honest, and report them to the proper authorities.

 

[Imp]

If you have a probationary period to your employment there, you do not need to give notice, unless it might hurt you in future jobs. Same with telling why, If it will hurt you in the future I would stick to generally telling them you need to spend more time helping patients. If you start talking neglect & abuse, EVERYONE in the area will label you a troublemaker. You might have problems getting employment in the future. If you feel the need to report it- do it anonymously through whoever has oversight.

Imp

 

[agnes_day]

i used to work as a cna, but i finally gave up..it was killing my back and it was all for nothing...no matter how good of a job i did, i had several others working against me for doing so. i remember the very last place i worked, i pulled this ladys blanket back to find her covered in cockroaches. the charge nurse told me that it was ok because the woman was a "slob" anyways. i finished my shift, went home and called the state the next day and haven't looked back. i know there are probably good places out there but just the places being what they are hinders it..its really not feasible to give good care to a large number of people with not enough staff.
i would quit and not feel a bit bad about it.