Advice needed please before I go insane!

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Steph Smith BSc(hons) RVN — Sat, 04 Oct 2014 14:32:08 GMT

So glad to hear your circumstances have changed - congratulations on the new job and I hope you are feeling happier. I'm also very driven to improve standards and patient care in a very quiet practice with mostly admin duties, and to be honest I do struggle to keep myself happy, but I know that I'm making a positive difference there and I'm looking into distance CPD to keep myself learning. I am also aware that my employer would be open to talking with me about any difficulties and to look for ways to help the staff feel happy and motivated to work well and productively.

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Rachel Woodcock — Sat, 20 Sep 2014 10:42:16 GMT

I went for an interview yesterday and I've been offered the job so I'm really happy! I'll be able to be a proper nurse again :) Thank you to everyone for your advice x

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Alasdair Mathieson — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 20:48:55 GMT

I would agree it's not always arrogance, but there are a fair number of self-important vets around. It really is a team game, this profession, and us vets should appreciate the caliber of our nurses, and use them to the full. Very often, nurses are more respected by the clients than by their vet colleagues. Well done for training husband : if sensible discussion fails, try a good kicking. If the nurses are not nuts now, it's a win/win for him.

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Gillian Mostyn — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 13:29:56 GMT

[quote user="Alasdair Mathieson"]all I can suggest is that there are a lot of vets who are arrogant, too full of their own importance.[/quote]

probably- to some degree. But I also think that vets, as a whole, are a bunch of highly motivated, independent, confident individuals who are used to getting on with things for themselves. I know I have had to train my husband - we hadn't worked together until we opened our own practice and he was a pain in the ***! He did everything for himself and never allowed anyone to do anything for him - be it me or the nurses. If an animal needed a blood sample, he just put it in the kennel and didn't think to ask someone else... he often wouldn't even tell them why it was there....!!! It drove the nurses nuts. Things are very different now..... but sometimes this 'arrogance' isn't deliberate - just a bad habit that needs sensible discussion!

It also needs to be remembered that it is only recently that registered nurses can be held responsible for their own mistakes - up to now vets have always held full and complete responsibility for every animal under their care at all times. It can be less stressful for some to carry out tasks yourself rather than trust someone else to do them, especially for those people who have low confidence in themselves anyway!

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

molladog — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 09:41:12 GMT

Seen this soooooo often........(sigh)

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Alasdair Mathieson — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 09:35:16 GMT

It's all about teamwork, and if vets and nurses work together, rather than vets pushing nurses about, that team will get better results. As I said, this has always puzzled me, and all I can suggest is that there are a lot of vets who are arrogant, too full of their own importance.

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

molladog — Thu, 11 Sep 2014 08:38:17 GMT

Totally agree, if only more vets shared your opinion nurses would feel they had a purpose in their work and vets would realise all the brilliant things nurses can do in the workplace so freeing up the vets to do their own job.

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Alasdair Mathieson — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 21:29:01 GMT

As a practice owner, this has always puzzled me. Why employ a qualified nurse, then not let her do her job? It's a school leaver that the practice actually wants. Blood sampling, i-v catheters, bandaging etc etc are obviously nurses' remit. Your two jobs are typical of why so many nurses are leaving the profession [ around twenty more nurse jobs on here today ] and it really is high time vets regarded their nurses as colleagues and not as some sort of sub-human species.

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Rachel Woodcock — Wed, 10 Sep 2014 17:30:23 GMT

Thank you so much to everyone who has replied. I'm just feeling really deflated and like I'm not doing a good job anymore. I used to take such pride in my nursing and now I feel like I'm just a glorified cleaner and dogs body. I guess I didn't fully value how advanced my previous practice was :(

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Sarah Bolton — Tue, 09 Sep 2014 17:01:34 GMT

I had a similar problem. I went from being sooo stressed to sooo bored and under-challenged. My problem was that I went to work at a place which had so many new grad vets who wanted to do everything. I started to find myself looking at the diary to look for animals having blood samples so I could grab them from the waiting room first. I left after 13 months as I just wanted more than I got there and although the practice was busy, I wasn't doing any other than cleaning really.

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

nickyc — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 16:25:56 GMT

I would definatley have a chat to them, and also with the other nurses but ultimately it might not be the place for you likewise I would not return to my old job as you left for a reason, and it is possible to find a quieter less stressful practice who also let you be a nurse...! It took me a year of searching to find my current job, but I did manage to find a smaller, less stressful practice with better hours, but also who let me use me skills! But not all places are the same, always may sure for the future that you do a trial day that way you get to see the workings of the practice and interact with the other staff members and really find out what the practice is like..

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Sal the 1st — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 11:23:13 GMT

[quote user="Johnathan Prior"]May also be best to chat to other nurses before management. See what they would like changed. If they are happy with their jobs and have been there for years then they may be annoyed with someone who has been there a month and trying to make changes, giving more responsibilities or stuff they are not confident with. I know a know a nurse who refuses to do iv's as she has no confidence in it.

[/quote]

agreed. I have seen this happen so many times - and the resulting upset that goes with it

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

gemima — Mon, 08 Sep 2014 08:57:08 GMT

Hi,

What about taking on some OOH work to vary your case load and keep a hand in and as a bonus get some extra cash or maybe look at enrolling on a new course to keep your motivation up, hope things get sorted xx

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Johnathan Prior — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 17:57:27 GMT

May also be best to chat to other nurses before management. See what they would like changed. If they are happy with their jobs and have been there for years then they may be annoyed with someone who has been there a month and trying to make changes, giving more responsibilities or stuff they are not confident with. I know a know a nurse who refuses to do iv's as she has no confidence in it.

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Gillian Mostyn — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 12:52:10 GMT

As Sal said, you need to decide what you want from your job, what is essential and where you'll compromise. Recruiting is expensive for employers, both financially and in time, so both employer and candidate need to know they match!

Oh- and obviously make sure your old employer will take you back before burning your bridges!

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Rachel Woodcock — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 09:21:11 GMT

Hi None of the nurses are allowed to place ivs etc,it's a joke really. Just getting really frustrated and fed up :(

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Sal the 1st — Sun, 07 Sep 2014 00:37:54 GMT

try making a list of

a) what you want from your ideal job

and

b) a comparison list of the two jobs and see which one satisfies the most 'wants' on your list

sometimes it helps to break it down a bit and to be able to see it in black and white - and if neither prove to be what you want then the exercise wasn't a waste of time because it will give you a clearer picture of what you do want for the future when you are job hunting

A month isnt a long time tho - you may find you get more responsibilities when you have been there a bit longer

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Rachel Woodcock — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 21:57:22 GMT

Thanks for the chat. I'm going to speak to them on mon and see what they say but I doubt itl be enough to make me want to stay x

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Honeybadger — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 21:48:20 GMT

Well if you are bored after only 1 month then I think unfortunately it may not be the job for you :( I would try to discuss your issues with your manager and at least give them a chance to make changes before you decide to leave. Good nurses are hard to come by so I would hope that they will do their best to keep you. Good luck with what you decide to do x

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Rachel Woodcock — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 21:40:11 GMT

The vets categorically will not let a nurse do an iv or a dressing!

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Rachel Woodcock — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 21:39:11 GMT

Hi They already do lots of nurse clinics and from speaking to other staff I doubt things will ever change. I used to be able to use all my skills at my previous job and naively assumed everywhere would be the same. I just feel so lost. I'm the kind of person that likes to always been learning things and I've not learnt a single thing since I've been there :(

Re: Advice needed please before I go insane!

Honeybadger — Sat, 06 Sep 2014 21:09:45 GMT

Maybe you could see if you could increase the scope of your role in your new practice...Is there an area that you are interested in? Maybe see if you can develop nurse clinics, increase dental awareness and get involved with the descale and polish or put forward a proposal for how the nurses can take some work load away from the vets to free up their time. Maybe they have got into the habit of doing all the ivs but would be happy for you to do them? I often ask the vets if they are happy for me to take bloods or intubate whilst they hold (!) and I explain that I just don't want to get out of practice and not be able to do it when needed.