Getting Hired and Getting Respect

So first a little good news.  As I said in my last post, I am in the process of getting hired in by the State.  No longer will I be a contract employee working for Manpower.  No longer will I be 'less' of a team member.  No longer will I go without the benefits of most full times jobs like insurance, retirement, sick time, paid time off, and overtime.

I am still holding my breath a bit though, as I'm not finished with the hiring process.  I guess I'll recount what's happened so far.

So in the first weeks of October I was called up by the HR department of the correctional facility where I work.  They actually called me while I was working (I guess they knew where I was!) and asked me if I would be interested in interviewing for a nursing position at the facility.  I actually had to pause for a moment and wonder if they knew I was currently working as a nurse at the facility.  It only took me a moment to realize that they were offering the chance to get hired in by the state.

I of course said yes, and then all the drama began in earnest.  I think I mentioned that I was working with another nurse that had previously been hired in by the state, but had to quit when she got pregnant.  It seems that while on probation (all new hires are on probation for their first year) you can't take that much time off in a single chunk.  How that doesn't violate the Family Leave Act still baffles me.  Anyway, she had recently come back as a fellow contract employee, and she too was being offered the chance to interview.



Most of the 'drama' was well intentioned people helping me in ways that I don't really like.  For instance, I can make up my own mind on how I'd feel if I got the job, but my fellow previously screwed over nurse didn't.  You see, the nursing staff as a whole love her.  They want her part of the team and feel that she was honestly cheated out of her job before.  And she IS a good nurse.  I've taken some of my training from her and she is a constant source of information and aid while I'm working.   But the nursing staff is only one part of the hiring ladder.... HR is another one and it seems that they truly dislike her.

Don't get me wrong, the nursing staff likes me too, but who would you rather hire on as a permanent member of the team?  A nurse who has been with you for nearly a year and is very competent at her job?  Or a 'new' nurse who only has been working with you for three and a half months?   HR on the other hand loves me.  I have followed all of their rules and regulations and have never rocked the boat.  The same can't be said by the other nurse.  So it was a real possibility that I would get the job over a well deserving fellow colleague.

If that chance came I would of course take the job.  I'd feel bad for the other nurse, but I wouldn't cut off my nose to spite my face.  But then comes the information (this type of information always comes from some unnamed but seemingly knowing source) that they are filling two positions and that there are only three interviews.  The screwed over nurse, me, and some outside applicant.

At this point everyone starts congratulating me as if I'm a shoe in.  I tried to keep from getting my hopes up by letting people know that I'll do my best, but won't get excited until I get an offer.  Remember, I had to interview twice and apply three times just to get the contract job.  No premature celebrations over here!

But no one listens and keeps saying things like "Hey, we're so happy you're now part of the team", or "I bet you can't wait to get some holiday overtime!"

Well, the week of the interview comes up and the previously screwed over nurse shows her true colors and tries to give me advice.  There's the standard 'dress up', as well as a bunch of stuff that will 'definitely' be part of the interview.  Stuff like chest pain, diabetes, and oddly enough discriminatory harassment.  I appreciated her effort, but I had other plans.  First off, I wasn't going to dress up... the interview was scheduled for 30 minutes before my shift began, so I'd be wearing my scrubs.   Yes a suit and tie look nice, but they've seen me in it before and I'd like to show that I'm serious about my job and not just serious about an interview.  Next, I try not to 'prep' for an interview.  I know some people need that, but in all honesty I just get frustrated when I do that.  Frustrated that I can't cram in 3 years worth of classes and clinicals into my head all at once.  Frustrated that whatever I prep for may well not come up in the interview.  And most of all frustrated if I study the material, it gets asked about in the interview, and I freeze up because I KNOW that I should know the answer.  My prep for an interview is a good nights sleep, a light breakfast, a cool beverage (Gatorate's G2).  That's it.  No studying... no prepping... just getting me into as good of a mindset as I can be.

The interview itself went fine.  Two of the three interviewers were the same people that had interviewed me before (both of whom are now my supervisors), while the third 'HR' position was with a different person.  I was greeted and the main supervisor even acknowledged that we had all been here before by saying something like "No need to get nervous as you've done fine here the last two times".   The core questions were oddly the exact same questions that I had been asked the two previous times (and no, they didn't involve chest pain, diabetes, or discriminatory harassment).  We chatted a bit at the end until I finally looked at my watch and said that I had to go for my shift.  The other supervisor walked me out, shook my hand and said that I had done great.

I was feeling good, but still kept my emotions subdued.  I had two other great interviews that hadn't lead to a job before.  My co-workers though acted as if this were a slam dunk and that I was as good as hired.  I tried to explain myself to one nurse by mentioning that there was still another nurse that interviewed.  That while I did the very job I was interviewing for (and have been told that I do a good job), this other nurse might be coming in with dozens of years of experience and may well be a nurse that they want to hire.   She laughed and said that outside experience didn't matter... I had over three months of correctional nursing experience.  I just nodded and asked solemnly "What if this other nurse has years of correctional nursing experience?  What then?"

Well guess what... not only did this other nurse applying for a position have years of experience, she had worked for the State in this very correctional facility for about 5 years.  It was an easy decision all around... take the experience nurse and offer her a job and keep the inexperience contract nurse as is... I mean it's not like I can get another job with the limited experience I have.

A couple weeks after the interview I started to get a different vibe from everyone.  At this point I didn't know anything about the other nurse that interviewed.  But the previously screwed over nurse was avoiding me and seemed to get getting a lot of calls from HR.  At one point one of the LPNs came up, put her arm around me, and said "You know that we were all rooting for you, don't you?"

I tried not to let her obviously conciliatory tone get me down.  But later that day my supervisor went over to another nurse turned her back to me (she did this in the way that we all do when we don't want anyone else overhearing what we're talking about or even read our lips), and talked to him for a bit.  Afterward she turned and left for the day without so much as a 'Have a good day' to me.  The other nurse seemed frustrated as she asked him to tell me that another position had opened up and 'you know what that means'.

Grrr.

At this point no one has even told me that I HADN'T gotten the job, although they are all acting like it.  I only found out later in the week that they had in fact hired the previously screwed over nurse and the other experienced correctional nurse.  I didn't hold a grudge or even get that upset... hell it's the same decision I would have made.  My only problem is that no one had told me directly.   I still went into work and had as good of a time as I could.  I figured I was still working, still making enough money, and was still confident that my job (my contract job) was secure.  Nothing bad at all had happened... the lack of good news (getting hired) doesn't itself mean bad news.

So a couple weeks later I attended my first staff meeting.  It was a lot of administrative BS.... how to fill out certain paper work, learning that we will now have the med dispensing nurses ordering refills, learning that we'll have emergency bags in four and five block... stuff like that.  The staff meeting was held on a day that I was going to be alone in the clinic though, so as soon as it was called done I hurried out and got to my post.

As I was looking at the pile of work (7 appointments, as well as 13 new inmates to process.... that's a lot of stuff to do for two experienced nurses and TO MUCH for a single fairly inexperienced nurse to get done in a day), the main nursing supervisor walked in and said that she was surprised that I had run off so quickly.  I laughed it off and just said that I was eager to get to work and now find myself VERY busy even if I hadn't eaten up an hour of my shift in a staff meeting.  She looked at the pile and grimaced knowing that it was going to be a hard day for me (not bad... but busy busy busy), then smiled and said "Well I'll keep this short then... do you want a job at the State?"

It seems that a nurse that has been on medical leave for the past six months had finally left his job.  Instead of opening it up to the public, they immediately called for permission to simply offer it to me.  She even mentioned that after interviewing three times I had more than done my part.

I was in!!!!!!

I really wish I could say that was the end of the story.  But now I'm out of the 'getting the job' phase and into the HR nightmare phase.  Since they had made a conditional offer (they hadn't officially handed it to me, but it was printed) it started a clock.  I now had 48 hours to get a physical, get a drug test, get my fingerprints taken, and not only bring all this paperwork back to HR, but bring in a pay-stub that they could submit to the Civil Service Commission to get approval for my pay rate.  And to make matters worse, I would have to first come in to pick up said paperwork for the drug test, fingerprinting, and physical.

I was happy to comply, but it seems like there just has to be an easier way to get this done.   This was all told to me on the morning of Halloween.  So I would have to take the hour long drive down to work to get the paperwork.... could I get all or any of this done nearby work?  No, of course not.  The nearest places to get all these things done was in my hometown.  So after driving down, I had to drive back home to get all these tasks done, then return later that day to turn in the paperwork.  I would have been able to turn it in the next day, but they had made me the offer officially the previous day... so it would have exceeded the 48 hours.

 Grrr

So instead of a relaxing Halloween, I was on the road for most of the day.  And to top it off the only plan I had for the day was to go up and buy my shotgun.  I had my eye on a Remington 870 Combo (it comes with both a rifled barrel as well as a straight barrel) and it was on sale for $80 off.  The nearest store that had that sale, and that had the shotgun in stock?  35 minutes from my house in almost the exact opposite direction as work.  And let me tell you, getting help in a super sporting goods store at 8pm on Halloween isn't exactly easy.  Getting help that actually knows how to sell a gun is neigh impossible.

But after a 13 hour whirlwind day I had all my paperwork in AND my new shotty.

They told me when I handed off all the finished paperwork that assuming the Civil Service Commission had no problem with my pay rate, and that my drug test came back without issue that I would be starting my 'first' day on November 10th.   Any issue would push that back to the next pay period on November 24th.

And have I heard anything from them?   No.  No I haven't.  I don't know if that means I'm in and am now officially a State employee, or if I have to wait a couple weeks, or if something more serious came up and will now not get the job.  And while really it doesn't matter in the long run, it is quite relevant today.  You see today is my normal Monday shift (I work every other Monday).  But I didn't look at my schedule close enough as I was given the day off as a Holiday (Happy Veteran's Day everybody!).  I didn't realize that until I showed up at work and was told to go back home.

If I'm still a contract employee, then I get paid nothing for my 2 hour round trip.  If I"m a state employee... well then I'm getting paid to write this all up.



So, what I originally intended to write about when I sat down was a term that I've heard thrown around.  Surprisingly I hear this mostly from other nurses.   It's about being a "Real Nurse".  If you have never given it much though, I want you to take a few minutes and think of all the jobs that an RN can have.

Give it some time... keep thinking.

OK... the obvious places that most people see RNs is either at a hospital where they are working on a given floor, or working in a Doctor's or specialist's office.  Obviously I don't do either.  I work in a prison.  RNs can also work in surgery suites, pre- and post-surgery wards, emergency departments, clinics, long term care facilities, schools, insurance companies, medical billing companies, and many MANY other places.  I've even seen RNs doing research.  To me all of these nurses are equal, and yet have vastly differing jobs.  Their skill sets are all varied, but all of them have the same basic education and training. ALL of their licenses are equal.

But I get the feeling that nurses have their own pecking order and that if you don't have experience in a hospital floor, then you aren't a real nurse.  I will admit that the standard floor RN in a hospital has the widest level of experiences, sees the most varied level of conditions, and uses the widest level of their education.   They'll be doing the most technical tasks like starting/maintaining/ending IVs, passing medications, giving injections, doing wound dressing changes, doing wound care, starting/maintaining/ending foley catheters, and will be the closest to saving lives on a day to day basis.

My job on the other hand is a mixture of long term care and triage.  I would say emergency care, but we just don't have the facilities to be a real emergency room.  If an inmate comes to us in a truly life threatening condition we ship them off quickly to a local hospital.

Does that make me any less of a nurse?  If it does, it also means that any long term care facility nurse, any school nurse, any home care nurse, any supervisory or administrative nurse is that much less of a nurse.  And I just can't wrap my head around that.

Yes, if my goal was to get a job in a hospital, then I'm not doing myself any favors taking and keeping this job.  My experiences just don't match up all that well.  Who's to say though that I don't want to remain a correctional nurse?  Why would it matter that I have almost no experience with some of these techniques when I plan to work at my current job for twenty some odd years (o.k.... probably closer to thirty years) and retire?

I might understand if this was coming from just some random people on the street.  But this is coming from other nurses.  And not even other nurses working in hospitals... this is coming from nurses where I work!

Every nursing job has it's own experiences.  I guarantee that a nurse that's worked in a hospital for years would find it difficult to come into a correctional facility and excel quickly in his new job.  For one thing a correctional nurses assessment skills have to be top notch.  Seriously.  In a hospital you are dealing with sick or injured people.  In a correctional facility you are dealing with people feigning illness for no other reason than that it takes up a portion of their week to do so.  I've now dealt with about 8 cases of chest pain.  Chest pain doesn't always mean a heart attack (it can be a bruised muscle, anxiety or even back or stomach pains), but it does need to be taken seriously.  If someone walk into a local clinic or hospital complaining of chest pain you start with the assumption that this person actually IS experiencing chest pain.

That assumption can't be made in a correctional facility.  I actually have to start out my assessment by looking for signs of pain.  Pain, while considered a vital sign, is not something that can be objectively measured.  I can put my fingers on your wrist and objectively measure your heart rate.  I can watch your chest and objectively measure your breathing rate.  I can use a blood pressure cuff and objectively measure you blood pressure.  I can use a stethoscope and objectively measure you lung sounds.  I can put a pulse oximiter on your finger and objectively measure how much oxygen is in your blood.  But there is no tool or technique that can tell me how much pain you are in.  And that level and typeof pain is a huge tool when trying to determine if someone is having a heart attach, acid reflux, a lung collapse, or a bruised chest.  In the hospital and most other settings you measure pain by asking about it, but that can only work when the person you are asking gives you an honest answer.  I can't start with the assumption that I'm not being overtly lied to.  As is, I had to do a long hard assessment and when I finally realized that they were not in fact in any distress, send them back to their unit.  

I bet a 'Real Nurse' would have sent them all to the ER.  In addition to the thousands of dollars that would have cost the state, it would have cost extra time, money, and effort from the correctional officers that would have to accompany them.  It would have even been an opportunity for them to try and escape.

Most of my day's are spent doing entrance interviews (setting up chronic care visits with the doctors, setting up annual health screenings, ensuring that all their medication came in with them, and introducing them to the idiosyncrasies of our particular correctional facility), exit interviews (giving them the number of their local health department to get in touch with a local doctor, ensuring that they have a 30 day supply of their medications, making sure they are aware of their own health conditions), annual health screenings (giving vaccinations, taking vital signs, setting up labs and appointments with their doctors, dealing with any immediate health concerns), seeing inmates with immediate health concerns (bumps, bruises, boils, rashes....), and caring for any true urgent or emergency scenario (chest pain, shortness of breath, draining wound, assault, sexual assault...).  These tasks though all encompass tasks I learned in clinicals, education I was taught in school, and all the legal issues of utilizing and protecting my coveted license.

Just like any other nurse.

So... I know I'm not talking to a wide audience and in fact am just working out random thoughts into expressed and honest opinions for myself... but don't ever EVER tell me or any other Registered Nurse that they need to have 'Real Nurse' experiences.