Mrs. L.A., RN, BSN, has been in her ‘dream job’ for nearly four years. She visits patients in their homes and treats them. But she hasn’t been happy with the new management at her company. Last month she visited a patient. The patient said she didn’t want nursing. The caregiver said they don’t want nursing. Mrs. L.A., in her professional opinion, determined that in-home nursing wasn’t needed. So she did not sign up the patient. Her boss was livid. She (the big boss) sent another nurse out on a weekend. The patient declined service. Nevertheless, the boss chewed Mrs. L.A. a new one. Mrs. L.A., a medical professional, was angry because she was in the right and the boss, an administrative type with no medical experience, was wrong. She was also hurt at how she was treated. The boss also chewed out another nurse, and possibly a third one. She apparently was ranting on ‘numbers’. It made for a poor start to our ‘staycation’. A week later, while Mrs. L.A. and I were relaxing, Mrs. L.A. found out her boss had been fired. In addition to berating nurses, she also berated an office staff member (Mexican descent from San Diego) for her accent. Said staffer filed a complaint with Corporate. The boss was fired the same day. (NB: Mrs. L.A. found out her boss had been fired while we were on vacation, but only found out the reason Monday when she went back to work.) Mrs. L.A.'s immediate boss turned in a month’s notice that she was quitting, the same week the ‘big boss’ was terminated. I thought that Mrs. L.A. would be relieved that the ‘big boss’ was gone, and she was. But the damage had already been done. On Monday, Mrs. L.A. gave her two-weeks notice.
In order for a nurse to attend to people’s feet, he or she needs to be certified in foot care. I’m not exactly sure why, but apparently it’s dangerous to clip toenails on certain patients; for example diabetics. There is one ‘foot nurse’ in the county, and she’s not taking any more patients. Mrs. L.A. decided she is going to go into business for herself. Once she’s out of her current position, she will take some online classes to get the necessary credits; then she will attend a class (taught by the same instructor that a former colleague, now in another county, had) and take the test for her certification. Her current colleagues congratulated her, and they all emphasised that this county needs someone to do what Mrs. L.A. is setting out to do. A Corporate person from Portland was in the office Monday, and she told Mrs. L.A. that she could stay on part-time while she’s setting up her foot care business. Mrs. L.A. appreciated that, but is not sure she wants to.
Mrs. L.A. won’t make as much money being on her own, but being her own boss is worth it.
Incidentally, her immediate boss, who had given notice that she was quitting at the end of the month, was ‘let go’ yesterday. She said to Mrs. L.A., ‘It’s probably a good idea you’re quitting now.’ I’m not sure how to take that. Was Mrs. L.A. on the chopping block? Or will there be changes in the office that Mrs. L.A. would very much not like?
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