Why I Left Sarasota Memorial Hospital
I have decided to post in length my story about my experience at Sarasota Memorial Hospital and why I left my job there. I know it may seem somewhat personal, but I want to spread awareness of the corruption among management there. One might be able to see what I'm doing as "whistleblowing" because it involves retaliation (which is against company policy) and making my job so bad in order for me to quit (pretty sure that's against OSHA guidelines or something).
There was one incident on June 1 when a nurse snapped at me and I approached her afterward and told her that she could have been less condescending. I was willing to let it go after I got that off my chest, but then she grabbed the executive director to mediate. Granted, I did not even know who she was. Her name tag said that she had an LMSW so I assumed that she was one of the social workers but it turned out that she was actually the executive director. Anyway, she talked down on me, told me that I was being inappropriate and that nurses are above me and that they do not need to explain themselves. Whenever I tried to explain my side of the story, she kept interrupting. She also kept asking me if this was my first job like this, and I explained multiple times that it is not as I have worked at a behavioral health center for a year (and was continuing to work there PRN). I also have a bachelor's in psychology which IS indicated on my name tag so I don't place myself that far beneath the nurses since I have education relevant to my job as well. I did cry a little afterward because of the way that I was treated but not in front of patients or anything.
Everything still seemed fine after that until one day when I was called upstairs at the start of my shift. The DON told me that in two weeks I was being moved to the overnight shift, stating that they needed more females on that shift and that since I was in my first 90 days, they were allowed to do this. I asked to see the policy that allows her to do this and she said that she would show it to me later but she never did. They claimed that the move was only temporary but that they could not give me a time frame. They also implied that I had the opportunity to move back to second shift after but it sounded like they could keep me there permanently if that is where they wanted me. Keep in mind that I was interviewed and hired for the 3-11 shift.
I used to work overnight at my last job so I know that I can't handle being nocturnal. It had a negative impact on my physical and mental health. I told the DON this, and still offered to help out by picking up some overnight shifts, but she would not let up and said that I needed to be flexible. She did also admit that this was partially in retaliation for my run in with that nurse but told me that this would have happened anyway. She also did not understand why I had gotten upset, thinking I was upset with a patient who was acting out. Everybody who works with me at Palm Shores knows that this is nowhere near enough to bother me. When I explained the real reason why I was upset, she explained to me that nurses just get short sometimes due to the stress of their jobs and that I just have to put up with it.
I was obviously upset after that and my co-workers at Bayside (the building at the hospital that I worked at) who had worked there for years told me that they had never heard of someone being forced to change shifts before. They encouraged me to tell the DON that if she wanted me to work there, that I would be on the shift I was hired for. When I said this, she smiled and said "Then I have no choice but to accept your two-weeks notice." I also pointed out that if she lost me, she would be short someone for second shift and still need someone to work third as well. She did not care. So she would have rather lost me completely than allow me to continue working second shift full time.
I called my manager at my old job and offered to come back full time on first or second shift and then also contacted HR at Sarasota Memorial about my situation. HR responded with multiple behavioral concerns filed against me, most of which happened AFTER they informed me I was being switched to overnights.One of the behavioral concerns was against me crying after they told me I was being moved to overnight shifts. But of course I cried about that. They railroaded me with that at the start of my shift and they weren't just making me change my shift but my entire lifestyle. They also alleged that I had walked away from a 1:1 even though I had another tech step in for me. The HR person also did not even know what a 1:1 is. Go figure.
HR said they would get back to me and immediately after the call my manager at Palm Shores offered me a full time first shift. This seemed like a clear sign from the universe so I accepted. I called back and had to leave a message saying that I no longer wished to work there but still offered to work my shift that day so that the ratio would not be short. When I arrived, the DON left me a message saying that she did not even want me to work that day so I just turned in my keys. My old job, on the other hand, welcomed me back warmly with open arms.
Could I have at least put in my two weeks? Yes, but that would have given the DON two more weeks to sabotage me and try to make my time there miserable. Sometimes, it is actually better to quit without notice, especially when you are in such a toxic environment.
Edit: forgot to mention that I've looked at other reviews on Indeed and found the following:
"Management focused on being punitive rather than encouraging and morale driven. New upper management at Bayside Behavioral Health is deceitful, threatening and retaliatory. HR does not intervene until flooded with complaints. Then they do the bare minimum. In any other state the environment would be consistent with bulling and a hostile work environment. Constantly being told by the DON that she has free will to fire anyone. No process or protocol followed, she just says your fired. New facility director has no clue and is being hand fed by the DON negative and derogatory lies about staff in which she has now lost all credibility with staff and lacks any leadership connection."
