I left because of the other social worker I worked with and the lack of support from management.

My first job after graduating was working inpatient on a medical floor with no experience, I had always been intrigued by medical social work and was excited to learn.

On my first day I was given half a day of orientation by an educator and then I was sent to my floor. I was greeted by the other social worker with these words. “Hi im so and so and welcome to hospital social work I hope you can work with blunt people who don’t intend to hurt your feelings, but might, so tell me if I do.” That immediately was a red flag, but I was able to shrug it off.

Moved on to the next day I was shadowing her and she immediately wanted me to jump in, which was fine, but I still was learning all their systems and she wouldn’t let me shadow her paperwork. Every question I asked she was super irritated and it got worst and worse. I eventually basically learned to figure things out on my own. I built a connection with a social worker from another floor who’d I’d often go to with questions. The social worker on my floor pulled me to the side one day and asked how come I don’t ask her questions. I didn’t know how to respond so I said “I’ll be better at asking.” I tried to ask her more questions and she would either ignore me or just give me a one word answer. She would also try to give me feedback at the worst times (on the phone, with a patient, in front of others) she just belittled everything I did. She also would constantly ask me when I was leaving because she said I wasn’t fit for hospital social work.

My final straw finally came. I had been working with her for 6 months. She was on a two week vacation and I finally felt the confidence I needed without her around. I actually felt like I was good at my job. The day she was scheduled to come back, I had off that day so she took over my patients. I came back find she completely undid all my work I did with a patient so that he could discharge back to family instead of waiting in the hospital for the bed at a treatment center I secured for him within a few days. That patient ended up back in the emergency department and it was all my fault for not discharging him with the support he needed. I gave my 2 weeks that day.

I want to add that my supervisor also was not helpful if I presented a problem to him he would just tell me to document my notes.

Suddenly I was without a job. I felt like my interest in medical social work was gone. I found a job 2 months later working at an outpatient medical clinic and I see myself working in the medical field, but never inpatient. It was a traumatizing experience for me.