Support Stickie for New nurses who are not coping

I agree where is that support....I don't know about you I feel we work just as hard if not more to live up to "RN".I struggled a lot before I decided to lay off nursing two years ago.Hair falling out weight loss.(I'm a thin as rail as is) The emotional ride can take anyone of course.

I guess I am having a multitude of issues.

I graduated in May with my RN and got my license in July. I am working on a Med/Surg (Ortho-Neuro) floor @ nights but I am having some serious problems.

First, my department is very clicky and I am not dealing with that well. As well as I have confidence issues and need some advice on how to improve on that.

Also, I just had a pt. refuse my care, causing me to doubt basically all of this, so I need some guidance.

Thanks

I hear ya I've been a LPN for a whole month now and I'm so losing my mind!

Wow. What a difference going to nights has made for me.

I am feeling SO MUCH LESS STRESS now that I'm on nights. I know this isn't everyones case, but for ME, it has really helped a great deal. I'm a night owl so the hours are fine for me, no problems staying awake or sleeping or anything (thank god). I don't see myself ever going back to the day shift.....too much work and stress for less money.

The night staff I work with is so nurturing and supportive, I could almost cry! I feel renewed in my job and not as stressed out and I don't feel like quitting anymore.

I feel like I have the time now to assess my patients really well, to think about things things I am doing for my patients, to read their charts, understand their history, etc. I love it!

Hi,

I posted this in another forum, but I think that I might get more replies here...

I am a (relatively) new nurse. I spent my first year as a psych RN, which I loved and felt that I was good at. I was told that I should get some med-surg experience, so I left my psych job after a year and 2 months. I currently am on orientation in med-surg, but have become very stressed out over this job already. I feel that I have to drag myself in every shift. I'm not sleeping much, and I sometimes cry when I'm by myself because of the frustration. I don't find this work interesting or enjoyable.

My questions for the more experienced nurses:

How important is "the med-surg experience"?

I always felt in school that the floors were overwhelming, but I have interests other than psych (i.e. OR, OB) and I'm afraid that if I don't do med-surg, I won't have any other options other than psych.... Do you think that is accurate?

How long do I have to stay to make it "count"?

A year? 6 months?

Thanks for any advice that you can give. I am a hard worker, and was a relatively good student. I don't want to have to give up options other than psych, but I just don't know how how much more I can take.

Thank you so much for this thread. It makes me feel sooo much better to know that I am not the only one that is feeling this way. I cried reading all the posts, the stress and frustration coming out.
I graduated in June passed boards in July. We learned about "reality shock" in our last quarter of school but I really didn't think it would happen to me. I did really good in school and I think I have a great deal of common sense so I thought I would be just fine.
I work on a med/surg floor with cardiac telemetry, work 7p-7a, with usually 6-7 patients. I am always busy during the night and leave late every morning to just trying to catch up. It kills me because the other more experienced nurses take their breaks, surf the web and chat all through the night and still get out on time! They tell me that time management and organization comes with time and one day I will get it together but it is dreadful in the mean time.
I am lucky to work on this floor, there are so many experienced nurses that are so kind and willing to help. I bombard them every night with all my many questions, most of them very trivial. They are so confident and I often wonder if there will ever be a day when I come to work when I am not anxious anticipating the type of patients I will get and hoping that nothing "unusual" happens. The thing that bothers me the most is I don't feel I am competent enough to know what to do when things go bad. For example, last night I had a patient that was on 5L O2, when vitals were taken, her SpO2 was 59%. I got her on a NRB but her sats didn't come up much (maybe 70s). I was kinda lost at that point wondering what to do next. Luckily, the charge nurse came in and helped out (called respiratory and the Dr, among other things) but I wonder if there will ever be a time when I don't have to rely on someone else to help out when things go bad. I felt so darn incompetent, like someone else had to do my job for me because I was too stupid to do it myself. I look forward to the day when I feel confident in my abilities knowing that I can handle whatever comes my way. Hang in there, all new nurses, we can do it...it will get better (right?)

I was just starting to feel like I was getting the hang of it when there was a major shake-up at work. Lots of people left and now I'm being floated almost every shift to cover for short staffing on other units. I haven't been oriented to most of these units and am very, very stressed about work.
Wish I could say more, but I can't at this point.

Wow, have I ever found the thread where I felt I fit. I now have a whole 5 months of experience as an RN, but I still feel so very incompetent. I've already posted another thread... I feel like I've exasperated all the other night nurses on my unit, with all my questions. Doubtless many of my questions, the nurses were thinking, "why don't you know that already?" and they showed their distain when answering. (Makes me think twice before asking anything, which I don't think is fair. I'm waaaaaaay too new not to be able to ask questions. Even if I had 20+ yrs experience, I would still have questions some days. But even more-so with so little experience.) I was a CNA on the floor where I work now for 2 years before I became a nurse. I did just fine in nursing school (grades). But within the last month, I have had 2 separate nights that I just couldn't seem to get things together, and it could have cost 2 pts their lives. Thankfully, nothing happened to either pt; everything came out just fine in the end... but it's the "what if's" that torture me. I can't sleep very well, even when I'm off. I dread going back to work, because I am so afraid I'll have a "brain fart" again & this time may be the big one. I love nursing, I hate it when my pts are suffering, even more so when it's my fault. Even while writing this post, I'm crying. I so desperately want to be a good nurse. It's just that sometimes I feel like there's no light @ the end of the tunnel. Anybody have any words of wisdom? I work on an OB/GYN unit with med/surg overflow whenever the hospital deems it necessary (almost every day for several pts). HELP!!! I feel like I'm drowning & nobody wants to throw me a life preserver.

So, where do you work? Are they hiring? I'm getting to the point of desperation to feel the same support.