What ended your honeymoon?

Hoozdo, ADN · Jun 13, 2006

They say that new nurses go through 'reality shock' after the 'honeymoon' phase (excitement of graduating and becoming a nurse). I'd like to hear your stories about what it was that put the brakes on your honeymoon.

My honeymoon ended about a week ago. I graduated in December and have a six month orientation. I work in an ICU. I had two difficult patients and was struggling with the C. Diff disorientated pt from hell. I was working by butt off and my preceptor was yakking it up at the nurses station all shift......which usually doesn't phase me, but this pt was too much. It was the first patient I ever had that tried my patience!

The man was in isolation and the room is very hot since it faces the outside wall of the building. You drip sweat just standing there in a gown and gloves. Pt weighed over 300 pounds, had a bad case of C. Diff, didn't know who he was, where he was, or if he even was alive. That would be OK to handle except he SCREAMED for DAYS. I had him when he was new and doctors were afraid to sedate him too much due to the disorientation. He was a wriggling screaming 300 lb raging bull. I had him in restraints and he was still difficult to handle, not to mention I had 3 different doctors that poked him 2 times each trying to do a lumbar puncture and me and another doctor had to hold raging bull in that lumbar puncture position. I ended up having to wheel him to cat scan screaming through the halls and elavator and holding him still in there for a lumbar puncture......luckily I had 6 mg of Versed with me to help with that process.

I had the same two patients the next day. My heart sank when I found out. This day was a little worse since I had to change him and his sheets four times due to C. Diff. I also put a flexiseal in him which is one of the grossest things I have done in nursing while diarhhea streamed down my hands in the process (I learned to always double glove while doing this procedure :lol2: The inflated flexiseal got pooped out in about 2 hours fully inflated due to constand Valsalva manuevars by the pt. Hey, why can't we get gloves that go up to the elbow :jester:

I was so busy with the C. Diff man that I was getting behind with my other pt which I hate! I ran behind all day and to top it off I had to stay late to chart. I then I discovered we don't get paid overtime to chart, we get COMP TIME! Yep, the honeymoon is over!

cardiacRN2006, ADN, RN · Jun 16, 2006

Ugh!! What a story!!!

I guess that would end the honeymoon for me as well!

Keep the stories coming, I'm so brand new I can't start to work.

grinnurse, RN · Jun 18, 2006

My hooneymoon ended when the 2nd of the 2 hurricanes hit back last summer, Rita!! We received news about noon the day that it was supposed to make landfall that we were to get patients from a NH in Lake Charles, LA which was a "sister" NH to one close to our hospital. The area of East Texas that I live in was to be right in the path of it once it moved inland and to receive the harsher side of the winds. We were under tornado watches etc., so this only fueled the fire. It was crazy..........the pts were all being moved, the nurses were running around like chickens with their heads cutoff, one of the doctors decided that he would do I&D's in the rooms, and we were getting admits out the wazoo from ER not to mention all the normal stuff that was a part of this so called place they called a hospital!! And were was all the help that you are normally supposed to get when you go into disaster mode??? No where to be found that's for sure!! That was the first day that I drove home just bawling and wondering what in the heck did I get myself into?? The following 5 days were almost a repeat of that day. The poor people came to us with some of the worst pressure ulcers I have ever seen, they were filthy, they were scared and hungry, and had been so mistreated. I was so mad when the nurses from the NH, which were supposed to send staff daily to help care for them, finally showed up 2 days later that I wouldn't speak to them. I couldn't beleive they had the guts to call themselves nurses!!

Sorry for the rambling but that's how my honeymoon phase ended.

Indy, LPN, LVN · Jun 19, 2006

Good lordamighty Grin. I must still be on my honeymoon! Here's wishing everyone a MUCH better hurricane season this year. Yes, I'm knocking on wood as I type this.

grentea · Jun 19, 2006

It was nothing horrific that ended the honeymoon for me. Actually I would say it was probably just last week. Two other nurses got pulled from our floor which left just me and another nurse with a bunch of busy patients, two discharges, and two admissions. That would have been sort of ok but then we got another admission. We didn't have a secretary either that night. Luckily we begged and got different three different secretaries for an hour at a time but they couldn't stay the whole night. I had come in early that day to help out on my floor but the staffing office pulled another nurse off our floor once I came in, so I just ended up being a replacement rather than extra help. So it was wasn't anything that awful, just the realization that I have to speak up for myself or else management will let the nurses on our floor drown and work ourselves to death....even then there's no guarantee that we'll actually get the help we need or that poor staffing situations won't happen again. I'm in the union, but so far the best they've done for me is get me some days off here and there. I guess things aren't that bad at all but it's a honeymoon-ender to realize that I have to on guard at all times for people who will just walk all over me and my coworkers. But such is life, right?

grinnurse, RN · Jun 22, 2006

It was nothing horrific that ended the honeymoon for me. Actually I would say it was probably just last week. Two other nurses got pulled from our floor which left just me and another nurse with a bunch of busy patients, two discharges, and two admissions. That would have been sort of ok but then we got another admission. We didn't have a secretary either that night. Luckily we begged and got different three different secretaries for an hour at a time but they couldn't stay the whole night. I had come in early that day to help out on my floor but the staffing office pulled another nurse off our floor once I came in, so I just ended up being a replacement rather than extra help. So it was wasn't anything that awful, just the realization that I have to speak up for myself or else management will let the nurses on our floor drown and work ourselves to death....even then there's no guarantee that we'll actually get the help we need or that poor staffing situations won't happen again. I'm in the union, but so far the best they've done for me is get me some days off here and there. I guess things aren't that bad at all but it's a honeymoon-ender to realize that I have to on guard at all times for people who will just walk all over me and my coworkers. But such is life, right?

I will agree with this statement but it doesn't have to be that way at all I am finding out. Definately have to watch out for you and your license.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 22, 2006

My "honeymoon" phase ended the day my orientation ended. What an rude awakening that was. :)

grentea · Jun 22, 2006

Grinnurse- I totally agree that things don't always have to be that way. Lately, I've been a big loud squeaky wheel when things like that happen. I've found that one solution is coming in a bit early when I'm charge so that I have enough time to correct any potential staffing mishaps that our staffing office creates. It might have been a honeymoon-ender but I know that bad staffing is totally unacceptable.

LaNICUnurse · Jun 22, 2006

My honeymoon ended about a week ago. I graduated in December and have a six month orientation. I work in an ICU. I had two difficult patients and was struggling with the C. Diff disorientated pt from hell. I was working by butt off and my preceptor was yakking it up at the nurses station all shift......which usually doesn't phase me, but this pt was too much. It was the first patient I ever had that tried my patience!
The man was in isolation and the room is very hot since it faces the outside wall of the building. You drip sweat just standing there in a gown and gloves. Pt weighed over 300 pounds, had a bad case of C. Diff, didn't know who he was, where he was, or if he even was alive. That would be OK to handle except he SCREAMED for DAYS. I had him when he was new and doctors were afraid to sedate him too much due to the disorientation. He was a wriggling screaming 300 lb raging bull. I had him in restraints and he was still difficult to handle, not to mention I had 3 different doctors that poked him 2 times each trying to do a lumbar puncture and me and another doctor had to hold raging bull in that lumbar puncture position. I ended up having to wheel him to cat scan screaming through the halls and elavator and holding him still in there for a lumbar puncture......luckily I had 6 mg of Versed with me to help with that process.
I had the same two patients the next day. My heart sank when I found out. This day was a little worse since I had to change him and his sheets four times due to C. Diff. I also put a flexiseal in him which is one of the grossest things I have done in nursing while diarhhea streamed down my hands in the process (I learned to always double glove while doing this procedure The inflated flexiseal got pooped out in about 2 hours fully inflated due to constand Valsalva manuevars by the pt. Hey, why can't we get gloves that go up to the elbow
I was so busy with the C. Diff man that I was getting behind with my other pt which I hate! I ran behind all day and to top it off I had to stay late to chart. I then I discovered we don't get paid overtime to chart, we get COMP TIME! Yep, the honeymoon is over!

Welcome to the real world of nursing.

LaNICUnurse · Jun 22, 2006

My hooneymoon ended when the 2nd of the 2 hurricanes hit back last summer, Rita!! We received news about noon the day that it was supposed to make landfall that we were to get patients from a NH in Lake Charles, LA which was a "sister" NH to one close to our hospital. The area of East Texas that I live in was to be right in the path of it once it moved inland and to receive the harsher side of the winds. We were under tornado watches etc., so this only fueled the fire. It was crazy..........the pts were all being moved, the nurses were running around like chickens with their heads cutoff, one of the doctors decided that he would do I&D's in the rooms, and we were getting admits out the wazoo from ER not to mention all the normal stuff that was a part of this so called place they called a hospital!! And were was all the help that you are normally supposed to get when you go into disaster mode??? No where to be found that's for sure!! That was the first day that I drove home just bawling and wondering what in the heck did I get myself into?? The following 5 days were almost a repeat of that day. The poor people came to us with some of the worst pressure ulcers I have ever seen, they were filthy, they were scared and hungry, and had been so mistreated. I was so mad when the nurses from the NH, which were supposed to send staff daily to help care for them, finally showed up 2 days later that I wouldn't speak to them. I couldn't beleive they had the guts to call themselves nurses!!
Sorry for the rambling but that's how my honeymoon phase ended.

You were so mad at them, but did you stop to think how their last few days had been? If yours was as bad as it was, I bet if you had asked them, they would have had horror stories that would have really made you cry. You are right, nursing is never easy. It is a calling.

I have heard stories out of N.O. that would make all of these seem like heaven. And, I'm from North La, so, I just got to help from up here. You have to do what you can in those situations, they are horrible.

micco · Jun 29, 2006

My honeymood ended yesterday. I am 8 weeks into a 6 month orientation (scrubbing) in the OR. Reality hit after i was called in my manager's office to talk with her and the educator regarding my progress. I thought I was doing really well and was a team player helping out with whatever was needed. The need for the chat came about because a veteran RN stated that I was telling others that I did not like my job and did not like working at this particular hospital. I was flabbergasted. So here I thought I was doing great and things were going well and everyone had been nice. Wrong!!! I guess I was naive. Nurses do eat their young and oh how deceitful they can be. I am grateful that my manager decided to verify the rumor before acting on it. It appears that because I am being trained as a scrub nurse there are some nurses who are envious (this was how the incident was explained away by the manager). I feel that now I will have to walk on egg shells and constantly mention how much I like my job. I feel betrayed.