[oramar]

Originally Posted by Gromit

For my part, I prefer the 12-hr shift -and I prefer to do three in a row, and have four days off. When I start to feel like I'm beginning to burn, I schedule a vacation and take a couple of weeks to 'regroup'. It works for me, anyway. I burnt out in EMS -had all the classic signs -though I wasn't really aware of it at the time. I can't say I'm as excited about nursing as I once was, but by no means am I burnt out.

Good for you for working out a system that works for you. Different systems work for different people and sometimes a system that works at one stage of life does not work at another.
For example in my 30s and 40s I worked primarily night turn. Loved it, it remains my favorite shift. Got into my late 40s early 50s and suddenly found I could not handle nights anymore. It is very important to be your own advocate and watch for signs that things arn't working for you anymore.

[oramar]

Originally Posted by passion4parrots

I work in Springfield MO on a med-surg floor, on the 7 pm to 7am shift. I usually start out with five patients and almost always get another admission by 10 pm. Most of these are high acuity pt's just back from surgeries such as colon resections, Turps (with CBI) and mastectomy/TRAM patients not to mention ETOH WD (which require hourly assessments), We also get a large percentage of very elderly dementia pt's that are pulling out IV's, trying to crawl OOB and such. At the night shift change I pick up two more pt's which brings me up to eight and then usually get another admission during the night (which requires a ton of paperwork and time going over all their past med history and the endless amount of questions we have to ask them, then calling the doc for orders and such). I am a new grad with six months experience (on this floor only). It is very frustrating as I can't get everything done and end up staying at least an hour and a half after every shift just to do all the charting that I didn't have time for during the night. My question is: is this a normal load for these high acuity type pt's on a med-surg floor in most places in the US? It is incredibly stressful and I am already feeling "burnout" at only six months!!

Is it normal as in is it what the average hospital does? Sadly the answer is "yes". It is a sad comment that this sort of abuse of nurses and endangerment of patients is the norm in most hospitals. Being the norm does not make it good, matter of fact it is criminal. This is the actually cause of the nursing shortage. It is criminal.

[rn-ka1977]

I have been an RN for about 15 mths and I have already experienced burnout! I work in ICU/CCU/ER and have heard burnout occurs faster in these areas. I believe understaffing and not considering acuity of patient loads is the #1 cause of new-grad burnout! That and the fact that the support staff does not do their job so I am constantly doing the jobs of several people. When you have to do your job, the tech's job, EVS's job and lab's job.....it gets old fast!

[oramar]

[canoehead]

Originally Posted by blueheaven

One thing I haven't seen mentioned is the tendency for nurses to have the "If I don't do it, it won't get done" mentality.
(IMO)

I think that stems from the fact that if it doesn't get done it's the nurse's fault. Doesn't matter if it was someone else's job, ultimately the nurse is responsible for overall care.