burn out

Nurses General Nursing

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After two days of R & R, I'm dreading going back to work. Another five days of night shift. Three twelves and two eight hour shifts. I think I'm burning out. The last few nights at the hospital were awful. For some reason the oncology/palliative unit has had a number of dialysis patient admissions. I think we now have eight patients in the dialysis program. I don't know about anyone else but, I did not take the nephrology course for a reason. I wasn't really interested in nephrology nursing. I'm used to palliative care and oncology nursing. Nephrology is too complicated for my little brain to handle. :trout: Anyway, the hospital has been very busy. So, the other night, we had a number of expected deaths. No sooner do we indicate that the patient has expired, the E.R. wants the bed to admit another patient. Not only did I have to get my routine paperwork done, which included recopying MARS (six pages of meds for the nephrology patients) but I also had to help the grieving families. That's something I can't rush. 0500 comes around and I'm filled with fear and panick because I'm not done my work and I have to prepare the 0600 med pass and rounds. The the E.R. calls again and I'm running around trying to get my work done and patient families are chasing me with questions and crying. That phone rang for half an hour!!:nono: I couldn't take it. My head was starting to spin. So as I ran by, I picked up the phone and the E.R. charge nurse is yelling at me asking me why I was refusing the patient. I took issue with her saying that I was refusing the patient. It really bothered me. I was doing my best here trying to deliver quality patient care. An admission at that time was just not feasable. So, I yelled at the E.R. charge nurse "What part of I'm not ready don't you understand??" I was very stressed out and offended. The E.R. had already hung up on my RPN and someone down there sat on the phone for half an hour letting the phone ring. She said "I don't like the tone you are taking with me." :argue: I said "too bad, I don't have time for this. When I get my regular work done, I'll call you but, right now you'd be putting this patient in a dangerous situation by sending them up here. I don't have time to assess them." then I hung up and ran to get the rest of my work done. I was running that night. Then I had to slow down to talk to the families. Then I had to run some more. I had to run to the lab to get my blood (because the porters refuse to go to the lab for us). I had to pass pain meds Q2H for four patients and we were short staffed so, I had two carts to pass meds with. Then I had to start two i.v.'s Monitor I+O for three CBI's. Insert an ng tube. Insert a Coude cath. Get yelled at by an MD because we didn't have a certain type of equipment (how am I responsible for that?) :banghead: Then I had to rush and get the report done. It was horrible. This was also my sixth night in a row.

I'm getting tired. My back aches just thinking about going back to work tonight. I know we're going to be short staffed again. I'm probably going to get a reprimand for yelling back at the E.R. charge nurse. I'm NOT apologizing though :nono: It's no fun. I hate working and then going home to sleep for ten hours. I'm missing out on too much. My daughter is having trouble in school and she's been suspended for beating up her friends at school. Our kitchen is being renovated. My car has problems. My ex is being a big jerk to his daughter. I want a vacation. My shoulders, legs and back are really hurting. They're all previous injuries. I gotta do something here because I feel like I'm getting overwhelmed.:monkeydance: I've lost a lot of weight and I don't even wear the scrubs I've bought. I wear the hospital O.R. scrubs because they are much more comfortable and fit me better. I don't eat during the day because I'm too tired. I want to eat at work but, there is no time. I've lost 20lbs in two weeks.

You are in trouble.

See your doctor for help with this issue.

(You need rest, possibly medication for depression, and someone

to back you up that your health is sufferring.

Stress, depression, overwork is understatement.

6 nights in a row is too many.

3 12s should be max.

You are in unbearable situation.

Please, get rested.

Change jobs if that is what it takes.

You must put your health as a priority in your life/career.

http://www.stressdoc.com has some really good info in burnout

and he uses a sense of humor. But, bottom line, is you must get

rest to even be able to implement/have time to read his suggestions.

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