Burnt Out

[slauren]

Hi, I've been a nurse for 3+ years working in subacute care - trachs, pegs, IV's, dementia, fall risks, post surgical, etc. I'm considered a strong nurse at work and the "go to" person, always willing to help others, and rarely ever have complaints against me. My patients are wonderful and for the most part the CNAs do a great job. It is hard for the company to keep good nurses where I am at so they hired some experienced nurses and pretty much gave them permanent teams and the most desired hours. Including my team, so now I float.

At first I didn't mind floating because a lot of the patients I've taken care of in the past were excited to see me as their nurse and I felt all popular and what not (lol). But it bothers me when I have to float back to my old team and I keep finding things that aren't done that I used to take care of. Since it's a sub-acute floor the patients/acuity changes frequently. When I was over there all the time I knew everything pretty much like the back of my hand and could get a considerate amount of things done - but now I can't since I'm hardly over there. I've worked day shift with 25 subacute patients to myself (with CNAs to help) and it's overwhelming. Now that I'm floating it's VERY overwhelming when I am put over there. It's honestly knocked my confidence and making me not like nursing anymore. I'm the over-achiever type when it comes to work and I feel now that I can't perform to my own standard anymore. I've thought about getting another job but it seems like none of them pay close to what I'm making now. I applied to one hospital and they offered me a job but the pay wasn't close to what I'm making now (>$6/hr difference). I don't want to keep applying to places just to turn their offers down. One of the doctors even offered me a job (working at a office) out of the blue/unexpectedly but it would've been a pay cut that I can't afford.

I just needed an outlet to vent. I don't think a lot of non-nursing people understand completely what nurses go through. But I'm just at the point where I want to venture somewhere else. I'm honestly a little hurt that I am now a float and someone just hired gets everything just handed to them and the unit isn't as well kept anymore.