Discouraged

Pamelita · Sep 22, 2003

Hey girl:

don't worry, I've been an RN for only 2 years and the first year its very tough... I mean you are brand new, trying to organize its very important and it will take time.

just don't be so hard on yourself. Learn things from different nurses how they organize their time, ask questions,

hope it helps,

Pam :)

bellehill, RN · Sep 22, 2003

Dazie,

Soundsl like you are working day shift which is always busy, especially on a surgical floor. If you feel overwhelmed you might want to consider a few months on night shift; you will still get patients back and be busy but there is usually some down time. It can be very hard to work on a surgical floor, don't give up and don't be afraid to give the next shift a couple of "things" to do/follow-up on. In no way do I condone passing your work on, but there is a reason there are two shifts, don't make yourself insane trying to do everything. Good luck, You can do it!

Tweety, BSN, RN · Sep 22, 2003

Surgical floors are almost always universally busy like that.

Hang in there. You're new and you're sounding perfectly normal. It shows you care.

I've always worked in busy units so I can't with suggestions on a more laid back unit. The only laid back unit I've ever seen doing hospital supervision is night shift on the rehab unit. They promote sleep there and most of the time it's pretty organized and routine (though the patients are high acuity, they aren't acutely ill).

Good luck.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 23, 2003

Originally posted by bellehill
Dazie,
Soundsl like you are working day shift which is always busy, especially on a surgical floor. If you feel overwhelmed you might want to consider a few months on night shift; you will still get patients back and be busy but there is usually some down time.

I have to disagree with that statement-

I have worked in a hospital ONLY on night shift, and it was even BUSIER than days. I was oriented on days before I went to nocs, so I know it to be true where I worked. 1 to 9-13 nurse/pt ratio on nocs. No time for break, no going to the bathroom, no time for safe pt care, and sometimes, the stable pts got no care at all. I left in tears, hours over many times.

This is why I will never again work med/surg without mandated ratios.That's just the way med-surg nursing is, almost everywhere.

live4today, RN · Sep 23, 2003

Originally posted by Hellllllo Nurse
........................This is why I will never again work med/surg without mandated ratios.That's just the way med-surg nursing is, almost everywhere.

Hellllllllo Nurse........you are absolutely right! I work with med/surg patients, and we are now up to six patients per nurse. :rolleyes: Insane, insane, insane! I'm on dayshift, and I don't think it matters what shift one works when it comes to med/surg. The patients are sicker, the family members and sometimes the patients are harder to deal with, and nurses are being treated like educated maidservants today.

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Sep 23, 2003

Cheerfuldoer,

I've read many of your posts and I know you are just as fed-up as I am!

What can we do? What's to become of nurses and nursing?

:confused:

live4today, RN · Sep 23, 2003

Welllllllll.....we can build our own hospital for nurses run by nurses and refuse to hire anyone.......including any nurses........who don't want to be respected as nurses! :)

My husband and I both want to be CEOs one day. He is already working on his degree towards that goal, and I will start once we are settled on where we will retire for good. He is taking online courses, but I'm not an "online kind of learner" in that respect. I need to be upfront and personal in front of the instructor's desk in a classroom filled with students to learn.

In my hospital, ALL human beings will be recognized as such. ALL staff will be respected and not treated like dirt and handmaidens that must jump when the family members or patients say so. No doctor will rise up against any nurse I employ, and I will always believe my nurses over anyone else UNTIL they are proven to be guilty. Ya see.........I for one......believe in the saying "Innocent UNTIL proven guilty" unlike the way some management tends to treat nurses "Guilty until a family member or strange witness appears and says that nurse has been wrongly accused of said behavior, etc." :rolleyes:

I'm telling you......... I can't believe the crap nurses are "eating" on duty in today's nursing world, and much of that crap is being fed to nurses by other nurses who are managing them in some way or another. What's up with that crap anyway?

I know without a shadow of a doubt that my hospital would be the BEST in the entire world! Not bragging.........just been an abused nurse waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy too long to turn around and treat others like they don't matter, like they aren't human, and like they are simply "robots".

roxannekkb · Sep 23, 2003

Originally posted by cheerfuldoer
Welllllllll.....we can build our own hospital for nurses run by nurses and refuse to hire anyone.......including any nurses........who don't want to be respected as nurses! :)

My husband and I both want to be CEOs one day. He is already working on his degree towards that goal, and I will start once we are settled on where we will retire for good. He is taking online courses, but I'm not an "online kind of learner" in that respect. I need to be upfront and personal in front of the instructor's desk in a classroom filled with students to learn.

In my hospital, ALL human beings will be recognized as such. ALL staff will be respected and not treated like dirt and handmaidens that must jump when the family members or patients say so. No doctor will rise up against any nurse I employ, and I will always believe my nurses over anyone else UNTIL they are proven to be guilty. Ya see.........I for one......believe in the saying "Innocent UNTIL proven guilty" unlike the way some management tends to treat nurses "Guilty until a family member or strange witness appears and says that nurse has been wrongly accused of said behavior, etc."

I'm telling you......... I can't believe the crap nurses are "eating" on duty in today's nursing world, and much of that crap is being fed to nurses by other nurses who are managing them in some way or another. What's up with that crap anyway?

I know without a shadow of a doubt that my hospital would be the BEST in the entire world! Not bragging.........just been an abused nurse waaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy too long to turn around and treat others like they don't matter, like they aren't human, and like they are simply "robots".

Cheerful, I wish I had coworkers like you when I was still working in patient care. I worked NICU, which was far better than med/surg, in that our patients were in one place. And we got less of them. But sooooo many of my coworkers, no matter which state I worked in, were so "crap eating." They'd ***** and complain all day, but turn into silent little mice when it came to standing up for our rights.

I left healthcare to save my sanity, but I am interested in helping nurses through my writing. I have written on nursing issues, and unfortunately, I found that many nursing leaders just prefer to bury really issues with all their talk of nursing "glory," and theoretical nonsense. I interviewed a former president of one of our major nursing organizations, and she just bristled when I asked her about "nurses eating their young"" and backstabbing. She told me curtly that nurses all get along very well, thank you, and then abruptly shifted to the next topic.

So keep up the good work. Hopefully other nurses will see you as an example.

live4today, RN · Sep 23, 2003

Awwwww...(((((Roxannekkb))))) Thank you! :kiss

Nursing today is only tough because people don't know how to get along. Technology is good, but not when the human equation is removed and reduced to a noncaring emotionally unattached society that feeds negativity instead of a willingness to love ourselves into a positive direction of character and strength as nurses. Eat steak, not nurses.........that's my new motto!

SmilingBluEyes · Sep 23, 2003

hang in there.....

it's gonna take time for you to pull it together and organize yourself....we all went thru this as new nurses.

if after a time you still cannot hang, maybe you need a bit slower paced unit....

****and whoever said nightshift is slower, i guess does not work nightshift where I AM********

Let me say, we have fewer staff based upon that assumption but the funny thing is, we still admit patients and call lights still go off no matter the time (hasn't anyone told them it's indecent to ring at 3 a.m. when i am sleeping? ---that is a joke)....I just hate when people say "go to nights cause it's slower"----grrrrr, anyhow, in your case:

going to nights may make your problem even WORSE--- so be careful not to jump from a frying pan to the FIRE. Try to find a mentor who can help you with organization skills and tricks to stay on top of things. If after time you feel NO improvement or burning out, maybe you best move on.

I wish you well. Just don't feel alone---we all have been there and know how you feel!

roxannekkb · Sep 23, 2003

Originally posted by cheerfuldoer
Awwwww...(((((Roxannekkb))))) Thank you! :kiss

Nursing today is only tough because people don't know how to get along. Technology is good, but not when the human equation is removed and reduced to a noncaring emotionally unattached society that feeds negativity instead of a willingness to love ourselves into a positive direction of character and strength as nurses. Eat steak, not nurses.........that's my new motto!

Hmmm, what if you're a vegetarian? Eat carrots, not nurses? :smokin: