I have been an LPN for all of four months, and though I am an LPN, I am given the same patient load as the RNs. I have to advocate for myself frequently in order to avoid practicing outside my scope. I've had some rough nights, and have come "this close" to throwing in the towel.
Recently, I had an epiphany. What I realized is that in NS, we are taught the ideal way, and when we get out into the real world, we are sorely unprepared for the reality. Reality was not matching my expectations, and vice versa.
Another thing I realized was that we, meaning myself, the lone lowly LPN, the RNs on the floor, the charge nurse, the nurse manager, the CNAs, the unit secretaries, the docs, we are all in this boat together.
Once I was able to see beyond my own stress and feelings of inadequacy and fears of failure, and see the support I have available to me and the support I have to offer others, even when all hell is breaking loose and we're swamped with more admits than seems humane, patients circling the drain, computer glitches and random snafus and and and......, things just seem to be better.
I guess the way I see it is, if you have to cross that river of s#*@, you might as well pull on those hip waders and put a big grin on your face and wade right out into it, cause that's the only way you're going to make it across.
So I guess I'll hang in there for a while longer. Just wanted to share, in case anyone else out there is having a rough time.
