Now I understand why there is a nursing shortage

[kendel]

I am a new nurse and I am on orientation now for almost 4 weeks at the hospital. I work on a med surge floor.

I am given 8 patients to give medications, assessments, etc etc.

The work is overwhelming and from what i am being told, its like that every where.

i work 12 hour shifts and i cant even eat my lunch for 30 minutes in peace , some one always needs me

I some times feel like walking out

i am starting to question my self.. what the hell did i get my self into

I personally like pt care but my god, you cant give good pt care with so much overwhelming paper work and every one pulling and tugging on you at the same time and try to be accurate about giving medications.

they want me to be the nurse, the secretary, the Aide, and much more.

when the pts need to be cleaned up and you try to find a nurses aide, they disappear so I clean up the pts my self.

what has nursing become

I see why nurses quit so fast

[jacklady]

Rich?????

you can never be rich from nursing

:) you're actually right!! but to some nurses...Their nursing career could make their family rich...u But I know how hard it is...u God bless you always.

[sistasoul]

I think the aides and the nurses are run ragged. It is crazy. I graduate in May 2008 and work as an LNA. I plan to go to med surge for a year and then to the ICU. Hopefully having 2 patients in the ICU is not as crazy as the medsurge floors.

Hi all,

I can't believe I came across this post thread again. I have been a nurse now for 18 months on an ortho/neuro unit. I now fully understand why there "was" a nursing shortage. I no longer feel that is the case. I love being a nurse but some days I ask myself what did I get myself into.

I worked as an aide so I knew the nurses worked hard but I did not fully understand the stress and responsibility of the position. When you are a student you get 2 patients. You pass meds, do assessments, and give AM or PM care depending on the shift. I always had plenty of time as a student and did not understand how nurses would always get out late. As a student you don't have admits, discharges, calling MDs, dealing with family members, PT, pharmacy, radiology, dietary, MD orders, etc., etc.,. I believe this is what is meant when new nurses feel they regret becoming a nurse or that they did not realize what they were getting into. Nursing school in no way shape or form prepares students to the reality of nursing.

I love being a nurse but I do not know how long I can keep up the pace of the hospital. I fully understand why nurses leave the bedside.

[Bdoon]

To most hospital patients nurses are something more than you state....they are the liaison between the human race and the Physicians. They are what is warm and human in the cold world of beeping machines, crying patients and blaring televisions. They may be the only person who says the patient's name that day or squeezes his or her hand.

As one awakens groggy from narcotics, totally disoriented even to what day it is or where one is at the moment...as consciouness returns and the thought or fear arises again..."was it successful?...what is going to happen to me?....why am I so nauseated?....what is that ache?" and then as it all comes back and there is no one there...except THE NURSE...that is the moment your importance cannot be understated. Sure the surgeon will eventually show up for 5 minutes, and relatives for 5 hours, but at the moment of return it is only you who have any answers or any possibility of "sharing the milk of human kindness" which may be a joke, a bit of sarcasm or a sincere gentle conversation that can mean the world to the patient.

Or when the patient awakens in the middle of the night sweating and frightened by what just passed through his dream world....again, who is there? THE NURSE.

Or when the son/daughter or parent arrives late, too late to ever see the loved one again and looks into your face before he enters the room where the physician is explaining what happened or how it ended to the rest of the family...it is what he sees on your face that prepares him...or how you greet him.

There are so , so very many moments of goodness that the patient (and loved ones) take away from their hospital experience that you provide but unfortunately you will never hear about. All the bad ones the Administrator will hear about, but people, especially in the hospital enviroment, are so self-centered or are the center of attention (when the Physician is not present) that they forget. But be assured....how you were to them is not something they really forget...it is in them , it was so much to them at those critical moments....and in reality all any of us ever has is the moment.

[gonzo1, ASN, RN]

beautiful post Bdoon.