Very frustrated!!!! Venting!!!!

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I am so mad. I do not know what to do. Last night at work I was working with an LPN with 7 patients. (from what I have read on here, we have good ratios, yet we are forever busy). We got an admission and they gave it to me. I was upset because the LPN was leaving half way through the shift. There were 3 other nurses and an aide on the floor. One nurse only had 2 patients, another only had 3, and the last one had 5 with the aide. I ended up having 8 of the 18 patients. I was running around and could not get anything done. I know that I should have said something, but I did not want the other nurses to get mad at me. And their patient's were not anymore complicated than mine, that was not the issue. I just did not think it was fair. The charge RN said "well he is young, he will be easy." Well, he was not easy. I admitted him at 6pm and was in his room all night until 4am practically. He had major pain control issues, and my other 7 patients were busy too. I was just steaming. One nurse stepped in and helped me. That other two sat at the desk all night. Then they all left at shift change and I was stuck there for another hour and a half charting:( :(

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Specializes in Everything except surgery.

I don't blame you for being upset, but I think I would have said to the CN, that I was already busy, and that pt. needs to go to someone else. I wouldn't have cared if another nurse got upset. They didn't have a problem sitting while you bust your behind. I'm sorry you had this happen to you, and if I were you, I wouldn't let it happen again!

Even with the LPN, the assignments were lopsided! The nurse with the 2 pts, should have been the one to get the admission. What kind of pts did she have?

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Just your average medical/surgical patients. Hips and knees etc... I know there was nothing special going on with them. We have a small unit and hear about everything. We get report together and always have an idea of what is going on on the floor. If one was not doing well, everyone would have heard about it. At one point when I was stuggling to get a PCA started and everything else done she said "I guess I should have offered to take that admission." I should have said right there. You can take him over, but she walked away to quick.

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You sound an awful lot like me. I tend to let myself be walked on in the name of keeping peace. I dont ever want people to get upset with me especially my coworkers they can tend to make you life miserable. I am constantly doing more than my share of work rather than make waves. It was even a negative on my eval. I need to stand up for myself and be more assertive. It is something that I am working on. Sounds like it is an area you need to work on too. Good luck overcoming this need to be liked I know it is not easy.

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Specializes in Everything except surgery.

I would have been right behind her, giving her report:chuckle! I have no problmes speaking up, but it's a trait I learned from my mom. I'm a very hard worker, and I will come to the aid of anyone who needs help. Shoot I will volunteer to do the job, someone else is about to do. I will even allow others to sit, while I work, because I must keep busy. I just don't like down time, and I will go and find something to do. But when I'm drowning, I have no problem speaking up.

Just think of it as doing what is best for your pt., and I think you will see the benefit of giving the extra load to someone else.:)

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.
Originally posted by stella123 rn

I know that I should have said something, but I did not want the other nurses to get mad at me.

A wise one named sjoe says "we will get as much crap as we take".

This is precisely why you're being treated unfairly, precisely why they gave you the admission and not the others. Becuase you're not assertive enough to complain. Get some skin, who cares what they think and if they get mad as long as assignements are fair and appropriate.

That said, I'm frustrated for you that the charge nurse didn't make an appropriate assignement, that your coworkers didn't go to bat for you. Let this be a learning and growing experience.

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Smile and ask the CN to explain the rationale behind you ending up with 8 pts and another nurse 2...have a look of concern on your face as she struggles to come up with an answer :)...you don't have to be ugly to get your point across in a professional way.And btw..if the other nurse got mad just ask her how she'd feel in that position..betting she wouldn't be one little bit happy about it.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Case Management.

I am an LPN and in every place where I work, it is the norm for some reason to load up the LPN with pts and the RNs take less. Not that their pts are any harder, I have watched!

I have no trouble speaking up and saying, OH NO! I have seven pts and the RNs have three or four, give them one. If I feel I am overloaded, I will say I cannot handle another admission, someone else needs one first. One night they tried to give me three in a row in two hours time. I said not this little girl!!!!

As sjoe says, we get as much crap as we will take!

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Regardless of assignments, it is patient acuity that matters and that can change during a shift. What is wrong with telling CN you need someone to take 1-2 pts of yours in order to provide good care? I have picked up pts. in the middle of a shift. No big deal. If they have a problem with that, write down the FACTS and give them to mgr. next morning. Keep a copy. This is called documentation. A paper trail can be as wide as a highway.

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I guarantee that the good feeling you will get by sticking up for yourself and being assertive far outweighs the feeling of being mad, frustrated and resentful that you are getting dumped on. Try it-it works-sticking up for yourself, that is..

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Thanks everyone. I know that I need to be more assertive. I will start working on that. Our CN seem to load up the person with the LPN too. I wrote down everything and who had how many patients (just for my records). I am going to work on saying something. Just needed a vote of confidence. I am always too worried what others think of me.

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Stella you will have more nights for yourself if you do not stick up for yourself. The worst thing will be when one of your patients goes bad or someone falls and guess who will have to defend their license? State board will not take " I didn't want the other nurses to be mad at me" as an excuse. Also what about your patients? Don't they have a right to have more nursing time allotted to them? I am sorry to be so blunt but trust me on this.

And how caring are these nurses that you work with? They don't care if you like them because they are more than willing to dump on you. Are these the type of people you are concerned about liking you? Once again I am too blunt but I am giving you some tough love because when I first started work that's how they treated me. When I stopped tolerating it they were very mean- when the meaness didn't work they started to kiss my butt. I decided to leave because it is a terrible place to work. I hope you straighten this out sooner than later because it won't get better until you stick up for yourself. Just do it in a professional way. Best wishes and good luck.

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