Safety of Working as a Nurse Tech II

[RaElrA]

I worked as a NTI my entire second semester, eagerly looking forward to being promoted to NTII. I made the transition at the beginning of this summer, and have been working as a NTII in Telemetry. It is exciting to interact with the nurses as more of a peer, and to be thought of as "my nurse" by the patients. It is terrifying, however, to know that I am working with little supervision (the nurses have their own plates full). I do not give meds, but I must research the meds, check the charts, labs, vitals, etc. before beginning to "troll" for a nurse with the time to administer them for me. Basically, other than removing the meds from the pyxis and handing them to the patient, I am doing everything a "real" nurse would be doing.

Sounds exciting, yes? On the rare occasions I have only the four patients I understood would be my maximum, I feel that I can stay on top of the sitution. Unfortunately, I have only had four patients two or three times this entire summer! I usually have five, and sometimes have had six patients, which does not feel like a safe level for a second-semester nursing student, especially considering the acuity of our patients in telemetry.

I had put this in writing and shared it with my manager, who agreed. Two days later, I was given five patients again, and on a night when all hell was breaking loose. I never sit down, and do the best I am able in every situation, but last night, I was six hours late "trolling" for a nurse to hang Vanc, and four hours late entering a K+ draw for a pt w/K+ protocol into the system. I had a schizophrenic prisoner in shackles and cuffs screaming all night long, a little lady whose sats dropped to 75 after she "lost it" on ambien and removed her tele and NC, etc. Had she not remeoved her tele, I might not have caught her sats in time! The patients whose acuity was not high got little or no attention, and I felt that I was ignoring them. It was horrible, but the most horrible part was realizing that I had not performed safely for my patients, even though I tried my best.

I discussed all this with the nurses on the unit, and they almost unanimously agree with me that my fear is justified. They feel that too much responsibiltiy is being placed on a second-semester student, and that I am in jeaopardy of: 1) losing my license before I even get it; 2) causing whomever is charging to lose their license; and worse yet, 3) endangering the lives of patients.

I have decided to only bid on NTI positions until I graduate from nursing school. As a new grad, I'll have a preceptor for three full months. I'll also have two more semesters of nursing school behind me. Have any of you been in similar situations? I'd love to hear what other students have done in similar situations, and what experienced nurses have to say about my decision. I feel my decision is correct, but welcome any feedback.