Best advice for dealing with the ups and downs

Nurses Stress 101

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I've been reading over a lot of posts on this thread and I'm glad to see I'm not alone in my feelings of anxiety, being overwhelmed, stressed, doubtful, unsupported, like a failure, etc.

I've been a medical-surgical (more surgical) RN in a 980-bed urban hospital for a year in October. I work on a 30-bed unit which is typically kept full and our patient load is usually 4-6. We can have anywhere from 1-3 patient care techs, 0-1 unit clerks and our resources nurse takes patient assignments 1-3 as well. We staff many float nurses as well, bless their hearts but they're just not the same as our own nurses. I'm sure there are better and worse staffed units out there...but I find our situation to sometimes be terrible for providing adequate patient care. I've already sent in an ADO (Assignment Despite Objection) form to the union just to cover myself after I went up to 6 patients, including an unstable patient. Thank you Rapid Response Teams!

Anyways, at work there are shifts where I feel awesome and shifts where I feel like the worst nurse ever.

How do other nurses deal with these highs and lows? Is it normal to vacillate between the two extremes? I'm worried I'm on the road to burning out. I thought I wanted to do ICU, so that I could focus on 1-2 patients. Granted they'd be sicker but I would be their personal expert; I would know everything about them and I would watch for any subtle changes and be able to act quickly with the team. I hate juggling 5 acutely ill patients and then oh look my new admission from the ED at 5PM! My unit's staff isn't un-supportive, they're busy and stressed just like I am and sometimes I'm left feeling alone. But now I'm reconsidering ICU...not sure if I should be seeking an INCREASE in acuity when I'm already so exhausted and fed up...

*sigh*

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

What you are feeling is totally normal under the circumstances.

And that's a shame.

We nurses are like frogs in a boiling pot. We're put in while the water's pleasantly warm, and then the heat is gradually turned up, up, up.....and we don't really notice it because it happens so slowly. But sooner or later, the water becomes so hot that we boil and get cooked!

I just wrote a letter to a poster on another website who was angry about the treatment her husband received in their local hospital, where his severe UTI was allegedly neglected until he developed sepsis and wound up in the ICU. I gave her a different perspective and essentially told her to blame hospital administration for cutting nursing staff to the bone and making working conditions so terrible that patients sometimes do get missed in the rush of the average floor. I hope she takes it seriously and has a heart-to-heart with the head honchos.....they need to be held accountable.

Climbing down off soapbox now. I wish you the best!

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Thank you for your kind words! I'm going to just keep swimming...I can't imagine doing anything else with my life...I hope I will find the right fit soon.

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Specializes in ICU, CM, Geriatrics, Management.

Liked the frog analogy, Viva. 'Cause it's true!

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