So... I graduated in Dec 08 and accepted a job in the brain injury rehab unit. This is my very first nursing gig...and I can't stand it! The work is entirely too physical and it's killing my back already--think zero-mobility patients. My main beef, tho, is that I really don't feel like I'm getting much meat-n-potatoes nursing experience. None of the patients have IVs. They all have feeding tubes, that's really the only nursing thing I do. I can't interact with the patients...at best they just garble. The family members who visit are thankful and gracious so that's nice. But I'm already forgetting stuff I learned in school because I'm just not using like I would on a med surg or cardiac unit. The experience I am getting seems like it will be pretty useless on any other unit. It's not like I can transfer a year of rehab experience to a med-surg unit and look like I have experience, KWIM? I'm still in the orientation phase, so I think I'm gonna talk with the manager and hospital recruiter to see if I can do a shadow shift on another unit. I hope that's allowed, since I'm not carrying any weight on the unit by myself yet.
PLUS...since these are total-care patients, one of my five/six assignments is always in need of a diaper change or shower or chair transfer, and we all help each other out of course, but this means that there is NEVER a chance to sit down. Charting (computer) is done on the fly. The break room is down the hall but it seems like only the unit secretary is ever in there. The other unit RNs are making me feel lazy for trying to chart comprehensive nursing notes ("stop daydreaming, let's go") etc.
Am I being a baby for feeling this way? I am both overwhelmed with the amt of work, and underwhelmed with the complexity of work. I don't even want to go back in this week.
What to do???
All responses are welcome!!
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