Am I over reacting?

[Fiducia78]

I have been off orientation for three weeks. I have been so overwhelmed, that I have been crying everytime I have to go to work! My first horrible night included a blood transfusion. The transfusion was ordered at 11am. I came in for the 7p-7a shift and the blood was not hung yet. Not to mention that the pt was on a Heparin drip, and the nurse before me didnt even start another line. Thankfully my co-workers are awesome, because if not for them, I would have probably freaked out big time. One helped me start the line, while the other walked me through hanging the blood because during orientation this never came up. Then my other pt kept having fingersticks above 422. I realize soon enough that he has Osmolite instead of Glucerna running into his peg. I just feel like instead of being upset, I should have just dealt with it better. Also, when I came in 5 ivs needed to be changed, and 1 was infiltrated. Did she even check on these patients at all. Then, she says oh this pt will take her meds crushed with applesauce. Ok easy enough! WRONG!!!! When I go to do oral care before her meds, she has what looks like countless days of applesauce caked in her mouth. Do people not check if she swallowed her meds, or give oral care! OMG!!!! It just stresses me out!

Then friday night was a disaster also. I come on to the worst report ever in history. I get 3 admissions in the span of two hours. Uggggggggggggh...I really thought I was gonna have a nervous breakdown for sure. Plus, again ivs galore to change. Which I stink at, but I know with more experience I will get better. The teams we had kept changing. Like it was so unorganized, which added to my stress. I played catch up all night because the nurse I relieved misses orders on a regular basis. Again thanks to co-workers, I made it through.

Lastly, as I float, I feel like it may be a longer adjustment for me. This is my first job as an RN, and it is alot to handle. Some days I wanna give up, but I realize that one day I will have more good days then bad ones. Some floors I float to are great. People work as a team, answer the sometimes silly questions I ask. Going to the ER is what I feel like will make me quit. The floats are really taken advantage of down there. They handoff all of their patients to us. What really stinks is say there are two floats, one usually will get two crit patients, while the other usually will get the Detox, med surg, and psych patients! Some of us newer floats dont have ACLS yet, so we can only take non crit/teles. I just cant fathom how we will have all the pts, while the ER nurses have none. We have to scan all the orders ourselves, have them picked up and and redchecked before going up to the floor. Then they dont even tell you when the pt gets a bed, I am supposed to be the great Kreskin. They post it on the board. Hellllllllllllo, I have 7 pts all over the damn place some of whom are psych, can you not even tell me about the room? Or how about atleast faxing the report sheet up for me? Nothing, they help you with nothing! Are you serious. I just wanna scream, but alas I am only a lowly float!

Thanks for letting me vent! I needed that before I go in tonight!!!!

[CountryGirl1]

No, you're not overreacting. This is why so many new nurses become frustrated and leave the profession. Do the best you can and take care of yourself so that you don't burn out.

[RedhairedNurse, BSN, RN]

Welcome to nursing. No your not over reacting.

I go in all the time and see gunky stuff built up in

my pts mouth. I too see IVs infiltrated. There are lazy nurses

apparently, who knows. You will become seasoned very quickly like this.

Just keep up the good hard work and realize that you are making a

difference!

[caliotter3]

You are not over reacting. Things will get better as time goes on. I mean that your ability to deal with it will get better. You need to think about taking some time off here and there or scheduling your yearly vacation to help with stress relief. A mental health day can do wonders for your peace of mind.

[Lucky0220]

Hi Fiducia! I am so sorry for you. I, too am a brand new RN and I am surprised that your facility has new RN's "float". It makes you feel like every day is your first day! I did not think hospitals hired nurses for the float pool if they did not have experience. Why does your hospital that? It makes no sense.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

Good grief. Our ER would NEVER treat a float like that. We so rarely even GET a float that we treat them like gold! Yikes.

[gt4everpn, BSN, RN]

its, tough being new to a unit, especially when you work with less than competent nurses or when someone forgets something and you pick up the shift on a bad start. orientation never teaches you everthing, there's plenty i never learned on my orientation, but i took it upon myself to seek out the info and some extra orientation time (always request extra orientation if you feel you need it) it's good that you had the other nurses there to show you the ropes and help you manage. i know how it feels to be undertrained and thrown into the deep end, if you don't feel competent about a particular workload tell your superiors. i know what it's like to have a boatload of pt's +admissions (which love to come late in the shift when it's the busiest), and the one's that have the psych things going on.. wandering, etc..if you feel it's way too much you always have your options of speaking to the higher ups or hitting the road to somewhere better.

[Straydandelion]

if you don't feel competent about a particular workload tell your superiors.

I would DEFINITELY follow this advice. In reading your post I feel you are a very good nurse and the problems you encountered, even the minor ones of mouth care along with the possibility of not being able to swallow the meds onto the ones of blood not started etc. deserves more then just a shrug. These types of things need to be reported at least to a charge. Being in a "tricky" position of float I know is tougher than most as you don't get a chance to work with and know other nurses on the floor as well, AND you also need to be assertive in your assignments knowing exactly what you can and can't yet do. On a more positive note however, you are getting EXCELLENT experience in all areas and the learning from that can be priceless.

[NeoNurseTX, RN]

Are you a float nurse with less than a year experience? Eeek, not a great idea!

It sounds like your job is HECTIC as heck, kudos to you for still being sane!

[NIGHTWOLF87]

i am so sorry that you are having such a rough time, but as other posters have said, once you get some experience, you're time management as well as nursing skills will vastly improve. as far as floating, have you ever thought about switching to a more specialized unit, such as nicu, picu, icu, etc? that way you can get more of a routine down and know what you need to do and when to do it. as long as you float, every unit is going to be different, and as this being your first job, things are especially going to be insane for you. i salute you for staying sane! but, as i said, in time you will be become more efficient, and i'm sure other openings in your hospital will appear, and then maybe you can switch to something a little more stable. until then, keep your chin up, and fight the good fight! good luck!

[Irene joy]

I just think it's crazy having new nurses as floats! I can't imagine having towalk into a new, unfamiliar situation everyday as a new nurse. I hope you are able to get into a more specialized unit ASAP!