Another one wanting to bite the dust.

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Specializes in PCCN.

 

Warning, kind of a rant that nurses might understand....

I know many of my prior postings stated I want out of nursing; that is still true. But making it happen is such a difficult thing to do. Especially since the latest thing at my job is to steal our nurses for other overflow floors, and leave us with 10 patients each ( or more) to take care of on a cardiac stepdown floor. I can't get out fast enough!

All this does is make more people quit ,which is why they're stealing nurses to cover holes from other quitting nurses. Vicious cycle.

Of course the easy answer is , " well , why don't you quit too? " or find another job? Well, because only  jobs available are these patient care jobs, or jobs that want you to know everything already, such as care management and UM needing to already know regulations, etc. Or jobs that require on call, and I already live 50 minutes away, or excellent IV skills , which I don't have ( think bull in china shop) .

So then one says , well why don't you get a job in another field. Well, a 50 percent cut and no benefits is going to make me make my family have 1.) nowhere to live( we'd lose our house we've paid 20 years into, and believe me , its a dump as it is) 2. )no benefits- so if any of us gets sick or injured, well, too bad I guess. 3) There's this thing called needing food to live. Not gonna happen on a McDonalds job ( and they prob wouldn't hire me anyway, as I'm , lets say, Gen X. ( even though I worked there 3 years in 1982 ? )

Sooo, the conundrum. I've thought, well , go back to school? for what? The thing I was good at was nursing when in a fairly controlled situation ( oh um , like 4 pts on a stepdown for example) Even the ICU's are having  4 pts at times . The covid floors have 8 pts a piece!) 

I could get another two year degree at the community college, but still end up making 12 bucks an hour. I could go for a MBA- mega huge cost there which makes no sense at my age. 

So it's no wonder I dread every day I have to go in, and and upset that there seems to be no alternatives. Is this common in the "gen X" group? I'm guessing all hospitals are like this too. The PCP offices only hire LPN s and Med techs now, so no hope there either.

What to do, what to do.........

1 Votes

I did cardiac stepdown for years, would drown with 10 patients. I got  into  UM as a newbie through an agency. Are you on file with agencies? Do you have your resume every where ? You never know who will come knocking at your door. Home care or private duty could work.

Good luck... keep going

 

3 Votes
Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.

10 patients on a cardiac stepdown floor is sheer lunacy. I know that there's a lot of competition for jobs away from the bedside right now, so maybe alternatives could be an option. LTC/SNF can be something to explore, the pay is good, the work is stressful but I find it's a different kind of stress than acute care because not everyone is trying to die on you every shift, typically. It's still hard work but I actually really enjoy it, the residents are great. Another option is private duty homecare, I'm sure they would snatch you up in a heart beat! The shifts are usually either 12 hours or 8 hours and your with one patient for the entire shift. It tends to be fairly low stress and it would allow you to kind of recharge a bit. The downside is that the pay isn't as high as other specialties. What about school nursing? It's kind of daunting going from adults to peds but I know several nurses that did it and loved it, once again pay can be low. Corrections is another option, pay tends to be good, and people seem to really enjoy the unique environment and report they actually feel physically safer working in prison versus the hospital due to the presence of the CO's. Dialysis is an option either acute or outpatient. Acute works a lot of hours and does require on call so you may not be a fan of that, however people tend to really like it. Outpatient dialysis can be hard to break into in my area, but in some places there's positions galore. Lots of opportunities in outpatient dialysis and the work is fascinating. 

I really hope you can get out of that hell hole soon!

3 Votes
Specializes in PCCN.

I was going to refuse that 10 pt assignment and walk out, but of course that means risk getting fired on the spot , and leaving my coworkers to split an assignment of 27 between the two of them .I couldn't do that to them. I like my coworkers; I hate the way the job is being run. our usual is 7-8 pts now. 

Im going to look into education- maybe they'll take someone with a BSN to teach CNA's or LPN's. I always liked precepting/mentoring., and we have a new facility opening up for LPN education. 

My only problem I've ever had with that is that I feel bad encouraging anyone to enter into this hell. 

1 Votes

martymoose, I am a Gen X'er and also in the same boat career wise.  I have also worked corrections but grew tired of the constant malingering and feigning of illness, as well as the constant threat of litigation.  Perhaps reconsider OR nursing-there's never more than one patient at a time and though there is usually a call obligation, most hospitals have a sleep room for on call staff that live outside of the response time commute.  

1 Votes
Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.

Yay Gen-X! I found my niche (for now, haha) doing clinical appeals from home. I like it, it's very satisfying - a friend described it as a mixture of detective work and patient advocacy, which is pretty accurate! I have discovered that I am good at writing clinical narratives and providing sound, evidence-based recommendations. I have gotten things approved for patients even if they don't quite meet criteria by creating compelling rationales for approval. 

Anyway, OP - I wanted to mention that has an MBA program that might not cost you megabucks. ?

2 Votes
Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.
51 minutes ago, martymoose said:

I was going to refuse that 10 pt assignment and walk out, but of course that means risk getting fired on the spot , and leaving my coworkers to split an assignment of 27 between the two of them .I couldn't do that to them. I like my coworkers; I hate the way the job is being run. our usual is 7-8 pts now. 

Im going to look into education- maybe they'll take someone with a BSN to teach CNA's or LPN's. I always liked precepting/mentoring., and we have a new facility opening up for LPN education. 

My only problem I've ever had with that is that I feel bad encouraging anyone to enter into this hell. 

That's good of you to not leave your co-workers in a lurch. I think education is a great idea, I started out as a CNA and then an LPN, so there's a special place in my heart for education related to both of those, especially LPN. As far as encouraging people to join us in hell, unfortunately we need more drones in the hive.

Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.
9 minutes ago, Pixie.RN said:

Yay Gen-X! I found my niche (for now, haha) doing clinical appeals from home. I like it, it's very satisfying - a friend described it as a mixture of detective work and patient advocacy, which is pretty accurate! I have discovered that I am good at writing clinical narratives and providing sound, evidence-based recommendations. I have gotten things approved for patients even if they don't quite meet criteria by creating compelling rationales for approval. 

Anyway, OP - I wanted to mention that WGU has an MBA program that might not cost you megabucks. ?

Your job sounds awesome! Unfortunately in the time of COVID people are leaving the bedside in droves so I would worry that positions like yours are probably incredibly competitive and maybe even hard to come by. Not to mention you have had an amazing career AND you have the formal education to compliment it. Not saying the OP doesn't, though.

2 Votes
Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.

10 step-down patients??? are you serious?? How do you even do that? My step-down pts often turned in to ICU pts and I could be stuck in one pts room with the RRT team, then helping with ICU transfer... what would happen to the other 9 pts??? OMG. How do the patients stay alive? How do YOU stay alive? Do you have CNAs? You are so brave. I think I would quit without having a new job lined up... which would lead to the list of problems you laid out above =( I really hope you can find something new. Where I live the dialysis companies seem to be always hiring. Not sure if you want to share which area you live, but might make a difference in getting suggestions. ?

4 Votes
Specializes in Mental health, substance abuse, geriatrics, PCU.
4 minutes ago, LibraNurse27 said:

10 step-down patients??? are you serious?? How do you even do that? My step-down pts often turned in to ICU pts and I could be stuck in one pts room with the RRT team, then helping with ICU transfer... what would happen to the other 9 pts??? OMG. How do the patients stay alive? How do YOU stay alive? Do you have CNAs? You are so brave. I think I would quit without having a new job lined up... which would lead to the list of problems you laid out above =( I really hope you can find something new. Where I live the dialysis companies seem to be always hiring. Not sure if you want to share which area you live, but might make a difference in getting suggestions. ?

Right? I mean, I feel like we should launch a rescue mission for Martymoose and her co-workers. 

5 Votes
Specializes in Community Health, Med/Surg, ICU Stepdown.
5 minutes ago, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

Right? I mean, I feel like we should launch a rescue mission for Martymoose and her co-workers. 

For real! I'll come help but I can only handle 3 patients, 4 if you want me to cry after work LOL

2 Votes
Specializes in EMS, ED, Trauma, CEN, CPEN, TCRN.
13 minutes ago, TheMoonisMyLantern said:

Your job sounds awesome! Unfortunately in the time of COVID people are leaving the bedside in droves so I would worry that positions like yours are probably incredibly competitive and maybe even hard to come by. Not to mention you have had an amazing career AND you have the formal education to compliment it. Not saying the OP doesn't, though.

It was competitive before COVID and now it's just crazy! Companies get hundreds of applications for a single opening. I feel like I won the lottery for sure. It still took me a while and numerous applications before I even got an interview. But there are so many avenues in nursing, you just never know where you might end up! ?

2 Votes
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