does anyone else feel like a glorified maid?

indigo girl · Jul 17, 2006

I've been in orientation about a month on a med surg/tele floor. I have worked up to five patients. I'm working days on weekends which I like.....but many days I come home from work too tired to even move and crying from stress. Demanding patients who don't appreicate anything u do. bitchy critical threatening family members, smart ass doctors, catty annoying lazy coworkers, and I think "THIS is not what I thought nursing was". I am really frustrated.......my preceptor is great but I am beginning to think I have made a career mistake. I cant believe the amount of stress! And 90% of my coworkers on on meds for depression and anxiety and tell me how in a while, I will be too.......they arent trying to be mean, but they say the job has taken a toll on them. I am so frustrated. I feel like I was decieved in school, I knew nursing was tough but this is hell......I like caring for patients and I am faster, more efficient, more confident and have learned so much but I am just.......let down. Plus I take NCLEX tomorrow. So I am stressed about that. I just feel like throwing up. Nursing isnt what I thought it was.....half the time I feel like a glorified maid......

Not all units are like the one you work on. Have a discussion with your unit manager. She may have some helpful suggestions. Sometimes changing shifts can help, or changing units in the same facility. I think that if your co-workers are on meds just to survive there, it's a problem, and it's not you.

HealingHands27 · Jul 17, 2006

I don't understand why you stay, try another place to work, nurses are in demand everywhere, I doubt you will have trouble finding another job.

smileysenior · Jul 18, 2006

I don't understand why you stay, try another place to work, nurses are in demand everywhere, I doubt you will have trouble finding another job.

I signed a 1 year contract.......I really wanted to get my feet wet and get comfortable with my job because I am going back to school next August. I wanted a good foundation. I am getting tons of experience........but it's just the reality of this job, it is nothing like it was in school. Not every MD or coworker is a jerk but lots of them are. And I know that comes with any job.....but I just am having a hard time. I am considering employment elsewhere........it is just really frustrating.

Montessori Mommy · Jul 18, 2006

I've completed the first of two years of an RN program, and I feel the same way. Once we got up to three patients in clinicals, I realized there was no longer time to provide any sort of "patient care". I was always running from patient to patient, and rarely had time to answer their questions or talk to them. This is very honestly nothing like I ever imagined it to be..... The times I had patients who really needed care, I felt just horrible leaving them to track down meds the pharmacy hadn't delivered or to attend to the more demanding (but less needy) patient down the hall!

I'm hoping once we start OB and Peds next semester, I'll find something I enjoy. At least the patient: nurse ratio is suppose to be better in L & D.

I guess I'm just disappointed.... :scrying:

bchboy · Jul 18, 2006

Hey Smiley, I had felt like you did while I was on the med-surg floor. I went into the neuro ICU and it is a different world. The nurses are there to keep people alive not to make sure the patient has salt for their fries. The patients, are normally sedated, and the family members truely appreciate what we do for them because the pts are in such bad shape, they appreciate you literally keeping their loved ones alive.

Some of the Docs are butt heads but there are some great ones too that show you the respect we worked so hard for.

Anyway, I guess all I am trying to say is that the different areas in the hospital are as different as night and day, try something new.

Bchboy

prmenrs, RN · Jul 18, 2006

It sounds like reality shock to me.

See if you can find these books:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0801627419/sr=8-1/qid=1153207397/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-0295210-8200749?ie=UTF8

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0913654507/sr=8-2/qid=1153207424/ref=sr_1_2/104-0295210-8200749?ie=UTF8

You may find them helpful. You're not alone!! (not sure if that's comforting or not) It does get better, so hang in there.

jde8767 · Jul 18, 2006

Hey!! I felt the EXACT same way!! You are going through REality SHock, i think someone posted it before. I had the world's greatest preceptor though! She got me through it! I was seriously considering quitting nursing and going back to waiting tables. Even flipping burgers at Fast Food places sounded better to me! IT GETS BETTER!!!!!!!!!! TRUST ME!!!! Yes family members are annoying as heck! That probably won't get better but you'll learn how to deal with them! I did switch to nights though soon after my orientation period. I like it better, family is usually asleep, and then you get to be the annoying one- like turning on the lights and beeping machines.

You'll always have lazy co workers! ALWAYS! but you'll learn how to deal with it.

Keep your head up! Try to find a book on nursing humor or read the funny threads on here!

Hang in there. IT will get better.

husker-nurse, LPN, LVN · Jul 18, 2006

I had the same problem with my first job; I worked out my 1-year contract and moved across town. EVERYTHING changed! I realize that I was new and lacking in self-confidence, but the nurses you describe were quite similar to the ones I worked with (who maybe SHOULDA been on meds). I decided that if the hospital allowed this type of behavior, I refused to be a part of it. No way, no how, end of discussion. I just got out. I noticed that several managers were voluntarily gone shortly therafter. Time flies; work out that contract and, in the meantime, start checking out you future job. The very best of luck to you in your future!

mt33133 · Jul 18, 2006

I have a question..............

I will be starting my BSN program in the fall, already have a BS degree. So will be done in about 2 years. I hear so many horror stories about med/surg. All the nursing surveys in nursing journals, websites, etc. list med/surg as having the lowest job satisfaction rate for nurses. Are new grad nurses required to work med/surg. or is this a choice some new grads make in order to get a foundation of varied patients, illnesses, etc?

From the sounds of it, I don't want to work med/surg upon graduation. Is that even an option?

Thanks!

slu_rn · Jul 18, 2006

I just graduated in May and started out in a Level III NICU. Med-Surg, at least in my area, is not a required place to start for new grads. Many hospitals have GN programs to help you get on your feel in a focused area. If I had to start working med surg right out I don't think I would have stayed in nursing...

jannrn · Jul 18, 2006

When I graduated in '92, there jobs were hard to find for new grads, so I was able to get a job in the float pool at a large teaching hospital. I was able to float (after 6 weeks on an ortho floor) and see many areas of the hospital and see how very different each area is. It can vary because the staff mix is easier to get along with, the manager does a better job keeping up morale, the type of pt/procedure for that unit, there are lots of reasons that make different units different. I always found the med/surg floor one of the most difficult ones to work on, always the busiest, the most demanding pt. and very diverse from sweet old ladies to drunken old guys off the street! It is a great place to get experience though and no matter what, nothing, not even the current job you hold is FOREVER!! and every job you have is a valuable experience (which you may or may not want to repeat!)