At least we are all in the same boat

[lindy777]

I'm a new nurse. I am overwhelmed. I feel sick every day when I report in. The day is one long controlled panic. I pray on the way to work that God will guide my hands and protect my patients. I ask a ton of questions and take the time I need to do it right the first time. Recently my 8:00AM meds weren't finished until 10:30. Standing at the cart, I felt panic rising. Then I stepped back, thought about the needy patient that had demanded my presence no less than 4 times in two hours, the really depressed patient who needed someone to care, the two ladies who couldn't get their food to their mouth's and the other two who needed to be assessed and were at the very end of the hall. OK, I'm slow, but I'm not goofing off here, there is just a ton to do. Then there is the audit of the report of the audit of the list on the patient intake form ( I swear). The NA was working her butt off because someone didn't come in and she was covering both of their rooms. The unit manager wasn't there that morning and I don't know if I'll hear about how late the meds were or not, but the way I look at it, I was doing the very best I could under the circumstances and I worked as quickly and safely as possible. I don't know if I will ever really like Med-Surge nursing. I love nursing and I need to hone my skills, but I see nurses who have been there for years and they are stressed out of their mind. Yeah, we are all in the same boat, but what is the solution to all of this stress? Is there one? Did I mention that my orientation abruptly ended early because they were short handed? No one mentioned that we were going to do that, they just did it. I asked about all of that paperwork that still needed to be checked off. I was told that we would probably do that at my evaluation. (The end of 90 days, which is still several weeks away.) Evidently Nursing Education and Staff Nursing are not on the same sheet of music about how long orientation is and what needs to be checked off before one starts having their own patients. Six of them, no less.

[LadyPhantom]

I have been working on a Med-Surg/Telemetry unit since I graduated in May. I actually had a good orientation, but since I have come off orientation I have been so overwhelmed. Some days I feel so stupid. I am always behind, on meds and charting. Some days are better than others, but I have never felt so sick and anxious before going to work at any of my other jobs. I have always wanted to be a nurse and it has taken me a long time to get my degree, I thought when I graduated that I would really be happy. But I am not. I am so miserable when I have to go into work. Thank goodness I work 12 hour shifts so I only have to be there 3 days a week. They are always asking me if I want to stay over or come in for overtime, and I always say no because I just can't stand the thought of being there any more than I have to. It is really sad to think that I wanted this job for so long and now I hate it. Hopefully it is just the Med/Surg floor that I don't like. I am trying to stick it out to get some experience so I can hopefully move on to something else.

[RN1989]

My dear, this is nursing in general, not just med-surg. You can have 1 patient in ICU and still run your butt off and feel like nothing got done. The chaos you describe is simply how healthcare works today due to all the money issues and people (including pts and family) wanting you to always be doing more with less.

You are finding it is worse right now because you are still new. You didn't get the orientation process you were promised which doesn't help. After you get some experience on your belt, parts of this WILL get better. Right now as a newbie, it takes you a lot longer to assess a situation, process the data, make a plan of action, and then carry out that plan of action. It won't take so long to do this after you have experience. There will eventually come a time that you can do your job and be on autopilot. What takes you a while to clue in to right now will simply "come" to you in your head later. You will be able to look at labs and seemingly without thinking you will know what the labs mean, how it impacts the pt's care, and what you are supposed to do about it. And all that will come to you in almost an instant - for real.

You are right that you see many nurses that seemed stressed out of their minds. Some of them should never have been nurses. Others were meant to be nurses but they have been unable to find a way to cope with the stress. You will have to decide for yourself where you go from here. The best thing you can do right now it to chill out. Take things one step at at a time. Later, you may find that medsurg isn't so bad and that you have learned tons due to the constant variety. Or you may find that you have gotten good at medsurg but you need a new challenge and you move on to a different specialty. But until you have more experience, IMO you won't be able to accurately judge things. You've already figured out that the real world is WAY different than nursing school or those sappy TV commercials. It is up to you how you respond to the real world and where you go from here.