I've been a nurse for two years, mostly in an IMCU but in the past 4 months I have been on a peds unit that also gets ante/post-partum, gyno surgeries, and NICU stepdown.
I've always been passionate about women's and children's, and I thought this unit would be perfect for me. But
I'm not adjusting well. Both myself and my manager are worried. I feel like a new grad all over again in many ways, and somehow I have lost my "nurse sense.” The worst example is when I let a kid's IV infiltrate pretty badly. The kid ended up OK and was discharged the same day but I got in trouble.
My manager told me that in general, I am not where I should be with things. It sounded less like hard skills and more like "nurse sense" that I seem to be lacking. We discussed ways for me to improve and I gave it my best effort.
Soon I was put on a 30 day probation because I was "doing better but not better enough.” I'm almost at the end of that period and feeling so scared.
essentially, my nursing judgment, prioritization, critical thinking, etc are just not there. This wasn't a problem in my first job and I was often praised for being a "great nurse.” And now it's just gone and I don't know what to do. Has anyone else backslid before?
I always try to center myself, write things down, ask for help, etc but I still end up doing things like prioritizing charting over physical tasks, or not helping others enough, or forgetting any of the many policies I'm still learning.
I can always see how my actions are wrong in retrospect, but in the moment, I don't even realize what I'm doing. Like I'm in a trance or something, which is new and terrifying. Therapist thinks I am "dissociating as a stress response.” Thoughts? Sorry for the long rant.
Specializes in Psychiatry, Community, Nurse Manager, hospice.
So they were "overstaffed". There is no such thing as overstaffed. They were money grubbing. Someone probably got a bonus for cutting your position. That is the reason they fired you. Good riddance to them.
Wuzzie said it well. Don't let this break your confidence.
Specializes in Community and Public Health, Addictions Nursing.
Oh wow. Agree with the others that this wasn't your fault. Peds isn't tiny adults, it's a whole different specialty and you weren't given enough shifts or time to learn. I hope your therapist is able to support you through this and help you find a better job that will be more supportive.
If you were a great nurse, and worked with confidence before, I am not convinced that you've actually backslid, especially since the complaints are "critical thinking" "judgment" and "you're not where you should be". These smack of an unsupportive supervisor. How do I know?
Because they are vague, possibly even meaningless. True feedback gives you something to work with.
This, times a million. If you probe for these kinds of concrete examples and solutions and they shoot back with something like "you should already know by now," that's also very typical, and means there's a probably a problem with the culture of the unit that you're not going to overcome. Just something to consider.
Yeah, sometimes THEY can be wrong. Why didn't they help you with specific "faults" I was told in my first year as an RN at a teaching hospital by my preceptor that "I would have a difficult time" Turns out she was wrong. In my second year, I went on in the same hospital to orient new grads, run mock codes and later became an NP who had no complaints and had a successful NP career. One person or more on a team can talk and make wrong judgements. It has nothing to do with you, more about them for whatever reason. One other thing that is very important that a physician told me early on is that you will get the most flack from "borderline doctors" I won't go into specifics, than from others. In 31 years as an NP I have only had 2 of them try to insult or undermine me. It was from thier insecurity and training.
Thank you everyone for your support and replies.
At this point in time I am now trying to engage in some self-care while also thinking about where I need to go next. I think I want to move away from bedside.
I am sitting on some savings for now so I have that to fall back on.
I see this a lot in CVICU and it's a hard thing to deal with, but the ones I've known who have moved on from their dream specialty because it just never clicked are much happier now.
I see this a lot in CVICU and it's a hard thing to deal with, but the ones I've known who have moved on from their dream specialty because it just never clicked are much happier now.
I think the notion that people either are or are not inherently endowed with some special ability to work in certain specialties is exactly contrary to the consensus of this thread, but thanks for sharing.
FolksBtrippin, BSN, RN
2,353 Posts
So they were "overstaffed". There is no such thing as overstaffed. They were money grubbing. Someone probably got a bonus for cutting your position. That is the reason they fired you. Good riddance to them.
Wuzzie said it well. Don't let this break your confidence.