Burn out/ disgusted/ QI

Published

This is a long vent/ any suggestions, comments, critics or plain snide remarks, let me have it...

I started in healthcare 13yrs ago as a CNA in LTC thought I could save the world, that is a good environment to appropriately downsize that dream!

Graduated w/ an LPN went to work in LTC learned great assessments and got tired of bad staffing, unrealistic expectations and all the backbiting.

Become an RN here we are 5+ yrs down the road and I am so burned out. I get great compliments from my managers, my pts and my co-workers, but I get so frustrated. I quit my staff job to leave behind the concept of unsupportive managers as it relates to new grads and lack of ongoing precepting. 6weeks of orientation and thats it, nursing does not have ongoing mentors for those abnormal crazy pts to help develop critiacal thinking skills problem solving skills and furthering interpersonal conflicts.

Doctors who think you are only taking care of their pt~ as if I only had one person to keep track of... the ones who call well you are doing a code brown clean up and wiping barrier cream on someone because the aid has 15rooms and is swamped to ask why/when there pt's gtt is hung, or the daily wt was taken from a pt admitted thru the ER on night shift only to find out they didnt take it and lets not mention it is bariatric pt who requires a lift to get out so the bed can be zeroed and then the pt can be weighed.

What about the code 90min before shift change so the orders are not doubly documented in the computer as "noted" there fore the night nurse refuses to take report since they are only noted in the chart.

I love the ones that noone is willing to adress, placement issue, code status, the best one to date, pt codes (thank god not mine) ACLS algorithm completed, pt has pulse, ET tube in, oh yeah thats right, pt has DNR on the books, but someone failed to check.. to many pts on nights, days didnt get the msg and pt's family ******.

I have worked M/S, CCU, ICU, LTAC rehab, ED, it is all the same, this society has sick people who have a diverse set of needs and I refuse to be a nurse who doesnt address the pt as a whole. It ****** me off to high heaven when providers dont address the anxiety/depression/family dynamics of the pt, Pt is anxious about family concerns--wow blood pressure is elevated, HR elevated, rather than give MSW a consult, w/ some antianxiety meds, no we increase her cardiac meds, cuz surely that will be her "acute need"! Like hell, acute need of the individual is all other components of his/her life outside the hospital... why is that so difficult to understand?

So over it, love the PCU stepdown units, they are the best, ICU acuity but oh ICU full so we will tx them to PCU w/ a 4:1 ratio and call it safe.

I used to think it is all about the pts, I have learned pt's dont keep the write ups down and keep my job safe. Nursing is a career like any other and it is sad but I feel it is all poltical and therein lies my rub.

People get hurt, meds get missed, bad things happen because there are too many pts, too many expectations and to much crap for one single person to keep track of

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Specializes in Med Surg, LTC, Home Health.

Move to California where there are ratios for every department, and nurses who come in just to relieve you for your lunch break. It is like a whole other country for nurses there.

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I've only been a nurse for three months and I think that I've witnessed almost everything you just mentioned caringchic! I'm an LPN and I have a year and a half left to complete my BSN and I keep trying to convince myself that I CAN make a difference. Even though there is NO mentorship at my job, 3 nurses have quit since I started my job, and I watch nurses pick up dirty pills on the floor and hand it right back to the patient for consumption...and I've seen terribly dangerous ways to unblock G-tubes (lack of infection control!), and I'm a float nurse who care for 28-31 patients daily--and now the DON wants me to consider a managerial position! I could go on and on, but I understand your frustration caringchic, and I'm glad you posted the truth. It's helping me deal with the fact that I can only be the best nurse that I can be because nursing involves all disciplines: so if the MD does a crappy job, I can't make him do a better job. I just hope that the daily anxiety I feel at work doesn't kill me.

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Specializes in critical care, med/surg.

I feel the same frustration as you...unsafe staffing and poorly oriented nurses are a daily struggle for me. But, what do we do to fix it? If we complain, will we be reprimanded or fired???

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I can so relate to you Carinchic. Healthcare has lost site of the basics and focused too much on statistics, money, and bs. Sorry to add to the misery but that is where I am. Nursing is not what it was 15 - 20 years ago.:cry:

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Specializes in M/S, Travel Nursing, Pulmonary.

What urks me off is how many people are in the medical field or play a part in it and pt. care is not even on their radar (a lot of managers, administration, politicians, insurances). Seems we are the only ones keeping the primary focus of why we are here in mind.

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and might i add that we are the primary individuals at the bedside, answering questions educating pts and preparing them for self care as it r/t their chronic dx process and unfortantely most people do not have the tools to do this effectively. I left the ER because if the Rx is written and the pt has welfare and no insurance it really is ineffective and effectively wasting my time, go to the unit and it is the same crap. I feel like it is my ethical duty to educate, advocate and be holistic in my profession but damn, do that for 12hrs w/ all other factors previously discussed and then some crappy nurse wants to "write up" the most petty thing...

I am a good nurse w/ good assessment skills, good documentation skills but I am tired of the B.S. This is not the economic culture to be job hunting in anyways... I am struggling w/ my attitude to say the least.

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Specializes in pcu/stepdown/telemetry.

we unfortunately are pill pushers with good intentions. rushing to get things done which will only lead to more mistakes and more burnout

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Specializes in Emergency Room.

i couldn't disagree with you if i wanted to. and when this economy gets better, you will see nurses leaving in groves...again.

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Specializes in emergency/trauma.

I've been an ER nurse for over 8 years, before that I was an LPN and prior to that a Navy Corpsman. I feel everything that you are saying. I used to love being a nurse and was proud of the fact. I would love to be able to do something else with my life. Find a job where I'm not being asked to work long hours for unappreciative people (patients and managers) Leaving nursing now isn't an option. I have too many years invested in it. It's sad,I am very involved with the ENA, I teach TNCC, ENPC, Injury Prevention, I have my CEN. I am a born ER nurse but recently the thought of going to work makes me sick to my stomach. Being in charge is hell because of co-workers attitudes and managers expectations. I've changed jobs in the past year, Had worked agency before this job. I know I am burned out.

The environment almost makes it inevitable. I also find that co-workers make the job even harder. There are nurses who seem to take pride in being rude and sniping at co-workers. I'm at wit's end.

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. I feel your pain!

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I am extremely burned out. Our PCU ratio is 9 patients to one nurse. Yeah, that's safe. And all we get is our manager ******** at us to take better "customer care" - lady, I can hardly get out the 200 + meds my shift (no exaggeration) - I don't have time to fluffy puff and give backrubs. And I feel you on the doctors and family - at any given time they want us to be able to write a book on the patient. I'm lucky if I even can recall the patient's diagnosis without looking at my papers.

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Specializes in ICU, Education.

No snide remarks from me. I completely feel your pain and know where you are coming from. I wish the public truly realized what we do. The sad truth is that the ones that really care, are usually the ones that get burn-out anf leave the profession--thinning out the herd so to speak.... We get left with more nurses who don't care....

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