I've been working on a med surg unit since July, about to come off orientation...and I already feel like I know I want to put in the bare minimum (6 months) before I can transfer. The pace is crazy and makes me feel uncomfortable, especially at the start of the shift when Im trying to see everyone and an admission comes up or an issue with a pt with new orders,etc, etc. I dont like doing the majority of the tasks you do on a MS floor (but the one thing I do enjoy IVs, procedures, dsg changes but that is what 3% of the time) and the sheer NUMBER of tasks in general is just...daunting. And I feel like I can't possibly fit all the information I need to know or remember to do in my head in order to care for everyone, even when I write it on paper I feel I dont remember to do everything on time. Time management and pacing is hard for me, especially when I want to take the few minutes with a person when all the while in the back of my head I have to keep thinking about how to leave the room without being rude and cutting the person off because I still have to do X,Y, and Z. And I feel like its sometimes hard to really learn in such a chaotic environment. I also feel like I almost have to half ass some of what Im doing (or at least not do some things I had planned) in order to get what needs to be done done, and that has never been in my personality to not do things 100%.
I know many would say to this "just give it time, itll get better!"...but what if I just don't LIKE med surg? Does getting better at something automatically mean that I'll like it? I think the two are very different lol. Ive read on here how people have left nursing because they started in MS and hated it, I dont want this experience to jade my view of nursing completely because there has to be something out there that I'll like. But I've also read that transferring after 6 months looks bad but at this point I dont really care...I dont know..overall I just want this "experience" to be over. Am I crazy or do others feel this way? Ive heard you can either love or hate MS..I think Im the later. I feel like my personality could do well in the OR...I just wonder if I should give MS time and then transfer or not waste their time and look into OR now.
Specializes in Labs: Chemistry, heme, serology, blood bank, UA, m.
On 11/12/2021 at 7:39 AM, NotMyProblem MSN said:
You who came here and belittled “80% of RNs” and then you take offense when I actually clarified several key points in what nurses actually do, stated that “talking down to anyone by even ONE nurse is unacceptable”, and suggest that you find another job or report this behavior???? Supposedly, we are nurses talking amongst nurses, yet here you are with you disdain for the majority of us.
As for the PICC, for all you know, it was a new nurse who had no experience with collecting blood from lines or an experienced one who was tied up with something else. Did you ask the assigned nurse why you were called for a peripheral collection or did you go to the first nurse you saw to point out the presence of the PICC? But you deduced that the nurse just didn’t want to. Some of these lines can be positional and have had unsuccessful attempts by several nurses at sampling. What evidence do you have to support your negative claims about the performance of 80% of the RNs that you’ve encountered?
While I'll admit that my 80% statement is a bit harsh, I still stand by it from my experience to this date, especially with all the covid influxes. But to clarify I said, "80% of you seem to genuinely hate your job in that department and it's draining to have to put up with that". This was specifically directed to medsurg nurses, no other department, and I do not disdain them.
I take issue when I have to cause undue suffering to a patient due to what seems to me as laziness on their part, rooted in them not liking their job in medsurg, (of course this can't be proven, but given my information on the incident, it seems the most probable).
In regard to the PICC draw refusal incident that stands out the most, the nurse who had that patient and refused to draw from it was the medsurg charge nurse for that night, so they were by no means inexperienced. I did not question any further after she refused, seeing as she was the charge nurse, I assumed she had a valid reason not to. Upon sticking the patient multiple times unsuccessfully (who was a retired nurse themselves, and questioned why they couldn't just draw from a PICC to which I felt terrible for not being able to give any definitive answer), I returned to the front desk to tell the charge nurse I was unsuccessful. Overhearing this, another nurse volunteered to draw from the line. After said nurse left to draw the line, the charge nurse added that the reason she couldn't pull from the line was because the patient was at high risk for sepsis. I find the validity of said reason questionable given the circumstances, especially seeing how she had no issue letting another nurse pull from it.
I understand the stresses of dealing with an understaffed department, but medsurg isn't the only one that has to deal with that.
MT Fun_Dips
9 Posts
While I'll admit that my 80% statement is a bit harsh, I still stand by it from my experience to this date, especially with all the covid influxes. But to clarify I said, "80% of you seem to genuinely hate your job in that department and it's draining to have to put up with that". This was specifically directed to medsurg nurses, no other department, and I do not disdain them.
I take issue when I have to cause undue suffering to a patient due to what seems to me as laziness on their part, rooted in them not liking their job in medsurg, (of course this can't be proven, but given my information on the incident, it seems the most probable).
In regard to the PICC draw refusal incident that stands out the most, the nurse who had that patient and refused to draw from it was the medsurg charge nurse for that night, so they were by no means inexperienced. I did not question any further after she refused, seeing as she was the charge nurse, I assumed she had a valid reason not to. Upon sticking the patient multiple times unsuccessfully (who was a retired nurse themselves, and questioned why they couldn't just draw from a PICC to which I felt terrible for not being able to give any definitive answer), I returned to the front desk to tell the charge nurse I was unsuccessful. Overhearing this, another nurse volunteered to draw from the line. After said nurse left to draw the line, the charge nurse added that the reason she couldn't pull from the line was because the patient was at high risk for sepsis. I find the validity of said reason questionable given the circumstances, especially seeing how she had no issue letting another nurse pull from it.
I understand the stresses of dealing with an understaffed department, but medsurg isn't the only one that has to deal with that.