Dilemma I love and hate my job

[sistasoul]

I have been a nurse on neuro/ortho floor for 11 months now. I absolutely love bedside care and being with my patients but hate almost all other aspects of the job. I love the nurses I work with and my nurse manager. I hate never having enough time to even take my patients to the bathroom or commode. Whenever one of my patients asks me to take them to the commode or the bathroom I do it but I am thinking the entire time I am there that this is going to put me further behind. I do not let it show that I am thinking this but it is stressful to say the least. It seems like the admits take forever to do and then their is always problems with the med reconciliation that need to be clarified. At times the families can be overwhelming and needy. Now I understand that the families are worried about their loved ones but please don't ring the buzzer for the RN every 10 minutes. Most of the Mds are nice but some of them are just plain nasty and probably overworked like the rest of us. I run from the minute I get in till the minute I leave and always leave late. it just seems like their is never enough time in the day to chart until after the shift is over. I can never take a lunch but eat in between running. It is so crazy.

I am just so fed up with the pace of hospital nursing. I am wondering if their is a place in nursing where you can be at the bedside with your patients without haveing a million interruptions. I have worked LTC for 5 months after graduating and found that mind numbing. I just love my patients (most of them) and feel like I am not giving them all of the time and attention they deserve because of the constant pull on my time.

[Misslady113]

I am not a nurse (yet). I am a CNA working in a longterm care\rehab facility. Although I cannot relate to the nursing aspects of your job, I can relate to some of the other ones. I think we have somehow along the way decided that we have to be our patients best friends and be able to stop and give them our time and attention. Although that would be ideal, realistically it's not possible when we have to juggle 8 or 9 patients. Stop feeling like it's your job to be their buddy. You are there to care for them and make sure they are alive, comfortable, and well. When you put all these other expectations on your job that you can't achieve, then you will feel let down. You simply can't be what you are expecting to be, so you need to accept that, and make the best of what you can be.

When I have my residents, I talk to them when caring for them all the time. Alot of times they are very satisfied with just that. And if I have the time(rarely) I do take the time out to listen if it's really important. Yes it will put me behind, but put me behind of what really??? Getting out on time? Ok... so I'm running a little late on this day..... big deal. The other day we had a resident that needed the commode badly, but no other CNA's would stop their work. They can't possibly be "behind"!!! I took the time out to take this woman and yes I had to shortcut a couple of little things along the way to make up for the time, but it's not big deal.

Familes can be a pain in the a**. But don't let them become yours. Do your best for them with the best attitude you can, and if that's not enough go about your work and not let it "stress" you. I always ask myself before I get stressed, " is this situation going to cause me to die, is it going to be the end of the world?" No, it's not, so do the best you can and try to maintain your bubble of inner peace, or the field will eat you alive.

Yes, lunch is nice and all, but sometimes we don't get to do it. It is what it is. As long as you are not starving to death, like some people in other countries are, then no big deal. Be grateful you get to have a lunch, some occupations in other countries work longer hours than us in terrible conditions, with no food at all for the day. But when you walk in expecting lunch( even though it is what you have a right to), and you don't get it, your all worked up about missing lunch.

I know what I'm saying may sound silly, but apply it to your life and you will watch all the worries and stress float by you. Just take everything day by day the best you can, and don't walk in with "expectations". This works for me, and all my co workers say I'm one of the most positive, upbeat people they know, while they walk around complaining all day. Life is about letting it in and getting over it. Accepting it for what it is and doing the best you can. Life can take a turn for the absolute worst at any moment, and here we are complaining about all this little stuff. Maybe if we stop looking at how things should be, and look at how things could be, we would all be a little more grateful. Good luck to you.:heartbeat

[scoochy]

Have you considered cutting your hours to part-time and working for a nursing agency? Check out agency work, i.e, what facilities they serve. I worked for a nursing agency and I got great exposure to corrections and addictions nursing. I ended up taking a long term assignment in addictions, but then had to move on as the economy plummeted and the detox facility could no longer afford agency nurses. You may be able to find your niche in thiss way.

Don't give up!

[avator288]

I'd stick with it

[newtress, LPN]

You just perfectly described why I chose to leave the ortho neuro job I had three months ago. For exactly the reasons you just shared. I loved the floor I was on, and most all of my patients. But, even when I thought I had managed my time well and the day was running smoothly, again I was stuck staying late for new admits and overflow from other floors. I couldn't eat a meal or snack hardly and couldn't get my charting started on time or done on time. As you said, I would stand in the bathroom with a patient thinking "oh man, I just got set back seven minutes." If I can't even give seven minutes to my patient(s) and sense it will always be this way I opted to persue nursing positions that would allow me to do my job as a professional and get my responsibilities done in reasonable time so I could.. clock out on time. I toiled in my mind about giving my notice, but was absolutely the best choice for me. The very best to you.

[yoj1001]

you are not alone with your sentiments. that is what the real nursing world - going overtime and sometimes without decent breaks:crying2:, having excessively demanding clients and worst under staffing:down:. i guess, its really of part of our job and makes it more challenging.

[nygirl1986]

switch to night shift!! i used to work 7am-7pm for my training (i also work on a neuro floor) and there would be days i would go 12 hours without going to the bathroom, eating, or even thinking!! and i know exactly what you mean about the commode/bathroom. it sounds so silly but when that would happen...or pt's would be full of crap and i know i would have to help the aid with a total bed change, all i could think in my head was "uggghhhh honestly, this is just stuff i don't have time to do right now!!", may sound terrible but during the day especially, nurses have so much on their plate that we're expected to do, the commode does not seem like a priority between doctors, families, the million meds people take in the am, the charting, the orders, the blood sugars, etc etc etc and that's on a day when everything goes as planned!......about a month ago i got moved to 7pm-7am (which is the shift i was actually hired for) and let me tell ya, total change of pace, total change for the better. things still get kinda crazy in the beginning of the shift, but it's not a rat race and people are way more willing to help each other. i found that during the day, the other nurses would let you sink, not because they're mean or they wanted to, but they're just as backed up as you are! it's kinda every (wo)man for themself! at night, between about 1am and 5am, there (usually) isn't a whole hell of a lot happening, which is the perfect time to get caught up on charting, fill out report sheets for the next shift, trach care, cleaning up dirty pt's, etc. i know that not everyone can do nights but i would definitely say it's something to consider, i think you would be pleasantly surprised.

[oramar]

I think in light of all the good things you outline you should avoid throwing the baby out with the bath water. I think you need to tweak a few things, make a few changes here and there. Maybe cut back on hours or change shift or even try to do some relaxation techniques. Always make sure you take care of yourself.