Dissatisfied with Job Role

Published Sep 11

13 Posts

About a year ago, I was hired as a staff nurse in a locked in-patient psych unit. Typically on any given day, we have one charge nurse, three staff nurses, one MHW and one break relief nurse. The nurse's role depends on seniority; those who have been there longer get patient assignments and the one with the least seniority either becomes break relief or gets floated. When I first started, I usually was an assigned nurse as one of the seasoned nurses was on medical leave. When they came back, I gradually became more frequently assigned as break relief/float nurse to the point where about half my shifts were break relief. Most nurses I work with despise being break relief because part of that duty is being assigned to do Q15 min rounds all shift, which can be exhausting. I shared that same sentiment but accepted it and never said anything as I am the type who usually does not speak up and hates conflict. In the past, there have been disagreements on who would be break relief and many times I would take meal relief to keep the peace. To make matters worse, as of last week, a nurse from a different unit who has been in the hospital longer transferred to our unit and now my seniority is even lower. If half of my shifts before were meal relief/float now with the new staff nearly all of my shifts will be break relief/float. It's like in basketball when a player was once a rotation player but then the team signs a better/more experienced player and now that nurse has been knocked out of the rotation. When I was first hired, I was hired to be staff nurse, not break relief/float. I am considering bringing this up with my manager. If anyone has been in a similar situation, I would be happy to hear some of your input.