Earlier this year I started a career change by leaving my office job and starting work as a nursing assistant at a hospital part time while going back to school for nursing. Right now I'm doing pre-reqs for an Accelerated BSN program.
I've been working as an nursing assistant/aide for 4 months, and overall I like it and find it rewarding to help people, but I've been trying to put my finger on what makes it so frustrating to me... I think is is the feeling that I'm always behind schedule, and am not keeping up or doing everything I need to do.
Does that feeling ever go away? Do RNs experience the same feeling that I do as an aide? Would better time management techniques help this? Does anyone else deal with this same type of thing?
I do usually get my work and charting done on time and have not received any negative comments on my work from my manager - I think it's more of the feeling of always being behind that gets to me.
I am a "Type A," firstborn, perfectionist type of personality (ISTJ for anyone who is familiar with Myers Briggs) so I know that's part of it for sure. I'm just not sure if it gets better (or worse!) as an RN or if it's something I'd have to live with in nursing.
All of this is making me consider a different kind of health career that might be better suited to my personality - perhaps clinical lab technician.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts! I appreciate it!
Specializes in Critical Care;Adaptable Acuity/Telemetry.
I have felt that way since I began working in the hospital as a PCA/Nurse Extern and then that feeling increased even more so when I became an RN. I still feel that way but it has gotten better as I developed my own system of how start my shift, prioritize my patients and what I need to do for them, and even ways I can conserve my steps (for example, after report I quickly go in to meet my patients and in that time I ask them for their name and their date of birth, do they know the date, where they are and what are they in the hospital for (even though I already know)...this helps me determine if they are A+Ox4, check their IVs, ask them if they are in pain/what their pain score). I also do a quick listen to their lungs and heart. All this is part of my assessment which I will come back in a little later and finish, usually when I am passing my meds which I start an hour and 15 minutes before they are due. However, as anyone will tell you, there will be times you will have to forgo your routine because you walk into a mess or some kind of crisis shortly after your shift starts. Sometimes you stay behind the 8 ball.
Unfortunately, only the Tincture of Time and experience will help abate this feeling. You and I are very similar in that we want to get everything done. But IMHO I think the best thing to do to help with time management is to make a list of things that are ABSOLUTELY must do and knock those things out first and then move down the line of less important things. The hospital is a 24 hour a day business that never closes, so if something needs to get done that is not so important, the next shift can do it. ...
Sometimes you just have to prioritize and figure out what is truly important and make sure that you accomplish that, and then the rest can fall into place. It will get better with time, but just realize that there are times that you are unable to do EVERYTHING and that is okay. It really is up to you whether you want to continue and proceed, but know that this job can be extremely stressful but infinitely rewarding
Thanks for sharing your thoughts and experience. What you mentioned about co-workers is something I need to remember to - I work with a great team who are able to pitch in when I need help. It's just my personality bent to want to do it all myself, but I'm learning to delegate and ask for help.
I have felt that way since I began working in the hospital as a PCA/Nurse Extern and then that feeling increased even more so when I became an RN. I still feel that way but it has gotten better as I developed my own system of how start my shift, prioritize my patients and what I need to do for them, and even ways I can conserve my steps (for example, after report I quickly go in to meet my patients and in that time I ask them for their name and their date of birth, do they know the date, where they are and what are they in the hospital for (even though I already know)...this helps me determine if they are A+Ox4, check their IVs, ask them if they are in pain/what their pain score). I also do a quick listen to their lungs and heart. All this is part of my assessment which I will come back in a little later and finish, usually when I am passing my meds which I start an hour and 15 minutes before they are due. However, as anyone will tell you, there will be times you will have to forgo your routine because you walk into a mess or some kind of crisis shortly after your shift starts. Sometimes you stay behind the 8 ball.
Thanks for sharing! It sounds like you've got a good system set up and that seems to be key. I'm trying to learn how to do things not only faster, but also smarter like someone else mentioned. Thanks for sharing from your experience! Time for me to go get ready for work :-)
It gets better if for no other reason than you will begin to notice that everyone working around you feels that they're behind and frustrated or trying to cope. It's hard work, give yourself time and you'll get in the groove.
Reading these comments, that things will get better, I agree and yet I disagree. No amount of planning or working hard will help you stay on top of things in critical care and floor nursing, all the time. Some positions require you to be extremely flexible in your work but also your personality. The key to ICU where I work, team work is key!! Here is why: we usually have 2 patients but sometimes 3. If you have a new admit that is coding and you have 1 other patient already that is really sick, that code will put you behind. You job is to hang drips, get blood, get a constant barrage of orders from physicians. In our case, we also have 1st and 2nd year residents and med students. Which means lots of questions and input. But what if your other patient needs medications or toileting? If the coded patient is intubated, hopefully there are family members that can answer questions regarding the patients health history. You have an extensive admission to complete and life saving care to provide. What are you going to do? Chart to stay on task? No. That has to wait.
Here is the deal though: nursings primary concern is taking care of the patient. There are going to be days when you feel like you are running in peanut butter. You are going to feel overwhelmed. You are going to second guess yourself. You will go home and replay the events of the day in your head. You are going to end up staying over your shift an hour or two hours tying up loose ends...most likely charting. You are going to have days where you will ask yourself why in the world you ever became a nurse?!!
But...the thing about being a nurse is that it is one of the greatest professions of all time. Nursing gets in your blood. It is a hard job. Some days are going to suck. However, some days will be hard but will gratify your soul.
Since you are a self admitted type A personaility, you are going to beat yourself up a lot. My advice to you: cut yourself some slack. No human is perfect. Go ahead and learn that we do not have control over everything in life. And be a team player.
I was feeling momentarily anxious and/or worried about my new RN job offer (for this very same reason) but reading through this thread helped me realize that I HAVE to stop beating myself up after a difficult shift. So thank you to those of you that took the time to write about your experiences and post words of encouragement.
It is normal and common with all that is expected/demanded by hospital work. It got a lot better for me after some time and experience, but then worse depending on where I worked. Some places and situations make it impossible to feel secure and caught up...as others have said, it really depends on where you work and the support you have (or don't have)
It's been about 5 months since my original post, so I wanted to post an update. At that point, I'd been working as a nursing assistant for about 4 months and feeling overwhelmed most of the time.
Now, I don't know if I'd say for sure that that 'overwhelmed' feeling has gone away completely, but it's definitely less of an issue for me now. I still have the same number of tasks to perform and often more patients than I did before since we are more short-staffed now, but I feel like I'm able to handle it all better without feeling overwhelmed.
I think part of this is that I feel less pressure to get things done by an exact time, rather than just getting them done correctly and as soon as I can. The RNs I work with are understanding of this and realize I am working as quickly as possible. I think another part of this is that even though I still get behind sometimes, I have enough experience to know it will be ok - that if I just keep going, I will get everything done. I've also come up with some ways to keep myself more organized and work quicker, as well as just having more experience which many people assured me would help.
Thanks again to all who replied with encouragement to my original post!
Thank you for the update! I like to know how things work out after someone posts with a problem.
Most of the time, experience and time to work out a system for yourself helps a lot. Often nurses will say that since it is a 24 hr a day business, the things that are not urgent can wait for the next shift...the problem with that is that the next shift if usually just as busy and a lot of things never get done. When multiple nurses of all sorts of background, knowledge and experience have the same issue shift after shift, then I think it is clear that hospitals do not have enough staff. We are cut short in all types of institutions and units within them. It always comes down to the bottom line. There is no winning in this climate of getting by with the least amount of people possible. It never ends.
Brie Francois
5 Posts
I have felt that way since I began working in the hospital as a PCA/Nurse Extern and then that feeling increased even more so when I became an RN. I still feel that way but it has gotten better as I developed my own system of how start my shift, prioritize my patients and what I need to do for them, and even ways I can conserve my steps (for example, after report I quickly go in to meet my patients and in that time I ask them for their name and their date of birth, do they know the date, where they are and what are they in the hospital for (even though I already know)...this helps me determine if they are A+Ox4, check their IVs, ask them if they are in pain/what their pain score). I also do a quick listen to their lungs and heart. All this is part of my assessment which I will come back in a little later and finish, usually when I am passing my meds which I start an hour and 15 minutes before they are due. However, as anyone will tell you, there will be times you will have to forgo your routine because you walk into a mess or some kind of crisis shortly after your shift starts. Sometimes you stay behind the 8 ball.