Am I safe, or do I need to quit?

Nurses General Nursing

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I have been a day-shift RN on a surgery-trauma floor for 6 months. This is my first job out of nursing school. I love my patient population ( mostly younger people who have been shot, stabbed, or in an MVA along with general med-surg patients who tend to be older) but I am having a really tough time. All of my coworkers say I'm doing great but I really dont't think so.

We are so busy that no one gets a lunch break. Shifts end up being 14 hours long, and somewhere around 3pm, while I chart, I scarf down a sandwich I packed and half a bottle of water. On days off I have no motivation to do anything, I just want to lie down. I find myself making excuses to not spend time with friends and family, because I'm so exausted and listless.

I know the above will supposedly get better with time as I grow as a nurse, but I am worried my patients will suffer until that point. Sometimes at the end of my shift I realize that I was so busy bringing pain medicine or performing tasks that I have only assessed fresh surgical inscisions once, blew off a patients increased pain without digging into reasons, or forgot to turn my turn Q2 patients. I find myself wondering how much I can leave for night shift to do without them becoming angry.

Today I found out a patient I took care of all yesterday during day shift coded and died soon after I gave report and left. Even though this was the patient I spend most of my day with I'm terrified that maybe if I had called the doctor more about her condition she might have been taken to surgery and would still be alive now.

I'm afraid of myself. How do I change? How on earth is there enough time in my day to take care of myself and my patients? Do I need to quit before I cause injury to someone more than perhaps I already have?

I need help.

how many Pts do you have at a time? how big is your unit? does no one help you? do you have care partners/CNAs?

you sound totally overwhelmed which tell me either A. you have too much on your plate and no help or B. you need to work on your time managment and priortization skills.

If you need help ask for it.

If you are severly understaffed i can't help ya

if you need help with time managment ask! to many good people hear with years and years of experience with all the trials and tribulations of Nursing and Leadership

i'm betting you had nothing to do with that pt coding...it happens all the time...some pts make it and some don't, dont let it get to you.

Keep your chin up!

You are in a no win situation. The corporate masters are flogging you to provide care... that is impossible to provide with the manpower provided.

Educate yourself on "collateral damage". The powers that be are using you.

Specializes in ICU.

Since you are in the gauntlet just skip the nicey nice customer service bs. Families are a huge time suck-have the surgeons contact info at the ready.

Get a routine down.

Assess, turn, medicate q 2.

Keeping on top of pain meds

makes for a smoother shift.

Document in between on the

billing platform, also known as

an EMR. Find a quiet corner where you wont be interrupted.

The sec answers the phone..

The cna answers call bells and is responsible for meals and toileting and the weird trivial requests.

Focus on your workload and nothing else besides an unstable pt - or one who looks off as in a subtle change in mentation-in which case do not hesitate to call a rapid response.

Thank you for the encouragment guys- you have mafe me feel a lot better, coldsvt.

It's a 35 bed unit, with 5-6 patients to each nurse and 2-3 CNAs, if we're lucky. I think the biggest problem is that we have an astonishing turnover rate - nearly everyone leaves after 1 year, it seems. People that graduated 3 months before me are charging, and sometimes I, with my 6 months of experience, am the one on the floor with the most experience.

I plan to go back to work Friday with a whole new outlook and plan to take much better care of my patients - I just hope that I can work in care for myself somewhere as well.

Thank you for the encouragment guys- you have mafe me feel a lot better, coldsvt.

It's a 35 bed unit, with 5-6 patients to each nurse and 2-3 CNAs, if we're lucky. I think the biggest problem is that we have an astonishing turnover rate - nearly everyone leaves after 1 year, it seems. People that graduated 3 months before me are charging, and sometimes I, with my 6 months of experience, am the one on the floor with the most experience.

I plan to go back to work Friday with a whole new outlook and plan to take much better care of my patients - I just hope that I can work in care for myself somewhere as well.

I see...and i bet they wonder why the turnover is so high

Don't underestimate the power of taking a day or two of PTO on a regular basis just to recharge your batteries. Not only will you have a time to get much needed physical and mental rest, but you will have a built-in pleasant event to look forward to. I started taking three day weekends on a regular basis at an impossible job, and managed to survive until it was time to transfer. Best thing I could have done for myself.

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