I hate my job and I can't get out.

Nurses General Nursing

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So I have been an RN since March 2011. In Sept. 2011, I moved 1,600 miles to get a new grad job in a clinic ( that is all they would offer) . I got a sign on bonus and had to sign a one year contract. After about 7 months I asked if I could transfer to the hospital and my manager agreed. I interviewed for a rotating position on the surgical floor. I was excited to get the experience and finally feel like a real nurse. Well, now I'm in a nightmare. When I first started the ratios were 1:4 on days and 1:7 on nights. This hospital has problems keeping staff but I figured the ratios were not too bad and I could get some overtime. Well now 5 weeks in they changed everything. No more over time pay at all. The ratios are now 1:6 on days and 1:8 on nights. They even cut back on what we chart IV's and PCA's once a shift now instead of Q4. They didn't want nurses staying past their shift to chart. They are tightening up and now saying they are fully staffed which is a lie. They employ over 30 travel nurses right now. My orientation is up soon and I'm really worried. I don't see how I can safely take care of that many patients. The last day I worked I had 5 patients : #1 MVA with chest tube and spinal fractures, #2 fresh post op appy, # 3 was a patient with a trach , spinal fractures, and feeding tube ,# 4 and# 5 were patients detoxing off alcohol after MVA's . This week I'm supposed to take 6 patients and I feel overwhelmed.

jjones435

7 Posts

I totally know where you're coming from. I work on a stroke/med/surg unit and our ratio is usually 1:6 as well on days, 1:7-8 on nights. I work days, and yes the pt load is very heavy. You're right, you can't give the best care when you're taking care of that many pts at once. Managers and administration will NEVER understand this because they stay behind a desk and only look at numbers/budget. More hospitals need to figure out how to better staff, the are tons of nursing students all over and they can use them, but won't because it's not within budget so they say. My facility is actually implementing us more to document on the computer now. I never get to leave my shift on time because of all the documentation. My boss just has to pay me overtime. Contrary to what she believes, I don't stay late to chart just for the money, I have a life. Yet, I don't want to miss anything and of course, patient care must ALWAYS come first. I will always make sure my pts are clean and dry and medicated before I ever care about documentation. That's just how I feel. Stay positive, somehow, someday you might feel as if you've helped someone.

DSkelton711

312 Posts

Specializes in OB/GYN/Neonatal/Office/Geriatric.

Be careful what you wish for. Too bad this hospital seems intent on burning nurses out even before you get started. Any chance to go back to the clinic? Clinic nursing is real nursing as well. Just different. You might have to try to tough it out for awhile and then start looking again. If you stay for awhile you will get some great experience in dealing with stress and prioritizing--not being funny. Every job is a learniing experience for you, leading to a well-rounded nurse who can handle almost anything. Good Luck.

Your situation is the norm in nursing now. Nursing has always been a a brutal job.

It grows more difficult by the day.

Look at the posts here.. many nurses are verbalizing your perception of the field.

The bottom line is... we are forced to work harder, have more responsibility, do more with less.. all for the bottom line of corporate profits.

It will only get worse... until we unite in protest.

ewrn

26 Posts

All the nurses on my unit are fairly new. No one has more than 2 yrs. experience except for the nurse managers. I left the clinic because I wanted to get acute care experience and I was afraid of getting stuck in one area early in my career. The clinic was nice but the pay is fairly low. The people I work with don't like the conditions but no one says anything they just slowly leave. I'm going to try to tough it out at least a year and then move on. The closest hospital from me is 100 miles.

luvthegsp

95 Posts

Specializes in Cardiac.

no more over time pay at all

i hope that you mean that your facility is discouraging overtime. it would be against the law for the facility to not pay overtime to an hourly employee..

sauconyrunner

553 Posts

Specializes in Emergency.

Well, you are still on orientation. There is a lot to be overwhelemed about. Talk to your preceptor....perhaps you can get more orientation time...if you think that would help. Talk to others on the floor about how they are handling things, so that you get as many tips and tricks to get things done well. 1:4 is a very doable ratio, but 1:6 can be kind of hectic....I would think. Ask the travelers for tips and tricks...they have likely worked in some unusual situations.

Good Luck, and I would agree with you though, if you do go back to the clinic...you will kind of pigeon hole yourself. I actually found after working a long time in an ED that even if I passed my resume on for something different, the ED always called instead...

RN In FL

215 Posts

Specializes in Managed Care, Onc/Neph, Home Health.

yanno i always read about situations like this. Do nurses ever "buddy up" anymore? I know I haven't worked in the clinical setting in a hot minute, but thats how we did it to stay sane. I worked days, and we didn't have tech's for baths. We had it all. Oncology/Nephrology Unit. Baths, linen changes, 2 meals, hanging chemo/blood/, charting.....and all the other stuff. It worked out, and we were outta there. Just a thought :nurse:

veggie530

249 Posts

Specializes in CCRN, ED, Unit Manager.

1:8? Holy crap.

Specializes in Pediatrics.
So I have been an RN since March 2011. In Sept. 2011, I moved 1,600 miles to get a new grad job in a clinic ( that is all they would offer) . I got a sign on bonus and had to sign a one year contract. After about 7 months I asked if I could transfer to the hospital and my manager agreed. I interviewed for a rotating position on the surgical floor. I was excited to get the experience and finally feel like a real nurse. Well, now I'm in a nightmare. When I first started the ratios were 1:4 on days and 1:7 on nights. This hospital has problems keeping staff but I figured the ratios were not too bad and I could get some overtime. Well now 5 weeks in they changed everything. No more over time pay at all. The ratios are now 1:6 on days and 1:8 on nights. They even cut back on what we chart IV's and PCA's once a shift now instead of Q4. They didn't want nurses staying past their shift to chart. They are tightening up and now saying they are fully staffed which is a lie. They employ over 30 travel nurses right now. My orientation is up soon and I'm really worried. I don't see how I can safely take care of that many patients. The last day I worked I had 5 patients : #1 MVA with chest tube and spinal fractures, #2 fresh post op appy, # 3 was a patient with a trach , spinal fractures, and feeding tube ,# 4 and# 5 were patients detoxing off alcohol after MVA's . This week I'm supposed to take 6 patients and I feel overwhelmed.

I believe a great deal of this has to with the changing trends in insurance payouts, hospital costs, and the way we as nurses expect to be paid. I say that because in home health at several points, I saw my salary cut due to Medicare and Medicaid payouts and what they deemed fair in terms of how much a nurse should be paid. I grant you that the agency was probably taking a lot of my pay but that is the only thing they were willing to pay out and I had zero leverage to say, "Forget it." They had me over a barrel. IOW, the agency itself was not going to take the fall in terms of what they wanted to get paid. I had to take it because I had no other choice.

I finally got a hospital job and I found that at times the patient load is staggering. OTOH, my hospital has tried to make it so that their nurses work as a team so that if I have some downtime, I can help someone else and vice versa. They further employ care assistants that help pick up the slack. That is yet another way to keep the nurse's pay up. That way a nurse can take on more patients and retain that same pay they expect.

I also see a changing trend in who gets hired. In this particular hospital, many of the meaner sort of folk that used to be so desirable are fired. The new grads are nice girls that work in a team spirit.

I fear in the future as social medicine comes more and more into play that we as nurses will see our salaries cut drastically. The place they will want to cut is our pay, which is a real shame because nurses do a great service to save lives at the expense of their own personal lives. There are just so many people we can physically take care of in one 12 hour shift without making mistakes. I hear from consumers too that they are typically unhappy with the care they receive. Oh well.....

Fiona59

8,343 Posts

What do you mean by "social medicine"? If you are tying to say "Universal Healthcare" check out the waes of Canadian nurses. |We don't work for chump change and the vast majority in my province are unionized. It's only those working in doctors offices and a few clinics that are non-union and their employers pretty much match the union rate to keep staff.

Specializes in Pediatrics.
What do you mean by "social medicine"? If you are tying to say "Universal Healthcare" check out the waes of Canadian nurses. |We don't work for chump change and the vast majority in my province are unionized. It's only those working in doctors offices and a few clinics that are non-union and their employers pretty much match the union rate to keep staff.

I only know that Medicaid and Medicare will only pay a certain dollar amount for a nurse per patient in home health. Unionizing nursing will only ruin what we have here. It gives certain people power over others and forces everyone to comply. Our country is about freedom for individuals not tyranny; and unions create tyranny where politicians and union leaders have absolute power over what is going on in terms of our most precious needs. Since a job is something that every person needs to live, those under the union have to bow to the union . I don't think you should compare medical care in Canada to what's here. I have friends in Canada that come to the USA for medical care. Socialized medicine also forces the individual to comply to medical treatments demeaned necessary or face the consequences much like if you don't have documentation of car upkeep, the warranty is moot. It also regulates who gets medical care, how much medical care and when to stop medical care....of course, unless you have more than enough money to cover the cost of what's necessary. This means that the rich get the necessary treatment and the poor and needy die. Not to worry, everyone dies, right? During my parent's era, people had excellent health care. Even now with Medicare and most elderly under Medicare, you can see that those who do not have money are denied treatment. I predict that as more and more of medicine becomes socialized, the salaries will stagnate and the care will be mega-regulated. And if what you say is true, our individual rights will be demoralized and washed away.

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