I have a negative attitude - I must leave

[Rapheal]

I have been in med-surg night shift for 7 months. When I started I knew that I would feel reality shock and this would improve as my skills grew. Well it has been 7 months and I hate my job. I have a sick stomach every day I work and many times the days I do not. I dread going in to work.

First they took the aides away. Next they took away the phlebotamists. Then pharmacy closed after 3 pm. We now have only 1 respiratory therapist for the whole hospital. I work mostly with agency nurses. 2 new RN orientees left before a week had passed. The telemetry techs frequently leave the monitors unmanned while they take frequent breaks. The new trend has also been to admit psych patients, alchoholic patients and IV drug users without any sitters even though they are going through withdrawl or are wandering into other patient rooms or hanging around the medication carts. Management has said that we need to do more with less.

Yesterday a DNR-CCA patient died at 7 am. The attitude of the day shift staff was - hurry up and give me report - I am getting a late start. I wanted to clean the patient up before his son got there because he was on the way. My friend on day shift told me hospital nursing is like this everywhere. I hope this is not true. I have been offered a job in LTC. The facility is nice, they are well staffed, the patients look clean. During my interview they showed me around and the residents kept telling me how nice the nurses were and how they were happy here.

I love the patients on med-surg and love learning involved in dealing with these patients. Is med-surg like this everywhere? Should I make the move to LTC? I fear that I may soon lose it and yell at the next tele-tech who leaves the desk when my patient is in SVT or tell the nursing supervisor " There are 2 new patients in rooms on my floor - I have not received, report, have not been told they were coming- you come here and take care of them because I do not have the time and will not do it". This will undoubtedly leave me unemployed.

I feel hateful. My attitude has hit rock bottom. Thanks for letting me vent and please tell me if I am just not cut out to be a nurse. The patients say nice things about me so I know I can not be a bad person. Maybe just not cut out for nursing.

[SmilingBluEyes]

Run Forrest Run!

Best of luck to you. That place sounds like a hellhole to me.

[Noney]

I agree you should move on. Keep us updated no matter what you decide.

[moonchild20002000]

Time for you to move on.

If your job is making you ill,time to go.

Management just dosen't care about you or the patients.

Keep us posted,good luck to you!

[sjoe]

"My friend on day shift told me hospital nursing is like this everywhere. "

Your friend is right more often than not. The turn over rate for RNs last year was 26% in the US.

[angelbear]

Just something to think about and explore. I worked for 2 yrs in a LTC NH and I loved it but the staffing was deplorable. Drop by a few times unexpectedly and check out how many nurses and how many aids are on, on the various shifts compared to how many residents there are. It will give you a good idea of what the environment is truely like. I would also agree that you should maybe stay on PRN at the hospital incase you dont like the NH or incase the hospital improves. JMHO

[CactusFlower]

I am saddened to hear of the conditions in which you are beginning your practice. There is alot of anguish in your words, but I hear loud and clear that you want to be a nurse and you want to do a good job. I think many of us in this profession are facing different circumstances but the same senario--the inability of practicing our profession to our satisfaction.

I do not, even for myself, have many answers. I feel that the hospitals have contracted with the community that they serve to provide safe and efficient health care. Nursing has been placed in the precarious position of making this commitment work.

I have been in nursing for some time now. I have recently resigned from a hospital that I have been a part of for over 18 years. I want for myself more control over how I practice my profession. I want to work for a facility that will do everything necessary to give me the tools to provide excellent nursing care. Over time I have found myself overwhelmed with paperwork and increasing patient care loads. I find that the hospital has more control over what I do than I. Well, I can't change the management (tried), but I can change myself.

Good luck in your quest--may we both find our niche.

[mattsmom81]

Originally posted by CactusFlower

I feel that the hospitals have contracted with the community that they serve to provide safe and efficient health care. Nursing has been placed in the precarious position of making this commitment work.

B]

Great point, CactusFlower, and bears repeating. And when we try to input regarding the responsibilities heaped on us, it is frequently not heeded. Management so often does not WANT to hear of our concerns.

Best wishes to all of us in finding our 'niche'. For me and so many of my nurse friends, it has become a question of which place we can tolerate with the least personal frustration, and the least legal liability.

[barb4575]

I personally believe that this is a nation-wide problem for Medical-Surgical nurses and the attitude is quite understandable with the workload. Many cannot handle the floor and most cannot handle the low job satisfaction that comes with the territory. I started in this area 21 years ago and keep going back to it because quite simply, no other nursing area challenges me like Med-Surg! However, I do understand the dilemma of being an agency nurse and the unwritten word that one does not complain while in that role. I have been working agency all summer in a small rural community hospital who is mostly staffed with agency nurses...and they wonder why?

Let me give you an example of what happened to me last night at work...I was caring for two patients on this Med-Surg unit who belonged in ICU. One was a new admit with a BP of 220/110 who came directly from the ER and the other was a patient having chest pain with two known blocked vessels waiting for transfer to an out-of-town medical center for CABG. I was lucky that I only had two other patients. My shift started at 7pm but I did not begin to receive report until 7:45 pm...then, I ran from 8:15 pm-11 pm when I transferred the patient with angina to the ICU. I was so upset with myself for not critically thinking during my runs between the two patients that I had forgotten to administer O2 to the patient with angina. When the overweight, lazy supervisor saw me running for hours, she did not assist but when I transferred the patient to ICU...she wanted to know where the O2 was...I felt horrible for my lack of automatic intervention, but I was so overwhelmed that I was not thinking clearly and I have no other rationale because I know better. I could think no further than (a) relieve the chest pain and (b) get the other patient's BP lowered before he stroked. Once I gave report to the ICU nurse and transferred that patient, I checked my other patient and his BP was WNL. I walked up to the desk where the supervisor and every staff nurse on the floor were sitting and I threw my clipboard down...and loudly stated that I was taking a break. I was so furious at myself and at them that I could have walked right out that door and never returned. I was ashamed of the care I had provided to the patient with angina, but I was mostly angry that I could not do it all and do it well. I decided that I am not returning to that hospital as an agency nurse and I don't care how short they are either. I also will think twice before I sign up for Medical-Surgical units because it is basically the same everywhere. The worst part of all of this is that I am a professor who is one who believes in keeping my critical thinking and technical skills up-to-date...what a warm reception I receive when the staff nurses realize that I am a Masters-prepared RN...NOT! So, this is how I see it from my perspective, I will consider joining the numerous other professors that don't choose to work actively as a staff nurse and the worst part of it all is that it is a shame for the patients. But, to keep my sanity, I will have to choose another practice setting. So, trust me, I do understand and to prevent myself from burning out or developing a bad attitude, I just move on...

[CseMgr1, ASN, RN]

Originally posted by SmilingBluEyes

Run Forrest Run!

:rotfl: I couldn't have said it any better!

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

Barb- don't be so hard on yourself! I think we've all been there at one time or another. It sounds like you did the best you could with what you had to work with. They should have been glad you were there to help them. What a bunch of jerks!

[barb4575]

Thank you both for your support...and yes, I am being hard on myself, but that is what motivates me to change as well. The ironic part of one of your replies is the patient with angina is waiting to go have his CABG in Louisville, KY...and should not be in this rural hospital at all. I asked the supervisor the rationale for the wait and she said, "they have no open beds". Hmmmm wonder if that is true?

[BBFRN, BSN, PhD]

Barb- I PM'd you.