Getting bored at my job..

Hello everyone. Psych is the first area I have worked in as a registered nurse. I started in Feb of 2011. I began as a PRN position at the psych hospital I am at, was floated often to the child/adolescent unit, was offered a full time position there (which was still a float, but I'd have a core unit, and would be the "second nurse" unless census was low), then was promoted to charge nurse of one of the adolecent units over the summer. I loved my job. I was very pleased, enjoyed the staff, everything was going great. But now I'm bored. I'm feeling like a babysitter, an overworked babysitter. I'm starting to count up more negatives than positives. I have reached every goal I have set for myself here. I have done all there is to do. I have charged all of the other units in that hospital (when other charge nurses at the entire facility are on vacation, they typically float the others if possible), and I'm just burned out!

The doctor I typically have to deal with (my shift is 2nd shift, and I only see one face to face, all the others come in the mornings for their rounds) hardly ever listens to the nurses and their opinions, and its getting aggravating. The other doctors (I deal with them when they are on call) are pretty amazing, and use the term "we" more than "I". The patients I get are mostly frequent fliers. I deal from 4 years old to 18 years old on my unit. And its just me as the nurse. I do it all. I take orders, do the admissions, do the discharges, do the visitations with families, do the medications, relieve for breaks for my techs (who are not in the nursing field). Today, I had 23. I've shared my exhaustion to the house supervisor and my director.. but it really gets me no where. I have two techs, one for the children, and one for the teenagers. The one who helps with the children is very mean spirited and causes the children to go into fits of rages at times, screaming, hollering, etc, which usually ends up in a physical hold.. I've complained about this, but sadly, this person has been working there for 30+ years and they just aren't going to get rid of him/her. My other tech, for the teenagers, was wonderful, FABULOUS, such a HUGE help, but had a really difficult time working with the child unit tech because he/she would always butt in or would call on my tech for help with getting a child under control. So, this week, my tech was transferred to another unit, and I was given a new tech which hasn't had proper training and is too easy on the teenage unit.

I get a lot of behavioral issues. And a HUGE return rate. I hardly ever feel that I have helped a child/teenager. They usually come back, still on drugs, or still being "defiant". Half of my unit is usually someone I've already dealt with before.

I'm just so exhausted and fed up. I'm tired of the same old routine, I'm tired of feeling like I'm babysitting a unit, and I'm tired of doing it all on my own. I feel used most of the time. Is this normal after just one year? Should I stick it out a little bit longer? Or update my resume and begin applying elsewhere? Hoping I'm not alone here. Thanks for letting me vent.