Hate Hospital - Do I have to do this ??

[JoAnna McNurse]

Graduated in August, passed NCLEX and have been working on a Onc Med/Surg Unit since. I HATE IT. I love the patients and nursing skills but I hate the high patient loads and other craziness. Also, my hospital is in the "dark ages" with regards to computer systems for charting, MAR's and anything else which makes the record keeping/admin part of the job 10 times harder and more inefficient than it should be. I am always 1-2 hours getting out of there at the end of shift.

Question: I went back to nursing school because I wanted to be an Onc nurse and give chemo. I really want to work in an infusion center.

Do you all think there is any reason I need to stay in this darn hospital .. or.. can I just start looking for a job in an infusion center ?

Opinions and experiences welcome. Thanks

[amy0123, BSN, RN]

Do what you love! Get yourself out of what you hate!! Why put yourself through that mess?? Plus make sure the unit has the nurse to patient ratio the way you would like it. Do some homework before you make a big change!!!!!!

[PralineLPN]

If you don't have an agreement, go look for a new job. Just know that it will look odd on your resmue and you'll have to explain. Hopefully, you have some letters of recommendation or something that will help. Personaly, I would x-fer to another unit or shift at the hospital, do at least a year, and keep onco in the back of my mind. This way you eliminate any difficulties with the current employer, and strengthen your resume. Onco will be easier to get into with exp.

[tencat]

Hmmm.....I think if you decide to stay it should be because you want the experience, not because you feel you 'owe' it to the hospital. Like one poster said, most of the powers that be really don't care about individuals, they just care about staffing. If you are doing something you hate, it will take a toll on your health and well-being. I may have to follow my own advice as I have just been switched to nights and HATE it passionately already. I am willing to give it some time, but if I start feeling like hammered sh$$ on a daily basis, I'll need to reevaluate.

[GILady]

You sound just like me six months ago. Newly graduated RN, I accepted an offer an a surgical floor because I thought I should get some basic nursing experience. After two months of being tossed around, ignored, moved from preceptor to preceptor, yelled at by docs, etc. I was also shoved out by myslef after only four weeks of orientation when I was promised eight. I went to my mentor and told her I hated it and couldn't bring myself to believe my patients pain levels because of how the other nurses acted she treated me like I had the plague and was so condescending I left in tears when I went to her for help.

I finally went to my nurse practitioner for Xanax, or SOMETHING, anything to help with my anxiety, constant crying, etc. She looked at me, after I told her everything and said, "You know, you have to LIKE your job, or you have no reason to get up in the morning." Really stupid and simple advice and it was like someone turned a light on. Oh. I really didn't HAVE to work med-surg for a year or put up with all of that.

So I quit, found a job in GI where I push Versed and Fentnyl all day, have a great relationship with all the doctors, respect and like my coworkers and have their respect as well.

Also, I truly LIKE my job. And I didn't need Xanax after all.

[jjjoy, LPN]

GILady, may I ask you how you got the job in the GI lab? Most such positions list the "at least one year recent acute care nursing experience" requirement.

Do you have to be prepared for emergencies, such as a patient crashing? Have you had to deal with such a situation? Without much bedside experience, I'm wary of applying for non-bedside clinical Nursing Jobs because they often seem to be wanting the experience of quickly assessing a patient going bad and being experienced with dealing with that. Even if that's only 5% of the job, I don't take such a big responsibility lightly.

[GILady]

When I applied for my job they made it clear that while they would like me to have more experience in acute care, they liked me and thought I was a 'good fit'. They trained me on the job for the things I need to watch for, the obvious stuff I already knew, such as BP dropping, etc. While it is a huge responsibilty, I am comfortable in my position because I know that if something does go wrong there is someone right outside the door if I need help. Also, the doctors at our clinic are VERY good about helping and providing the necessary cues if I forget things.

We are an outpatient facility, so our patients walk in and walk out. They are basically healthy ASA 1&2. I have never had a patient crash , however, I have had to reverse patients when their BP became too low and heart rate dropped, etc. The reversal agents work very quickly and it's never been a problem.

Assessment skills are picked up on the job, whether its in med-surg or a GI clinic. I was very happy when I had my three month review and one of the things I was rated the highest on was patient assessment. And one of the doctors had even commented on it! Talk about an ego boost.

[youngatheart]

Joanne2005, I know exactly how you feel. I graduated in May, took nclex in june and started working Full time in July. I was given about 8 weeks orientation but it was not very good as most times I worked with a charge nurse who was busy with other duties. I then had to go to night shift 7p-7a I am a day person and nights is killing me. While working I really have no good support/mentor system. But I have enough sense to ask when needed. This is a med-surg tele floor, I intend to stay on this floor for at least one whole year even though I hate it, but am willing to stick it out for the experience and I do believe that moving from job to job does effect one's chance at another key position, (even though there is a nursing shortage) it just looks bad on a resume. I wish I had words of comfort for you but if it really sucks move on, some things are not worth it. I will be going to days soon and am very nervous as days are really hectic around here, it will be sink or swim for me. In retrospect i am glad I started working nights just to get my organization skills down. Wish me luck I hope I can tread the water's around here to survive!

[jjjoy, LPN]

Thanks for the reply GILady!

OP, are you still there? Any updates? How are you doing?

[MomNRN, BSN, RN]

I say QUIT!

I quit my first nursing job after only 6 months. I hated every single minute of it. The experience I would have gained was not worth the pain involved. That was over 6 years ago. It didn't make a difference in my career path.

Life is too short to be unhappy!

[spunky1]

I too am a new nurse, I have 6 months on a crazy med/surg floor. I too hate it, and I feel like my license is on the line each night, let alone the compromised patient care. I am trying to get 1 year in but totally get the need xanax etc. I have never been a cryer till now. Dr's yelling, giving report to mean nurses it goes on and on. I do have a question and excuse my ignorance, but what is GI???? Thanks

[nurse4theplanet, RN]

If you are absolutely miserable and you feel that conditions are unsafe and your license is being put at risk...by all means, search for another position. Give each 'potential' new position a very good luck before you make any comittments. Don't make the same mistake twice.

You do not have to tell your current employer that you are looking for another job. Keep it to yourself. But you may have to disclose you current employer to a new employer. On applications, you usually sign a legal disclosure that all information is true and nothing has been omitted.

Whatever you do, do NOT quit your current position before you secure a new position. You are going into a new position with a disadvantage (not having alot of experience and being dissatisfied with your current position after a short time) so you want to at least show them that you have the determination to stick it out there until you find something new. You don't want a large gap between employment.

Prepare yourself for questions that they may ask about your reasons for leaving. You may want to emphasize facts like protecting your nursing license. Don't bash your current facility, co-workers or conditions, but present them in a professional manner as it pertains to your decision. Research the new facility thoroughly and use that to your advantage. Find away to turn anything negative that could be presented to you into a positive.

Good Luck to you! I hope you find happiness in nursing.

[MALE*RN*777]

I worked for only 8 months on an Extended Care Unit which was a dumping ground for the hospital pertaining to insurance issues so it was like a Med/Surg with less help. Lucky for me I had a friend that I went to school with that worked at a psych hospital and told me of job openings. I've now been at the same hospital for 6 years and may think it is time to move on unless things have a better outlook with new management. We are so in demand that you can get a job without any experience. You have the fundamentals to work any job. You learn to improve the fundamentals of nursing to perform you job whatever it may be. When working in Med/Surg I knew alot about cardiac/resp medication but knew that if I had someone with psych issues I could look up the medications. When I became a psych nurse I had to do some reading. Now if I want to go to another type of nursing I will need to read and learn the skills for that job but still maintain the fundamentals of what I have learned in the past. If your not happy with your job you will make more mistakes and resent what you are doing all together.