Hate Hospital - Do I have to do this ??

blueiwahine · Jan 20, 2007

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.
OMG! your story sounds exactly like mine.... I also work on a Oncology/Med-Surg floor....I love dealing with the pts...just hate all the excess BS the hospital puts out. When I was in school...I said I would never work in the hospital...but gave in, because I thought I needed the experience....community clinicals - I loved doing....I've been working 8 months in the hospital and am ready to throw in the hat...I don't care that I may have to pay back the scholarship money I was given...my sanity, health and happiness is much more important...that was the reason I went into nursing because there was so many avenues you could go with it. I really look up to the nurses who have worked on the floor for many years...they are really awesome...to have put up with all the lifting, working short handed, etc.

gemini81sg · Feb 6, 2007

Girl...don't stay where you're not happy!! Nursing is too broad and there is so much opportunity out there. Keep your eyes open...talk to people, get to know the physicians. Find out if there is an oncology dept in your hospital. Pay attention to what is going on there, who works there, who the physicians are.....ask if you can shadow a position there. It would look better as far as your resume goes, if you at least stayed with the same company. You will find your niche and when you do, you'll know it....Don't stress too much, take one day at a time and keep your eyes peeled. Good luck!! :nurse:

blueiwahine · Feb 6, 2007

JoAnne I feel the same way you do. The hospital is definitely not for me...I start solo tomorrow and don't think I'm going to make it though...I'm on graveyards and they usually have 7 pts a piece, which is way too many on a Oncology floor...I don't see how I will ever become comfortable with that many pts...I've basically been on my on for a few weeks with the perceptor following me...and I just feel like I can never catch up...My hubby wants me to make the year, so it will look good on the resume...but all I can do is take it one day at a time...Every day I am scanning the job section of the paper or looking online. My dream job is working at the Oncology clinic...floor nursing is just too fast pace for me and no time to really get to know your patient. Some nights go by and I have not had the time to actually look at a pts chart to really understand what is going on with that pt...then I catch attitude in the morning for not being able to give a decent report on the pt. My mgr and most of the nurses on the floor have really been awesome...but the hospital is just not for me...In school I always said I never wanted to be a floor nurse...but got suckered in because I felt I needed the experience...so now beside all the other BS...I feel bad knowing that I will definitely be out of there after my 1st year is up...if not sooner. It is nice to hear this is a normal experience among most new nurses...but I'm 43 and just don't want to deal with this much stress day in and day out, if I don't have to.

Diva Nurse Dani · Feb 8, 2007

Wow!!!

I am on a Medical Oncology floor too!! And I have the same problems!! I too scan the papers and online for job openings!! I have come soooooo close to applying for other positions in my hospital, and I started in July 2006!!!!

How wonderful it is to know that I'm not alone!! I went back to school a month ago because I KNEW floor nursing would not be the final place for me!!!

THANKS!!!!! I needed to hear that I'm not alone!!

I am trying to get trhough my first year, but that is becoming mor and more difficult. I have had to call off so much due to family illnesses that required my attention, and I never call off!!! I mean, in the last 4 years at my last job, I didn't call off as much as I've called off the last 6 months! And sad to say, I look forward to not having to be at work. I relish the idea of being anywhere but there. Just too busy, too crazy, to many chances for mistakes...well, you know the rest!!

Well, I'm glad I lucked up on this site!!!

blueiwahine · Feb 8, 2007

Nextnursedani this site is great...I was thinking I was a neurotic, unorganized failure as a new nurse...until I started reading this site...Now I know I am normal and there are others that feel the way I do. My feelings are that most hospitals are just trying to get as much out of their nurses as possible. Our hospital is going to do cuts on all non nursing personnel...there goes more ward clerks and aides...that we are already shortchanged. I wanted to be a nurse, so I could get to know my pts and give them the best care possible...I'm learning real quick that the hospitals are making it impossible to give this kind of care. When I asked the night nurses how they handled 7 pts at night, especially when a few were receiving blood and pain meds consistently...they answered...that there was no time to spend talking with the pts, do what you had to do and get out...What??? that's not how I want to do nursing...that may be reality...but it's not how I want to do it.

Diva Nurse Dani · Feb 8, 2007

blueiwahine....man are we lucky to have others to cry with!!!

I guess we need to stick together to survive this!! How did nurses before us do it?? I mean when they didn't have as many choices as we do...what did they do??? :uhoh3:

akzbebe · Feb 8, 2007

I agree...it's assuring to know that I'm not the only one going through this anxiety over working in a hospital. I'm also quite new and was told that the best thing to do for my career is get at least a year in on an acute care floor. Ugh! Some days...it's ok; but other days can be a true disaster and I fall behind and get attitude from other nurses when I don't know everything going on with my patient (becuase I never got to the chart). I was told that I should be completely independent and working faster than I am...but it's been only 3 months since I started working as a nurse -patients are soo sick/complicated and families want to ask so many questions, it's really hard to keep it all together. I guess we need to take it one day at a time...that's the only way to do it.

Medic2RN, BSN, RN, EMT-P · Feb 10, 2007

HA! I'm taking it an hour at a time here; a day at a time is too long to deal with!

I'm in the same boat also. Forget talking to the patients, I'm trying to at least minimally get their medications to them in a reasonable amount of time! I'm wondering if this is what nursing is, running around the entire shift as though your hair is on fire trying to do 20 things at once and hoping that you've performed them at least halfway competently. I never had dreamy notions of the perfect nursing job, I just wanted to be able to do the job as best I could and be a good nurse.

Perhaps this isn't my 'niche'. I can't change to something else until I have a clue as to what exactly is my niche. I don't want to jump from the frying pan and into the fire, so to speak.

eyeball · Dec 28, 2010

Only the names change....God help all of us.

BettyBoop01 · Dec 28, 2010

OP I feel exactly the same. Everyone insists you need a year of med surg, but I HATE med surg. I hate the chaos and not ever having time to pee or take a lunch break. I dont get to spend the time I need taking care of my patients, I just run in and run out and feel so rushed all the time. There are too many patients and not enough staff. The cnas are spread to thin, so they are never there to help and the nurses are all running around trying to put out fires all night. This is not for me. I need to find something else. The market is so bad right now I am stuck where I am until I can find something else. But I am not going to stop looking I cant take much more of this. We routinely get 7-8 patients and can still get admits, and let me tell you, 9 is not safe!!!!!! I hate every minute I am there and I spend the rest of my time dreading going back.

CLC27 · Jan 5, 2011

Eyeball- your comment is too funny!!! haha!!!