i hate med-surg

[uscstu4lfe]

i've been in med-surg now for several months (started as a new grad). i liked it at first, and then started to dislike it, started to like it again, now i'm hating it. it's getting to the point where i dread having to go into work. the majority of work is just endless paperwork. at the end of the day i'm exhausted, my back hurts, and i really want to quit and just not come back again. having to remember everything for each of my 5 patients is tedious (who's going for what test, doctors assigned, new/changed orders, meds to be given, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc). I'm thinking of switching to ICU. Even though they're much sicker, at least you can only be maxed out at 2 patients and there's always a doctor within reach. Anyway, I just needed to vent!

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

I understand.

[jxRN]

The shift is relevant; more than six on days is ridiculous (and I know it happens); on nights six is a very good ratio. Why do we take on more than we'd like sometimes? Because there isn't anyone else there TO take them. When I think another nurse can be found, you can believe I'm gonna throw a fit until I get him or her. And get them I do. But sometimes, having a hissy fit leaves you with only the choice to quit that night (and you still have the patients to take care of unless you're planning to abandon them) or stay and live to fight another day.

I used to think as you do. And then there came a time when there was not another human with a license to pick up the patients I would be refusing. Or, it would leave the one or two remaining nurses with 20 patients or more apiece, hardly a reasonable option. And at that moment, I decided to stay. Maybe you'd have decided to walk out of the building. I don't know. But one thing I do know is that telling mgmt to "come up with more staff" is a constant theme song, and not one that they are likely to start singing themselves anytime soon. Probably the main reason nurses are leaving the bedside faster than they can be replaced! Telling other nurses they need to stand up and just refuse those extra patients isn't always a realistic thing to do.

i'm wondering... you think management leaves the unit short-staffed because theres honestly NO nurses they can hire out there... or you think they rather do the $$ game. Less staff= less money management spends.

That's the theme at my facility. I have 20 psych patients.. and its consistently a workload that cannot be finished in a 9 hour shift. So every nurse sacrifice their lunch, breaks, sanity, stay over 2 hours --clocked out to finish. (because if you have OT, they will call u in the office and write you up. but if u clock out to finish- they're saying you're a liability on their premise! what do you do?!) guess what, management doesnt care. they said... you need to work FASTER!