HATING MED/SURG

OhioCCRN, MSN, NP · Aug 21, 2011

yep- this person would probably berate you with "oh you need to practice better time management"
Although back when I worked at Mickey D's as a 16 y/o i do remember a saying " If there's time to lean , there's time to clean" hahaha

^^

I worked as a barista to get through NS. and my boss ALWAYS said that... drove me CRAZY!!!!

tokmom, BSN, RN · Aug 21, 2011

Totally understand. My days are more like this than not. And then you get told that your time management skills suck. And throw in the customer service " Do you have to go potty?"No wonder we dont get anything done. I am so sorry others have to deal with this crap too. You know, some of you guys say " oh back in the day we had 20 patients etc and managed. I bet back in the day there were quiet zones, that only one or 2 patient family members were allowed in a room- no kids under 18, mmmm, how bout VISITING HOURS??? nooooooo, none of this anymore.Since now families can do whatever the hell they want, we are at their beck and call. Patient care????? We arent takingg care of "8" patients , we are taking care of throwing cheese and crackers and sodas at their 5 or 6 family member each. No wonder we have no time.
So I sympathize with OP. I am trying to figure out a way to return to school and find something NOT nursing related. My odds are bad due to age, but if I stay doing this crap , I will have to go jump off a bridge.

Nope, twenty years ago, visiting hours were still liberal and I had to kick family members, boy/girl friends off the bed because they wanted to snuggle with the sick person.

tokmom, BSN, RN · Aug 21, 2011

Wow. Thanks for all the wonderful comments. At least were not the only ones in similar situation. I just hope that all of us will get thru this crap and find something that we really enjoy. If its still bedside nursing, then maybe transfer to a different unit where it's less chaotic and more manageable (something like maternity, o.r., or being a dialysis nurse). If its non-nursing related, maybe something like in a management position (they always look clean and fresh in my opinion).
Yeah, people always tell me at work that i have to prioritize my time. Ok here is the deal, even though i prioritize my time, im always behind with my workload & charting. And even though you prioritize, you still have to do all that crap thats been thrown at you because if you forget or dont do it, the next shift will get really ****** and write you up because they will say "what have you been doing all day?" "did you look at the new orders?" "how come this one is not done?" its crap! They dont give a crap! This is a common response from the night nurse because they dont have a damn clue what is goind on in days (or maybe they do, they just dont want to do anything at night so they pass most of the work on days!).
I still dont believe prioritizing your time will make you successful in med/surg. It just simply means you do the most critical assign task first before doing anything else. And then, later, you still have to do the rest of that crap that was assigned to you. Its just up to you how you want to do it as long as it gets done. Do they give a crap if you eat or take a break. Hell no! Some would even make you sign a paper that you took your break just to save their a** so later if you sue them, theyll be like "here is the paper that you sign". Its that simple.
Time management or not, it still su*** because of the workload! Its not because of my time management, its the workload! Management easily point fingers and blame bedside nurses for any problems without recognizing that the workload itself is the main issue. They simply want you to think that "oh, i have to work on my prioritization skills" so that they can give you more work in the end, while they chit chat in their office and talk about how their weekend was like. And the rest of us holding our bladders, running around like a headless chicken, making sure patients and their family are being treated like a hotel guest so patient's satisfaction survey would go up. Otherwise, if the surveys are down, the state will find out about it and hospital reimbursement will go down and less bonuses for the upper management. All for the sake of bedside nurses who sacrifice so much and easily pointed fingers at when something bad happens. Love you all.

I think you need to change facilities. They can't make you sign a paper stating you took your breaks. That is illegal.

ETA: You must not be union

nightengalegoddess · Aug 21, 2011

I just wrote a thread similar to yours. I do agree, med surg can be insane. But it is NOT true that ANYONE can do it! You are still tracking responses, and watching for the going down the tubes in time to do something about it. You are still making sure the docs orders are appropriate. You are USING A LOT OF CRITICAL THINKING SKILLS. Again, why is med surg demeaned even by RNs so much! Med surg is the HEART of the hospital!!! Yes, it is high risk for the license. A possible ommission or error at every turn. But that is the challenge! And yes, if you are looking at the clock for anything else but meds and prioritization and planning....you are not working hard enough. Of course, some days we just want to get through it...."just 6 more hours, just 3 more hours...oh )(&^....just two more hours!!! Now I've got to put on my cape and be SUPER NURSE!".........but I've got to say, out of all my time in med-surg....no matter how crazy.....somehow I have found a way to finish and get out no later than 0800 or 2000. Some things just have to be passed on to next shift SOMETIMES. Obviously not lots of stuff, but some not so important stuff....again..only OCCASSIONALLY. I dunno....I think med surg sets you up to handle flippin' ANYTHING! The RNs who go straight into specialty I find often to be pretty snooty....just had to add that. Keep on truckin! Blessings to all us tired RNs.

martymoose, BSN, RN · Aug 21, 2011

Not true- in essesence, without too much detail, very similar req. where I am too. Can not claim no breaks - a precedent had been set. You will berated if you dont take your clocked out break. And if no one can watch your pts, well you are SOL then. Off shift charge usually has a full load of pts too.

With the "customer is always right" mentality, we dont kick people outt of the room- they , after all, have the Right to be there. Yes, have had someone on tele- door was closed-hr was tachy, went in (knocked of course) and there is pt with two girls in his bed. And what do we say to that so we keep our customer service scores???? "oh, Im sorry, just seeing if you were ok"

Umm no unions here.

Riseupandnurse · Aug 22, 2011

I am not trying to take away anyone's hope and to those who found or will find a way to make med-surg work for them, I salute and admire you. But I tried, for 22 years I tried, to "hone my prioritization skills", "improve time management", etc., and it just never worked. It wasn't working for ANY of us. Nobody ever got out on time and if they tried to take a break or eat they just stayed over 3 hours instead of 2 1/2. I finally gave up and quit bedside nursing. IMHO, we as nurses just need to say it's unmanageable!!! We love nursing; please, please, let us do it without having to be Super Nurse every minute of every shift. Every time I mastered one piece of equipment or one protocol, administration just chucked some new c*** at us. No task, no demand was ever deleted, it was just made more complicated and more impossible. All the while the public gets ever more uncivilized, rude, and demanding. Something needs to give. They chew us up and spit us out, broken and feeling used and useless, when the truth is we have run our hearts out to win the race. I don't see how it can be won. And life is too short for it to be this hard when we have so much to give and so much willingness to give it.

Ruby Vee, BSN · Aug 22, 2011

i just need to vent away my feelings today at work. it was so horrible that i feel like a walking robot that keeps on going and going and ignoring my time to eat lunch and bathroom because the workload is just too much to handle! i was literaly crying inside. fast pacing my walk from one hallway to the other. in my head, i need to keep going because im still behind with everything. i hated it. i hate getting piled up with so much things to do. do this, do that, phonecalls, labs, dr on hold, pain meds, family complain, admission is here, discharge in 10 minutes, pain meds again and again and again, etc. i asked my other co-worker whos been there for 1yr and she told me, just keep on going. shes right. even though the workload keep piling up every minute of the hour, i just have to keep going because otherwise, i would have to stay for god knows how long just to finish my unpaid charting. and you know what, no matter how hard i worked without any breaks today, i still ended up staying for 2 hours to chart! why? i didnt get to chart properly all freaking day long because so many things would come up that its literally impossible to stay in one place without someone calling your name. ugggghhhh!
some of you would not understand this situation. but some of you whos been there and done that would understand. so please dont judge me right away. i love nursing. but this type of nursing is toxic and detrimental to someones health overall. i dont want to be in this type of work for so long. i would go nuts! with the economy being so bad, its impossible to find work asap, even as an rn. yes, thats right, even as an rn. there is no nursing shortage, even as predicted couple of years ago. if they were right with their estimated nursing shortage (look in your nursing books) in 2020, there wouldn't been complains about nurses not finding a job left and right in this site. its all crap. its business, and its all about the profits. i just wish someone would do a documentary film about med/surg nurses and see the real nursing as it really is, live and raw! not the edited ones by johnsons and johnson commercial where everyone is smiling, clean, and happy.
oh by the way, im still waiting to get that o.r. job. but i dont have the result yet. thanks for reading my vent. sorry its so long. this is my only way of releasing my stress. i love this site.

a lot of this sounds like the "first year of nursing blues." i've been there and done that. it passes. but the only way through it is to just go through it. and then one day you go to work and something "clicks." you feel as though you're on top of everything. it may take a year or even two, but life is much more pleasant once it does.

RhinoRocketRN · Aug 22, 2011

Prioritize and learn when to say NO. There are times when you are better off taking that break than not. Try to find out what works best for you, chart in your patients room if possible, do your first med pass while doing first assessment, and like i first said, learn when to say no or ask for help.

It is easy to feel overwhelmed, but you will find what works for you :)

Take a deep breath, you can do it and your OR job will come :)

SoundofMusic · Aug 22, 2011

I'm in agreement w/ JanHeatherington -- I've been doing this now for four years and I'm still no better at the whole "time management" thing. I'm too compulsively careful and it slows me down. (good side -- I haven't killed anyone, but I'm also frequently needled for staying later). I don't know what else to do -- I do my best to give the best care AND REQUIRED CUSTOMER SERVICE I feel I can do within the boundaries i have, but this only gets me out later ... the floor I'm on is pretty good about allowing it, but I've been in other places that threw a fit if you clocked out 5 mins late.

I will advise this -- don't be like me and take a break. Either stick with it or get out. I'm back in it and re-learning all this time management stuff again, plus dealing w/ new personalities and learning a new floor ...it's hell so far and I'm already back into the want ads looking for something else less demanding. I just wish I weren't so uncomfortable in my career as I am right now. Causes me MAJOR anxiety and pain at times ... all the work I did in school and I still basically hate the basic mechanics of the job, no matter where I go. (am starting on my third place in 4 years).

But to re-read all of the above I am amazed at how little praise we nurses receive from our higher ups ...the evals are just basic and cookie cutter, and it seems they like who they like and those are the ones who get to advance ...OR, it's just time in the job. I have probably basically succeeded for the most part in nursing, but I FEEL like a failure, CONSTANTLY! THIS IS what is wrong with nursing!!!

Something needs to give!! :crying2:

STL2008, RN · Aug 22, 2011

I feel for you. I don't even work ms and I'm struggling. I had a horrible night the last time I worked. I didn't even clock out til.10am. And the manager looks.at me like I'm eating up the clock on purpose. Believe me I wanna get out at 8am. I just feel.like I keep.getting the crap assignments bc I'm new.

xtxrn, ASN, RN · Aug 22, 2011

But to re-read all of the above I am amazed at how little praise we nurses receive from our higher ups ...the evals are just basic and cookie cutter, and it seems they like who they like and those are the ones who get to advance ...OR, it's just time in the job. I have probably basically succeeded for the most part in nursing, but I FEEL like a failure, CONSTANTLY! THIS IS what is wrong with nursing!!!

Something needs to give!!

Everybody likes to feel appreciated- but the job is only required to pay you the check that you've earned. There is a degree of "who's liked gets the advancement"......but at the same time, you yourself feel like a failure- they can sense that :). Sometimes you have to learn to be satisfied in yourself, and the others can either agree or bite rocks! Nobody is going to think any higher of you than you do yourself.

There's nothing wrong with nursing- it's survived a lot more than the lot of us here on AN :) Do what you need to feel like you're doing ok- and then the rest won't matter so much. And best of luck- it does get better- but not if you're looking outside of yourself for validation. :heartbeat:up:

tempest · Aug 22, 2011

That is why I did not go into med/surg lol.