Help !!! Am I crazy or what???

Rhonda V · Mar 4, 2006

Hi! Med-Surg can really be stressful, but you gain a lot of good experience. Do they have an RN preceptor program at your hospital? That would be the best thing for you especially if you are a new RN. They assign you to work with another nurse on the floor who can train you and oversee your progress. Try to do one thing at a time. I know just about every nursing job requires you to multi-task, but you should keep your mind on what you are doing at the minute...this is especially important when giving meds or hanging IV's. Try not to get distracted...maybe see if you can be assiged to 3-4 patients rather than 6-7 while you are learning. Then gradually start taking on more patients as you feel more experienced and confident. Hope this helps! :)

weetziebat · Mar 4, 2006

Nah, you're not crazy. I know just what you mean about the stupid mistakes. I have many years of nursing experience, and started a new job 6 weeks ago. Would you believe I still can't figure out how to fill out the time sheet?!!

I call it overload. When you start a new job, trying to take it all in and do a good job, you get stressed, circuits overload - and you can't figure out how to get the top off the pen.

I'd suggest giving yourself some slack - and some time. You're still on orientation. Know how frustrating it can be. I've been told it will take at least a year before I'll start to feel comfortable and confident in my position. And I'm the type of person who expects to know everything about the job within the first week, so its driving me crazy also.

I put a copy of this on my workspace:

"Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them - every day a task anew"

- St. Francis DeSales

You can do it. Just hang in there! It will get better.

christymwinn · Mar 4, 2006

Dear scottib,

I know that this is all felling pretty frustrating for you, but really just about all of us went through a phase like this after we first graduated.

Have you given thought to maybe working nights? You may still have 7 patients, but you son't have doctors and families in and out all the time and you son't have your patients leavign for tests and things. You have more time to just concentrate on your patients and your paperwork.

Hang in there and I think you will do great.

the problem with nursing school is they don't give you a full team and I think they leave you in the dark about what nursing is really going to be like once you are out on your own.

We are here when you need a shoulder!!

Christine

99_99africa · Mar 4, 2006

Not Crazy

I have been employed in a very busy surgical unit, orthopedic, urology, gynae, ENT etc unit. The communication skills and interaction with your collegues will ensure a safe journey, relax, keep learning and enjoy the ride, it is a roller coaster of note!

wooh, BSN, RN · Mar 4, 2006

You can only do one thing at a time. You're expected to do 10 things at one time, but you can only do one. So slow down, do that one thing at a time. Finish, then move on to the next thing. And write everything down. Don't count on the brain in your head, count on your written paper you carry with you all shift. You ask me a question about one of my patients, I will completely draw a blank without looking at my paper. It's how I stay focused, by not cluttering my brain.hehe

jgwe4e · Mar 4, 2006

We all make dumb mistakes at first, and still do even after we've had a lot of experience. A couple weeks ago I put a syringe of med as a secondary on a plum pump. An hour later I went back, and all the med was still there. I had misprogrammed it and gave my pt a nice saline bolus instead of the med.

It's hard to do something new, but by the end of 3 months you're going to feel so much more secure in what you're doing. Your organizational skills will be much better, you'll find a way to track med times, you're going to be able to do this.

Med/surg seems like it would be very useful in mission work. Don't give up your dream yet.

-Midget- · Mar 4, 2006

I'm not an RN yet, I've only started my pre-reqs...working on the mission field is one of my goals, too, though. I just wanted to say, hang in there and dont' give up on your dreams. :)

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Mar 4, 2006

I just started my first RN job on a med /surg floor -- and in general its been going ok --but I can't stand it --orientation is good --slow -- (3 months team partner model) but i continually make dumb mistakes --by this I mean filling out the wrong paperwork --putting down the wrong lab values --forgetting mede times --triple checking iv drips and wondering if I am reall getting it right--the last thing I did was I went tohang a bag of zosyn--removed the old bag and some how --God only knows --I rehung the same bag again and threw out the good one (it was back primed with saline) --honestly the intensity of the job is killing me --but I really don't want to not have med surg experience but taking care of 6-7 patients is mind numbing for me --I'm beginning to think I have some sort of learning disability--but RN school was a breeze--but I am the guy who takes a list to the grocery store rereads the list several times and still forgets one thing!!!! I'm afraid I'm really gonna screw things up and hurt someone ---my dream has been to gain med/surg and go to the mission field -- but I can't do this pace or its going to kill me! (or I fear someone else) My background is Psych and I have already interviewed at my old Hospital and they really want me back--is there some way I can gain med surg experience at a slower pace? Volunteer work maybe __ any suggestions ---or have I just wasted a good portion of my life? :o :o

First of all, let me tell you that you are NOT crazy!! Med/Surg is what's crazy, and so is giving a brand-new grad 6-7 patients:madface: I don't know that there is any hospital where you can learn M/S at a slower pace---it's kind of a sink-or-swim thing---but please don't feel that you've wasted the years you invested in your nursing career. You sound to me like someone who will make an excellent nurse.......in the right environment. M/S is not the only way to learn and master nursing skills; have you thought about ICU or outpatient surgery? These are two places where you will learn time management, critical thinking AND vital skills, but you wouldn't have half a dozen sick patients to deal with all at once. ER is another place where you'd be put to the test skillswise, but the pace can be more hectic than M/S when you've got somebody freaking out on PCP, another pt. crashing, little sick kids throwing up, and victims from a multi-car pileup on the way in.

Psych is great, I'm sure, but unfortunately you don't get to use a lot of actual nursing skills (catheters, wound care, IVs, airway management etc.) in the milieu, so I wouldn't recommend that if you're planning to go out in the field someday. In the meantime, please understand that M/S is not for everybody, and that you're not a bad nurse if you can't hack it there; but while you are there, make sure to ask for more orientation and preceptoring if you need it. That's the hospital's JOB---they are supposed to ensure that their staff is competent and able to take care of their patients, and they need to provide whatever is necessary to accomplish that.

And whatever you do---DON'T beat yourself up over your mistakes. A mistake is only evidence that one has tried to do something, and being only human after all, you're going to screw up once in a while. So does every one else. You can comfort yourself with the knowledge that you're probably going to make 75% of the errors you'll EVER make in your first year of nursing, another 15% in the 2-3 years after that, and the remaining 10% over the course of your career. It'll get better, I promise........just learn from them and move on.

Best of luck to you, in whatever you decide to do.