high patient turnover on the floor!!!!!

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi everyone!!!!

Does your hospital have high patient turnover on the floor? I'm a new RN and the turnover rate in our hospital is killing me. I have been discharging 3-4 pts before 930am, just to get 2-3 back by 11am, and more throughout the shift. It's ridiculous!!!!!!!! I just hate it. I leave work drained and exhausted every night from playing catch up since the morning. I really don't want to get burned out in nursing after 2 months, but my experiences in med/surg have been horrible. We stay in a small area that does not offer internships in ICU/ER/etc w/o the med/surg exp 1st. We have to drive 1.5 hrs to get to Tyler to a larger hospital. We are supposed to switch to computer charting soon, has this helped with the high turnover rates at your hosp? I don't consider myself slow at all,and I don't sit around doing nothing, I miss lunch, bladder stays distended for 8+ hrs, and it's still so hard to keep up. Another girl how graduated with me feels the same. I realize that we are new, and have to get used to it, but our experienced nurses are having trouble keeping up also. Just wondering if this was going on anywhere else........ IT CAN'T BE THIS BAD EVERYWHERE!!!!

I hope all the new grads are having better experiences than I am:o

MJ,RN

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Specializes in Long Term Care and Hospice.

"IT CAN'T BE THIS BAD EVERYWHERE!!!!"

As a general rule, the load is very taxing and seems like it is impossible;

at first. I found that it takes 3 months to get a grip and a full year to adapt. It may never be nice, but it will be even easier with 2 years under your belt and you will wonder why you found it so taxing your first year.

I have also found that the grass is indeed sometimes greener on the other side of the hill. So don't just accept it as a fact when some others tell you it's the same all over. Apples to apples do compare; but apples to oranges do not. Once you get through the Med/Surg maze(which later you will recognize as very valuable exp.), you will see that Nursing really is like a fruit basket.

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Specializes in ER, Occupational Health, Cardiology.

Keep a steady pace, constantly Triage the importance of the things that are waiting on your attention, and make notes on a pad in your pocket for detailed charting later. Look at the frequent admits/discharges as a way to hone your assessment skills. By the time you get that many admits in a week under your belt, you are well on your way to that magical 1 year in MS that you need to move on to specialty areas. I personally feel that at least a year is necessary. Imagine if the stuff was hitting the fan in ER, ICU, etc., day in and day out, and you had not had the opportunity to prepare yourself on your MS unit! It is a scary thought!

As Morphine said, you WILL get used to it. Look at the things you are able to do today that you couldn't do or didn't feel comfortable doing 2 months ago.;) Then, take a deep breath, and continue to look forward to what you ultimately want to do, and consider this year of MS a furtherance of your education. All nurses have been there, and we've all survived. Good luck!

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Specializes in Education, Administration, Magnet.

Did you try changing shifts? I know some shifts have more admits and discharges than others.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Wound Care.

This is a common problem, especially on surgical floors. What our surgical floor has done is to have one, sometimes two, nurses work from 11a-7p. They only do new admits. They get the patient from the Recovery Room, initial assessment, take off the orders, get the chart together, get the patient settled and then turn the patient over to the floor nurse. It's been a lifesaver and patients LOVE it!! It gets patients out of the RR more efficiently, patients don't feel neglected and the floor nurse doesn't get slammed with admissions. It's a win win.

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

Our med/ surg has recently added an admit/ discharge nurse that does all the admits and discharges for the floor. She works 9-6 and the day shift nurses love it. It truly takes some of the strain off and allows them to preop the ones going to surg, pass meds, and do assessments without as many interruptions. Of course, when there are 3 coming from RR at the same time they have to pitch in, but it's not nearly as stressful as having to stop everything to take care of a new admit. This would be something that you could bring up to your manager, esp. if there is someone you know that would like to do this job.

Good luck and God bless!

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Specializes in Education, Administration, Magnet.

We also have an admit/discharge nurse that works 10-7.

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Specializes in Home Health.

Over the last 12 yrs I have worked Tele and MedSurge. The last 1.5 as a traveler. I think the turnover is worse now than 12 yrs ago because the insurance is trying to get pt home faster. Thankfully my first job was on a fast tele floor. There are days I am so worn out from the day but most days I am able to prioritize and get through it. For me it is easier to get the discharges over with and accept pt early in the day so I have time to finish everything. I can suggest to try to do the discharge paper work and all charting for them as each pt goes home. Otherwise you might be there late catching up with paperwork. I think you will find it gets easier once you have done it so many times you have the paperwork memorized.

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With administration wanting to keep beds full it seems the beds do not even get cool before the next patient is admitted there. Like the idea of an admit/discharge nurse. My hospital tried an admit nurse but it did not work out (was not cost effective from administration viewpoint). Hope someone finds an answer because it is definitely not just new nurses who are overwhelmed.

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