Horrible first day

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I started my new job today on a med-surg unit. It was terrible. I have no idea what I was thinking leaving my 9-5 job as a community health educator. I've made a huge mistake and I don't know what to do. I don't want to go back tomorrow. In fact, today has solidified my decision to leave nursing (at least direct patient care) permanently. I dislike everything about this profession.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Oncology, Triage and Med/Surg.
Amen. Med-surg bites.

DITTO!!!!!!:)

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Amen. Med-surg bites.

NO ONE knows better than RN's about needless surgery, pill pushing, etc... Just ask an experienced RN what they would do, and take it to the bank. Proactive health is where its at, and RN's are the top of the Medical industry in my opinion since they care about health and don't lie. :lol2:

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

It was a moment of insanity when you left that job for med-surg. What were you thinking????

Seriously. I wish you well in whatever you do.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
Am I the only one who likes working on a Med/Surg unit?

Seriously. I must either be cuckoo or just a rarity...LOL. :uhoh21:

Been in med surg 16 years. Certifiably insane.

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Specializes in Acute care, Community Med, SANE, ASC.

Like everyone says, you gotta find your niche. I just finished 15 months at my first nursing job on a surgical floor. I liked my floor, but I have just transferred to critical care. I think surgical floors, particularly where most of the surgeries are elective like ortho and spinal, can be okay--that's where I was. However, everytime I floated to a medical tele floor all I could think was, "why would anyone work here?!" Medical floors just aren't my cup of tea. Perhaps you need a different type of med-surg unit. It's not all bad. I enjoyed my time there, it was a great place to start, and I learned how to run my butt off and manage time.

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Healthy RN:

I am there and doing that right now, I can relate. It's not in med-surg, but it is in acute care. What a dump!!! No one is oraganized, everyone does their own thing, and you're told by 5 different people how to do 1 thing 10 different ways and these same people say that every other way is wrong, wrong, wrong. Then you hear one nurse compalining how the previous nurse missed everything, and when that nurse is done, the next nurse complains about first complaining nurse about how she missed everything (Gosh, I hope I didn't confuse you). Oh the fun!!

Best of luck to you and remember it can only get better......

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Were you a new nurse or already one? And, I can ask, what made you leave the other job (especially if you have been a nurse for some time)? I am not being judgemental, and if I sound like it, please let me know. It would help clear the air a bit. Mad-surg (no typo...I MEANT MAD) can be a harrowing experience. It scares me just to think about it, even though I plan to work per diem sometimes to get the experience under my belt.

I suspect that it was because it was your first day. Sometimes, when you start to catch on, you begin to see it as organized chaos. Share with us what happened so that we can interject more accurately. ((Hugs to you))

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Hello, Healthy_RN - any follow-up to the above questions? Sorry to hear about your horrible first day - I would likely feel the same way you do, were I in the same boat. Was there anything specific that made the day horrible? Dealing with families, doctors, pts, fellow nurses? The constant charting and procedural stress? Lack of understanding or support from management/preceptor? The combination?

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Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice.
Amen. Med-surg bites.

So true! One of the floor nurses told me yesterday that she couldn't be an aide on our floor. I about fell over since she's the one that's been down on my rear end since I started on the floor about 6 months ago.

I have been floated to other floors and I don't enjoy any of them, and I keep wanting to go back to my floor as soon as I set foot on the pulled unit.

Med Surg is always busy. Since my hospital doesn't offer L&D, I guess I'm stuck.

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