I hate being a tech. will I hate being a nurse too?

Nurses General Nursing

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I dont need any judgement with this, b/c it truly is a deep concern. I am a 1st term nursing student, and a tech at a well known hospital in my town. I can say with all honesty that I hate my job. My floor is a small med-surg floor with only a handful of rooms, which isn't so bad, except all they do is float me. Its rare that I work on my floor more that 2 times a month. I get floated everywhere, including areas that I have not one ounce of training in. ICU is the bane of my existence. Ive never had any training in ICU and I get sent there all the time. The first time I floated there, I was so scared that I cried on the phone to my husband in the break room for 15 mins. I hate bathing people, Im so sick of cleaning up feces, Im tired of being bossed around and treated like a waitress, Im tired of pulling elderly people out of bed by myself to get them on the toilet and throwing my back out b/c no one will help me, spending 45 mins in one pt's room just to get them to the bathroom and back, getting run ragged every night...

I actually threw up in a pt's bathroom the other night b/c she sprayed diarrhea all over the toilet and I had to clean it up. Everytime I have to work I dread it the whole day, and I cry the whole drive there. It breaks my heart to have to leave my husband and kids to go to a job that I hate. My back hurts 24/7 and Im contently exhausted. Ive begged my manager to let me cut back my hours but she wont

So my question is this: If I hate being a tech, does that mean I will hate being a nurse? Im almost done with term one and Im just scared Im wasting my time and money.

Work on Peds. I LOVE IT. Never saw myself there, EVER! But I LOVE IT. I love my unit, the adult overflow we get we are very picky about. I just can't ever see myself ever leaving now. Maybe to a Pediatric ER or something but I absolutely love where I am at and my unit. The family sometimes is difficult but most times they are very appreciative. A balloon and a Popsicle gets you a smile and a thank you. It's not all roses, but it's been great 95% of the time.

I loved the kids, just not several of my co-workers, or the time cut in the summer from low census- make sure you can keep enough hours to pay rent !! I always wanted to work peds in school, and ended up getting to TX and finding out that they didn't have specific pedi floors back then- working neuro, I got the neuro kids... but kids are a lot better to deal with (if the family isn't nuts).... and nights on peds, they're more likely to fall asleep after being assessed. :D

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.

My co-workers have been great. It's very rare we are called off (even with low census, we shut the unit down last night) but they will float us to NICU, PP, Surgical if they must (big boss runs Surgical, Oncology and Peds) or we go oncall and can pick up another shift. But having more days off in the summer (after this summer) is more perfect for me. I have 4 kids and we like to camp and stuff, so my summers I will be able to do stuff with them and I can work lots of OT in the winter when I don't want to be outside here. So I love that part too. The night shift crew is my same personality so we have a lot of fun. Chair races in the hall is always a good time. lol

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I would love to try peds! Did you get hired there as a new grad? Any advice?

I have 2 babies myself so I thinkId be good at it

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My co-workers have been great. It's very rare we are called off (even with low census, we shut the unit down last night) but they will float us to NICU, PP, Surgical if they must (big boss runs Surgical, Oncology and Peds) or we go oncall and can pick up another shift. But having more days off in the summer (after this summer) is more perfect for me. I have 4 kids and we like to camp and stuff, so my summers I will be able to do stuff with them and I can work lots of OT in the winter when I don't want to be outside here. So I love that part too. The night shift crew is my same personality so we have a lot of fun. Chair races in the hall is always a good time. lol

The bunch I worked with would NOT float to any adult floor (NICU and PICU was it....maybe newborn nursery), so the unit cut staff to the tune of one month of hours during the summer (most had husbands or s.o.'s, and didn't understand why I was so upset not getting hours). I couldn't survive the cuts (the way they did it was very fair- just needed consistent hours). Plus it was a very cheesy sorority type atmosphere on days, and it sometimes carried over into nights (most of them were fine- but one would not let me have one place on the unit where I could tolerate the temps- I pass out if I get overheated from the dysautonomia). I was getting more sick anyway, but it wasn't a pleasant environment- too bad, because the kids weren't a problem for the most part- a lot of Level III NICU kids who were always going to be frequent fliers :) The manager talked to an adult floor about me picking up hours- I called and never heard back.... so had to work someplace where I had consistent hours. Unfortunately, I ended up on disability 8 months later. :(

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I would love to try peds! Did you get hired there as a new grad? Any advice?

I have 2 babies myself so I thinkId be good at it

The floor I worked on had new grads, including one who had to take boards 4 or 5 times. :)

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There is a childrens hospital in my town. I wonder how I should go about getting my name in their ear

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There is a childrens hospital in my town. I wonder how I should go about getting my name in their ear

I'd call HR, and see if you can pick up an application :)

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Specializes in Cardiovascular.

I hated being a tech too! Since I was almost done with nursing school, I only received 2 days of training for my job in a step down ICU! Yes TWO days! It sucked! I also worked PRN, so I never really got to learn the flow of being a tech! I felt like I ran my butt off every shift and like you described, I never really got any help! One time a nurse made me scoop stool out of a flexiseal with a spoon for a stool sample! NO LIE!!! That was the most disgusting thing I have ever had to do lol! :eek::barf01:

Anyway...I have now been a nurse for over a year now and I am really happy with my job! I feel like I am always learning and really helping the patients in a way I couldn't as a tech...teaching, medications, procedures, etc! I also don't mind getting dirty because like others have said it is a great time to really get a thorough assessment! And I am also really anal (no pun intended haha) about putting plenty of calmo on bottoms and when I do it, I know I am doing it how I want it done! I always try to help my tech and I hope that my tech will help me! I feel if you respect your tech and not take advantage of them, they will help you tremendously!

I think if you really look at what you enjoy about nursing, it will overshadow those little things that you may not like as much! And eventually you get used to those little things and everything is no big deal and second nature!!! Good luck with your decision and take some time to think about what you really want!!

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I hated being a tech too! Since I was almost done with nursing school, I only received 2 days of training for my job in a step down ICU! Yes TWO days! It sucked! I also worked PRN, so I never really got to learn the flow of being a tech! I felt like I ran my butt off every shift and like you described, I never really got any help! One time a nurse made me scoop stool out of a flexiseal with a spoon for a stool sample! NO LIE!!! That was the most disgusting thing I have ever had to do lol! :eek::barf01:

Anyway...I have now been a nurse for over a year now and I am really happy with my job! I feel like I am always learning and really helping the patients in a way I couldn't as a tech...teaching, medications, procedures, etc! I also don't mind getting dirty because like others have said it is a great time to really get a thorough assessment! And I am also really anal (no pun intended haha) about putting plenty of calmo on bottoms and when I do it, I know I am doing it how I want it done! I always try to help my tech and I hope that my tech will help me! I feel if you respect your tech and not take advantage of them, they will help you tremendously!

I think if you really look at what you enjoy about nursing, it will overshadow those little things that you may not like as much! And eventually you get used to those little things and everything is no big deal and second nature!!! Good luck with your decision and take some time to think about what you really want!!

I had a little old man come in for a colonoscopy- got the jug of Golytely, pooped his brains out, and went for the test...Great- BUT the doc snipped polyps, but LEFT THEM IN THE PATIENT.....:uhoh3: So, another gallon of Poop Juice, and his nurse and I ( I was incharge- wasn't going to make someone on the floor do that alone) had to fish the polyps out of the BSC....fishing for polyps..:eek:. YEP !!! LOL ... Poor guy then got a 3rd jug to go to surgery, where they opened him up, and closed him immediately. Nothing to do for him...he went to ICU and died a few weeks later. :( Poor old guy just came to get tested for some vague symptoms.

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Specializes in Emergency Dept. Trauma. Pediatrics.
I would love to try peds! Did you get hired there as a new grad? Any advice?

I have 2 babies myself so I thinkId be good at it

I was hired on as a new grad. My Clinical Instructor for Peds (it was a 3 day rotation and I spent 1 day in the ED) is the Head honcho for Oncology/Surgical/Peds and there was a position open for Peds and Surgical. I emailed her and asked her if I could have an interview and the rest is history.

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I don't judge at all but to me what you described sounds a lot like nursing at least in my neck of the woods. I think though you need to consider; nursing school is very stressful especially the 1st semester b/c everything is so new. Plus I am sure your around a lot less than your use to with your family and that can serve as your anchor at times...so thus without them you may not quite be yourself.

Also, not every nurse loves every floor! It sounds like you get stuck on the floor you dread the most, do you dread your original floor?

If you dread it all together than I really hate that for you and I'd think long and hard about nursing at least in a hospital setting.

But don't sell your self short! I am sure a lot of things are compounding on you at one time.

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.

You will love being a nurse. As a nurse you dont have to work with acutely sick/ill people. You can do ambulatory care, work in a clinic. BE A SCHOOL NURSE!!! Omg... so many opportunities. People who say you will not like nursing since you dont like being a tech don't know what they're talking about. I personally despise bedside care but find so much pleasure in nursing as a whole. Best career EVER!!!!!!

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