I love my job in SUBACUTE CARE

Published Sep 24, 2012

52 Posts

I have been in my job for almost 5 months and after many days of driving home crying it all finally clicked. I am an RN in a very busy heavy care subacut unit, a big change from my psych position. I am a nurse for a little over a year and this position is hard. But, I am learning so much! I am exposed to so many skills and I have a wide variety of patients. patient load is max 20 with assessments, woundcare, traches, enteral feeds, ostomies, ortho, neoro, respiratory, neb txs etc no charge nurse, I do all my orders, deal with problems with an outside pharmacy, family issues you name it! CNAS who are lazy and expect me to do their job while I pass morning meds in less than 2hrs for 20 pts, I also find I utilize my psych skills on a daily basis. It is hard because of the patient load but I am getting faster and faster. I am learning to prioritize and delegate and I have become assertive with the slackers in order to provide great care. I have already received several thank you cards and letters to my DON for the care I provide. I work 8 hours/5 shifts a week, no lunch and never pee! I love my patients and I hate the shady nonsense. I practice safe and I am learning to call out those who don't. I think this was the best choice as a new nurse to push me to be a great RN and I know at this point, I could step onto a hospital floor again and do great things with 1/2 the pt load!!!! For those who think subacute nurses are not real nurses, think again. We lose nurses weekly because they run away crying because of the work load!