Keeping it all together

Hi everyone,

I posted here a few months ago, ready to quit this ICU stuff and go to Med-surg. Now I know I really want to stick it out, and am starting to like taking care of the critically ill patients!

The floor I work on has ICU, stepdown, and some telemetry patients. When I work with 1 or 2 ICU, I seem to have a better night/day, and am more organized, when the patients don't need to get out of bed three times a day, walk, take showers, ask for different food from the kitchen, need teaching, etc... (our techs are busy, or not there when I work).

When I have telemetry or stepdown patients, which is supposed to be an "easier" assignment, I have problems keeping everything together, and stuff seems to slip through the cracks. I forget things like guiacing (sp?) a stool, charting a fluid bolus I gave someone for hypotension, sometimes new meds (!) that someone just wrote (I usually end up giving them during my shift, sometimes they're late).

I seem to be making more and more mistakes, and am trying like mad to correct them as I recognize them, and evaluating why I made them, so it won't happen again, but , I'm getting so frustrated with myself. I think I just don't have the brain for this stuff. Anyone else ever think this way?

btw, my manager said I'm doing great, said I exceed some of the expectations they have for RN's (my annual review), I don't see how this could be, given the mistakes I've made. I think I'm barely achieving competency. Anyone else think they're doing a lot worse than what their managers tell them?

Thanks in advance for any replies! :redbeathe