SO...I am a new nurse (approx 6 months) at a LTC facility. I care for 40+ patients from 6p-6a. I am very overwhelmed. I can handle the residents, I just have a hard time handling the staff. I work with very poor CNAs. Usually we are short staffed. (most of the time) I know this is really a normal occurence at these types of places. I have gathered that from these threads. I know I need to get out of here. I am working on that. I plan on going back to school to get my RN.
I feel that I am getting bullied. Other nurses count the breathing TX vials, sign off non-narcotic pills, ect. I give all my pills. I try to make sure they are given no earlier than 1 hour before scheduled and no later than 1 hour after. Sometimes, this doesn't happen. And I do all my TX. I had a lady vomiting coffee ground emesis x5 one evening right in the middle of my med pass, and it through off all of my pills, including my HS BS checks. That really upset me. I tried to get my QMA to do the discharge paperwork to send the lady to the ER, but was later told by my supervisor that I had to stop what I was doing and get the paperwork filled out. I was in tears. It is much much much more stressful being a nurse that I thought it would be. I was a CNA for 3 years prior to becoming a nurse. It looked so easy. I know that all the CNAs think I have such an easy job. I hate to see them sitting around at 11pm when they have only been there an hour and I am still frantically giving my lantus injections. I dont feel LTC nursing is for me. I do not like to supervise people. The CNAs walk all over me. I am just too nice. I hate to tell them bad news.
I am a single, no children, woman who is 22, and when I am at home, I read threads on this website, look up nursing tips, and watch youtube videos about nursing. Basically, I try all that I can (within my power) to learn more about nursing, and to be a better nurse/manager. I ran out and bought a littmann electonic stetheschope. I love nursing, I really do, I just do not want to manage staff. What should I do??? please help me! :) thanks, Miranda, LPN
You could be the best, most amazing nurse in the world and still not be able to work in a bad facility. In fact, the better and more dedicated you are to doing a good job, the less likely you will be to succeed in a facility that does not value good nurses and quality care.
From the rest of your post I get the sense that you want to be a good nurse and so it's understandable that you feel burnt out -- they're not interested in giving you the opportunity to do that.
The lesson here is that you want to work in an environment where you can do your job well. Nothing wrong with that picture.
It takes time to find your niche and in the process you are going to go through some misery. But you will learn good things about yourself and eventually find a place where you feel you can do well. It won't happen overnight.
I agree with another poster who suggested that you put the nursing hat away when you are off the job. Find some activities that can give you a stronger sense of who you are as a person so that you can go into any job with a healthy dose of self confidence and a good understanding of what you expect from your employer.
I'm a bit confused: you have a qma yet you are doing all the med pass and the txs?
At the facility I work at we have two "sides" they are actually seperate units, and have two nurses there during the day, and I cover both at night. I do one side HS med pass, and the Q does the other side HS med pass, and I go over to that side and do the breathing TX and the insulins.
Although im not a nurse, im a nurses husband and my nurse has been an RN since 2007. Most of this time she has been miserable in nursing. Not the actually work, just the politics, low pay, no real time off or sick leave, expensive benefits, etc. Most of this figures into all jobs but nurses work harder than any other profession i know of except coal miners. In our area the average start out pay is only 30,000 a year. By the time you figure in taxes and benefits you are making way below the poverty level. We all want something to show from our hard work and education. My wife has Bs degree in nursing. By these wages you wouldnt know it. SHe has worked in 3 hospitals, 3 nursing homes and 1 doctors office in her time as a nurse. Only one time out of all of these has she enjoyed the job. Its not her attitude or work ethic, its just all the above i mentioned. We go to college to become what we think we will enjoy only to have it blow up in our face. I know this is a new economy and you are expendable at work but all the reasons i described is why this country is running on empty. Customers dont get their moneys worth and by treating employees like dirt you get what you pay for. Maybe a nurses union is the answer. I dont know. But you nurses work hard and deserve better pay, benefits and treatment.
Chin up
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Please remove personal info. Unless it is bogus, remove for your safety and benefit. Peace!