Would you trade a great team for an easier floor?

Specialties Med-Surg

Published

I have been on my floor for a year, I promised myself I would give it that long no matter what. It's a hard floor med surg w/ oncology, head & neck / ENT and palliative beds- a good mix of med and surg pts. The variety has been great for learning but it's also very hard, and stressful to keep up with all these different diagnoses, treatments, so many comorbidities etc. I have friends who work on straight surg floors and it seems a lot easier b/c their pts are so similar hips, knees, backs and bariatrics. I float alot to these floors and I find I like the pt pop a lot better but there just isn't the same team atmosphere that we have. No one wants to help anyone, there's no joking around or chit chat, the whole team doesn't even show up for a rapid! Maybe this atmosphere comes from working on a higher acuity unit- like you better be ready to help out b/c tomorrow it's gonna be YOU running a rapid while you have to admits waiting. So basically I don't really like the patient population that I'm caring for but I love my coworkers. Is it worth it to make a change? What do you think?

Specializes in Pediatric Cardiology.

I agree with everyone here. My coworkers are one of the main reasons I am where I am still. It's definitely not the population I want to work with (our floors are actually very similar) but they make it worth while.

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

A great team is far more important than the workload. The workload gets done much easier because of the good team. You can go to a floor with an easier patient load but because of the lack of teamwork or one or two toxic people it becomes a nightmare. So stay!

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I once read that job satisfaction was rated much higher no matter how crappy the job if you enjoyed the people you work with. I would much rather work with those that had my back anyday no matter how hard.

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I agree with staying. I've been pulled to the "easier" floors and the nights are horrible just because the nurses and aides don't interact. That being said, there are some nights I walk onto my unit, see who's on the schedule, and just shake my head. But when the team is good, everything else goes ok, no matter how crazy the pts are.

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Specializes in Education, Administration, Magnet.

No, I would not.

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