3/6 months... quitting the job...

[nichefinder]

Hello all... It's been little over 3 months since I started this medsurg job... very busy floor with 6 max load, no phlebotomy team, very slow system, horrendous meditech charting, very ghetto clientele, your regular run-around-crazy-head-cut-off MS floor...

I was going to soldier on 3 more months so I can internal transfer, but last night's shift sealed the deal for me. After finding out I had 2 fresh admissions beginning of my shift, then running around for 5-6 hrs straight working around the crappy, slow system, having to deal with all the non-compliant, demanding, complaining, ghetto pts, smiling at them even when I wanted to strangle them, and finally when the pt pulled out the IV, my sanity snapped, cartwheeled, double back flipped and my nose started bleeding with a migraine.....

After I started this job, my bp would skyrocket sometimes to 170/94 when my baseline used to be 120-130/80s. I would suffer from insomnia, not even getting 3 hrs sleep between shifts, dragging my feet to work, hating my life because I hate my job, and demanding, complaining pts just slowly chew me inside out while I have to calmly smile and explain to them because stupid healthcare industry turned RNs into damn hotel servants.

My father has HTN, grandma died of hemorrhagic stroke, and when that nose started bleeding, I immediately thought "I have got to get out of here." I am most likely present my 2 weeks notice early this week; I have no job lined yet, but for the health and sanity, I feel like I must quit. Good grief, I didn't hate nursing school this bad! I am willing to take pay cut to go to somewhere I can work with little more relaxation; fixing my resume and starting to look today at OR, cath, GI, day surg, endo, etc. "Nursing" Webster Dictionary definition: saving others while trying not to take your own. Amen to that. I am done, I want to live.

[arijay]

I have never considered myself a racist. I treat all of my patients with the same level of care regardless of their race or ailment. However, I work at a facility in which most of the patients are "trailer park trash." Use your imagination for whom I am referring to. Most of these patients live in the "low income" area near the hospital. No insurance. Non-compliant. Dirty. I hate touching them with my stethoscope. Don't want to shower or take a bed-bath during their stay. No teeth. Pain medication seekers who call me q4hr as if the medication is scheduled. Get mad when I don't bring it "on time." Loud and disruptive. Always complaining about something. Yes, security has been called on some of these people. Some of these patients scare me as well. Same problems as your "ghetto" patients. Discharge them and they come right back. The cycle repeats itself over and over.

[kalevra, BSN, RN]

ery true, but a floor nurse may have to spend days or weeks with the same unruly patients, whereas a NP may see those patients once and only for a shorter time. It's definitely better to be an NP.

Very true. We all run across rude patients, but at least as an NP your not obliged to wipe their butt/get them soda/ lift them/ or put of with them the way a floor nurse does. Advanced practice is way more relaxed than bedside, at least from a decrease of back breaking labor stand point.

I have seen my friends in action, the ones who converted over. I have seen with my two eyes their office setting. People seem a whole lot more civilized when they are able to ambulate by themselves from the door to the chair. They are not "acute care setting" sick. If they are still able to make it to their appointment under their own power, I call that doing relatively well.

[gabby0214]

Girl. I feel you. I FEEL YOU. I work in a hospital in a ghetto neighborhood and I know your pain. I really recommend that you get a support system who you can be honest with. My support system is my mom who retired as a CNA from the same hospital for 26 years. She understands me completely and gave me very helpful advice. I hope you can stick it out. I just think "If these nurses who have worked here for so long can do it, I CAN DO IT!"

I wish I could be more honest in my opinion but this is a public forum and I don't feel like arguing. Don't defend yourself to others on this forum because it is no use. Also, be careful with what you post. Again, I recommend having a support system who you can be COMPLETELY HONEST with and will not argue with you but empathize.

[matthewandrew, NP]

Go to tele, it's easier. :)

Matthew Andrew, BSN RN

[UpennRN]

OP: I am going through the same exact thing! I want to apply elsewhere to other hospitals, but I'm afraid my management will be spiteful and sabotage me even though I am a very competent nurse! I hate med/surg. Wish I waited for a different job to come around rather than jump into this one...

[Graduatenurse14]

Ghetto is a culture not a color. Ghetto behavior exists in every strata of society.

A current example of where one can see ghetto behavior is reality television with every economic, educational and race/ethnic level and group represented but curiously, most have the same attitudes and issues. It's a culture not a color!!

[~Shrek~]

One of the many problems with nursing. OP is tired and burnt out and all the posters can do is harshly criticize her/him for the use of the term "ghetto". Good grief.

[tcvnurse, BSN, RN]

You know what? OP, you're right. Get out of hospital nursing. Maybe do some home health for awhile. Learn first hand, exactly what folks are dealing with in their own homes. You will find that that 'thug' is taking shifts watching over his great grandmother with dementia. You will find undocumented immigrants trying really really hard just to feed their family. Maybe, if you're truly lucky, some lovely old lady will welcome you into her home, treat you like a beloved guest and perhaps even feed you some fried chicken. You will watch this lovely old lady struggle to try and take her medications right because she can't read, having been taken out of school in third grade to work at the family farm.

You may find yourself calling doctors and intervening on her behalf because she doesn't like to cause trouble by asking questions. You may find yourself being waved at by those young men on the corner, because that lovely old lady has been a bedrock to them, and the community.

So yeah, I DO find your use of the word ghetto to be incredibly offensive. Because in using it, you become unable to see any of these people who deal which way more crap than you do on a daily basis.