I have been a new nurse for just over a month on a surgical floor at night. I've had patients rave about me, I've had patients complain about me and so far I've had one compliment from a doctor. The last couple of weeks have started to become really difficult for me. Everytime I go to work I end up crying by the end of my shift and also I end up staying an extra 2-3 hours to finish up charting. My nurse manager called me in her office to review my night from a couple days ago and I was just devastated at myself. I felt like I was a horrible nurse looking back on everything that happened. I had two patients that needed 2 units of blood, 2 post ops, 1 patient that needed a dressing change at midnight, and 1 ER admit. That doesn't sound too awful of an assignment, especially for night shift. But there were complications that happened with a few of my patients, which made it difficult for me to manage my time. To make a long story short the nurse manager is suggesting I switch to days.
The reason I titled this thread "Natural Born Killer" is because I feel like I don't know what the heck am doing. I am getting so frustrated and because I work on the night shift I don't get very much support. I've often said out loud at work how much I want to quit and that all the stress I'm going through is not worth it. I have been reading through other threads and I know I'm not the only natural born killer out there.
I am starting to look into hospitals that offer a better orientation. I don't want to give up yet, but I can't just sit here and be depressed and miserable.
