Need some encouragement

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I'm feeling so overwhelmed. I'm approaching my last few weeks of orientation...nursing is not what I had ever expected. It's a big slap in the face. I don't feel like I'm helping anybody or "making a difference." I often find myself wondering why anybody stays in bedside nursing, or rather HOW they stay. I find it extreamly stressful and difficult to juggle 8 patients (and I know some of you juggle more). I feel I cant be the nurse I want to be for these people. I'm very disappointed that this is what reality is. If I had known what it was really like, I dont know if I would have went through with nursing school. I'm afraid that I won't stick with it. I'm just absolutly exhausted. Does it get any easier???

:(

You know, I hear that it gets better, but when I see experienced nurses on my floor crying, saying that they just want to feel good about the care they give instead of putting out one fire after the next, horrendous staffing, stated nurse : patient ratio rarely being obtained (and when it is it means no techs or other help), catering to administration and not the patients, the entire floor routinely not getting a break as well as staying late, working 3-4 weekends when I was told it would be 1x/month, etc, I have a hard time believing that it will get better. It is a common occurrence for the next shift to come in, only to hear how terrible the day/night has been. :uhoh21: I've tried to be optimistic, but when i hear so many experienced nurses saying the same thing, it doesn't seem like it will get better. My last shift was 16 hours with no break. Its just not healthy for me, and my family suffers because of it. I am wondering if "It gets better" only means that you learn to tolerate the poor working conditions :(

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Specializes in Licensed Practical Nurse.

hi kaceylee, first off i love your name! but anyway i'm a new grad pn, i started orientation in a ltc facility may 12, 07. the preceptor i had seemed as though she was lazy to do anything, handed me three papers to look at and walked away. two days later i start giving out meds, she gets so annoyed by the way i'm doing it, but i'm a new grad and didn't know but she was not very understanding. i have to juggle 39 pts 'cause this is the nrsg home, i recieved 2 extra days of orientation and i have to pass a med pass, which is when the state comes and watches you give out meds, scared outta my mind. the situation with the nurse preceptor cleared up but i'm still scared of the med pass and juggling 39 pts as the only pn on the unit. though i am scared i am giving myself a break, because i forced myself to realize that i am new to this. my week has been so stressed, i have to get up 5 am just to get to the nrsg home for an 1 and a half ride there. i leave everything in prayer and god's hands though, i love nrsg and i know i'll make it! i wish you much luck, don't come down to hard on yourself give yourself time and breaks, and see how it goes!;)

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

I am in my first year of practicing as an LPN and it is a shock to the system. I am transitioning from being an aide to nurse and it is a trip; mind you, I am working in a clinic. I worked 6 weeks of med-surg during my orientation and wanted to run for the hills. I do get some good days in when a patient tells me that I made them understand something that they never did before, but it is the dirty politics in nursing that is most discouraging. Too many people try to out-do each other with the 'nursier than thou' complex, but then, when I see them behind the scenes, they are really horrible. I come home tired, wondering if I did something right or not, and am more sensitive than I was before because I wonder if 'they are out to get me'.

One of the things I decided to do was to keep taking continuing education classes to rack up on certifications and I do plan to avoid the bedside except for home care cases. A shame...what was supposed to be a compassionate profession can be a real drag.

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It was my first day on my own, as an RN and I had 5 pts (2 dialysis, a post-op, s/p defibbed pt, and newly transferred--right before shift change-- post-op from ICU) on a tele floor. My pts. are elderly, incontinent, and 4 out of 5 non-ambulatory with meds that ran a mile long. I thought to myself, I didn't realize this was starting off lightly...:uhoh21:. But hey, they were nice and made the ambulatory pt. my TPC. I barely got enough time to eat, didn't pee the entire 12 hrs, and barely had time to sit down to chart because it was so crazy. Towards the last 3rd of the shift it got crazier b/c another nurses pt. fell so the Charge was busy and the techs were busy because it took a whole lotta them to get this obese man back in bed. The nursing station was a ghost town, aside from the tele clerk who couldn't leave the monitors. At the end of the shift, after report, my charge and 2 other nurses noticed I had not done a majority of my "paper duty" and insisted they helped me chart my vitals, sort the papers to be filed, etc. so I can finish up my narrative charting. What probably would have had me over 2 hrs over my shift got done in 30 minutes thanks to my charge and fellow RNs.

I don't know if nursing will ever be the idealistic and pt. oriented environment we talk about in school. Someone, it seems, will always be unhappy, whether it's the pt, the nurse coming on to the next shift, a doctor, the tech...whoever it is...You just can't please everybody. As a new nurse you'll make mistakes, have difficulty managing time, getting things done, and defining what is priority. My next shift made me wonder why I became a nurse...and maybe next time I'll have a good day and remember the reason! ;) But, in all honesty, its those good days when a pt. or fellow RN gives you that good feeling effect that keeps me afloat for now. I'm going to take the advice of the RNs and wait at least a year to see if it gets better. If not, then I'll take the other advice and maybe the unit/facility is not for me and find a better fit. Until then, all I can do is my best . Because as long as I can find reasons, I know I want to continue to one day be a good nurse despite what I'm feeling now--not SuperNurse--just a good one!

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Specializes in ER.

The worst part is that I routinely have techs coming up to me complaining that patients have not been washed and ice has not been passed out! As if I have time to worry about that!

Gee, are their hands cut off? If they are so concerned there is nothing stopping them from bathing and passing out ice. Isn't that a tech job?

anjann- you have one year of experience but six specialties listed...that doesn't make sense...what kind of floor are you on?

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Specializes in M/S/Ortho/Bari/ED.

Our Floor is a combination floor. We do all pre and post-ops, regardless of Ortho, Bari, Onc, or just plain Med Surg. THe other specialties you see refer to work I did as a Trauma/Peds/Onco case manager as a Medical Social worker and not an RN.

No the techs arms are not cut off, you'd think they were, but our Director believes in the old school nursing where every nurse goes around at night and gives a patient a spongebath and a back massage~! She tells us to chage sheets and run tray and help out with ADL's so that the techs can focus on the all-encompassing 8 hour task of doing vitals using a machince that does all the work, and finger sticks.

If you complain to her, you get on her nasty side and then every single thing you do is scruinized for the tiniest of errors. What can I say? she's old school and I'm getting out of there!

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