New grad, do not feel challenged at all. Help?

Nurses New Nurse

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Hello all,

I have been a nurse for almost nine months now and work in the NICU. This was my absolute dream job, and I worked so hard to land it. While I was on orientation I felt challenged as I was learning SO many new things. I have been off orientation for a while now and have have been stuck with feeder grower patients for over a month. My unit favors nurses with many many years experience and assigns them the sicker kids, daily. They are never given an intermediate assignment.

I am talking more about the nurses who have less than 2 years experience getting mostly the stable ICU cases and some intermediate patients. We are supposed to be mixed around the unit, with at least 30% ICU exposure. I have also (politely) asked my charge nurse to assign me anything ICU because I need the exposure. Usually I am given an excuse, and the next day I am back with the feeder growers. :( Managment likes me, and there has never been an issue with the care I have provided my patients. I don't understand. I am just about at my wits end with this matter. I did not go to school to be a daycare provider who rarely uses her brain. I understand that an intermediate case can shift quickly, but I need consistant exposure to vents, bcpap, umbilical lines etc to remain competent. :( Ugh!

Advice?

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
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Sour,

Not sure how you think insulting my capability as nurse is constructive.

I provide excellent patient care, and know exactly what a healthy patient looks like. I have over ten years experience in healthcare, and have four children. I also have a deeper understanding/appreciation on the NICU, something in which few nurses can say they have. Each of my kids were in the NICU, and one of them was a golden hour. So please, save that anti-new grad bulling attitude for a prepubescent new nurse.

Furthermore, it is a new rule that each nurse needs at least 30% exposure to ICU assignments for a couple reasons. The first being that a stable intermediate case has the potential to shift to an ICU case quickly. Secondly, the unit has had days when those "experienced, always in ICU nurses" were not working. Nurses who were only placed in intermediate assignments felt out of sorts in their ICU assignments and complained. How is that what is best for the unit?

Take your bad attitude and anti-progressive nature someplace else Ms. Grump.

WOW! What a nasty post.

No nurse is competent in nine months in a new specialty; no new nurse is competent nine months after graduation. It takes about two years to become truly competent. In the mean time, if you're not learning something new every day, you're not doing it right. With respect to your experience as a parent, that really does not count toward competency as a nurse.

Sour Lemon was right -- your charge nurse cares more about the safety of the patients than about your "needs." Not everything -- or even most things -- is about you. In nine months, you have not learned all you need to even about the stable "growers and feeders". That you think you have worries me. The safest nurse is a nurse who knows how much she doesn't know, and that doesn't sound like you.

Once you put something out on the Internet, you cannot control the responses you get. If you don't like them, you're free to ignore them. But if you're willing to listen, you can learn a lot.

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There are undoubtedly many, many unemployed new and experienced nurses who would be grateful to have a job taking care of feeder/grower babies. They also have the humility that makes them welcome on a unit when they get their chance. Give these little babies your best and you will find yourself progressing, your efforts will be noticed.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Isn't it kinda dangerous to only give the sick kids to the experienced nurses? New(er) nurses aren't going to learn how to take care of really sick patients by taking care of intermediate/stable patients. I am kinda worried that there are so many people in this thread arguing for nurses who have "paid their dues" to get preferential treatment versus patient safety by ensuring that all team members are competent in caring for all patients.

It is even more dangerous to give the sickest kids to an overconfident new nurse who is convinced she knows everything. I suspect that the new nurses with appropriate humility and a health dose of fear are given the intermediate to sicker patients. As a charge nurse, I'd avoid giving a sick patient to a new nurse who demonstrates the know-it-all attitude and nastiness of the OP.

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Specializes in LTC, Rehab.

Amen, Ruby Vee

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This is also known as 'paying your dues'. In my cardiac surgery ICU, you don't get a VA ECMO patient fresh off orientation, sorry. You start with stable doubles, move on to sickish patients and then once you've proved that you have the chops to handle it, congratulations, you've graduated to cluster **** admission complete with balloon pumps, dissected coronary arteries and exsanguinations.

Don't be in such a hurry, kiddo--you'll get to that point and you'll be grateful you had the time building your skills with the feeder growers.

Why are you being so rude as to call the OP a kiddo? How do you know how old she is? Nice ageism. Get over yourself -- seriously.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Why are you being so rude as to call the OP a kiddo? How do you know how old she is? Nice ageism. Get over yourself -- seriously.

Perhaps you failed to note how the original poster was rude and nasty to someone who took the time to answer her post and attempt to help her understand why she wasn't given more challenging assignments.

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Specializes in OB-Gyn/Primary Care/Ambulatory Leadership.

Yes, I agree that "kiddo" is pretty condescending, regardless of the attitude of the OP. I prefer not to play "tit for tat" but that's just me.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Home Health.

This may be ot to op but I can only say I agree with ALL the responses touching on "paying dues", gradually taking on more serious patients etc. it's been the opposite for me and I absolutely hate it! I'm on a very busy observation floor for the last 10 months, my first RN job, and there has been no "gradual" build up whatsoever. I've had high acquity cases since day one, cases that shouldn't be on our floor but were sent there because there were no beds in ICU or a regular floor that would be better equipped to care for the patients. Let me tell you, I'm learning a lot but this "trial by fire", while regularly caring for 6-7 patients is burning me out. I can't imagine being a new nurse and working in a NICU under the same conditions. My only advice would be to be thankful you're on your dream unit at all, as a new nurse, and to soak up all the new knowledge you can, at a pace (forced though it may seem to you) that is good for you as a new nurse AS WELL AS for the babies you're caring for. In the long run I'm sure it'll be more of a benefit to all concerned.

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"...blah, blah, Take your bad attitude and anti-progressive nature someplace else Ms. Grump."

Wow! You have to be the most obnoxious hypocritical new grad (I'm embarrassed) I've read in a minute. It was NO insult given only truth of which you for reasons obvious are unwilling to accept, then to add insult to injury you lol name call. Um...ok:unsure:

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" Why are you being so rude as to call the OP a kiddo? How do you know how old she is? Nice ageism. Get over yourself -- seriously."

...um I think it's just an expression in terms of new to the field not said or intended for any insult...unlike your end sentence.:sniff:

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Specializes in Med-Surg, NICU.
There are undoubtedly many, many unemployed new and experienced nurses who would be grateful to have a job taking care of feeder/grower babies. They also have the humility that makes them welcome on a unit when they get their chance. Give these little babies your best and you will find yourself progressing, your efforts will be noticed.

Yup! NICU is one of the hardest specialties to get into even with years of nursing experience. Even though most of my assignments have been feeder/growers with some bubble cpap, I still look forward to going in and "loving" on the babies. Plus taking care of 3-4 stable kids help with time management and prioritization and communicating with parents in less stressful situations.

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Why are you being so rude as to call the OP a kiddo? How do you know how old she is? Nice ageism. Get over yourself -- seriously.

I always find it interesting when someone calls someone out for being rude by being rude. Sort of like smacking your kid for smacking another kid and telling them "don't hit people"!:cautious:

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