New grad too stressed about the job- Is this normal?

[sail2boat2002]

Hi guys! This is my first time posting something on this section of the allnurses. Nice to meet you guys!! Currently I'm working a double weekend shift at a LTC facility and I care for 34-37 residents depending on the admission and discharges. At first, I considered myself lucky because I only work weekends totaling 32 hours a week but I get pay for 40 hours. Sounds great right? Here is a problem. I am always overwhelmed by amount of work that I have to do and feel like throwing in my towel every time I'm at work. I can't never get med pass on time and people are putting on their call lights screaming and yelling for the PRN pain meds and also have to do cluster call, incident reports, supervise aids in between. I often try to skip my lunch breaks working straight through 16 hours often 17-20 hours. It has been about a month and a half since I worked there but I haven't gotten down everybody's routine down yet since I only work weekends. Well... tomorrow is my 6th time working weekends and I have this massive anxiety coming through my head thus, I'm venting here.

I like this schedule since I'm starting school next year (Jan/2013). But I feel like having this anxiety even through my time off is not worth the benefit. What should I do? Should switch to night shift? I'm totally lost Please experienced nurses or new nurses give me some advice. Pretty please...

[MichelleRN34, ADN, RN]

Thats LTC.. IMO if you switch to nights the medcations passed may be less but there are different things you are responsible for and usually the patient load is much larger. When I worked day shift i had about 25 patients vs night shift of 50 patients. Hope you find a routine soon. Although it is a tough job.

[NewbieNurse1]

Wow, I know exactly how you feel! I am at my first nursing job and am going to be off of orientation and on my own soon. My facility has 2 patient floors, one floor is subacute and the other has 2 LTC halls and 1 subacute. I was hired for the subacute hall and have up to 20 pts/the whole hall all by myself. There are constant distractions during med pass, charting, walking LOL! We have a lot of admissions/discharges, pts going out for appts, etc. It is hard enough just to pass the 0900 meds. We have no charge nurse or secretary on my floor and we use paper charting, which gets very confusing and overwhelming. I have to handle every aspect of calling MD, confirming orders, putting charts together, completing incident reports, charting, assessing skin, making sure CNAs are doing their job, etc. I am always there way past my end of shift. There is a LOT of pressure to do everything exactly so and on time while knowing everything about every patient and keeping them safe. Lunch break, what's that?!

[tellis6645]

When I first started nursing I went home in tears more often then not. I was very stressed out. I originally started in LTC on days 7-3. After 6 weeks I transfered to subactue nights (what I was originally hired for). It was the best thing that happened to me. Im considered the permanent nurse for these rooms and shifts. After about 2 months things got a lot easier, but I was still stressed out about the fact that I was by myself with no supervisor and had to make my own calls about "issues". After 6 months I was confident. I have been here now for 18 months and I dont stress about anything anymore.

I think learning everything (paperwork, normal meds, times, facility procedures) were the most stressful. Once you become confident in those parts it makes the job a lot easier and enjoyable.

Stick with it and if in 6 months you still feel overwhelmed then look to moving on.