Not happy in 1st year

[HURN, BSN, RN]

Okay this is gonna be a long post, so bear with me. I need to vent and whine....I have been an RN for 8mo. now, well really been working since RN-A 10mo. I work 12hr. 3 days/wk on a busy post-surgical 24 bed unit. I'm feeling what pretty much a lot of new grads say they feel. I'm dealing with personal challenges at home (single-parent w/ lil to no childcare sometimes). I guess transitioning from college to real world is a challenge in itself even though I've been in the workforce for years doing busy jobs (mostly restaurants). Okay, so the unit I'm on is fast paced, sometimes I feel like I don't have a chance to really think or give efficient patient care. I feel like I can never get caught up and when I do, something happens to throw me off. I'm easily distracted and get side-tracked often. We're supposed to have a resource nurse, but she usually has team of her own and sometimes can't be there. I'm starting to lose confidence and second guess choosing inpatient acute care nursing. I don't see much of any improvement in my critical thinking and prioritization skills. It's hard for me polish those when I'm getting fresh post-ops, putting 5 pages of orders in, charting (by hand), and still taking care of the rest of my team. I've considered switching to nights so that I could have more time to think about what I'm doing but that would make childcare more of a challenge for me. I've worked a few nights and I absolutely love it.....no doctors writing orders, no fresh post-ops, no calls from the dietician; discharge planners; PT/OT etc. I'm to a point where I don't know what to do. I've been job searching with the intent to get on a strictly med-surg unit so I can gain skills, but what if it's not the type of unit I'm on, just me. I'm not to enthusiastic about any other types of units, but I do want to dedicated some time to med-surg so I can at least gain a foundation. I just need some advice, input, opinions or something to help me gain a sense of direction. I will say this I do not doubt becoming a nurse. This has been one of the most gratifying time of my life. I absolutely believe I am cut out for this profession, it just where do I fit in and how do I get there.

Thank you so much for reading this. Please respond with some input, I definitely need it and will definitely use it!

[Up2nogood RN, RN]

I've worked on several different types of floors and surgical post ops I feel are the best by far. When you have a mixed med/surg unit it can be a nightmare. It's the dumping ground of the hospital for the most difficult pts. A lot of CIWA protocols, dementia w/ UTI's, mental health holds, non-compliant pts, etc. It may be beneficial if you can ask to shadow a nurse for part of a shift on a floor you might think you are interested in.

[I_Scream]

Hi there! I can totally totally relate to what ur going through.. the only thing is that I don't think post-surgical and med/surg would have a lot of difference in terms of the pace and acuity of patients. i even feel that med/surg is even more intense since you get both medical and surgical patients. I was in ur position, and I left my med/surg job in just 2 weeks. If I do get another job, and it still is the same as my previous experience, then I'd most probably just stick it out, coz I know that wherever I go it'd be the same. But personally, I just decided to leave coz it wasnt healthy for me anymore.......Nursing should be gratifying, I see other people who are overworked but still passionate about their jobs and love what theyre doing.. Me, I'm overworked, but lost passion and drive to work there. So I just left.. good or bad, I just had to give myself a chance to breathe and regain footing as a nurse before I finally drown.

[HURN, BSN, RN]

Thanks guys for sharing your input. :)

[enrn08]

Don't be hard on yourself! You are not alone....I am very unhappy and I have only been in my unit for 4 months. What really makes me disappointed is that the new graduate nursing orientation I started in said that they offered so much for their new hires....bull! First of all, everything I learned in school is different on the floor...patient safety is my main concern, so I want to learn all my skills appropriately. It is very hard to be put with nurse preceptors that are far from interested in precepting. I have had so many 12h shifts with a preceptor that talked on the phone all, listened to youtube, shopped on the internet for clothing and etc, one preceptor took about 4h to book a vacation, having a preceptor that smokes is far from fun..leaving the floor often...when the preceptor you are put with is also the charge nurse...their isn't much time for precepting...funny thing is that I am in a surgical intensive care unit!

For me, it is frustrating as a new nurse to feel to have severel nurses in your unit not interesting in helping you orient to the unit.

You have been a nurse longer and I am so sorry how you feel now. I am sure that you are like me and did not imagine yourself feeling this way in your first year of nursing.

[RoyalNurse]

Have you thought about weekends? They're still busy, but a little bit less than M-F, most docs on my floor don't show up until 10 am or so, less admissions in general, the whole "vibe" is a little more relaxed.

I don't know about childcare though. Or you could just grit your teeth through this first year (this website helps).

Nights helped me a lot when I first started, I got the whole rhythm of paperwork down without all the constant call bells, orders, crisis after crisis.

[HURN, BSN, RN]

Yeah I am actually considering switching to nights. I worked a few nights already and I loved it, of course childcare is an issue. I'm trying to work that out so that I can switch. I've worked on weekends too and the vibe is a lot different. That's scary ENRN08 that you've experienced those encounters with your preceptors. I can't really say anything about my preceptor except she wasn't very personable and didn't spend as much time with me as I liked. Other than that I guess I came out fairly well on my own. I am definitely just sucking it up and sticking it through. Until I joined this site, I had no idea others were going through the same thing I am if not worse. I love being a nurse and absolutely love my patients! I know I am being a little hard on myself, but that's how I attain success and progress. Thank you guys so much again for your response.:nuke:

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

Welcome to the wonderful world of hospital floor nursing.

[Up2nogood RN, RN]

Welcome to the wonderful world of hospital floor nursing.

I've worked in the hospital for 10 years as a tech and seen literally at least a few hundred nurses go thru this. I'm guessing nursing schools do not prepare their students well for the harsh reality of nursing. While I do know that I will have some of the same anxieties and self doubts the 1st year, I think I'll be able to make it thru w/out pulling my hair out :nuke: