Nurse Burnout

71 Posts

Im nearing 10 years as an acute care RN working in a busy NY hospital. Ive come to the point where I dread going to work and spend my days off recovering in bed andnot wanting to do anything all day.

Over the years it just seems to be getting worse. Im not sure if its my age or they just keep adding more work. Or maybe both. I come home exhausted. The day following my work day I spend most of it in bed feeling tired and achey all over from the physical labor of the day before.

My job has been crazy about discharges and admissions. Seems thats all they care about. They want patients out before noon to facilitate quicker movement of patients. Yesterday for example I discharged 4 patients, recieved a new admission and 2 transfers. I basically spent my day doing paperwork and trying to keep up with my other patients in between. We were short a nurse so there was no charge nurse to help. We had 3 nurses on the floor one of which has to leave the floor to relieve a separate smaller unit for breaks. One of the nurses is fairly new and I spent alot of my day helping her. She also had her first code and intubation which I basically had to guide her the whole time. I didnt leave until an hour after the end of my shift.

Im just fed up and tired. I dont enjoy what I do anymore. I wont mention which hospital I work at but Im wondering if its the same at other hospitals. This has been the one and only hospital I have worked at so Im curious if its all the same.