Nursing Fatigue

[nursingcand]

I'm a new nurse, working her first job at a wound care clinic for about a month. The job is ridiculously tiring. Wound care is especially tiring because it requires more than just walking steps. I have to squat/ bend/ crouch to look at the posterior side of people's legs, trying to measure wounds at hard to find areas of the body.

After work, I get so exhausted that I just collapse in bed. I have purchased a new gym membership that I have barely used because I never have the energy to workout after my shift ends. I have no energy to talk to my loved ones, or go out on dinner dates. Usually 6 hours is sufficient amount of sleep. But with this job, its not enough.

The job is so fast paced which adds to the exhaustion. They expect us to finish patients so quickly (due to understaffing) . Adding the fact that I am still new, still learning, getting used to things, makes it even more stressful. I just don't know how I am going to pull through the week. It goes beyond just physical exhaustion, it is also mental exhaustion since it requires so much fast paced thinking. I walk to work feeling like a zombie, half awake, muscle pain everywhere.

 I just have absolutely no personal life because I am just so exhausted.

Is this normal part of nursing? I know I can't be the only one experiencing this.

Should I just suck it up, get used to it and accept it as a part of my life forever? I just don't think I can sustain this until old age. The fatigue is extreme. I have no personal life.

Please don't tell me that I should just go for another career. Because I am not in the stage of my life where I can easily go back to school for something else. I have a family to support.

[hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I]

nursingcand said:

I'm a new nurse, working her first job at a wound care clinic for about a month. The job is ridiculously tiring. Wound care is especially tiring because it requires more than just walking steps. I have to squat/ bend/ crouch to look at the posterior side of people's legs, trying to measure wounds at hard to find areas of the body.

After work, I get so exhausted that I just collapse in bed. I have purchased a new gym membership that I have barely used because I never have the energy to workout after my shift ends. I have no energy to talk to my loved ones, or go out on dinner dates. Usually 6 hours is sufficient amount of sleep. But with this job, its not enough.

The job is so fast paced which adds to the exhaustion. They expect us to finish patients so quickly (due to understaffing) . Adding the fact that I am still new, still learning, getting used to things, makes it even more stressful. I just don't know how I am going to pull through the week. It goes beyond just physical exhaustion, it is also mental exhaustion since it requires so much fast paced thinking. I walk to work feeling like a zombie, half awake, muscle pain everywhere.

 I just have absolutely no personal life because I am just so exhausted.

Is this normal part of nursing? I know I can't be the only one experiencing this.

Should I just suck it up, get used to it and accept it as a part of my life forever? I just don't think I can sustain this until old age. The fatigue is extreme. I have no personal life.

Please don't tell me that I should just go for another career. Because I am not in the stage of my life where I can easily go back to school for something else. I have a family to support.

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I won't tell you to find a new career.  Here are some tips. You already walk to work which is good, can you step up your routine with a good morning stretch routine. Minimize coffee or othe stimulants as you may experience rebound fatigue. Depending on how many hours you work you are entitled to breaks. Even a short step away to hydrate and eat a small nutritive snack will boost your energy levels and moral. As you tired as you are and I have been there, try to use that gym membershipat least 3 times week. Sometimes I just go and walk on the treadmill then take a sweat in the sauna. It energizes me so that I can stay active until my nortmal bedtime around 9 pm. 

Just some thoughts that might help

Hppy