Nursing is not what I thought it would be!

BrandonLPN, LPN · Jul 27, 2012

As a new grad, the OP should be estatic to be on a med surg floor in a major hospital. So many new grads would KILL to be in her shoes. Get your year of med surg experience and THEN go seek your dream job.

As to the whole CNA thing, I think it's a great idea to make it a requirement that the only way to get a seat in a RN program would be to have been a CNA for at least a year. Think how much it would thin the herd! Some people might realize nursing isn't for them BEFORE spending four years in nursing school....

danggirl · Jul 27, 2012

You have eloquently stated the problems in nursing.
30 years ago I felt the same way. I still feel that way.
Sadly, working conditions have gradually gotten even worse over the years.
No, you have not made a mistake in your career choice. You sound like a nurse that cares about her patients, but is frustrated with the current working conditions.
Continue with your current position. I feel surgical areas are the least of the demons of floor nursing. Get your one year.. maybe two... and you will be surprised as to the other areas that open up for you. Nursing is going to boom in the next 5 years when us oldie-moldies retire and National Health Care is implemented.
Good luck, keep us posted.

Exactly! I was just thinking that after 17 years I still occasionally feel this way. Last night I got so excited that I actually had 15 minutes to thoroughly educate a young woman about "personal" hygiene, STI's, and sexual health...to the extent that she was so relaxed and grateful when she left the ED. It seems ages since I've felt that sense of accomplishment with patient education.

Medical/Surgical floor experience is tops in my opinion for learning how to sort these things out. The first year or so ARE task oriented but the more experience you gain the more the tasks and assessments become somewhat second nature AND the more you learn how to multitask. (i.e. educating, personally conversing, assessing, and medicating at the same time). Also, after you have some experience under your belt, you will be able to explore other areas and truly find your niche...the area where your skills, personality, goals, and sense of purpose clicks! Keep moving forward one shift at a time, do your best and you will get there. Good luck to you and I hope you choose to remain part of our wonderful profession.

FinnyBooBoo71 · Jul 27, 2012

WOW - I am a new grad looking for work and I hope to goodness I don't have to rely upon someone like MN-RN to help me. I was told some nurses forget what it is like to be a new nurse and comments like MN-RN make me want to run away on a one way ticket back to England and my mummy LOL

itk3838 · Jul 27, 2012

Good morning!

I decided to say few words of encouragements to you. One of my friends she is a foreign nurse, came to US in her 30th. She passed NCLEX-RN exam and found her first job 1,5 hours away from home. Every day she was commuting to the facility where she worked with clan of "bullies", nurses who chew her alive every day. Every question she would ask they brushed her away with words that they are busy with their own work. After each day she though to quit and find other profession besides nursing but in reality she was the only one who provided food on a table. Bills, her husband lost his job, foreclosure, more bills and stress at work. She had no choice but to continue. Every day she counted for three, but soon she mastered her skills and since she stayed before and after work, manager noticed her determination. It was hardest year in her lifetime as she put it. After that she decided to find work closer to her home, she founded it and started to work there without letting go at her first employment. That job was full of paper work disaster - old fashion way, resources where so limited. She continued her search for a different job. After 500 resumes and numerous interviews she was invited to work at the Magnet Hospital. Her work wasn't painted in butter but she took challenging shifts, slept during the day and went to work at night. After a year of work, few of her coworkers got promoted and place that she was looking for a long time got available for her. She continued her education and got her BSN within 18 months. Now she is very happy that she didn't leave her profession because of "bullies" and enormous load of paperwork.

Eventually work will get done faster, you will manage better then in your first months and find more time for your patients. You will be so proud of yourself. First year is very crucial for your career.Try to ventilate your feelings, eat well, find time to relax and exercise.

Wish you the best!

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Jul 27, 2012

Been there done that I'm totally serious when I ask this-Do you consider MN-RNs reply to be a case of nurses eating their young and/or an example of bullying?

Most certainly. Op was expressing frustrations with a new job, in a new career.

She needed ,and deserved , validation and encouragement. She certainly was NOT asking for "the whole dream". Rather she is trying to understand the nightmare that nursing has become.

That response was mean-spirited , not insightful and demeaning to the OP.

treeye · Jul 27, 2012

I am a new graduate nurse and have stayed at my current job for almost seven months. Nursing is my second career. I have not worked in medical field at all before January this year. However, I am blessed to have three months orientation and most of my coworkers are very friendly and helpful. I love every minutes of my job and I usually feel satisfied about what I can do for the patients. I also worked in a nursing home at the same time. I quited after two shifts on my own. It is highly stressful and I feel that I'm unable to take care of the residents.

I think it matters where and with whom you work with. If you can't find another job, then you have to stay at the current job and try to get some experiences. Best luck.

As a new grad nurse I was beyond excited when I landed my first job at a highly reputable hospital on a surgical unit. Feeling extremely overwhelmed I told myself that things would get better, but here I am 7 months in and I'm finding that nursing is not what I thought it would be. I feel completely overwhelmed each and everyday at work, I feel like I have no time at all for my patients. Rather than seeing my patient's as people I am forced to treat them as task lists each and every day. I don't even feel like I get to "care" for my patient's, it's all about productivity. I feel like I made a mistake with my career choice, however changing careers is not a choice as I am a mom of two with some hefty student loans. I know there are many other options in nursing but I keep hearing that you can't do much without floor experience and I'm afraid I will leave the job I have now and be even more unhappy. I'm just feeling very confused about my career choice at this time. I'm in my 20's, I'm I going to have to live with this feeling for the rest of my career? Anyone else have this problem?

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Jul 27, 2012

no wonder bullying is such a hot topic these days. you're seeing bullies everywhere! no, that was not bullying. that was just a dose of reality without the sugar coating. absence of sugar coating is neither bullying nor eating young.

that was not an absence of sugar coating,that was the application of a layer of another problem in nursing.

rlockd · Jul 27, 2012

You know i just finished nursing school this spring. Even though I worked as an CNA before becoming a nurse, I get worried about not having time with my patients too. My biggest conern is not having the time to throughly look them over. I am afraid i am going to miss something because there does not seem to be enough time to spend like you need. I have watched nurses as they juggle their responsiblities and wonder how they keep up with everything at times.

rlockd · Jul 27, 2012

This was directed to some comments about nursing school. To be honest, not all nursing schools give you one to two patients at a time. Even though i went through an LPN program, I did almost all my clinical routines in the hospital on a med/surg or skilled unit. My transition was in a long-term care setting.

When I was coming towards the end of school, i would have 3 to 4 patients. During my transition into nursing under RN supervision, I held down an whole hall on my own with the expection of taking orders over the phone and talking to the doctors. She was just there for emotional support. I still feel alittle shakey about taking on the floor all by myself though.

Its not about weather or not she has had CNA training or not. Even if she had been a first CNA, she would have to learn to find her niche. In the nursing field, that takes time and experience before you get comfortable.

Give it time. Every new job you have this will be the feeling. There are days as an CNA, i would drive home crying because i did not want to go back the next day. I am sure i will have these days as a nurse too. My adivce would be to think about the things you have accomplished that day or focus on the things of your job that gives you joy and think about those things at home and on the way to work instead.

PMFB-RN, RN · Jul 27, 2012

Exactly why so many new nurses are chooseing to do a nurse residency when fresh out of school rather than just being thrown to the wolves after graduation. Lets face it nursing school do not prepare, or even pretend to prepare actual bedside working nurses. The univerisities in my area seem to attempting to train every grad to be a nurse manager at the expence of clinical skills & thinking.

Had you ellected to do a nurse residency you would only now be graduating, or preparing to graduate from the residency (most are 6-12 months long).

markkuss · Jul 27, 2012

brandonlpn
why does nursing school do such a horrible job of preparing students for what nursing is really like? i feel like new grads actually have to be untaught all the bs they learned in school. oh, they teach the skills, yes, but they also lead students to believe thay will have time to focus on each pt as if they had only 2or 3 pts to deal with. why don't nursing instructors tell the students the reality of the job??

i wholly agree with you!

it was like that when i was taking cna classes, and then i went on working for a nursing home with 8 rooms having 2-3 patients in each, in my care. and from what i've seen around, my case was a hopeful one!!! :)

now i'm in lpn school, and again the same story...

sure, the teachers have always told us that things will be different on the floor, that we'll need to be good at prioritizing, that we'll need to learn to work faster, and so on... but there's a huge disagreement between words and reality!

instead of slamming on med personnel cutting corners in their routine, they'd better devise ways in which one could safely implement time saving adjustments.

maybe the state needs to pass regulations towards a smarter ratio of nurses/patients.

markkuss · Jul 27, 2012

12:12 pm by
been there,done that

quote from mn-nurse
it's called paying your dues. pony up, baby! you'll get that caring job you want, but you have to dig a few ditches first.

what, you wanted the whole dream laid at your feet 7 months in?
sheesh,,, munch much?]

fakebee
been there done that i'm totally serious when i ask this-do you consider mn-rns reply to be a case of nurses eating their young and/or an example of bullying?

to be fair, there's too little info here to tell us whether mn-nurse's bulling or just giving a fair advice. it's hard to see with written messages what mood she's been while writing it.

although my initial reaction was of a puzzlement at how stern it's tone is, after rereading i felt she was just trying to cheer 'lohern'

on the other hand, being a nurse i'd have expected 'mn-nurse' to anticipate how her message might be taken.

that's what smileys are for anyway.