Ok I dont like ortho

[Sirapples]

Ive been a nurse for about 5 years, floated, done agency, rehab, tele, medsurg. But about 4 months ago I got a job on an ortho-medsurg floor. I honestly dont like it much. Not very critical and mostly manuel labor. Push meds, remove the pca's, get patients out of bed with a walker and that takes about 5 minutes. Then get them to the comode, then back to bed then pain med after. And since its a 4 bed ward, the other 3 ortho patients realize one after another they want the same.

I have no problem with the patients and Im very pleasant and curtious. I just miss telemetry and more critical med surg complications. More of a rant.

[Sirapples]

I also think what I dont like is that most of the nurses I work with ignore the call bells, ignore the iv pumps that go off, and we have only 1 cna on the floor. And since I was a cna for 5 years prior to being a nurse, I feel obligated to get thier stuff. I think if I stay here this unsatisfaction will increase

[DLS_PMHNP, MSN, RN, NP]

I'm a new grad on an ortho/neuro/trauma floor and I feel your pain. Ortho patients (like any other) can be incredibly demanding, and quite frankly, physically exhausting. Especially when you have q2hour turns, etc.

All the best,

Diane

[babe48076]

I am not a nurse, but I am a PCT. I have worked on Tele and recently started working on ortho and it is a struggle everyday as a Tech so I definitely can feel your pain as an RN. I am glad that I am getting the experience as a Tech, because I know that once I become a RN I do not want to be a ortho nurse.

[nyteshade, BSN]

I was a traveler, and worked acute rehab. Well one night, they floated me over into trauma ortho (this was a level 1 after all) and I thought no problem same type of patients just fresh post-op. Man that night, a bad accident with a building happened, I kept getting admission after admission one from ER, one from PACU, etc. Oh yeah, everyone had an almost empty PCA pump! Long story short...it kicked my butt. I like rehab, but I don't like ortho. Good post OP! Props to the ortho nurses too!

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I hate ortho as well. BO-ring!

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

now, I work ortho...and I like the routine, I like being a expert at potential complications, and fixing people after horrible car wrecks, accidnets, etc. But I also work neuro, and have detoxes and back sxs, post ICU craniotomies, etc...adds a very different element.. If all I had were just orthos, I would get bored, but the neuro and potential medicals add a welcome change from time and time....

[Tait, MSN, RN]

89 y/o hip fxs make me antsy.

Tait

[shodobe]

Maybe you should move on and stop moaning and groaning about it.

[litbitblack, ASN, RN]

Word to the wise, if you stay where your unhappy it will show and could cost you. I worked ortho,neuro, trauma, med surg. and eventually it comes down to to many things to do and not enough time or staff to do it all

[RNperdiem, RN]

I worked as a CNA in ortho for a while. It is amazing how much time a person can spend getting patients up to the chair, to the bathroom and back to bed.

A good ortho floor requires plenty of CNA's up for the work.

[newtress, LPN]

One poster mentioned something that has been happening with me also. I am brand new on this ortho/neuro floor, and these nurses who have been on this unit a long time don't answer their call lights, or respond to their patients after I go in the room and they have specifically requested "my nurse Jane or Joe so and so." I can't get any of my own work done. I don't get why I need to be tending to other's patients and doing their PCA's, total cares, IV pumps etc. I am finding that the ortho part of the patient isn't near the care involved as all the co morbidities that I am doing nursing care for. It is total care for those patients. I am disappointed and can't see myself there for the one year I promised myself to have to be a better candidate for a new job. Do I bail out now and take my chances of going to a better new grad position elsewhere to gain time, or stay there because it is a large reputable hospital and hard to get on with hospitals right now.