pep talk please thanks

[goldieRN]

I'm in a med/surg floor 5-6 pts typically in their 80's. Granted it's night time, but nearly everyone is confused/fall risk and just ahh. 3 months into working off orientation/5 months total and i still feel so incompetent. I feel like dayshift nurses hate me and just talk about me and how much I didn't do or missed. I'm not a social butterfly. I can't make them laugh during report or ease the tension. I just give them what I know and do the best that I can. But now I'm re-evaluating how I give report because I feel like I hardly know anything about my patients when dayshift starts asking me numerous questions. Ughh and the doctors.. Even though I try my best to find out what I can during the night by morning I still feel like I know nothing. I want to talk to my patients more, but where do you find the time really? Right now 2 and 2 just don't go together yet. Will this get better? I'm nearing my 6 month mark and I thought I had it a couple of weeks ago. I was getting slightly more comfortable. But then lately it's been so busy that I miss some things or don't get to complete my tasks. Is it because it's winter? I feel so useless sometimes. I feel like I'm only sustaining them until the morning. I dread work. I cry and can't sleep in the morning because I know I have to go in. And I feel like no one understands. My family tells me that no job is easy. Yeah, sure but I just want to do something I love to do. And I thought this was it. I feel for my patient's. I answer their call lights, but when it's only to get them to and from the commode my mind starts racing about how much stuff I need to get done! Especially when they call all at once ahhh! And then you have the patients that think you're their private nurse and you have no other patients but them.... I really really don't want to go to work. I'm blessed to have this job I know, but I wish I loved it too. Not only that, but I feel like I have no one to relate to on my floor.......

[iloveny68]

I'm a dayshift nurse on a med/surg floor, and have been off orientation since Jan. 1. I feel the same way you do. The exact same things go through my mind, and I feel like the night shift nurse that follows me dreads it. I am trying to comfort myself with the fact that most all nurses have started out the way we have - no one comes out of the box knowing everything, giving flawless report, etc. I am on my feet running my whole shift with maybe 10 minutes to eat lunch and pee - so if something doesn't get done, it's not that I'm lazy. Slow, maybe, less experienced, yes - but not lazy. I have been told that it will get better. Maybe not at 6 months, maybe not at 1 year. I have been told by our unit educator that it took her two years to get over the dread she felt each morning coming into work. Hang in there! You're not alone!

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

hang in there for no other reason but to no longer be a new grad! continue to gain work experience. with work experience, your time management will improve and so will your ability to recall important patient information and needs.

yes, it gets better!!! to build your nursing skills, focus your shifts on one goal per week and try to accomplish that one goal. once accomplished, reward yourself and set another goal for your nursing. i found this to help my time go by faster working on terrible floors and it improved my nursing skills. not to mention, it began to increase my confidence in my nursing abilities. lord knows that i did not gain any confidence from co-workers! speaking of bad co-workers, start applying to other facilities that you know will be a better fit (i call this application therapy).

by the way, i too work in a horrible department. however, since i did not quit the second week i started (like i wanted too), i gained the necessary work experience to leave for a better facility that will actually allow me the opportunities to become the type of nurse i want to be! in fact, i was able to filter out bad work environments due to formerly working on bad floors. gl!

[orangepink, NP]

Here's my pep talk for you:

1.) Yes, it will get better. It may take a year or more. It all depends on your drive and pace. Don't let other people intimidate you.

2.) Yes, you cannot f@rt in your unit without other people knowing about it. Get used to it.

3.) Yes, they will repeatedly state your faults more than your accomplishments. Get used to it. "Remember last year when you plugged in the wrong dose for that IV?"

4. )Whenever I met these annoying people who do nothing but backstabb, gossip, pull you down and get away with everything, I just silently hope that they get a flat tire on the drive back home hehehe

[Gypsy Moon]

Ha, ha, ha. I see this was posted seven years ago and I wonder if you are still a nurse. I have been a nurse for almost 10 years in med/surg. We have some positive things about our job. But it is usually a very hard job. I cope by working an non- benefited position on a part-time basis. But then again, I can afford to with all of the experience I bring to the table and my education level, my pay is generous.

This morning I was saying to myself, "Don't worry, you will be fine. If they put you on call or don't. If people are mean to you. If the patients are crazy. If they give you six patients and everything is understaffed."

I am pretty good at my job now and take my lunch and my breaks. I try not to take anything personally. I try not to care too much. I recognize that my environment creates stress and trauma to myself and everyone around me and to cut everyone a little bit of slack. I always try my best to be completely professional no matter what BS is being flung in my direction and no matter by whom. I just keep trying to do the impossible and live up to impossible expectations in an impossible environment with impossible situations. I fail every day.

I had trauma therapy for a year to achieve this attitude and I would not hesitate to go back to a PTSD specialist if I found myself not coping. But I can not work full time, I am a healer, a giver, and my life force is drained leaving me exhausted every day.

God himself holds me up.