PLEASE tell me there is more to nursing then this.... otherwise, it's for the birds..

[Epona]

I work on a very busy general unit. I am lucky to get a lunch. It seems all I do is give meds, and clean up patients. I might hang an IV bag here and there, but that is it. Mostly all I do is give meds. (a bazillion of them), and clean up nasty floors where patients have had an accident or clean them up. I don't mind doing that (and it does need to be done), IF and I mean IF I actually got to practice my RN skills along with it. SOME REAL RN SKILLS. The assessments are rushed and sometimes I don't even get to finish them. I hardly get to talk to my pats. at all. Forget it! There is no time for it. When I do, I get a nudge to come on and go. I have tons of charting to do and that is rushed like mad as well. PLEASE tell me this is not all nursing is. :barf01: When can I use my critical thinking skills?? I am very good at talking to pats. too and have a very good bedside manner. When I do get to talk to them, I have been told by them and their family members I am excellent and the best RN they have ever had. :) I am getting my basic experience and then HOPE to move on from here. This is so disheartening. :igtsyt: I want to be a RN AND use my brain AND interact with my patients.

:tku: for listening......................

[NBMom1225]

I'm on a surgical/oncology floor with plenty of med-surg pts thrown in. I've been a nurse for a year now, and the majority of my shifts are spent as the OP described. It's actually exciting when the opportunity to utilize my critical thinking skills pops up, lol, like the other day when I had to call the physician to question an order to restart a heparin gtt...on a pt whose INR was 3.73! Now that I have a year of being an RN under my belt the critical thinking is becoming more automatic, keeping pts discharge needs, current lab results, etc in mind when checking off orders and when giving rounds report to case mgmt/SW/NP.

[whichone'spink, BSN, RN]

There's money in developing a doorway pill-launching device.

Hmmm, if I can't get a job as a new grad, that might be worth pursuing.

[eeyorelov]

I have to agree with others it might be the unit you are on. I a new grad a busy med/tele/ortho unit, but out pt ratio's are low enough were we can stop to talk to our pt a little. we are 4 to 5 pt in pod, and the atmosphere is pretty relaxed as long as you are charting your assessments and rounding. You are expected to get your tasks done, but no one is a nazi about it either. I wondering how many pt your carrying?