atxgirly

Also, I am not the same person I was 2 years ago as a brand new nurse. I was full of energy and ready to serve others, wanted to participate in committees on the unit, and full of high hopes as being a new nurse. Now, I am nowhere on that same wave length. I def need to seek therapy. Haha. But, If I were to quit without having another job lined up, that would be a disruption in income. I've been applying to several jobs a week but the job market is tough even for experienced nurses.

I totally get what you're saying. I will do some reflecting and maybe it is an attitude that I've developed over the last 2 years that has just stuck with me. I'm not sure. I always try to be warm and friendly even if I'm not feeling that way.

Hi all, I came on here to partially vent and also to gain some perspective from others who have been in a similar situation as I have. I have been working on a general Peds floor at a hospital for the last 2 years and I am at my breaking point both physically, mentally, and emotionally. I had a very rough first year between coworkers, playing favorites by management, and starting off on day shift as a new grad. Between all of that, I have had a few very minor incidents that have started a paper trail on me that has never been forgotten about even if these incidents happened almost 1.5 years ago. Some of these minor incidents include- not having an order to d/c a foley 1 hr after an epidural was removed (who would know that as a brand new nurse) and not removing it before the oncoming shift, not "knowing how to use a pulse ox" (which is completely fabricated and untrue), asking my charge nurse/supervisor what to do when my patient has a chest tube and started having SOB after being disconnected for 5 min to go to the bathroom (OK per orders), connecting the wrong color filter tubing to TPN & forgetting the claves (my mistake), among many other ERS's that have lead my management team to believe that I lack the critical thinking necessary to do my job. In her words, "I can't teach critical thinking". None of the ERS's have been related to medication errors or serious patient safety concerns. I was a brand new nurse that lacked experience. I was bullied by a lot of day shift nurses who gossiped about me when asking Q's ("shouldn't she know that by now".... *eye roll*; made comments about my appearance, giving me the worst shifts, etc.), and bullied by one supervisor who seemed to have it out for me. All of this created an environment of hostility and feeling inferior/afraid to ask questions for fear of getting another write up or email explaining why I lacked critical thinking skills to my manager. After a 1.5 years of being on day shift I was basically told that I need to go to nights or they would let me go. I ended up going to nights for about 5 months and after a meeting today with management, I was told that my file was going to be sent to HR from all of the previous incident reports & complaints from parents. We reviewed the recent complaints, and I had a mom write a very long social media review to the hospital about me specifically and a patient rep got in touch with my manager, who then got in touch with me. The complaint was absolutely ridiculous and in no way was I an unsafe or incompetent nurse. I was completely blindsided by this negative review because the mom didn't seem upset or bothered by anything that night and never asked to speak with my charge. Another parent complained about me leaving trash at the bedside, pushing toradol too fast (I had a NS flush that was pushed faster than toradol) not emptying the urine overnight (which I did), and being disorganized (whatever that means). All to say that parents clearly don't speak up during my shift but can me to my managers and I then have to answer for it. Some parents have an entitlement attitude and think they can tell me how to do my job when I am the RN. I am getting sick and tired of the backstabbing from other coworkers, management playing favorites, other nurses who are not held accountable for their actions OR not held to the same standard as I am, parents who demand everything be given to them on a silver platter when I am neck deep in an assignment that requires 100% of my attention and focus because anything could go wrong at any point, and parents who will come find me on the unit/med room to tell me they need blankets or pain meds for their child. I get it, you want what's best for your child, but I am prone to error if I have a million distractions that take away from my attention on a higher acuity kid. I am tired of management never having my side when a parent complains about something. It's their word against mine. Always. I was basically told today that my file will be sent to HR and I could be let go in a few days. I am literally so done with everything and I want out of nursing. I have been applying to jobs since last July but because of the pandemic, it's been a tough market to find yourself in. I would really appreciate some advice/ perspective. Thank you for reading this.

Hi everyone! Typical new nurse rant here, just wanted to share my experience/concerns and just rant a little... I've been a nurse now for 10 months, and off orientation for about 7. I'm having a difficult time fitting in with my coworkers and it's been a challenge to even make conversation with most of them. I was put on days and I feel like most of the nurses are experienced and have been around for at least a couple of years (3-5 ish). I am 1 of 2 newbies on days and something just feels totally off. I've tried for the past several months to engage my coworkers and get to know them a little better, but I always get short responses and/or a lack of response. I'm the type of person that acknowledges people if I pass by them or walk into a room and just ask how they're doing! I'm generally friendly and open to conversation, but I don't feel like it's received well by other nurses. I find it really difficult to ask Qs sometimes, and it pushes me out of my comfort zone to ask the charge nurses to help me if I'm slammed with new orders or admission/discharges. They always make excuses as to why they can't help with vitals if we have no CA, or talking to an upset parent, helping me with whatever I may need. I'm always getting assigned the most admits/discharges while the rest of them sit around chit chatting all shift, taking an hour long lunch break, etc. Whenever they're gathered around the charge's office or in the break room and I walk by, they all look at me and get really quiet. I sometimes will leave the break room if they're all eating lunch together bc it's so unbearable at this point. Also, they are always throwing lake parties with half of the other nurses, taking ski trips, going out, etc and never have I once been invited. Some will even call out sick on days they're having a day party because they really want to go, which means more pts for the rest of us:-) I'm just really frustrated bc my other cohort that is on nights is LOVING their work environment. They are all super close and love to hang out together after work. I just feel lost/why the hell did I get myself into this career because I literally have NO support from most nurses at work. I feel excluded and they treat me like I don't belong. However, I do like a few people, so when I do get to work with them, I feel much more at ease. But for the most part, I feel like an outcast.

Hey guys! I'm a new grad RN at a pediatric hospital and I recently had a situation arise with a patient and their family and looking back I'm trying to think about what I could've handled the situation better. I just received report on all of my patients, organized my brain, planned out my shift, etc. The night shift nurse told me there was a big ordeal about her son not getting the pain medicine mom was requesting overnight because they switched him off Toradol since it's damaging to the kidneys, and instead had tons of other options for narcotics or regular meds PRN. The attending was called into the pt's room at 3:00 am because mom was furious that we couldn't give a certain medication. So, during BSSR at 7am mom was complaining about how terrible the docs were, the nurse wouldn't give her son any pain medicine, etc. I rolled in the COW into their room and went over allll morning meds (she refuses half of them, but requests almost every PRN pain med on board). She kept throwing every nurse and doctor under the bus and said she wanted to speak with a patient rep to complain. Sure, no prob. We get them involved. Our charge nurses were made aware of the situation and tried to remedy it. Anyways, she was requesting Dilaudid at 7:30 am while I had the MAR pulled up, and I said, "mom I can try to see if he will take Norco first because the order says to only take Dilaudid if not able to take PO, etc. It will pretty much knock him out. Can we try Valium or something else?" Mom snapped at me and said, "this is the exact problem we had last night. I would like to speak with the doctors. Bring them in now!" I said, sure I will text them and let them know so they will speak with you about this during rounds this am." I let them know via text and they said to go ahead and just give it because she was demanding it allll night and wouldn't take no for an answer. So, I go draw it up in the med room and I hear mom come out in the hallway and started complaining about me to another nurse saying, "my nurse is taking forever to get his meds and my son is in excruciating pain. I'm tired of waiting for her. What's taking so long?" I poke my head out and said "ma'am, I'm drawing up his meds right now I will be in there in just a sec". I go in the room and ask the son, "how's your pain doing? Is it better or worse?" He said he feels fine. But mom was freaking out and over exaggerating. Then mom asked if we could change the orders from PRN Zofran 4 mg q4 to 8mg q4. I let the docs know and they said they couldn't even order it if they wanted to because pharmacy wouldn't let them overdose. They talked to her about it and she said she never asked for that much zofran, so the docs snapped at me and I told them she did the same thing to night shift. Sure enough, I checked the clinician notification and the night nurse contacted the docs about the exact same requests she had with me that day. Zofran 8mg q4 and Dilaudid instead of PRN Norco. This mom lied to get me in trouble and could possibly have jeopardized my license by overriding orders and demanding I give her son the strongest pain medicine we have when it isn't scheduled and it's used as a last resort med. I've had this family for 2 days in a row and she does not respect my time or understand that I have other patients that I care for. I spend a minimum of 1.5 hr at a time in his room doing total care. This lady is crazy and I'm having nightmares about the whole ordeal. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Hi, My response will probably different than others, but I just wanted to let you know that almost everyone goes through some BS in school, as you've pointed out. Once you're in a new grad program, the "rules" become way more relaxed as long as you are providing the best, safe patient care. Everyone "nurses" differently. Some take more notes than others, it's all a personal preference. Once you're working with a preceptor, you will find your work flow and there is more trust and mutual respect (on my unit anyway), and there is no time for petty complaints. Keep your head down and get through nursing school. The grass is actually greener on the other side and you'll soon forget the misery of nursing school!

Graduating in April with my BSN

Yes! Dell Children's surgical trauma and Pedi ED!

I went to the open house today and it was pretty hectic. So many people applying from all over the place. Hopefully I'll get a call soon!