mchrisrn

Hi All I have been a Med-Surg Telemetry RN for 30 years, mostly part-time. I have been trying for almost a year to find a job outside of the hospital. I have been unsuccessful. I am a good nurse who is just too tired of being run ragged and expected to go without a break for 13-14 hours. I am tired of giving marginal care even when Im going as fast as I possibly can. If someone else tells me to "make time" I will explode. I am becoming extremely depressed and can't even do anything on my days off b/c all I think of is having to go back to work on my next day. Our floor is losing almost half of our staff AND theyre trying to introduce EPIC computer training. I will be having 8 patients, we have a few ventilator and trach patients also, with maybe a pca if I'm lucky on day shift. Have any of you quit with 20 years at one hospital? I dont even want to give thre required 3 weeks notice. I am 50 years old. If you quit, do you lose all your pension? Do I even get a pension if I quit at age 50? I also carry insurance for my husband, college age son and myself. If anyone else has or is in my position, can you please post your experience? Thanks, Mary

In our hospital you cant refuse an assignment..they say it would be patient abandonment. If you DO refuse, I'm sure you would be fired and as I have worked there for almost 30 years, I would probably never get another job b/c they would not give me a reference, even though i have an excellent record and have always had great reviews. One time I went to my head nurse and complained about a dangerous assignment I had and she responded that "In nursing, Mary, we all have to decide when it's just too much for us". So in conclusion, that was 10 years ago, and I figured I either do it or quit, it's as simple as that. If I quit, I lose a lot of money in pension, I carry the hospitalization for my husband and my college age son. We have lost 4 full time RN's and 3 part time RN's in 1 month, and I've been looking for a job for almost a year now. No one from administration is even addressing the loss of staff or questioning why it's happening. They continue to put "stable?" ventilator patients on our medical telemetry unit and also give us 5-7 other patients. Our head nurse has had NO communication with us about loss of staff. When a new hire comes in, takes about 1-2 months to orient some of them, then they leave in 2-6 months. I've given up trying to change anything. One nurse got called in to her manager b/c a patients family complained that the "nurse looked to busy, you must need more help"...The manager told the nurse that "in the future you are never to LOOK busy even if you are". That nurse took a job in case management where she was also overworked and retired early. Another nurse was called in to her manager and told there was a family complaint that the nurse didn't "dote on her mother' enough. This is the mentality we're dealing with. There ARE NO OTHER NURSES TO call in. I realize ALL professions seem to be like this...they squeeze every last drop out of you and after 30 years, I still cant sleep the night before I work or the night after AND IM ONLY PART TIME! I cant imagine having a family, kids, parents with needs AND working full-time in our facility. Anyway, I dont feel they'll ever change, they just wait for new grads who will stick it out for awhile and leave. ............I wish I had some ideas to change things but nothing I've tried has worked..................................

Wow!..I'm glad I talked to you. (NOT that they would ever call me anyway!) I will definitely not get involved in that. Thank you SO much for posting. I have been a RN for THIRTY years and have been looking for a job outside the hospital for almost a year now and cant even get anyone to CALL me or show a shred of interest. I ALMOST got a cardiac rehab job, it was between me and another RN who ALREADY knew the program and worked there prn but they werent sure her department head of the other dept she worked in would give her the time that the rehab position needed. But of course they did so my interview, and a day spent observing classes was basically a waste of time...why wouldnt you find out FIRST if the dept head would be flexible BEFORE you posted a job ad? Oh well..I'll probably die in the hospital and SOONER rather than later. But good luck to you and congratulations on your Legal Consultant status! Thanks again for the heads up!

Hi jlasrrn..i had applied for a position there! No one ever even called me. I am not totally computer savvy. Could you share your experience at all? I had applied for a "analyst-work-at home" position involving a couple months on-site training. The job was inactive about a month ago and now has been re-posted as active in early September! Thanks for any info..I am very curious................

Many of our patients and families could NEVER wait ONE HOUR!!!!..They expect every 15 minutes or they or their "loved one" are being ignored. If I would only check in every hour they would probably say "where have you been...we thought you left!"

Hi all, I have an interview for a part time cardiac rehab position next week. It is a job I really want. I have no college degrees, I've been a med-surg nurse who graduated with a RN diploma about 30 yrs ago. I have kept ACLS certification current though I rarely use it b/c my goal is to PREVENT "codes". What would you seasoned cardiac rehab nurses look for in a member of your staff. What would be good to review/learn? The job has been removed from its advertising website so I am afraid they have found someone else. Thank you for any information. Mary

earle58..I had done some online research in home health and many home health workers say they are overloaded with paperwork. The other thing that holds me back is worry about the neighborhoods youre sent into?..and of course driving all over in our winters here..I'm not the best winter driving..I guess I had my heart set on research, or some kind of diabetic or cardiac teaching since I so enjoy teaching patients but cant find enough time. If I didnt need the family hospitalization I would have already "walked away"..I know there are worse jobs, and sometimes I feel I complain too much...I try to keep myself strong and fit so I can do this 10 or more years more...but I dont know!!...plus I work with other nurses, 55-60 who take more breaks and "cant lift b/c of (fill in the blank)..and just "have to sit down"...they hide when a transporter comes back with a heavy patient and needs help!...If youve had a positive experience in home health..let me know..

I too am totally burnt out...for all the above reasons and more..i have posted this many times on this website. After almost 30 yrs at my hospital, I have my "termination" letter ready, and called my clinical manager three times to ask if she"d have a few minutes for me...she never answered the phone so I just never handed it in. I spent a whole week crying, depressed, b/c I cant find another job that I think would be better. I have applied for 4 or 5 jobs but havent heard from any. I dont have a bachelors degree and dont know a lot about word or excell. If I quit without another job lined up, I lose hospitalization for myself, husband and one of our kids. So I'll continue on b/c theres nothing else I know how to do. A BSN would take at least 2 yrs and 20000 bucks which I cant really afford with 2 in college now. I applied for research, cardiac rehab nurse, CHF clinic assistant manager....nothing. I guess 30 yrs of med-surg bedside nursing qualifies you for nothing more than more bedside nursing..........

I have been a "bedside nurse" for almost 30 years now. I have to go so fast at work sometimes that I get chest pains also. It takes at least 24 hours to "get over" a 12 (14) hour shift, much less 2 in a row. I work med-surg. The patients arent even dying or anything (usually) but even when theyre NOT "going bad", theyre getting blood, in pain, short of breath, throwing up, 3 admissions at once from er, constantly needing cleaned, and no PCAs. I have been looking for a "non-clinical" job for almost a year. Almost got a research job but I believe they found someone younger or with more degrees. It isnt as easy as you all say it seems, to find a non-clinical job. Even in my own hospital, they want a BSN, or experience, which you cant get if they wont hire you. I have a diploma only and am trying to avoid BSN school b/c of our kids college tuitions right now. Have you found insurance companies to work for that give you good hospitalization? I carry the hospitalization for my family b/c of my husbands job. Have you found insurance or other companies where you dont need a BSN? Do you think employers dont want to hire such an OLD nurse?? Good Luck all with your siutations. After 30 years in nursing I still can't sleep the night before my shift and am nervous about what could happen and how short-staffed we will be the next day!

I guess you didnt "hear" me...You said, "if you dont get breaks speak up"..I said I dont CARE about breaks. Havent had breaks now for 20 some years. I said I do care about a 30 minute lunch, not for an 8 hour shift, but for a 12-14 hour shift. Also, I said I HAD "spoken up" MANY times but that DOESNT WORK! And I said we're NOT COMPLAINING about cleaning poop, just complaining that patients are WAITING TOO LONG to be cleaned. So I didnt say i dont recommend nursing but I was trying to paint a realistic view of the problems it has and that its NOT EASY TO CHANGE. If you student nurses are going to just say "smile its a great profession"..and NOT realize that theres something definitely wrong when instead of having 3 or 4 patients in school, you get out and have 12 by yourself with maybe a pca, and you think youre going to HELP them all, then go for it!...I'm not saying nurses dont help people and families..just that in certain hospital settings, theres not enough HELP to go around and HELP enough people. Ask some of the families of the patients if they feel like they are "getting helped". And if theyre NOT, they will most likely blame the nurses NOT the administration that expects miracles of the nursing staff. So if you want to hear only the rosy, we help everyone, we affect everyones life view of your future profession, I guess I've ruined it for you. Yes we NEED nurses, but I hope they will also try to advocate for MORE hospital bedside nurses allocated in their facilities budgets or fewer and fewer patients will get the HELP they need...I will stop now.

Just a few thoughts from an old "bedside nurse"...we're not complaining about cleaning poop and vomit..we're complaining b/c we CANT do it soon enough and patients have to wait too long!!....we're not complaining that its hard to turn and move people and get them to the chair when theyre 300 pounds and over...but that there's NOT ENOUGH OF US TO DO IT safely for the patients OR the staff....and many of us wanted to help people but at the end of the day, we go home only thinking of all the ones needs we COULNDT attend to b/c there wasnt time...showering, bathing, brushing teeth, take a back seat to people passing out, having chest pain, arrythmias, low bp's , SOB etc. But were complaining b/c we WANT to help people, we WANT to do it right, we KNOW what needs to be done, we would want it done for us and our families, BUT WE CANT help the people!!!..Ive cleaned up cdiff "poop" on several patients at a time many times a day..BUT I cant do it nearly as often as I like...and theres no pca's or whatevers...theres me..and if im cleaning cdiff "poop" and my wireless phone rings b/c someones in a flutter with an rvr or pat or whatever..i have to degown,deglove.leave the patient and who knows when I'll be back...and if theres no secretary, I'm answering ALL the phone calls and leaving the patients to do it...I dont think were complaining about the KIND of work we do...just that we cant do it how we think it should be done with the amount of staff we have no matter how super we are or how much time we "MAKE"...so please dont preach to me about finding a new career if we dont want to HELP people...and dont tell me its a calling from "GOD" , b/c I want to help people and I value people but it has nothing to do with GOD. Some of you act like if you dont have a "calling from GOD," you shouldnt be a nurse!!!....I dont want more pay...I want a decent amount of help so I CAN HELP people b/c that IS why I became a nurse...but most days i feel i could help people more in another profession...but you all say.."well then change professions"...this is ALL ive ever done..its all i know...so its not that easy..I DO NOT think this profession is any worse than sales, policing, fighting for our country in wars, being a lawyer, construction in high places!...waitressing, etc..i think some of us old bedside nurses are willing to work hard..i dont care so much about breaks...i do like a 30 minute lunchtime out of a 12 or 14 hour day...but were just complaining that theres not enough of us to do the job right...and WE HAVE tried to change...I was told 10 years ago, when I complained that the staffing situation was unsafe..and gave several examples of how patients almost died b/c of inadequate attention...i was told that " we all have to decide when to get out...when we cant do it anymore!)..that was the final straw..now ive tried to speak up and i dont even get to finish my sentence if my head nurse even senses its about staffing....so i gave up...i just do my best but its just not good enough.....................

Its great and amazing that you did that..I mean got your bsn, however, I am 50 yrs old..two kids in college with tuition very high, one is done now. We get 500 dollars a year tuition re-imbursement. I have parents and a mother-in-law who need help and have many medical issues. It would cost me 20000-40000 dollars for my bsn degree depending on the college. I DONT make that much money as I choose to be part time at the hospital b/c it is so stressful. I work prn at a GI lab also. You say ya gotta want it. But I DONT want it....and I dont want to pay that much money when I'm already paying two tuitions, and I dont want to spend more time with medicine and nursing. There are other things in life. I have neices, nephews, my own kids, my husband who I want to spend time with. Its great that you work 4 10 hour shifts, 2 12 hour shifts ..but truly, if I worked 10 hours at a dialysis center then 12 hours at a hospital, I would not feel safe at my hospital with the assignments we have and it wouldnt be worth me making an error or omission and harming a patient while trying to "higher my education". Im not saying its not do-able..and if my institution payed for more of it, and if and if...then maybe. But I dont feel I NEED it and hope to retire in 12 more years so I'm not sure by the time I finished, if it would even be worth all the work, time and money!! I'm not against bsn for entry but only if those who are already RN's are grandfathered. I take many continuing ed courses, read many current nursing journals, keep up my ACLS, and I dont feel a college degree would be necessary for my work. It WOULD be nice to get a job AWAY from the bedside in this day and age but when I went to nursing school, BSN's were more for management positions and I WANTED to be at the bedside with the patient. IF I could have seen the future in a crystal ball...I would have certainly chose differently!!

There are some patients who have fallen in our institution even WITH a sitter. They would fall even if you had every fifteen minute safety rounds. One pt who was an alcoholic going through d.t.s suddenly threw his legs over the side rail and before the sitter could get to him he slid to the floor. Bed monitors alarm and by the time you get in the room, the pt probably has already fallen. You cant drop one pt to run and check on another. We've had patients that we've taken to the bathroom, bathed, fed, turned tv on, left the room, and five minutes later they get up and fall. I got one patient up to the br, he was alert and oriented, I helped him sit on the toilet, he asked me to close the door as he couldnt "go" with me in the room. He had had a minor stroke and was slightly weak on the right side. I FIRMLY instructed him to call me BEFORE he got off the toilet, I stayed right outside the door, I heard a noise and opened the door, he had gotten off the toilet to wash his hands and fallen!! I felt horrible, for trusting him and he felt horrible for not listening, he wasnt hurt but could have been badly hurt. My point is just that all falls cant be prevented unless you have 1:1 for some patients (which we cant have), and even then, with agitated angry patients, it doesnt work!

on any statins? have to think of rhabdomyolysis...it seems all of these etiologies would have been thought of...lytes are probably being monitored on daily basis...cardiac enzymes wnl??? a heart attack could cause extreme weakness...maybe a neurologic condition? polymyositis, cva, pulm embolism...good luck...let us know what you find out...make sure pt/ot consult...oh...also kidney failure from overzealous diureses sometimes seems to do it?

On-line bsn-msn etc. are great ideas but theyre not cheap..U of Phoenix is over 400 dollars a credit hour...and add to that pretty expensive textbooks...online or not you could easily be looking at 20,000 dollars to bsn from diploma rn...plus 15,000 a year for two more college tuitions..plus the 45,000 just spent on one done with college!!...my point is, at my age, 20,000 dollars just is too much money for a bsn degree...that's all ...i would love the learning...and i read every nursing journal i can get..and study things that come up at work online all the time...but at this point in my life to the end of my career...i cant see that money expenditure!!...