DogWalk

I wish I would have more time to write now... (I try later on) but all I say now that wherever you end up to, try to get a job from a teaching hospital. Not a smaller community hospital, as my experience (as a foreign nurse from Scandinavia) is that it was far easier to work in a University hospital than in the current (smaller) one. I'm glad my first job was at a well-known large teaching hospital, where it was easier to learn stuff I needed. I have to pm you more about stuff when I get a chance!!:)

It's been a while I posted this, but I wanna thanks for all the replies I got! Thanks for the encouragament--actually something happened and I'm on my way (hopefully) to more stress-free life now:). I talked to my manager and told what's going on. He was very supportive and understood me. He said he'd look for something else in the hospital and found me a part-time job in rehab unit. I got a call today from recruitment and now it's official that I got the job (I interviewed in rehab last week). I will let my body rest for a while (part-time, although the orientation will be full-time, but still) and after I feel I'm "back on my feet", I can ask to go full-time. They have 8-hr shifts so my days won't be as exhausting and the pace is slower than in my current unit which is ortho/gen.surg. (the floor is extremely, extremely hectic). I'm so happy things went this way and I can start enjoying life again--I hope the stress symptoms subside over time. Like I said, I have symptoms all the time nowadays--palpitations, fast heart rate, shortness of breath, anxiety, tearfulness and so on. Anyways, thanks guys for encouragement!! :redpinkhe. You are great!

Thanks guys for your replies so far:). I've thought about the same things... I just talked to my boyfriend, the very exact thing: "life's too short to be this miserable". I am sure not everyone on the floor is as miserable as I am--but I know more than one nurse have had problems and stress. And many DO stay there very late. Some nurses just somehow bear with it... I have no idea how. I guess they just get used to it or something. I just don't WANT to get used to being what I am now and I don't think it would improve a whole lot on the long run. I am gonna have guts to do something about it and try to find something else...if not trying to stay there half-time (we won't stay in this city for more than 1,5 years the longest anyway, that 1 to 1,5 years just seems too much now to bear with the job for at least full-time). By the way, what is a good "reason" to tell your new employer why did you leave your latest job? I would not tell I was so stressed out (thank goodness I have that almost 3 years in the large teaching hospital under my belt before the current job!). I was thinking if you can say "I want to provide safe, quality nursing care for my patients and felt I was not able to do that". Is that a bad thing to say? About skills... that is a good one, but the new job might be in a smaller place and I would not necessarily have "new skills" to deal with so that one might sound weird to say. I really appreciate your opinions! More opinions are always welcome!:)

I'm looking for opinions and maybe just plain sympathy... I feel like my life has changed to the worse since I started my new job a few weeks ago. Sounds dramatic, maybe I'm exaggerating as I still have a wonderful spouse and I am happy in life in general...but I'm just so very stressed out with my new job. So, this is my situation at the moment: I've been a nurse for over 9 years now. I'm a foreign nurse and had a job (my first one in the USA) in a large, well-known and respected university teaching hospital. I worked there for a bit less than 3 years. I left my job for being able to move in with my boyfriend (I was too far away from my old job and the commute would had been too much). I found another job on a very, very busy surgical (ortho) unit. I started in July and will get out of orientation very soon. The thing is that despite of having been a nurse for years, and having dealt with very busy shifts in my old job, I feel like my new job is a handful. I'm not a new grad, not new to nursing...and still I am so stressed out I've never experienced anything like this, even though I well know what stress is (I've had bad insomnia and physical symptoms from stress before, stress caused by some personal issues). Now, however, it's become so bad, after a long time of being calm and de-stressed, that I've lost my sleep again, get hormonal pimples, feel anxious about going to work, have palpitations and feel like it's hard to breathe... I even had my first anxiety attack ever a while ago. I've never had symptoms like this before! Never, in my old job, did I dread to go to work and feel so overwhelmed after my shifts that I cry when I get home. Now I've done that too, a few times. I came home last Friday and all I could do was cry my eyes out. This is so not like me at all. Thank goodness I have the most supportive and loving boyfriend I live with!! :) I've tried to think about this; what is so different with my new job? The new unit I work at is extremely hectic. I used to do nights in my old job, and now do days. I know days are more busy, and I know I'm also quite new on the floor, but then on the other hand there are nurses who've been there for years and they stay overtime, way past the shift has ended. Often nurses stay until 8pm, even 9pm or longer when you officially can clock out at 7:15pm. There are a lot of discharges and a lot of admissions. I have a looooot more charting than in my new job. The charting is electronic, although we still have a lot of old-fashioned paperwork too. We have to do notes on patients every few hours, the admission paperwork takes at least 25-30 mins to complete and if you get, say, 3-4 admissions, it's so much work you never get out on time. If the patients have anything "extra", such as transfusions or dressing changes, you really work your butt off. I've never felt I'm lazy, I know I am not, and I DID run my butt off in my old jon. Now everything just feels very chaotic, too overwhelming... I feel I can't provide safe nursing care and I feel I can make a mistake at any time. I run on the floor, my heart racing, I wolf down my food as fast as I can...and my heart doesn't stop galloping and I have to concentrate on getting enough air in my lungs. There is no a real space for preparing your meds. We have little computer carts on aisles where we sit and where we f.example prepare injectable meds. No real nurses' station with supplies handy. If I need one little thing, such as a saline flush, I have to run and get it from a supply room. For a syringe I'd run to another room. It's kind of chaotic and I feel things are not as organized as they could be. I feel I have no time to really concentrate on what's going on with my patients, as I'm too busy making sure my charting is up-to-date and being on top of getting my discharges done. I've been with a preceptor, although a couple of times I didn't have one (they think I'm ok, not being a new grad). The whole orientation is less prepared and not as well organized as in my previous job. I know I was pampered in that university hospital, having all the interns on call available and orders written on computer... (now I have to try to read MDs' handwriting and mess with a handful of paperwork that overwhelms me). Still...I am a hardworking person and despite of having been pampered, I'm not trying to be snooty and ridicule the system they have in my current job. The floor IS busy and everyone says it really is. There are nurses who are very tired, one nurse had to get therapy after she started and one is always so tired on her days off she has no energy to do much anything when she's off. And as I told, I often (many others too) don't get out on time and get home dead tired, overwhelmed and in the edge of tears at 9pm. Sorry for the long rant... Basically I just feel unsafe working on this floor. It's not a small hospital in the middle of nowhere, it's around 700-bed one and they're trying to brush up their image and trying to get a magnet status (some people says the're not close getting it). I wonder, if I'm this stressed out now, this busy, WITH a preceptor, how busy will I be when I'm on my own in a few days? My life has started circulating around my job and I have trouble unwinding on my days off. I even had to get sleeping pills from my doctor as after starting on floor I stopped sleeping at nights. How long have you, who have experienced something similar, stuck around and made a decision to look for something else? If I was a new grad, if I didn't know better and if I was younger (I'm in my early to mid-30's), I might stick around as it would propably be the overwhelm of a new career etc. But now...I've already seen what nursing can be, I've already worked on a busy ortho floor before (and have been busy in my home coutry before moving to the USA). This level of stress is just so different what I've had before! An d I really don't feel safe anymore. I don't want to get in trouble for forgetting something with my patients as I'm so busy I can't even think of my own name and all I do is run around, my heart palpating fast and my chest tight. . I've half made a decision to look for something else, I guess I just need some encouragement and some similar experiences and stories from you who've been in a same kind of a situation. I think I could try to ask to go half time, or get another job altogether. Money is not the issue (half time would be okay, or less paying job), all I want is to work so that I'm not under this tremendous stress. Thanks for reading trough this long vent... Tell me your experiences, recommendations, whatever!! I guess I just needed to get this out of my chest.:redpinkhe

Hi all, I relocated to Fayetteville to live with my dear Ft. Bragg-based boyfriend :redbeathe and got a job on a surgical unit in Cape Fear Valley Hospital, will start later on this summer. I've never worked in this hospital before and I'm just plain curious to hear opinions about it--anything you could share is appreciated:). I have read a couple of posts here and someone said the management was poor...I've also heard divided opinions from people--anything from poor to wonderful. I haven't read any very recent opinions, so I don't really know much. I think they've revised their management lately and try to achieve the Magnet status (or could I be wrong?? I think someone told me this!) Some people say I'm downgrading a lot as I leave my job in a trauma level-1 University Hospital and "Cape Fear is not that good" etc etc. but to me it's more important to be able to live with my boyfriend and it's still just a job. I'm happy I don't have a long commute and happy I will have a job in general! I'm just very curious how do people--especially nurses who actually work there--find this hospital. How do you find their benefits? What specialty do you work at? I will be working on ortho/gen. surg. Thanks! Any input appreciated!

I was wondering about this thing... I gave my current job a month notice of resignation. Now, during this 30-day period, I had to call out for one shift due to migraine. I was told that I should not take any PTO during this last month, which I never wanted to do as it would make me non-eligible for re-hire and would prevent me getting the unused PTO time as money in my last paycheck. Well, now I heard something about this callout, something that it might be bad for me somehow. I am gonna talk with the manager as soon as I can... I already wrote in the adjustment book "No PTO" for that day of the callout. I never wanted any PTO for that day, just an unpaid day off! And I am willing to do an extra shift if required to cover that callout shift. Could they really take off my unused PTO money and mark me not eligible for re-hire just because I called out for one day during my last month in my job? If so, it is so ridiculous! Please tell me I'm wrong and there is some humanity in this world.... As I said, I will talk to the NM as soon as I can...

MrsCleverclogs: I agree about the language. I'm not native in English myself, but don't have a heavy accent and feel I'm able to communicate fluently (have learnt English since I was 10.) I know there are some "slang words" and abbreviations which may be alien to me, but I'm absorbing new words and am willing to learn. Anyhow, being able to communicate sufficiently is a definite must!

As a foreign nurse (from Northern Europe) who is about to start working in a big University Hospital soon, I'm interested in knowing how are international nurses generally welcomed in American hospitals. Of course it depends on the hospital, unit and the international nurses's own personality must have some infuence in it too. But...how do you American nurses see a foreign nurse? Are they generally welcomed or seen as a threat etc.? What is your own opinion or the trend in your workplace? Do you have a lot of international nurses in your workplace and if yes, where do they come from? I'm very excited to start working soon, but also a little nervous about the new working culture, how will people welcome me, how fast will I learn new things etc... As far as I'm concerned, the behavior of these nurses described in the first post, who've threatened to leave, is inappropriate and very low. I would feel terrible, as one of those Indian nurses, if I knew there were people who wouldn't want me there. It's stressful enough to learn new things, get to know new collegues and speak foreign language... no one would want someone to dislike you in addition to the already existing stress. I feel sorry for these nurses and hope they wouldn't be shown any bad feelings in front of their faces. Of course personalities can clash, but there shouldn't be prejudices before evn meeting these people. I have worked with a few LPN's and nurses from abroad in my home country, and there were bad ones and great ones. Just like in my fellow countrymen/women. But I would never judge someone by only their nationality. What, by the way, means "clannish"? I googled and got 2 options, either "snobby" or "clinging together". In my case, I won't propably make "clans" with other international (from a different country from mine) nurses, as there are none in my future unit. In the same hospital yes, though.:wink2:

Thank you both :) SueIP, I'm living in NC. I'm sure this board will be very helpful and I'll learn a lot from here!

Hi all, just wanted to say hi as I'm propably gonna spend some time in this board after finding out I'm gonna start working in orthopedics soon! I'm an internationally educated nurse (Scandinavian) and transitioned to the US a few months ago to do nursing. I have been an RN for 5,5 years now, with one year in ortho. I will start working soon in a large, nationally- and internationally-known teaching Hospital in the East Coast. Very excited, little nervous, but happy too:) I just saw the thread about good ortho books, as I want to get one before I start working. I assume it's a good idea to join the NAON and possibly get a book with a discount there...? Any other international nurses in the US gone to work in ortho?? Thanks for reading...:)

Thanks everyone for your good replies! I will certainly seek and find out about those options you mentioned. Thanks!:balloons:

Hi all, I'm an international nurse about to work as an RN here in the USA later on. I have already passed my NCLEX and will get a job trough a recruiting agency. I've seen threads here about managing long shifts and family/children, and my question is sort of similar....just concerning pets, more specifically dogs. I have 2 dogs and I'm wondering how do you single people with dogs manage long shifts? I don't yet know how will my shifts be (8-hr, or 12-hr), but assuming I'd do 12-hr shifts, I assume my dogs would spend slightly too long on their own. Taking into consideration I might have to spend some time on travelling to work, it might be something like 13 hrs together. Luckily, if doing 12-hr shifts, you'd get more time off a week and would have full days off with your dogs. If there's anyone like me, do you just leave your dog/s at home, or have you ever done anything such as day care or something like that... In my home country, the norm was 8-hr shifts, except for the night shift which was 10 hrs (from 9.15pm till 7.15am.) They did okay when I did occassional nights, so I GUESS 12 hr would be okay too...(I hope). Any opinions, advice... Anyone in the "same boat"? :)