ExTechie

We had 4 weeks of classroom and 2 weeks on the floor with a preceptor for an extremely high acuity med-surg floor. Not nearly enough in my opinion. Should have been 2 weeks classroom and 4 weeks with a preceptor. I came off orientation kicking and screaming and complained that I needed more time...that bought me one extra day!!!!

Ok - some wonderful posts. So....my burning question is does working an extremely stressful, demanding position in nursing lend to worsening of symptoms or bring on flare-ups? If I chose a really low-key position with less stress would I actually be feeling better or am I just following the course the disease is taking??? I appreciate any opinions as we cannot give medical advice!

Karen: I am sorry to hear about your MS. I was also diagnosed during nursing school and felt like my life ended. I am 42, graduated in May/07, have two kids 19 and 22. The hardest part is not knowing what I am capable of. I was terrified to take a job and not be able to keep up and have everyone know. I really don't tell anyone that I have this - don't know whether that is right or wrong. I am 3 months into a med-surg position on an extremely high acuity floor. So far...everyone says that I am doing great and was one of the first ones (out of 10 new hires) off of orientation. I just wish I was feeling better. If I ever feel like I am putting my patients at risk, I will get out! Best of luck to you with your situation!!! Extechie

Update: I spoke with my clinical trainer (responsible for orientation) before I went to work yesterday and told her what my night before had been like and that the level of acuity is too high for me...(based on the training I have received thus far). She said she was glad I called and would look into it and would make some adjustments. When I went into work, she came up to me and apologized. She said that my assignment the night before was too much for me...I was assigned 4 level 3 patients and a fresh post-op (level 3) which was an assignment that should have gone to a more experienced nurse. (Recap...5 level 3 pts after only moving up to 5 pts on my own for a period of 3 days!!!) She said that she would give me several more days with a preceptor and she hopes that I hang in there. I am meeting with my first year clinical instructor today to get her opinion since she knows my skillset and the hospital for additional advice. I have never been a quitter and am torn between toughing it out and running!!!!! Thank you for the thoughtful advice and for your support - I sincerely appreciate it!!!

I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate your responses. Thank you so much. I need to get in the shower for work and try to decide how to proceed!!!!

Let me clarify that....two weeks of shadowing on the floor. 6 additional weeks sitting in a classroom learning about hospital policy, advance directives, paperwork stuff, policies and procecures, protocols, etc.

Desperately seeking advice. I am a new RN and started on a Med-Surg floor that is extremely high acuity and bariatric. As new orientees, were promised "hand-holding", shadowing, and "support" from charges and floor nurses to gain the skills necessary to do our jobs. Well, two weeks of shadowing, I was told I am off of orientation and on my own. I am feeling completely overwhelmed. The patients acuity is that of an ICU - I am up to 5 patients on my own. We were told we would be getting the skills to organize our time - it is almost a joke. I never made it to the bathroom, ate, drank one thing my entire shift and feel self-propelled by people needing pain meds, ivs infiltrating, pca pumps alarming, wound vac monitoring, dressing changes, new admits, antibiotics that need to be hung, TPN going up, loading feed bags, pages and pages of meds per patient, bladder scans, bp's bottoming out of going out of control, temps going up.... The acuity level of these patients is too high and two weeks training is not enough. I am walking into rooms needing skills that I don't have and I am supposed to find someone with time to show me a skill. I sought out my charge nurse 4 times yesterday for help and she said that she would get to me, she was really busy but never did so I resorted to finding other nurses. My one patients pump malfunctioned..he was critically ill, had hal, lipids, zosyn, lopresser, ringers, ns, dilaudid all hanging at the same time. I feel completely overwhelmed and not prepared to keep up, let alone do right by my patients and last, but not least, protect my license. I am having nightmares at night and wake up in the morning absolutely dreading going into work. When the alarm goes off, I think it is someone's pump beeping. Please tell me if this is expected because I am new or if I am expecting too much!!!! (I am now 3 weeks in...) BTW...I am not talking about COPD, CHF or appys like in my clinical experience. Here are some "typical" diagnosis....s/p cholecystectomy drain placement - jejunostomy, entercutaneous fistula takedown w/small bowel resection, lap nephrectomy, s/p r groin squamous cell tumor resection, enterocuaneous fistula - feculant aed, intususeption, retroperitaneal absess, s/p duodenal switch w/gastric leak, s/p anterior rectal colostomy, s/p lap sigmoidectomy, p laminectomy syndrome, s/p hemicolectomy...to name a few.

Thank you so much for the response and for posting the sites. At least now I have some actual calculations to practice. We were given one sheet but I have already memorized the answers!

Thank you so much for the replies. My contention isn't with the fact that we have to pass the math, I agree how important it is...it is the fact that we aren't given any instruction whatsoever and they keep changing the wording and look of the tests. I have only passed meds twice at clinical and I didn't have ANY dose calc to do. The pills were already in blister sealed packages. We have never gone over ANY dose calc in class and basically had to learn it on our own online. It just doesn't seem fair that they require Algebra as a prerequisite for Nursing but they don't offer a math class specifically for nursing dose calculations and we can be thrown out after 4 years of classes in a 2 year program. Do I also need to mention it is right after the cutoff so we have to pay for the entire semester if we fail? I just don't think they are giving us the tools to succeed.

I am a second year nursing student with a new Director of Nursing. She has turned the program upside down and changed everything. She instituted a policy for 2nd year nursing students that we are given a proctored dose calc, iv calc, peds calc exam with only 10 questions. We need to get a 90% or better and have two chances. If not, we are kicked out of the nursing program. None of the second year instructors agree with this policy or think that it is fair. Does this seem fair? No remediation, no help. We already went through this last year and have passed. Our math tuturing center won't help us because they say it isn't math, it's nursing. 1/3 of us failed yesterday. If we miss one day of clinical (2 days a week) we can be expelled. Do we students have any recourse for all of the money, time and effort we are expending or can they just kick us out despite good grades, excellent clinical feedback and never missing a class. Please someone respond!!!!!!

I don't agree with disclosing. I have been looking for work and the first thing a prospective employer asks for is a physical. The physical shows my diagnosis of MS and I don't receive a call. I think they would do the same with bipolar. Employers are biased and discriminate all the time!!!