KITTEN-KITTEN

I Have Been A Nurse For Many Years And Although I Am Adn There Are Positives For Bsn And Higher,but Not In The Hospital Setting. My Friend And I Started Nursing Within A Year From Each Other, Now She Is A Nurse Practioner And I Am Still A Staff Nurse. We Both Make The Same Money, I May Make More. But She Does Have More Autonomy And If She Didn't Want To Do What She Is Doing Now She Could Change Course And Do Something Else. I Enjoy Bedside Nursing And Thank God For My "good Job"everyday. There Is Such A Shortage Of Nurses In Med-surg Sector. The Workload Is High And The Rewards Not So High. Many New Nurses Leave After A Short Time Because Of This. No One Knows If You Spent 2,4,6yrs Pursuing The Education Level You Are. An Adn Hand Wipes A Butt Just S Good As A Bsn Or Msn Hand. The Good Thing Is You Can Go Do Something Else With Your Degree Or You Can Take Care Of Those Individuals That Need You Skills,compassion. And Care.

Manytimes When We Sk Our Mom's If They Would Like To Have A Lactation Specialist Help Them Breastfeed, They Say "no I Will Wait Till I Get Home Because I Don't Hav Any Milk. I'll Just Give Them A Bottle. Another Thing That Kinda Irks Me Is The Pt Calls To See The Nurse. We Always Ask Can She Bring You Anything? "no" You Get To The Room And They Want Juice Or Towels Or Somthing That Could Have Been Brought To The Room When You Went The First Time. Oh Well "i Have The Time"

I Had All My Children Naturally, But With 2 Of Them I Do Remembering I Would Like To Have Changed My Mind, But Alas It Was Too Late. I Mainly Did It Because I Wanted To Be In Control After Delivery. I Work With Pp Moms And Ther Are 2 Mjr Complaints. Back Pain That Is Sometimes Worse Than Their Cramping And 2nd Is The Itching.

I Didn't Want To Be A Nurse When I Started. My Dad Talked Me Into So I Would Always Have A Job. I Was Always Taking Care Of People,my Mother, Aunts, Etc. So I Gave It A Try. My Dad Was Right I Have BEEN Working All My Life Except WHEN Having Children. I Don't Regret It One Bit, But Nursing Has Really Changed. The Cna's Lpn's/lvn's Really Do Most Of The Care Now. Rn's Just Bang On The Commputer,give Meds, Be Liable For The DrS (many Times), And Every Now And Then You Help Someone And Truly Feel Good Inside. I Would Much Prefer Bedside Nursing If I Was'NT TIED TO THE MONEY. I Do Think One Day When I Retire I Will Volunteer For What I Like To Do Just Sitting At The Bedside Holding Their Hand ,help Them With Their Adl's And Hopefully Be Comforting.

What Does Enpc Stand For? I Have An Idea But Not Sure. I Was A Pedi Nurse For Quite A While And All I Had Was Pals.

To ERN91, We Use Meditech also and I DON'T LIKE IT I Usually Have To Stay On Ot For 1-1/2hrs everytime I work. My usual day starts W 6 pts dc 3 and get 3 more in everyday I Work. Plus I am not very good At typing and That Makes Me Slower Too. Just Sounding Off. ALSO DEEP IN THE HEART OF TEXAS.

Ii HAVE BEEN USING THE COMMPUTER SYSTEM FOR 5 YRS AND I WOULD GO BACK TO PAPER CHARTING IN A MINUTE. WE STILL HAVE TO WRITE INFO DOWN THEN ENTER INTO COMMPUTER LATER. OUR SYSTEM IS SLOW AND EVERYTIME YOU START SOMETHING SOMEONE CALLS YOU AWAY AND THEN YOU HAVE TO START ALL OVER CAUSE YOUR TIMED OUT,PLUS YOU HAVE TO REBOOT UP TO INDEX PICK THE PT YOUR WANTING TO CHART. WAIT TILL IT IS PULLED UP THEN YOUR CALLED AWAY AGAIN. YES WE HAVE MEDCARTS WITH A COMPUTER BUT YOU CAN'T DRAG IT INTO EVERY PT ROOM EVERY MINUTE AND YOU SHOULDN'T LEAVE IT IN THE ROOM IF YOU HAVE TO GO GET SOMETHING YOU DON'T HAVE THAT THE PT NEEDS. 9OUT OF 10TIMES. AS YOU CAN TELL I AM NOT VERY HAPPY. NOW OUR MEDICATIONS ARE ON COMPUTER AND THAT IS ANOTHER TIME CONSUMING PROCEDURE ESPECIALLY IF THE COMPUTER STARTS ACTING UP AND IT MAKES YOU LOOK INCOMPETENT. IT IS BETTER FOR THE PT THOUGH TO KEEP A PERSON FROM MAKING ERRORS BUT IT IS A PAIN FOR THE NURSES. JUST WONDERING IF OTHER HAVE ELECTONIC MEDICATION RECORDS AND HOW THEY LIKE IT OR NOT.

Hello, you really do sound like you are under a lot of stress. not long ago 2yrs,I felt the same way and I have been a nurse for a 34yrs. The reason I felt this way was because I lost my confidence. Imhad worked pedi for 15yrs and they closed the hospital where I worked all my life and when I went to a new hospital they did things a lot differently. Before I was the main nurse for the 11-7 shift we had a great ER so I had googd backup. when I went to the new place the nurse was younger and she was the main nurse and she wanted me to do things her way. Somethings she did better too and over a few months I lost my confidence in what I did. so every time I had an admission I became very anxious to the point I thought I was going to "freak out". I changed positions to PP. I had had 4 children and I had worked in nsy and pedi I love children so that was the most logical to me. My confidence soared and now I am a happy camper. I suggest to examin your feelings and see if you just don"t feel confident in the areas you are working so that makes you feel stressed and want to get out as soon as possible. If you really want to work in a certain area get some refresher or advanced education in that area and go for it. A lot of hospitals have externships and preceptors in specialty areas. NICU,ICU,NSY. Not only that but your pt ratio is less so, you have stress but only for 1-3 instead of 6-9 pt. I pray you will stick it out and keep trying, and I hope this has helped some.