janado

Hi all, New here and need to vent...I've been off orientation now for a little over a week and I feel like a complete mess all of the time. I only have a patient load of 6 and I feel like I can't even manage that. I come in, get report and I'm on the floor by 0715. 5 out of my 6 patients have therapy at 0900. Nurses have to do vitals and by the time I finish it is usally 8am. Sad, I know, but usually at least 3 people need to be repositioned, their dressing fell off at night, or their magic bullet decided to kick in. So at 8am I start my med pass. I am lucky to have 2 peoples meds done by 0820 before the call lights start going off because everyone wants their meds now and are in pain. Almost always another nurse has to step in and help me and I am grateful, but I feel incompetent and can't figure out why I can't manage my time better when they seem to have no problem. And my patients are easy by comparison!! There are only 3 aides for 30 patients, so I spend at least 2 hours a day just tolieting people and emtying their commode, setting up trays, etc. I just can't say to someone who really needs to pee that I'm sorry, you have to wait for the aide because I have other work to do!! In reality, if I did say this, the patient would either wait an hour, or have an accident. If I get to these patients between their therapies to provide nursing care, I am lucky. I do what I can and multitask as much as possible. And this stresses me out. It also bothers me that I feel so rushed with my patients and I can't give them the time they need. I also feel like I still have so much to learn and sure, 4 weeks of orientation taught me the computerized documentation and med sheets, but I still feel like I don't know anything about how to be a good nurse! Bottom line, my time management sucks, my skills suck and the therapists get angry with me because my patients aren't ready for therapy half the time when they come to get them. I really try. The other nurses try to help me out as much as they can, but I should be able to do this. Today I just wanted to cry because I am thinking that I hate this. I feel so overwhelmed. All the other nurses around me are so calm and saying how bored they are while I am drowning in my assisgnment. Maybe I'm just not cut out for this.