I had a horrible experience the other night at work. I was assigned 7 rooms on a 3-11 shift. I admit on days that had not been completed and was left for me. I got a admit at about 1600 with a new abdominal stent repair with vitals q 15 min x 4 then q 30 x 4 then hourly x4. At about 1800 i got a pt back from cath lab with a new ICCD (old one removed at the same time from the other sc.) I had a confused male who had an amputee a few days earler who was confused and had a sitter who was off at 1800 and not replaced till 2300. and 2 stable patients. my cna had 20 pts to watch over. Now getting to the best part. I am trying to keep an eye on the confused pt by going bythe room every few minutes and peeking in, I go by once and dont see him at all EKKS! Thankfully all is well and he is sitting up on the edge of the bed way down at the end. I try to get him to go to be, to no avail. Fine, I get him up in the wheel chair, now what..................So, I took hime to the front desk where the unit clerk was keeping an eye on a female pt and told her that I was buried and could not keep a close enough eye on this pt. she says ok and that i owe her big time. so i go back to work and i continue to go up and check on this pt. while trying to enter orders on one of my new admits i hear and see nurse running past the door. My confused pt had opened a door at the end of a hallwy (where the stairs are) and was found at the bottom of about 6 stairs. No injuries except for a couple of superficial scapes on the shin of his leg. we got a head ct and the patient is ok. telly showed no increase in hr at the time of the incident (?) anyway now i am scared to death of being fired, sued and I dont want to go back to work. I am a new nurse (less than a year) and everytime i go to this floor I am so overwhelmed and overworked that something will happen and now it has. My manager screeched at me and asked me if this was neglect!!!! Hello isnt she supposed to be on my side? I work 2 days a week here and I am always on the first hit list for new admits. I dont know what to do!!!! I never get a lunch break. I told the charge nurse that night that i was buried and drowing. she helped me for a few minutes and then she was gone. We dont have enough techs so the nurse does both jobs which means neither one is done well. sorry now i am rambling but I dont think i can cut it here....