floridamom79

Thank you all for all of your comments and advice. I emailed my manager today and told her my concerns and she stated that at this time the hospital is going "lean". She actually wrote that and stated she was really sorry but that this was only temporary and that the ratio will go down soon. As far as me getting cancelled it depends on if census picks up I guess. Right now I'm not too hopeful but we'll see. I've come to realize that I can only do so much and that nursing is a 24 hr job and if I can't get it done someone else will have to. It's just frustrating that I was told one thing when it's actually not that way. Oh well tomorrow is another day. Thank you all again for all your comments. Much appreciated!!

Hello to all my fellow nurses. I come to this site often and always find the posts and comments so helpful. I've never posted but today I am really strugglng with nursing. I've been a nurse now for a little over 2 years. My first nursing job was on a 34 bed cardiothoracic post-op telemetry floor. It was always a little chaotic but I got to the point where I was somewhat comfortable. The hard part about that is that it seemed that once you showed you were a capable nurse you always got dumped on. I had many days were I felt I was barely getting by. A couple months ago I was offered a job on a PCU unit in a new hospital opening which was known to have a very good reputation. It was more money and I was told nurse-pt ratio was 3-1 and that this floor was direct step-down from ICU. I was excited because I felt that I would be able to provide better pt care w/ that ratio and enhance my skills. Well I've been there for 2 mths. now and it is definately not what I was offered. Instead it is now a 5-1 ratio w/ a shared tech on mixed acuity pts. And on top of that because they have increased the nurse-pt ratio I get cancelled once a week!! I had a pt going bad yesterday and I'm running around just trying to keep my head above water and have been in this situation many times before in my last job except w/ many more resources than this floor. I'm just so frustrated and find myself wondering if things will ever get better!! I know nursing is hard and I understand that there will probably never be anything close to an easy day but I just feel so helpless about what direction my career is going because it seems like I left one bad position for a worse one!! Thank you so much for letting me vent! I hope it doesn't come out like I'm whining, but I just want to give really good pt care and feel like three of my pt's get that and the other two just get whats needed. It's frustrating, and I hope that I when I work tomorrow I will have better day. Thanks again for hearing me out!

Hello..I've come to this site many times before but this is my first time posting. I have been a nurse since May 2006. I have worked on the same unit since I graduated which is a post-open heart unit. I've been working weekend nights along with one night a week until recently. In January I started working PRN days on my unit. I really like my new schedule. The unit can be stressful at times...but I know what to expect. Recently I've been called by a hospital for a similar position, the only major difference is that this hosptal is a Magnet hospital where the hospital that I am currently at is not. Some of my friends tell me that I should seriously consider the Magnet hospital. What exactly are the benefits of working for a magnet hospital? Any advice or info would be great! Thanks :)!