tralala

I agree with you - I'm finishing my first year at Fresenius, and it is scarey. .we are getting more and more patients - this with PCT hours being cut, notification that clinic hours are being cut, constantly told we should do more and more and more with less and less. It reminds me of the old movie where the slaves are chained in the bottom of a large ship and rowing and rowing with the overseer whipping them to row faster and faster and faster. The pay sucks compared with peers I've graduated with from nursing school who are in med-surg or LTC. I am completely mentally and physically exhausted at the end of the day and believe that depression is setting in. I am interviewing this week with another employer - I cannot get out fast enough. I believe that all the cuts are undermining patient care and safety. I do not want to be there when things crash. . No matter how hard we work or how hard we try, it is NEVER enough for this company.

From personal experience, I respected and found comfort from nurses who became teary-eyed when I delivered my 25 weeker who subsequently had a bilateral grade IV intraventricular hemorrhage. We held her for what we thought was the first and last time, although she did survive. . .but only after many months in the NICU. (Now at age 22, is severely, multiply disabled and medically fragile). The nurses that supported us through those first horrific days were ones that I became more trusting of later on. Those that seemed to be unaffected by our grief were those that I was more wary of later on. I am now an RN - as far away from the NICU (for personal ethical reasons) as I can possibly get, but I certainly do remember when I was a patient in that position and how nurses that showed emotion were those we came to trust. Don't be beating yourself up for this. .it shows a caring nurse that I would want to have if I were ever again in that situation.

I HEAR you. .I'm a new grad as well, working ambulatory care, and am SO discouraged. Perhaps I had an idealistic attitude coming out of nursing school. . Mostly, I feel very unprepared for the snarkiness of some staff members, and although am trying to remain optimistic, I dread going to work each day. I too, graduated near the top of my class, passed NCLEX with no difficulty. .I've never had problems relating to others in the past, but for some reason, I am having extreme issues with this department. Apparently I haven't been alone, seasoned nurses have come and gone because of the clique here. Do I stay and try to rise above it, or am I in jeopardy trying to tough it out?