LLawsor520

I agree with you Carrie MTC. I worked at a hospital that did not have magnet status (meaning that there was not a limit to how many patients that were assigned to nurses at any one time). As long as my Medical-Surgical:Renal Unit had vacant rooms, we accepted patients or were threatened with termination. This was an awful experience as a new grad. Because there were so many acutely ill patients on my floor, there was no time for proper lunch breaks or restroom breaks (even though managers tell you to take one during your shift). I constantly had headaches for the lack of breaks and nutrition. I did not learn proper time management until I moved away after working my first 7 months of hospital floor nursing. I felt that I missed out on a lot of my new grad internship due to the business of caring for 8-9 patients. Due to poor time management skills learned from my first nursing job, led to an end to my employment at my second job because I was constantly getting off work 15 to 20 minutes past my shift. Then and there is when I decided to go back to school to gain a BSN in order to find a career in nursing where I had reasonable time to provide patient care and where I felt valued as an RN. Being made to care for 7-8 patients will only lead to negative outcomes for patients and quick burnout for you.

I empathize with you. My first med-surg job was very caotic not to mention I had a preceptor who always disappeared during my shifts. I felt the same enormous demands pulling me in different directions. I was constantly getting off late due to my charting. I noticed that the other nurses refused to help with patient hygiene care when the CNAs needed help in order to finish their charting and get out on time. I always helped the CNAs in this area because mng made it seem like you have to help in these areas. I hated nursing and always felt I would get off the med-surg floor at some point. My second nursing job in a different state was about as worse as the first one except for the nurse to patient ratio. The CNAs were nursing students who did not want to do their jobs. Since this hospital sent out patient satisfaction cards and the mngs followed up closely to patient feedback, I felt I needed to keep the patients and family happy. I saw myself getting further behind because of doing more CNA work than making sure my documentation was entered on time. I found myself getting off wk 30-45 min late each shift. I even felt badly when I'd take a lunch, thinking that I could have gotten off on-time if I would have skipped lunch...bad thought process. I learned that not eating slows your critical thinking process as well as make you feel 10x worse with the high anxiety. At the end of my 6mth period on my second med-surg job, I was let go because of my inability to appropriately manage my time. The mng even had lead nurses shadow me to see how I was conducting my day and did not find anything wrong..they did not see the CNAs ignoring my patient's call lights to the nursing station to go to the bathroom or diabetic patients waiting to be fed. Ethically, I felt I could not neglect my patients so I ended up doing it. After getting let go from my second job (1.5 yr nurse at the time), I signed up with a nursing agency and went back to school to work towards my BSN to see what other nursing specialties out there that are not as demanding and taxing on the body. Now I can go to my assigned med-surg shifts and leave the drama behind. I feel a lot better. I would advise talking to another staff nurse cautiously about your frustration of the demands of your job. The wrong nurse may report to mng that you are struggling and will cause them to watch you more closely and weed you out if they ever need to downsize in some way. It gets better. Time management is constantly on my mind when I work because you are not suppose to work off the clock legally. Moreover, management wants you off the floor as soon as you finish end-of-shift report (no one ever says it but they do).

Hi Kentucky24, You mentioned that your shifts last 14-15 hrs. Does you management ever threaten with write-ups for getting off late? Some hospitals do even though they are adding more tasks..very unfair. Hang in there!

I switched from staff nursing to agency nursing (2.5 yrs now) and it's not that bad. You take a few tests to get started in the area of your nursing expertise and then the agency will sign you up for shifts at facilities/hospitals according to your availability on a weekly basis. Some facilities or hospitals will require computer training (paid for through your agency) before you can pick up shifts there. Other facilities will orient you to their unit the day of your shift..so show up a little early. If the staff likes you, they will request for you ( over other nurses from your agency) to work when they need extra staff. You will take a time card with you to each shift and fax it into your agency each week to get paid. Good luck!

Hello Jahra, I was kind of glad to read about what's going on in hospitals on the management/healthcare side because I was thinking of making changes in my career too. Job stability is definitely something to consider these days when deciding on a career change. I am currently a medical-surgical RN obtaining my BSN with hopes of moving away from "floor nursing" due to the stress. For 2.5 yrs now I have been an agency nurse and was not completely sure of all the changes being made. Downsizing makes sence in hospitals since the economy is still really bad.

Well after getting layed off from my last hospital job, I decided to get back into school and start working towards my BSN. I was too bitter about hospital MS politics so I just decided to go back to agency nursing that way I won't be in the loop of what goes on at the hospital daily. There were many times I didn't get a lunch on 12 hr shifts, getting stuck with high acuity Pts (2 hrs turns, incontinence w/ dementia, high fall risks pts, or etc.) two wks in a row with only one CNA on the floor and mngmt breathing down my neck. The list goes on and on. I think I have come to the conclusion that I do not like hospital floor nursing. My ideal job would be some place where there's less interaction with patients and their families... I think a clinical educator or nurse case mng would suite me. I don't know. I hope to find a place in nursing where I am a perfect fit. I do like the fact that with agency nursing I do not have to go back to a facility if I do not like it. Work is starting to pick up for me with the second agency I just signed with last week. I will take your advice about adding on more agencies. Thank you very much.

I am with an agency, Maxim, that I haven't been getting a lot of assignments since I reestablished employment two weeks ago. I just added another agency, Integrated Healthcare, who has been a little better with finding work. Does anyone think adding a 3rd agency would be a good idea? I only had two assignments between the two agencies last week. This economy is terrible. I have only been a nurse for 1.5 yrs and all except 3 mths were from hospital MS nursing. It seems that I am never going to get the experience I need to become an experienced nurse. Could someone please shed some light on my matter? I would consider travel nursing but my husband doesn't approve since his job as an attorney covers all of our expenses.

Yeah, we received that same talk about our hospital loosing money and that they would try to keep staff. I was the last hired and first to let go. Now I am doing agency work w/ a couple of agencies. Work assignments tend to be more LTC w/ one or two hospital MS assignments. It's not the greatest thing but at least I'm still getting some experience with nursing. I have only been a nurse for 1.5 yrs. It's depressing. I have never been let go from a job before.

Thank you very much, ERNurse752.

If a woman has used clomid twice two months in a row, shouldn't that be enough to raise the progesterone level to ovulate and get pregnant? She had a negative ultrasound of the ovaries and pelvis and also a normal hysterosalpingogram. She was able to get pregnant twice 15 yrs ago but not at 34 yrs old after being on depo-provera for 10 yrs. Does anyone has any advice?

The DBP had not been running in the 40-50s. They were in the 70-80s. Would giving lasix and morphine (occasionally for a fx) have anything to do with the unusual DBP? The SBP was 120s, I think.

After administering 2 units of PRBC, the Pt's DBP was 40 with a normal SBP. Should I have called the MD? Pt no longer had a temp of 100F like two hr earlier when notified MD.

Thank you very much for your quick response. It is funny you say my preceptor should focus more on those types of patients that I did score higher on because I am not with a preceptor anymore. The orientation was only 3 weeks for a nurse with some experience. My manager and the nurse educator keep going back and forward on who's responsibility it is to answer concerns I have about this test. It burns me up when communication is lacking in management.:angryfire Thank you very much for the help!

I moved to Oregon after working at a hospital for 7.5 mths out of college and could not find a job due to not enough nursing experience past 1 yr and had to revert to agency nursing. I had a few assignments like that at a nursing home but demanded to only take the assignment if I was on the Skilled Hall. There you will have less Pts to manage and there are approximately 10-15 patients but not all high acuity...IV meds and dressing changes. There should be a ring binder with each patient's picture and name in it. Remember, this is your license you are putting into jeopardy. Protect it.

I am a 1 yr nurse and just became employed at Providence Hospital-OR. I just took their Comprehensive Based Assess Test and have to retest next month. Just looking at the results, I answered more right than wrong but was asked to retest. I was not informed of how this day would go prior to going. There were review of Accucheck machines and IV pumps...then a video of senerios and had to write Nursing Diagnosis and map out what you'd do. Has anyone had to retest and what future plans did the supervisor map out for you? the nursing educator did not know hardly anything about the test or how to future prepare. I was told that it is not a negative effect on my annual evals. There wasn't even a score on the result page. So why do I have to take it again?