NoDakRN

I'm a new grad working on a medical floor. I've been off orientation for almost three months, and so far I really don't care for it. Part of it I think is because of the lack of teamwork on the unit. None of the nurses want to help eachother out! If one nurse is behind and struggling, NO ONE offers to help--instead they'll go take lunch break or sit in the nurses station and talk!! Anyways....I would like to work in ER or ICU, but how long should I try to stick it out for on the medical floor?? Is one year enough..... Thanks in advance for any help/advice you can give! I appreciate it!!!!!

I just graduated in May 2009 with my RN and got a job right away on a medical floor. i was thrilled to have found a job right away and was very excited to get started with my orientation:yeah:..well i was given 4wks of orientation, where after two wks my preceptor had me take our entire pt load while she would meanwhile do some of our tasks without telling me (such as adding in orders for admits that need to be done....shouldn't i be doing that so i know how?!...as well as calling the doctor/pharmacy/family/etc..) at the time yeah it bothered me, but i didn't worry about it too much. well now that i've been on my own for almost two months i feel like i didn't learn everything i should have during my orientation! there has been a few times the charge nurse has asked me if i've filled out a certain form for a pt or put in an order that we're suppose to automatically put in when we admit the pt to the floor....:(i felt like a complete idiot when i had to tell her i didn't know what form she was talking about and didn't know i was suppose to do it! last week a nurse pulled me aside and, very rudely, told me i had missed three medications the day before. i was shocked!!!! i try soo hard to look over my MAR as much as i can throughout the day, but to be honest it seems like i'm sooo busy and running around so much that i dont have time to sit down at a computer and look at new orders every five minutes!!! is there anything i can do to prevent this from happening again? or anything to help get used to the floor and some of the smaller random tasks that need to be done? i just feel like i still dont know anything...and my supervisor wouldn't let me take a longer orientation because the other nurses on the floor felt like i was ready! how the heck would they know if i was ready!!!! anyways...sorry this is kind of long just needed to vent a little bit!

Great posts everyone...keep em coming!!!

I'm a new grad nurse, just about to finish up with my (oh so short) five week orientation to the medical floor. I'm beyond nervous about starting on my own and no longer having my preceptor there with me for any help I might need or questions I might have. I'm sure all new nurses feel/felt this way...but what did you do to handle and prepare yourself?!? I'm working both days and nights, for days we usually have anywhere from 4-6 patients and nights usually 6-9. So far it just seems so overwhelming! (Last night 38pt's btwn 4 nurses) When you are assigned 8 or 9 patients and then plus might have admits as well! How the heck can you get everything done (assessments, vitals, meds, charting, phone calls, preop instructions, etc!) and still be keeping your pt's safe as well as keeping yourself sane! Don't get me wrong, I know that nursing is what I love and what I want to do, but it's just hard to get the hang of time management ...especially when the more experienced nurses are sitting around and taking the time to eat a meal, while I'm running my *** off trying to get some what caught up! Anyone have any pointers as far as time management?!?! Any tricks of the trade would be nice! :wink2: Thank you so much, I really appreciate any advice!!