RNPedsICU

The shortage is everywhere apparently. I would check into local or regional nurses associations. In the states there is the ANA(American Nurses Association), the state version here is VNA (Virginia Nurses Association). I belong to the Society of Pediatric Nurses, and the American Association of Critical Care Nurses. As a student I'm sure you have similar groups. The point I'm trying to make is a loud voice gets heard-squecky wheel theory. Make your concerns known. On the floors in the hospitals the ratios are getting bigger and bigger. In my unit we should have 2 pts to 1 RN, but that seldon happens now. Not only are the nurses in demand, the patient days are growing. The insurance companies are dictating-unfortunately how long and what treatments are covered. We do not have unions in Virginia-but I've heard from others in states that do that do, the nurses are better represented. We have tried in my unit to focus on retention and creative scheduleing to help with burn-out issues. Good luck to you! The shortage is the worst in a long time, but it is cyclical also. It's happened before, and got better,etc. Just remember why you got into nursing-and spreaad the word. Be an advovate for the profession-that's how the shortage will get better! "Do what you love, love what you do!"

Stay on days if at all possible. You may not be asked again down the road when you'll WANT to work days. Tired now? I've worked nights(what we call P's-7p to 7a), and believe me when I say you have even LESS of a life working nights because the off days, your sleeping, and the nights you go in you'll have to be rested to go into to work. I work Peds also-a lot can happen on any shift-consider it a compliment from your manager and take it!

You first should ask yourself what it is you don't like anymore about hospital nursing. If it the hours say "the hours it requires for me to do this job is interferring with.....", if the pt/nurse ratio, say that. "I cannot do my job to the best of my ability and provide quality pt care with safety, I will not work under these conditions...." Sometimes a good honest face off helps solve the problems, sometimes it's time to move on. Do what you love, and love what you do. When it becomes anything else but that...it's time to re-evaluate. Good luck!

Would like feedback from other RNs concerning schedules. My unit decided to initiate a "Task Force" to figure out the schedule-all of it: length of shift hours(most RNs are doing 12hrs/day, 36hrs/wk), weekend option, holiday schedules. We currently have a free-for-all. We "self-schedule", but it causes much grief. What do other units do? Set schedule? Rotate holidays( we ALL do 4 hr shifts or 8 hr shifts EACH year-each holiday! What is the ratio for pts. Of course we look at acuity, but the step-down pta can be quite busy as well. MANY days I leave 2 hrs after my shift. Do you sign up for over time, how about "on call" time. We are an 8 bed unit PICU with about 12 or so RNs-no LPNs and our secretaries are NAs but ususally too busy to help. In a typical week, we work our 36 scheduled hrs, plus take "call" which we end up working, plus we're called on days off to see if we can come in-I'm fed up. I love what I do, but i love my life outsude of the PICU too. We need more staff, but not much is done to solicit or RETAIN. The manager is not available to take pts either. Thanks for any and all input!