zip1026

Thank you for sharing!!

I am currently working on my CNS while in a CNS role at a hospital and the role is 40+ hours a week and it is a challenge! I will be starting clinicals which is going to add more hours on top of my studies and I am worried that I am sacrificing some of my education to fulfill my job requirements. While I am learning at my job, I am contemplating on going back to the bedside til I finish but it is such a hard decision. I am getting burned out and I am wondering if any of you did the same thing? What did you do to get through it? Was the sacrifice worth it? Did administration let you cut down at all in order to get clinical time done? I really need some guidance and have no CNS mentor... Thanks

I am a charge nurse of an ICU, I am normally in charge with no patients. My responsibilites are to help staff, make sure we are staffed, answer codes and rapid response calls. Acuity was high, we were short 2 nurses, I had 2 patients and 3 call-offs that I needed to get covered. I notified the supervisor of my situation. She said she had no floats to provide me so I would have to find nurses. I informed her that there was no way I could go to a rapid response call and the nurse on the floor would have to call the Dr. with changes. The supervisor at that time did not say anything so I assumed she agreed?? However a rapid response was called and I did not go so the supervisor reported me and called my manager at home. We are going to have a meeting over this but the undertone is that no matter how bad ICU is.... someone always has to answer the rapid calls! Where is an ICU nurses liability when when she leaves critical pts on the floor and there is no staff to watch them?

I have been a critical care nurse now for 18yrs and feel like I am ready for a change. I still love critical care but I am getting older. I work 3 12hr days and have 6wks vacation. Some of the physicians and my peers are encouraging me to go back to school to be a NP. However I have talked with a couple NPs and they have told me for the long hours they work and five days a week they should of stayed at the bedside? Another NP is working on his DNP because he feels this is going to be required for future reimbursement?? I would appreciate any advice this is really a tough decision:confused: