tugirl12

Well I always check my rhythm in the morning which was no different this day. He was controlled afib with some p waves. When I checked that morning. As far as the sats, he was a copd patient! 02 sats were 88-91%, but the orders said to have above 92 so I put him on 5l. And of course he was breathing when I went in. I could never check on patient without checking their breathing nothing abnormal, just sleeping. To be honest I check my lab every am but I cannot remember any abnormal labs for the day that day AT ALL...all I remember is that was a really bad day my patient coded and another one fell and broke their hip. Oh and the yelling I heard was the monitor tech. I know I did everything that I could but there is this little voice that is saying "did you?" My charge nurse asked me "what could you have done differently?" I said "I don't know?" she said "nothing I would have done the same thing" I am thankful for her an that the experience happened with her. She is my favorite charge nurse to work with because she has so much knowledge and teaches me tricks for everything. I'm just trying not to internalize it I guess that's where the problem lies.

Hey everyone, So the other day I experienced my first code blue as a nurse! I had just got an admit, my other patient came up from dialysis and I swear 3 of my 6 pts were calling me at the same time. Let me back up. That am I was getting report. Pt was afib on a cardizem drip and while getting report the charge nurse was in there because his sats were low, she told me to finish report and she would take care of him so I did and then after report went back to see him because I knew he would need frequent attention...long story short I went to hang my fluids a little after breakfast he was sleeping so I didn't wake him while I hung my fluids and about 40 minutes later they were calling a code!!! I was in a patient's room, heard yelling then heard code blue on my floor! I tell the patient I am with I'll be back, go outside and everyone is standing a my patient's room. I go in give report on what I know, called the doctor. My adrenaline was crazy because I couldn't remember the patient's name all I could remember was what he was there for. It was organized chaos! I was so upset. I couldn't figure out how I was talking to the patient a couple of hours before and it got here. I did have the opportunity to do compressions even being scared, my glasses falling off, and standing on my toes because I'm too short. I feel like I did ok during the code, but I am internalizing it and making it about me which I know I shouldn't do. Afterwards my charge said I did well, I looked calm, and that there was nothing I could have done. But I can't help but think about this patient and his family! I have not been to work since. And I had just got to the point that I felt I was making progress as a nurse. I want to know how people deal with this? This is the reason I won't do ICU. I feel like I just took 10 steps backwards. I thought I had made progress as a nurse but now I feel like a complete failure.

I feel normal now! I've only been a nurse for about 8 months. One night I woke up and screamed "I forgot to chart that morphine!!!!" I can't tell you if I really did or didn't but when I woke up my heart felt like it was going to come out my chest! I also had a dream that I had what I thought was a good day, then at the end of my shift I found out I had an extra patient that I had not seen all day!!!! Talk about a panic attack!!! My boyfriend told me the other day I was talking in my sleep! He said I woke him up started saying stuff he had never heard so he said "what in the world are you talking about?" and all I said was "My patients!" Oh the joys of the first year of nursing!!!

Hello all, I am a new grad looking for advice. I graduated May 2012 and I feel like I made a mistake choosing nursing as my career. First off I am shocked that this is what nursing really is. In school we were warned of "reality shock" once a floor nurse, but I never imagined this. If I had known that nursing was like this I probably would have done something totally different. The second thing that is bothering me. I don't like what I am doing, and I feel bad that I don't like what I am doing. ( I hope that makes sense). I come to work pretty much dreading work everyday. I don't work with the patient population I wanted to work with. At first it was ok. I was ok with working a med/tele floor because I would get invaluable experience, but then once I got deep into it I couldn't stand the fact that I had to work on this unit. I just feel like something is missing and whatever this something is, it's affecting the quality of care I give. I am really considering going back to school for something different. I don't want to take care of people if I feel like I can't give them the best care. I am so upset because I really wanted to be a nurse, but the reality shock is causing me to second guess my career choice. I want to know how do you know that you should just stick it out. I've heard "things will get better", "you're not giving yourself enough time", "you're too hard on yourself" . I need to find my niche, but I just don't know where that is yet? I loved ob nursing in school. But we all know how hard it is to get there. I guess I just don't know what to do at this point. I need advice! Please help!

Yes! I told at my interview when I was around 12 weeks. I was very upfront about it. I had already been to interviews and didn't tell anyone and wasn't getting the jobs. It is true that because you have not worked for a year your job is not exactly secured. But I asked the manager during the interview how that would work out because it was my biggest fear at the time and she said during my interview that if she thought I was a fit she would work around it. She did it was unpaid but I still had a job.

I have danskos and love them. I wore them while I was pregnant and my feet never hurt which says a lot.

Well I haven't tried it. I am afraid like you that showing my interest will routine my chances. Although its not making work easier it is better knowing I am not alone. There are many days that I often wonder if I made the right decision going into nursing. Since starting nursing school my anxiety has been through the roof and being a nurse has made it seem worse. I am also having more frequent headaches. I think that I am just going to wait for the next opening in something (even if not ob) that may be suitable for me and run with it. My health is too important. In the meantime I have decided to start journaling my feelings about work. It's becoming too much of my life and it should only be a small aspect of my life. I start Saturday but the plan is to sit in my car while it's warming up (I live in Oklahoma and its cold now) and write about my day. Get all my feelings out right then and that is it. I leave work at work. I don't think about it and I don't talk about it. I limit my overtime (1 extra day/month). I feel like I am allowing work to take over too much of my life and that within itself can make work less desirable. I have also thought about studying (a WHOLE lot) To be certified in fetal heart monitoring, and there are couple of ways to get certified as a lactation consultant, and also joining awhonn. I am eager to get to ob so I will do anything to get there at this point.

This sounds similar to a post I made a couple of days ago. I am on a med tele floor and as much as I appreciate the things I am learning like time management, prioritization skills, and good assessment skills, I do not really think its best fit for me in the long run. I have asked to leave the floor because I don't think it's a fit for me and I get very anxious while at work. Part of my anxiety was time management but I have asked other nurses what to do to work on it and it's been helping a lot! My specialty of choice of course is women's health with the rest of the world. But I am telling myself to try and stick it out for 1 year. So that I will have those skills previously mentioned to take with me to labor and delivery or postpartum and I will have knowledge that other nurses that went in as a new grad won't have. If you know what specialty you want try and think of things that you may gain from your current job that may help your career later that can help you feel like its worth staying just for a little while longer. If you just can't find anything or you just can't say that OR is where you should be I think moving within the facility as previously stated is a good option. I am having to remind myself that I am still human and I still have to take care of myself first and that there will be bad days. However if everyday for you is a bad day it just may be time for a change.

Hello all, I have posted here before but I'm really wanting some advice or support right now and can't figure out who to turn to. My story: 1st when I chose nursing as my major I was pretty sure I wanted to do something in women's health. Long story short my mother passed at the age of 35 with breast cancer and on top of that it was right before I hit puberty...needless to say I have this strong desire to give girls and women education about their bodies because I feel like I never was educated and my mother wasn't either. I know my start is in postpartum or labor and delivery areas before I can go anywhere else. I finished nursing school and was 100% sure that I wanted to do women's health after I finished my ob rotation of clinicals. Well what I didn't know is that's despite my hard work and efforts I was not going start where I know I want to be. In school I did not like med-surg. I just never had an interest for it like I did the women's health areas. Well after I graduated in may 12 I was indeed on a med-surg floor. It was the only job I can get and I was pregnant so I was desperate. I oriented on my floor from July up until I delivered in oct. Throughout my orientation I dreaded work. But I thought it was because I was pregnant and just exhausted. But since I have returned after a 2 month maternity leave I am miserable. I have cried on the floor after I have told myself that I would not allow that to happen. I have almost lost it in a patients room too. I dread going to work. I've been having frequent headaches and can't seem to get off of my mind how my new career is nothing that I visioned. I feel burned out already and I really haven't even been here that long! I thought it would take years. My 6 months is up so I can transfer to another floor, but I can't help but want to be in my specialty of choice. Everything at the hospital I work at is "experience required" or "experience preferred". I have thought about going to the managers directly and telling them how much I want this and my experiences already, I just don't know how appropriate it is. I've already talked with my manager about my feelings and I've even talked to experienced nurses. Everyone says its normal but when do you know it's not normal and it's not going to work out? I need advice on the next steps I should take. I love being a nurse, just not in the type of nursing I am in.

Sorry about the paragraphs I tried fixing it I'm typing with one hand while the kid sleeps in my other arm. Thanks for the input I guess I'm not being very patient and I want what I want right now. I know that ms will teach me things like time management and assessment skills and priority setting, which all 3 are important in an area like l&d. I think I am rushing because I thought about school but I have not been able to work ob my specialty of choice.

When I said that I wanted to do nursing I knew that I wanted to do something in the women's health areas. Once I completed my ob rotation I was 100%sure it was what I wanted. While I was in school I did all of my papers and projects on issues that are found in women's health just to show im interested and increase my knowledge.I also did an externship on a busy labor and delivery floor and I still did not get a job in women's health. I even applied to every hospital in town with an opening in postpartum or l&d and still did not get the job. I graduated may started working on a medical telemetry floor in July Because I was pregnant my orientation was until I delivered in october and was on maternity leave for 2 months.. I just went back monday but I feel like I'm counting down the days until my 6 months is up on the floor so I can transfer which from start date would be in January but for experience I would need to stay until like march. I am wanting advice. I will have skills if I stay in med-surg but if I know I don't want to stay what's the point? I want to talk to the managers of these areas but I dont want to overstep my boundaries so I'm wanting to know what I should do especially since the hospital I work for likes experience in these areas before you come? And if there are any ob managers that answer my question; how much time do feel is adequate for a new grad to stay in med-surg before coming to the ob world?

I just recently had a baby in October after just graduating in May. My orientation was extended until I went on maternity leave which was only a couple of weeks extra but I am super nervous about going back to work on Monday because I am officially by myself. I feel like everything that I have learned as a student has already left my brain and I just do not feel like I will ever be a "good nurse". I feel like right now I am so task oriented that I "have little time to think", which can make for a very bad situation if I have a really critical patient. Before maternity leave I would cry when it was time to go to work. I know that part of it was the fact that I was pregnant and 12 hour shifts HURT, but I also believe that part of it is the fact that I am having such a hard time on this floor. #1-I knew before I started nursing that I wanted to do maternal-child nursing and despite every effort and applying to every hospital in town I did not get a position in L&D which is where I really want to work. I am not saying that it won't be hard in labor and delivery trust me I know it will. However when I did my externship on a labor and delivery floor I was so eager to learn. I WANTED to learn. On the medical telemetry floor that I am on now I feel like my learning is more forced in order to be safe. My 6 months is coming up soon and I can then transfer but I feel like I should just wait until my year is up to gain more experience. I wanted to maybe talk with the labor and delivery manager at the hospital where I work and see what I can do to get there, but I don't want to burn any bridges with my current manager or make work miserable because I know that I have not voiced that I want to go somewhere else to her at any point. I really don't know what else I can do to get to where I want to be. Any suggestions would be appreciated. #2- I know some of my weak areas just from starting orientation, but they are classic to new graduates. One of them being time management. I try so hard to stay on task but when you have 3 confused patients and 2 total care patients it can be really hard. I know that one of the issues here is that I try to help the techs because I know that they are busy. I have a lot of trouble with delegation because I don't want to seem like the "B&*$&y needy nurse. I want to have a good relationship with the techs so that I can ask them for help when I need it.I just don't know how to get to that point. Another one of my weaknesses is cardiac dysrhythmias. At the school I went to this was not covered in our required nursing classes. There was a seperate EKG class that was $3,000. Needless to say the first glimpse I had on this was when I started working and that was taught through video and was really an overview. There are no teacher/student classes where I work and I just don't know how I can study this? Any ideas are helpful. Once again I just want to know what I should do when to get better at recognizing dysrhthmias and what interventions are expected for them. One of my other weaknesses is critical thinking. I rarely am able to look at labs and the diagnosis and say "hey I remember that this causes this and that's why this lab is off". In school this was how we were taught so I know that I should be that way now but nothing is coming back and I don't know what to do. I have to talked to my manager and the coordinator over the orientation program. They both say that this can be a stressful time and everything will come back but I am just not seeing it. My manager says "Your'e doing great" every time I talk to her about it, but I just don't feel it. After all of this writing all I can really say is that I am a nervous wreck. I have a new baby and really don't want to bring the stress of work home with me or that will cause burnout really quick, so I am so nervous about going back on Monday. On top of that I know that I do not want to be on the floor that I am on for an extended period of time. I REALLY WANT L&D because I hoped to go back to school after gaining experience in maternal-child but when all of the jobs say "experience required" I don't know what I can do to get there. I just need some advice on what I can do to make going to work less stressful. Thanks