Destin293

Anyone here ever experience burnout? If so, what did you do about it? I have been a nurse for almost 5 years...which is really not long at all. But, I am heading closer and closer to burnout, if I’m not there already. I used to look forward to going to work...now I just get such a sick feeling in my stomach every time before I start my shift. I used to work med/surg before making the switch to ER. I just feel like new policies are constantly being passed which involve never ending “audits” of nurses. Everything we do from bedside report to blood administration is audited...it either involves someone physically standing there with a clipboard watching you do something and then checking off it you did it correct, or adding a bunch of different paperwork to fill out that gets placed in the managers mailbox for an additional audit. I would occasionally pick up on the floor and vitals now became a part of the RN’s responsibility, not the aides, because there was no help (VS are q4h). They started making nurses go to something called SNAP rounds which take 45 minutes...which comes after having to follow a huge checklist of (an audited!) bedside report that takes an hour. It’s also in the middle of med passes (that are at 8am, 10am, noon, 2pm, 4pm, 5pm, 6pm) that involve insulin...which, if it’s not given within 30 minutes, we’re audited and talked to! If we do blood administration and forget 1 VS (such as RR during 1 vital check, or are off on our time), we get audited and talked to. Add all this to patients becoming more demanding (and sicker!), census going higher, and wages staying lower, I just feel done...totally done. I have already cut back to 24 hours a week (my hospital started the Baylor program). I started counseling. I just don’t know what else to do...I feel like a giant bundle of nerves everyday, and I used to be so confident.

I graduated from Lehman’s accelerated program in 2014 and I had 1 class that was repeated (A&P 1) that I took 10 years prior to retaking the class. I do remember at that time they also had a policy in place that said no repeated coursework, but it was accepted without issue. I think when it comes to science classes, they do want them within the past 10 years (some schools say 5 years), so repeating may not be an issue as you took them 11+ years ago. As for the other classes (English, psychology, etc.), repeating those may not be an option. I took all my pre-req’s at BMCC and met with an advisor so I was able to choose what classes transferred in. I think they have stipulations about the courses to transfer, but I honestly can’t remember. Best thing to do is contact the nursing program and ask if science coursework taken more than 10 years ago is acceptable.

I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who responded...the info really helped! I also want to say I have a whole new respect for L&D nurses and what you have to deal with...I can only imagine some of the patients you have that refuse to sway from their birth plan no matter what. I would have to think pregnant women (and their families) have to be the most fickle group of patients out there. I had in my head I wanted to labor at home, didn't want AROM, didn't want to have a lot of lady partsl exams, and didn't want to be tied to a bed with monitoring. Well, all that was tossed out the window in a hot second! My blood pressure went up when I was 37 weeks, I kept an eye on it at work. At 37w 6d, I was at work and it sky rocketed. I called my provider and was told to head upstairs for an assessment (I work where I was delivering). I fully expected to be sent home on bed rest, but, nope...they started to induce me. I was totally unprepared. After 48 hours, 1 round of Cervidil, 2 rounds of Cytotec, 1 round of pitocin, AROM, 10 lady partsl exams, continuous monitoring, 90 minutes of pushing, and 1 truly amazing epidural, my little guy finally arrived!

I am almost 32 weeks pregnant and starting to become more and more anxious over labor and delivery. I graduated nursing school 4 years ago and don't remember much from my maternity rotation (zero interest in L&D or having a baby...then an 'oops' happened). I'm just wondering what a typical experience would be in terms of amount of lady partsl exams to expect, interventions to expect, what your "ideal patient" is like, what interventions can be declined, etc. I am older (turned 35 in April, due Sept 1st), but otherwise have been considered low risk (no htn, no diabetes, no placenta previa, weight gain has been perfect, baby measurements have been perfect, fundal measurements have been exact, etc.). The only thing I am absolutely positive about is an epidural. The one thing I do remember from nursing school is the lady partsl delivery I watched of a first time Mom who went totally natural, no pain medications at all, and she moved around that bed like a dying animal. It was horrifying. That cemented the idea of an epidural. Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Stupid answer, Sour Lemon. You're a moron.

I'm an ER nurse and currently 26 weeks pregnant with my 1st child. My 1st trimester hit me hard with fatigue...my 2nd trimester has been absolutely amazing! I had all my energy back, I was able to get everything done that I needed to do, etc. I'm approaching the end of my 2nd trimester and moving into my 3rd, and, BAM, the fatigue is back with a vengeance...only this time I'm carrying around an extra 25lbs and dealing with sore, swollen feet, hip pain, and constant moodiness. Any tips on how to get through the day AND have my days off actually feel restful and productive? I feel like all I do is sleep when not at work.

I remember it being boring. I saw 1 lady partsl delivery which was cool and 1 c-section. As far as actually spending time with babies, that didn't happen. We would see them briefly after birth, but once they were all cleaned and settled, they were sent for rooming in with the mom's. We pretty much spent the rest of the day getting vitals and changing bed linens.

Thanks for posting! I listened to the podcast and it was really interesting. It did get me thinking about the whole debate and I looked at the schedule of childhood vaccines...they do have a lot of them out there compared to when I was a child! I can see where people are hesitant to dump that many vaccines into their child, though...that's a lot of vaccines for a little immune system to handle...but I sure wouldn't want to tempt fate by putting my child at risk of developing the diseases instead. However, in regard to the OP, it makes me even less sympathetic for his/her plight. I fail to see what could possibly be holding OP back from complying with mandatory vaccines. All "scary" information seems to be related toward the effects on children, not adults, so I can't seem to wrap my mind around why vaccinations can't be obtained.

If it's SUNY Downstate, I can almost guarantee that is cumulative (including your SB GPA). Downstate has very tough admission standards.

The worst students can be good students, but it won't mean a thing if you can't pass the classes.

I was only drug tested one time during NS, and that was for the only clinical site that required drug testing. I was tested for each nursing job, though.

Whether you land a job after graduation all depends on the candidate you are. I went to school in NYC which is notoriously saturated with new grads. Every person in my graduating ABSN class (13 of us) landed a job within 1 - 9 months of graduation and professors regularly sent out emails stating they had open positions as their hospitals. So don't worry, the jobs are out there. Those that landed a job sooner headed upstate where the market isn't so saturated. Those that took some extra time all landed positions at hospitals in the city...including one in the PICU at a very well known hospital. But everyone was employed with a year post grad. However, it is an absolute MUST that you maintain GPA of at least 3.5 to give yourself the best chance. Major hospitals will often look at your GPA to make a decision. Residency programs are great and tend to give you a better chance at being hired. They really set new grads up for success, so, yes, pursuing a residency is a good idea. Most hospitals now don't even have an option to not go through residency as a new grad...if you're hired, you're automatically in the program. It's seems like it's starting to become standard. And that's ties in to your GPA. If you apply to a hospital with a residency program, they are going to want the best candidates with outstanding GPA's...especially in an urban setting. Some hospitals in less populated areas may not have such strict standards. The only thing that may hold you back is obtaining your associates first. In a large urban area, only having an associates will be like nailing jello to a tree with your job search. I would strongly encourage you to look into a BSN program and skip ADN. I wouldn't do an accelerated program, though...working full time as a single mom in an ABSN program is failure waiting to happen. Plus, they likely won't work around your schedule anyway. I know in NYC it's next to impossible, if not totally impossible, to be hired as a new grad or enter a residency program with an associates. That's not to say the same stands for hospitals upstate, but the more urban the area, the more a BSN is required. Best of luck and don't freak yourself out by reading horror stories of jobless new grads. Study hard, keep your GPA up there, and keep plugging along.

I can only imagine how heated that debate must have been!

You do realize "peer reviewed" does not mean a bunch of like minded individuals sitting in a room giving each other pats on the back for furthering their agenda, right? And you do know the driving force behind the entire medical field (nursing included!) is evidence based practice, right? And you do know EBP has its feet firmly planted in (guess what?!?!?) peer reviewed research! Entire policies are based on peer reviewed research studies. Using alcohol based hand sanitizers? Peer reviewed research. No gel tips or chipped nail polish (especially in a NICU setting)? Peer reviewed research. The list goes on and on. Hospitals are not just making policies because they need something to do to keep things interesting, there are entire committees devoted to sitting around reading peer reviewed articles and comparing them to current hospital policy. It's how and why the standard of care continually improves.

If you can stay organized and study, then you may be able to do it. Just be prepared to drop everything, EVERYTHING, and focus only on studying. You have a lot to lose if you mess up in the classes. Another option would be to take 3 of those classes and see if you could take 1 during the summer before you start? It will lessen the load a little for spring.

Where do you work? At $33 an hour with only $1300 every 2 weeks take home means you have quite a bit taken out either for health insurance or retirement. I make about $34/hr with night differential and my take home is about $1750 (no 401k or health benefits yet, that starts January 1st). Where I used to work, I was paid $24/hr and my take home there was $1300 every 2 weeks on days (no differential, no 401k, and $65 per pay period for health insurance). So, what you're making per hour is actually not too shabby for upstate NY (I work in Utica, used to work in Cooperstown). You also have to consider what other jobs in the area are paying and those are nowhere near $33/hr which is why nurses actually live pretty well compared to many other people in upstate. Now, what really sucks, is that nurses upstate also seem to "top out" at a certain level...and that's unfair. A lot of new grads are coming in making only a few dollars less than RN's with 10+ years experience who have already hit the limit of what hospitals will pay. And there's also a lot of hospitals that pay their med/surg nurses the same as their ICU or ER nurses. What seems to be the norm for a lot of upstate nurses is taking travel contracts. If you're willing to make that sacrifice, you can double your pay...it just means either commuting 50+ miles to get to work or staying somewhere for 3 days and going home the rest of the time. Upstate hospitals are bursting at the seams with travel assignments.

I never really thought I would be in this position of wanting to quit a job so soon after I started, but I hate where I work and it has only been 3 months! I guess I was spoiled with my first new grad position because I worked at a hospital that had all the bells and whistles so to speak (Epic charting system, tons of supplies like skin care creams, gels, etc., a transport crew that brought our patients to other units for us, voceras so people could contact us individually, computers in every room, etc). Every little perk they had just made the RN's job easier. Btw, I was on a med/surg floor. Then I switched to a larger hospital and they had none of that extra stuff AND a paragon charting system. I made the move to the ER and I very much like it, but not having all those extras makes it so much more difficult...on top of all the other unit specific issues. Bottom line, I just don't like it here. I've tried to force myself to deal with it for another year because the experience of a trauma center is great, but I don't know if I can make it another year. The pay is much better ($8/hr more) and it's closer to home (15 minutes vs 45), but is it worth staying at a place I don't enjoy? Either place I pick, I plan on leaving after a year, but I don't know if sticking out that year here is better than going back to a smaller hospital and smaller ER.

It's so easy to feel defeated when this happens, but I hope you're not basing your decision to abandon your goal of becoming an RN just due to this semester. Throughout my program, I ran into plenty of students who failed one class or another. Yes, it does stink and yes, it may put you behind by a semester or 2, but keep plugging along and working toward your goal. And in all honesty, when you're at the bedside, no one is going to ask you to analyze what you're doing as an ethical dilemma. And those long care plans? I've never used them at all, at least not the way they teach you in school. You're 1 player on a team of many caring for the patient, yet the only one that had to write NANDA based care plans...that's not the most effective way to communicate with all other disciplines. What matters the most is your critical thinking and how you respond. There has been very little that nursing school taught me that I actually applied in practice when I became a nurse. Everything I learned (skills, critical thinking, medication knowledge) was all learned on the job as applicable to my position at that time. Nursing school was simply the vehicle that drove me to my license and nothing more. Essentially what I'm trying to say is don't let a semester like this stand in your way. And don't look at nursing school as an indicator of how it's going to be when you're actually at the bedside. Hang in there and best of luck to you!

We had a patient's family bring us a fruit basket one time...we absolutely loved it. We always had cookies, candy, cakes, pizza, etc., so it was refreshing to get a basket with whole pieces of fruit.

It all depends on the program. I completed a 12 month ABSN program and some of us worked (we started with 20 students, finished with 13). There was 1 girl who was trying to work full time and complete the program, she failed out. The rest of us who did work, worked jobs that were extremely flexible...meaning, we could call day by day and let them know we had some free time and ask if they needed help (2 people worked at a hospital, not sure what they did, another worked for an apartment rental company, I worked for a grocery store). I started by working 24 hours a week the fall semester, then I ended up cutting it down to 8 for the first half of spring semester, then I just quit for the 2nd half of the spring semester and summer because I was also commuting 4 hours a day to school (2 hours there, 2 hours back). I ended up taking out loans to help with living expenses...but it was bare bones loans. I looked at how much I would need to cover my bills and that was it, and I went back to work the day after I finished school. Yes, nursing programs in general do give you time to work, but ABSN programs are fast and you have less time (especially if it's a 12 month vs 15 month). Your focus really should be finishing the program. If you know you're someone who needs extra study time, who really needs their focus to be on just 1 thing, then don't work. Only you know the type of student you are.

Sorry-not-sorry, but that is terrible advice. People go into nursing for a variety of reasons which include job security and decent pay. I for one hated clinical, I became a nurse because working in social services didn't pay the bills (nurses made way more money...and that's a similar reason why many of my coworkers became nurses as well), and I never miss work, never find ways to skirt my duties, and don't job hop looking for satisfaction. I left my first position, after 2 years, looking for new learning experiences and the pay was higher. Just because someone is entering nursing for the decent pay and job security doesn't automatically mean they will make terrible nurses.

That's a very scary thought.

If that is what is required for safe practice, then yes. I would much rather have a nurse taking care of me that would check their resources than assume they already know everything.

I was a lot like you in my thinking when I first made the decision to enter nursing. On paper, I would look at the requirements and think, "All I have to do is XYZ, I will be a nurse in a little over a year. No big deal. Nursing is not that hard." Once you start that pre-nursing process and begin to apply for programs, you find out it's a totally different animal. Nursing schools have a lot of red tape you need to walk through first. Every program is different when it comes to their admission requirements. Some schools only require you to have stellar grades in your pre-reqs and do well on an admission test (usually the HESI or the TEAS). Others require personal statements, interviews, and look at your entire GPA. You have to see what your school requires. If they look at your overall GPA, regardless of what your previous career goals were, those failed and withdrawn classes may take you out of the running. Admission committee's usually aren't sitting back at thinking, "Well, gee, this person wanted to be a physician and failed organic chem, we can just look past that" because they very well may have applicants who took that class and passed. They will also have applicants who didn't take that class, but who were focused on nursing from the very start of their academic career. Lastly, get a handle on your test anxiety BEFORE nursing school. Nursing school is very heavily based on tests...very heavily...and they can be quite the mind ::BLEEP::. Everything you do has an end goal of the NCLEX. Nursing schools will put their entire focus on passing the NCLEX and you will hear over and over and over, "When you have to take the NCLEX...." "When it comes time for the NCLEX..." "The NCLEX will...". It's constant. At my nursing school, all of our exams were on the computer. You don't realize how your anxiety level rises when you have to press that "next" button knowing you can't go back. And there's a joke in nursing school that, when it comes to tests, the answer you select may be right, but it's not the most right. And that is absolutely true. Nursing school exams are based on how you apply knowledge so every choice is correct, but which one is the proper intervention you will perform first? And then there are the select all that apply which do pop up frequently on the NCLEX. Pick a choice that was wrong, or fail to pick a correct choice, the whole question is wrong...no partial credit. It's totally different than science based classes where you have to memorize concepts. If nursing is something you really want to do, switch your focus now before you bury yourself with more failed courses or courses you're barely passing. I found nursing to be a very rewarding field and you do have a lot of options for future career goals in nursing. Best of luck to you!

Can you speak with your manager and switch to days? If that's not possible, would you be willing to work a day shift on a critical care unit instead? I know it's tough as a new grad because you don't want to come across as being needy/picky, but you'd be surprised how they may work with you...especially in your situation. Night shift is a tough shift, it's really hard on the body and some people have a harder time than others. There's no point in torturing yourself.