synkitty

I have been nursing for three years and each shift feels like a decade. It has gotten so bad lately that I cry before I go to work because I feel so useless and completely unable to cope. I have never had any problems or complaints at work, apart from being slow, which was secondary to being a complete perfectionist and double checking everything, but I never thought anything I did was good enough. I have finally made the decision now to try something new for a year or so, and see what else is out there, then do some training in a health related industry. Maybe I will go back to nursing someday, it still fascinates me, but I don't love the job. You are definitely not the only person out there who feels useless, but I think I would prefer a nurse who is stressed about doing the best job they can, compared to someone who thinks they know everything.

You have to ask, why would there be a nursing shortage if we all get paid so well, just to sit around on our butts all day long!!

Thanks

i apologise if anyone has a thread relating to this topic already. i am a second year registered nurse from australia and i want to travel to great brittain (preferably scotland) for a few months and work. i have never travelled before so i'm not really certain what sort of steps i need to take to organise registration in a foreign country, and whether i should go through an agency or not? my other problem is that i hurt my back last year while working and so i now do nights only - to relieve the strain, and i can't always work full time. with this in mind i'm not certain if i would be able to manage to find work in a hospital. if anyone has any information to help me out i would really appreciate it because i don't really have any idea where to start.

One more thing, some people do find night's really hard to manage with family and their life, but it really does decrease the extra workload you have to cope with and gives you an amazing amount of time to focus on patients and their actual care, rather than doing paperwork or a hundred other little chores you have to do during the day to keep family and management happy. I know it sound like I'm ranting, but it cheapens the whole reason I wanted to nurse and it frustrates me so much that common sense and basic courtesy has been eliminated from our job. Again I'm sorry for ranting

Hi, well I understand exactly where you are coming from, it got so bad at one point that I actually had a break down at work, the Director of Nursing had to come in on her night off and fill my shift and they called the doctor to see me as well. It was truly horrible and I felt so worthless:o . I have now been working for a year since my graduation and things are starting to look up. I have moved to where I have family support which instantly alleviated a lot of stress, and I am now working casually. I'm not certain what your situation with the workforce is there but I am able to work less days for the same amount of money if not more, and I am always offered more shifts than I can take. Plus I don't have to put up with any of the inter ward gossiping and bitching that exists, usually based on whether you are in the in-crowd or not, just like at school. I can focus on patient care and really look after the people, ask questions freely, because the nurses never know what experience I have, and they are always helpful. I will say that I am in this situation mainly because I hurt my back last year and so have been unable to manage full time work since, but working nights casually is a break I never expected. I hope everything works out for you in the future and I know with a bit of confidence you will get better, but it does take time, ignore the people who put you down, because they're not important, it's the people who try to help you knowing your skills that you listen to. Oh and I suggest leaving medical, because from my experience they normally carry the heaviest workload, both in numbers and the actual weight of the patients, specialty areas tend to be less busy, such as paediatrics, but if you love what you're doing you will always do better at your job.:balloons:

I always carry Panadol and Nurofen as well, because they are allowed to be nurse initiated on our ward and it saves a hell of a lot of time not having to walk and get it all the time.

I am 6 months into my grad position and although I am not facing the bullying that you obviously have Disapointed, I have been having a few problems myself. My post-grad placement has been in a tiny little town, where there is only ever one RN and one EN at most per shift. I was originally promised mentoring of 2 months at least to find my feet, but only received three weeks. I have since been thrown in the deep end 'running' a whole hospital with the support of an enrolled nurse for 8hrs at a time, which includes inpatients, nursing home and any outpatients who present to the hospital. I have adjusted and I am actually enjoying the experience and the responsibility I have been given, although I am scared to death about not being able to cope (so far I have been lucky and anything that is above my experience, I have been able to access support from other people). But I have found that too often it feels like post-grads are supposed to have the skills and knowledge that nurses who have been working for years do and asking questions is a big no-no. Bullying, I have noticed is prevalent in the system and I really don't think it is going to stop until the buearacracy is taken away from management and someone with some real knowledge of the current health situation (not including the cost) is put into a position of power and nurses start having some more power over their situation.

Throughout my nursing training I met a lot of nurses and medical staff who constantly put me down. Some were direct, like those who badmouthed me from two metres away to their friends in a very loud voice, to indirect, like the doctor who I gave information to about a patient I was looking after, walking up to the RN I was rostered on with (currently having a well deserved and rushed lunch, who knew nothing about the patient) and saying that she refused to have students give her information anymore and that a nurse must do it (she didn't complain about the information I gave, just who gave it). Most other staff either looked down their noses at me, were blatantly rude, or just ignored me. I never did anything about these situations because I was extremely shy and about 19 at the time so I didn't really know what to do. Now I may be quiet and shy, but I am not that bad a person that I deserve treatment like that. I have noticed that since I have graduated and am working in the same environment (different workplace) that I am treated like a real person, my opinion is respected, and I have even made friends with the people I work with. I know for a fact I haven't changed that much apart from the fact I was even less willing to talk to my workmates, in expectation of what was to come, so the only reason I can find is that I was a student. This opinion has since been backed up by other nurses I have spoken to who have said that it is pretty normal for things like this to happen. Granted this may not be true everywhere but I think that for a profession that is desperate for new staff it isn't the best way to manage things. I barely made it through my training I hated it so much and I still do (I am 6 months out of University), but I am gradually getting back my confidence in myself and maybe I will get back the spark I started with, I hope so anyway. Sorry if this sounds like a sob story , I haven't meant it that way, I guess I just want to remind people that for those who are training it is often a very uncertain time and even the smallest word can have a big effect. I for one dont' want to be working until I am eighty just because there is no one else to do my job.

i am currently working in a tiny little town on the qld border and it is amazing. it is so different from anywhere else i've been, there is just so much more flexibility, in a few weeks you know nearly everyone and their medical history - which makes life a lot easier. i would reccomend it to anyone, it's a completely different atmosphere to larger areas which i have found to be very impersonal, and it can be lots of fun. you do need to be careful depending on the area you are in, but that's true of most places these days. rural and remote nursing does carry more responsibility as there are less people to call on in a time of need, and you end up knowing a little about everything rather than a lot about something. but i would definitely say it is worth it.

i am the infection control officer for a small country hospital and i am currently doing an audit and teaching people the correct method of hand washing. this issue is particularly relevant for our town as we have a community based mrsa spreading through the population (boils). i have been testing all the staff in the hospital on their technique, but i really want to make it more interesting to help people remember how important hand washing can be. i have found that the use of the ultraviolet light with the special cream has been very effective with the staff so far, but i am wondering if anyone has any suggestions on teaching methods i could use (i'm not very good at talking to people either, which makes things harder).

this one comes from the days of patient restraints. we once had to restrain a man who continually climbed out of bed and fell. the next day walking past the room i heard him call out "does anyone have a knife? anyone, i just need a knife". i walked in and told him we didn't have any knives, but what did he need it for?" he replied " i need to cut myself out of here!". later that afternoon i heard " does anyone have an airplane knife? a plastic knife? anything?" unfortunately, an unwise staff member gave him one and we had to replace the restraint due to the large cut. now we were all wise to his calls. next day i walked past and heard him say, " does anyone have a pair of scisscors?", to be honest i walked in and told him no-one had a pair of scissors. the next day i heard from his room, "does anyone have an axe?", by this stage i was laughing all the way down the corridor. that was until the next day.. walking past in a rush i heard a little voice yell out "anyone, anyone at all.. does anyone have a chainsaw?"!!!

i got sent this in an email, i have no idea where it is from, so i apologise to anyone in advance. number one idiot of 2004 >i am a medical student currently doing a rotation in >toxicology at the poison control center. today, this >woman called in very upset because she caught her >little daughter eating ants. i quickly reassured her >that the ants are not harmful and there would be no >need to bring her daughter into the hospital. she >calmed down and at the end of the conversation >happened to mention that she gave her daughter some >ant poison to eat in order to kill the ants. i told >her that she better bring her daughter into the >emergency room right away. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > :smackingf number two idiot of 2004 >early this year, some boeing employees on the >airfield decided to steal a life raft from one of >the 747s. they were successful in getting it out of >the plane and home. shortly after they took it for a >float on the river, they noticed a coast guard >helicopter coming towards them it turned out that >the chopper was homing in on the emergency locator >beacon that activated when the raft was inflated >they are no longer employed at boeing. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > number three idiot of 2004 >a true story out of san francisco: a man, wanting to >rob a downtown bank of america, walked into the >branch and wrote "this iz a stikkup. put all your >muny in this bag." while standing in line, waiting >to give his note to the teller, he began to worry >that someone had seen him write the note and might >call the police before he reached the teller's >window. so he left the bank of america and crossed >the street to wells fargo. after waiting a few >minutes in line, he handed his note to the wells >fargo teller. she read it and, surmising from his >spelling errors that he wasn't the brightest light >in the harbor, told him that she could not accept >his stickup note because it was written on a bank of >america deposit slip and that he would either have >to fill out a wells fargo deposit slip or go back to >bank of america. looking somewhat defeated, the man >said, "ok" and left. he was arrested a few minutes >later, as he was waiting in line back at bank of >america. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > :cheers: number four idiot of 2004 >a guy walked into a little corner store with a >shotgun and demanded all of the cash from the cash >drawer. after the cashier put the cash in a bag, the >robber saw a bottle of scotch that he wanted behind >the counter on the shelf. he told the cashier to put >it in the bag as well, but the cashier refused and >said, "because i don't believe you are over 21. " >the robber said he was, but the clerk still refused >to give it to him because he didn't believe him. at >this point, the robber took his driver's license out >of his wallet and gave it to the clerk. the clerk >looked it over and agreed that the man was in fact >over 21 and he put the scotch in the bag. the robber >then ran from the store with his loot the cashier >promptly called the police and gave the name and >address of the robber that he got off the license. >they arrested the robber two hours later. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > :chair: idiot number five of 2004 >a pair of michigan robbers entered a record shop >nervously waving revolvers. the first one shouted, >"nobody move!" when his partner moved, the startled >first bandit shot him. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > > :beer: idiot number six of 2004 >seems this guy wanted some beer pretty badly. he >decided that he'd just throw a cinder block through >a liquor store window, grab some booze, and run. so >he lifted the cinder block and heaved it over his >head at the window. the cinder block bounced back >and hit the would-be thief on the head, knocking him >unconscious. it seems the liquor store window was >made of plexiglas. the whole event was caught on >videotape. oh, that smarts. > >~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > :selfbonk: idiot number seven of 2004 >the ann arbor news crime column reported that a man >walked into a burger king in ypsilanti, michigan at >12:50 a. m., flashed a gun and demanded cash. the >clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't >open the cash register without a food order. when >the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they >weren't available for breakfast. the man, >frustrated, walked away. :lol_hitti

we have internet access, i don't know for how long though, they are throwing a fit about games being played. but when there are no patients in the hospital for more than a week (i work in a tiny little town with a very healthy population it seems) and everything is so clean that i am tempted to just throw things around so i have something to do, it's inevitable that we end up on the internet. the internet is invaluable for patient information and research, but on long boring nights you have to do something to keep awake.