DarkDiva

I was told by a friend on my floor who's been there about 2 years after graduation that she still has those days where she feels like she has no idea what she's doing. I'm only six months in but I find stuff every shift I had been missing, and I ask a LOT of questions still. I'm really lucky though, my co-workers are awesome and super supportive. They never make me feel dumb even when I asked my charge to walk me through administering a suppository because I'd never done it. And she's the 'mean' nurse on our floor . I've been told by everyone that its usually a year before you stop feeling like a headless chicken. And I too envy those nurses who BS at the nurses station for hours while I feel like a crazy person. Some days I feel like I'll never be that competent. I have those days where I feel really good though, like when I caught a patient's pnuemothorax that the ED had accidentally caused when drawing fluid off for ascites. I left that morning feeling like 'Yeah, I can do this.'

This is just my personal opinion but the fact that you have to work hard for those grades will you stand you in good stead. You have perseverance and work ethic, it doesn't just come to you. Nursing school is hard, but so is Nursing. One of my fellow students was extremely good at tests and consistently got A's on them but they were also self-entitled and thought all the rules should be bent to accommodate them. They eventually got kicked out of the program because they didn't take responsibility for keeping track of what classes they needed to graduate. Grades aren't everything.

8 days sounds more like SNF orientation, not a medsurg floor; to be fair 8 days isn't enough for a new grad in most bedside nursing. I agree with the others, you need to start looking around for another job. But be picky, you don't want to end up in the same situation you are now. Also, you get guaranteed breaks?!

Well if money's a concern you can always work nights/weekends or even both. That pay diff makes a big difference at the end of the month. Most places do not pay extra for a BSN, but its pretty much required at this point. I got a hospital job with an ADN but they're pretty hard up for nurses and my contract requires getting my BSN in three years of hire.

Well, as someone who worked a job where I was on call every third week for thirteen years I definitely feel your pain. On call sucks. You have no life and you basically do nothing because the minute you try to make plans Murphy's Law kicks into effect and you get called in. I also did call after working a full shift, get called in that night, get no sleep, and have to work a full shift the next day (This was not nursing, but it was healthcare related). Basically you have to weight the pros and cons. Overall it sounds like you'd be making less money in this new job with the daycare and the commute cost increase. But depending on how long this staff shortage has been going on and what your management is doing to remedy it, it may not be worth your sanity to stay and continue working all those hours. Personally, I would never do that type of on call again and would think seriously about taking any job with call. I'm too old for it.

Personally, I love nights but I also have a good friend that works with me that hates it. The only reason she stays is because the differential is a couple hundred dollars a paycheck; it's not an insignificant chunk of change. I have lost 15 lbs since I started nights, I love my co-workers and I actually have time most nights to complete most of my charting. On a bad night (Oncology/Medical) I usually only have to stay at most an hour to finish up charting, and that's as a fairly new grad. Unfortunately, you're probably not going to know if you can handle nights until you try. As said in a previous post if you go nights, you need to make sleep a priority. Schedule it and don't answer your phone. Put a sign on your door so that people don't ring your bell. With kids the sleep issue might be the roughest for you and you'll have to work out a schedule with your family for taking care of the little one.

Huh, just had surgery 3 weeks ago and they gave me IV* phenegren after the zofran didn't cut it. As to the original post I don't see a PO med doing the patient much good if they're vomiting. That's probably something I would clarify with a fellow nurse first, but I'm a baby nurse and have only been working six months. Then depending what they said I would call the provider.