nursecarebear
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WOW! I Just wanted to thank everyone for your words of encouragement and support. This is my first time posting and putting my raw feelings out there. It has been a great posting experience and has helped to pick myself up and look at all the options. :)
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I am a new RN and had just 4 weeks of orientation in the Med/Surg dept. at a very busy level one trauma hospital. I was driving to work after another sleepless night for my third day 12 hour shift (really 14 hours). On the drive I started crying and just felt so overwhelmed with my mind on a negative spiral and the thought of the day ahead, the amount of work, the stress of "getting it", charting both paper and computer, unreadible orders from doctors, not having enough time to get something done, always many things to do at one time, so much to learn, the exposure I had to an active coughing TB patient (and hoping that the paper mask was secure enough), fears of being sued and stories from nurses that worked there and had been through a court hearing, stories of nurses with chronic back injuries, difficult patients and wanting to help people but feeling so out of my league. I turned the car around towards home and called the director and quit. I am 44 years old, in my second marriage with two grown children and have just not felt this overwhelmed before. There are many things that I like about nursing but the constant stress is just too much. It has been a week since I quit and now I am wondering what I should do now... Do I try hospital nursing again or are there other choices that are a little less on the stress scale. I can handle some stress but a constant "10" for the 12 hours is just too much for me.There are many things that I do like about nursing and really do want to "make a difference" . I do not know if another hospital would be better or if it is me. If anybody has any ideas I would sure appreciate it. Thanks for letting me vent and listening. (Running away to Tahiti and selling little drink umbrellas is sounding good but probably will not help my student loans)