iheartnursing7

Hello everyone, This is my first time posting on this forum, so first of all i'd like to say HELLO to everyone, I'm always a silent lurker but have never had the courage to post Anyway, my question / post is mostly for Pre-op nurses or any one familiar with this specialty. I'd like to find out more information regarding pre-op as i'm very interesting in working in this area. I have a general idea as to what pre-op nurses do (i've worked telemetry for 2 years now and have prepped many patients for surgery) But I'd like to know some details such as 1- pros/cons about the job, 2- what do you like, 3- what do you hate, 4- how many patients do you typically work with at a given time, 5- stress level, 6- what's your schedule like? 8hrs Mon - fri or 3 12's ... if 8hrs, do you miss the 3 12's, do you feel less tired even though you are working 5 days (3 12's make me feel sooo drained physically and mentally) 7. Did you ever work floor nursing (medsurg/tele) and if so how is pre-op different, better? Would you go back? Quick short story about me... I am a fairly new nurse (2 short years under my belt) I started on a crazy-busy med/surg - telemetry floor 7:1 patient ratio.. tremendous amount of stress and unsafe working environment... dealt with it for a year and 3 months and transferred to a different facility/hospital with the hopes that nursing would be different.. However I landed right back in telemetry. This time only 5:1 patient ratio, definitely much better, more tolerable working environment... BUT it's still not what I want to do. Today's patient's are SO sick, and so demanding sometimes I spend more time fetching water,snacks, and meeting their requests in order to keep patient satisfaction scores high than doing actual nursing care! Management puts more and more demands and responsibilities on nursing staff. We have to complete our shift assessments before 10am, we have a 30min morning huddle that cuts into our report time, meds are due all around the clock 7:30, 8am, 9am, 10, 11, 12, 2, 4 and so forth (sometimes I feel like all i'm doing is running around giving medications around the clock because once I'm done with 10am meds it's already 11ish and time for 12pm meds) We only have 1 hour to complete discharges -- yes we have to basically kick the patient out because ER needs the bed for the next patient. (which I find so unprofessional and unfair to the patient, some docs come in at 8am to discharge a patient and management expects them to be out of the door by 9am) !!! And between all this my phone does not stop ringing -- lab with criticals, pharmacy with questional medication orders, other procedural departments calling for report to come pick up patients, and the patients themselves calling for more requests!!! Don't get me wrong i LOVE nursing, but some days I break down and cry myself to sleep because I feel so unhappy at work every single day. So before I throw in the towel and give up on a career that I was once so excited for I'd like to try a totally different specialty -- and pre-op has always caught my attention... so please without judgment, i'd like to hear your opinions and any advice you have if you have ever felt this way in your nursing career and what helped you save yourself from calling it quits! Nursing is seriously affecting my mental health / physical health (i get really tachycardic and feel anxious at work) and I know something has to change because I refuse to live unhappy and work in a field that makes me so sad. Life is too short for that. Thank you to whoever takes the time to read and reply :) Hanging on to the last bit of hope, RN.