anonomous

good thread

Wow, all of these posts where extremely helpful. Thank you!!

this was extremely helpful. thank you

I think what is overwhelming me the most is trying to take the doctor's orders. I have a lot of difficulty understanding their accents. Plus, when I take telephone orders I can barely hear because of all the bells going off and people talking around me. The second thing that is overwhelming me is the med pass itself. One unit has over 30 patients and I am the only nurse passing meds. I am also responsible for treatments, emergencies, answering the phones, managing the cnas etc. I'm not sure what advice anyone can give about how to improve my efficiency during a med a pass. I am also getting really stressed out over the fact that I never have the supplies I need. At first, I didn't even know what I was looking for... Now that I recognize the names of the creams and bandages and stuff, they are never available!!! I'm terrified ot leave my unit because I'm the only nurse there.

The reality is, the doctors have been very patient, the CNA's are mostly very competent, and most of my coworkers are friendly and helpful. Despite these facts, I feel completely overwhelmed. There is so many things I don't know. I feel like my school was a joke to the point where I am dangerously unprepared. I've made so many mistakes and I'm only two months in. The other day, my supervisor told me to do about ten things and I didn't even understand half of what she was saying. I constantly have to ask for clarification. Especially when getting orders from the doctors. Every day I feel like I'm about to cry. I know I got more training than is typical (12 shifts) so I don't want to ask for more. Is this experience typical? I've honestly never felt so stupid as I have over the past two months.

The worst part of being an LPN is people constantly asking if I want to go back to school. Consider this, in most programs (all I think?) if you fail a nursing course, you are out of the program. Money and time wasted. Why do you want to risk taking so many more courses with the possibility of failing? Keeping in mind, of course, that failing in most programs is below a 76%. I make 2.5x what your friends quoted my first job right out of school. Also, the LPN program I attended could not have realistically been easier. People fail out of RN programs all the time. If you have to work and support yourself while in school an LPN program is appropriate. If you are young, right out of high school, and you will be financially taken care of, I would recommend an RN program.

CNA is cheaper and quicker. I don't know if its different in your state but in mass the PT program is very long. I do not recommend taking a program that lasts months to make only 15$ hourly. However, being a CNA is far harder. It is very physical and you will be putting your body at risk. In both positions, you are potentially exposing yourself to disease. I would recommend trying to get a job as an activities assistant. You will be in a health care setting, you will get experience with patients, and it will look good on a resume for future jobs/schools.

Thank you for this post

Man I feel you. I have my ba in psych and an lpn lisence and no one cares about the ba. It's frustrating and feels unfair but it's the reality.

Our schedules overlap. It's not a traditional nursing setting. She works mornings, I work evenings and we are both there for a few hours in the afternoon.

These posts have me even more worried! Now I'm scared my supervisors will think I'm not offering to help this coworker. I'm worried management could think I must be leaving all the work for her. I absolutely offer to help and have even starting asking an hour before she is scheduled to if I can help. She gets very possessive over her real projects but it mostly staying late to do her own documentation. She also stays late for imaginary tasks that I could not help with.

As stated in my initial comment, I have no intention of bringing this up to anyone. It would obviously compromise my working environment. The purpose of this post was to vent. I realize my best course of action is to say and do nothing. ALso, it very well could come out of my check. See comment #4 "what happens when the facility needs to cut back on staff, cut back on services, cut back on benefits, due to costs over runs for salaries!"

Yes. She is getting overtime.

My coworker is essentially stealing. She stays nearly an hour late everyday for overtime. This would not be unusual but we work in a setting where staying late is blatantly unnecessary. She has no reason to stay late every day and purposely puts off her work til the last minute. It really bothers me. She spends the entire shift wasting time so she can have something to do right before she is supposed to leave. I’m not about to compromise my job by saying anything but drives me crazy.