RNTEE

You are right and exactly on track of my thinking. I did great in my ambulatory care job and it paid twice what I'm making in the hospital. It isn't my ideal job but it built me up. The hospital setting has done the opposite, probably due to my own insecurities that I let get the better of me. In terms of organization it is my anxiety that is holding me back and causing me to inwardly freak out at all the information being thrown at me. I'm on the older side of nursing and have already had great success in my previous career. Do I really need the stress of acute care? I'm 50. Maybe its time to focus on my family and quality of life. But the question then becomes: how do I quit gracefully without looking like "a quitter" and burning my bridges after my managers went to bat for me to get this other job?

Hi, I'm wondering if there is any good advice out there for me. Here's my situation. I graduated a little over a year ago. Got a job in ambulatory care for 3 months (which I loved but it wasn't acute care), left after three months because I was offered a new-grad program in a high acuity trauma ER that lasted 6 months (my dream job). After 6 months in this ER, both my preceptors and I admitted I was not qualified with the knowledge and confidence to be on my own. Still, I loved the ER and plan to return. I left in excellent standing and told I could come back anytime when I felt I had a solid base. Everyone I worked with agreed it was a very tough place to start as a new grad, and I humbly accept that. The managers were so supportive and advocated for me by finding me a job in the Med-Surg dept at the same hospital. The problem: I am failing miserably in Med Surg. My new manager gave me two weeks training to get up to speed and start on my own. The first week I had no computer access, and shadowed my preceptor. The computer program/interface is completely different than the ER. After my second week, the manager was disappointed that I was not further ahead. I was only up to 2 patients due to all the extensive charting required and still trying to figure out the program/flow/new job. This Med Surg dept is 5:1, I'm also not used to the multitude of meds, and all the orders and taking verbal orders (we didn't in the ER). He gave me an ultimatum (in a nice managerial sort of way) So I have 2 more weeks or, as he put it, we'll say this isn't a good fit.” I've never been let go in my life. But admittedly, I gave so much to my first job, then so much to the ER that I just have no more energy for med surg. In short, I feel overwhelmed by this new job, and despise the unit. It is run well and the staff are very nice, but I have panic every time I go to work thinking about the long list of meds, patients with so many co-morbidities, and all the endless charting which is so time consuming. I respect and admire the nurses in this department but it is a tough, tough job. I am an incredibly hard worker, and try to see every day of this job as a great opportunity, which it is, but either my brain is either too burnt out, or too old, but I simply can not retain all the orders, meds, and patients . For two weeks I have been completely miserable and the thought of having two more weeks before my fate is decided just makes me sick to my stomach. I felt from the very first day that this was not the right place for me. Having 3 new jobs in less than a year has burned me out and now my confidence is also at an all time low. I have too little experience to get another job, too much experience to get a new grad internship. And since my ER managers helped me get this job, I don't want to burn my bridge by quitting. But I am so unhappy and panicked at the thought of returning. Has anyone been in this situation? And have any advice?

Is it normal to think I'm doing something wrong is all the other RNs are offering to help? I used to ask the same question because I'm also a new grad, but I've since discovered that this is the team approach that everyone talks about in the ED. I have seen some of our best nurses drowning and needing help because pts are so unpredictable. I had a charge nurse say to me once, "It is a sign of strength not weakness, to ask for help because it is hard to do, and it takes confidence to accept it." In the ED we have to work as a team to survive. You try to do as much as you can but if someone has the time to help, take it. It does not mean you aren't capable, it just helps with the flow.

Hello! I'm a new grad in a high acuity (level 2)/high volume trauma center in California. I've been part of a "residency" program for the past 4 months with 2 months to go. While I have nothing to compare it to, many of the nurses have told me the residency program and hospital suck, and to get out as soon as I can to a better hospital where my license won't be at stake. We are usually short staffed and have recently had a mass exodus of nurses, doctors, and techs. Still, I'm grateful to have a nursing job straight out of school and the very position I dreamed of. The problem is that after 4 months I am still having trouble taking on three patients and there's no way I am able to take 4. I have read and been given so much advice and feel like I am following it to the best of my abilities but the bottom line: I'm slow at everything I do! It's killing me!!! I love the ER, I love the people I work with, I even love the dysfunction and chaos of our ER, but I'm starting to ask myself if I'm fooling myself because I can't seem to keep up with the flow no matter how efficient I try to make myself. My question is this: do I stick it out and hope that in two months I will be faster, or do I leave while I'm still seen in a "good light", and try a different floor like telemetry where I have more time to hone my skills and time management? Is there a point when you know you are not cut out for the ER? And if so, how do you know?