Mandylou

This may not be helpful to you but I really needed to read your post. I haven't been a nurse long, only two years but I am at a breaking point. Reading your post reminds me what nursing is all about. Please don't say you are not cut out for the job because you are. You are exactly the kind of nurse I would want to take care of my family member. I feel like I have lost a lot of sympathy and that is a shame. I am tired of taking care of the clock watchers who want drugs and don't need them, the demanding family members, and rude patients. The fact that you don't feel that way is commendable. Hang in there, take a little break if you can. I have a vacation coming up and I am looking forward to it. Take care.

nothing

This kind of stuff makes me bone weary and zaps my patience. Walking out of the room one time I heard, "Waitress!" Sigh, I responded with a yes sir. He was older maybe he was a little confused or maybe not. Sometimes it depends on the patient or family member how eager I am to run fetch hot water, or a blanket. There are times when a family member will stay with a demented or really sick loved one. I feel like I can go out of my way for them. It is the snotty teenager's friends that are rude and demanding that make me angry.

It is okay! Nursing school builds a foundation. Working on the floor as a nurse gives you experience and real life lessons. There were procedures, surgeries, and concepts that I had no clue about until I started working. Here I will embarrass myself a little and give you an example. When I first graduated I had a dialysis patient that had gone to dialysis that day ( I worked night shift) in talking to another nurse I was very concerned that the patient had zero urine output! They never told us in school that some dialysis patients don't void at all. When I stopped to think about it it made sense but it caught me off guard at first. I realized after that there were so many real life things that we never touched in school. Best of luck, it will be fine. :)

Formaldehyde, and no she did not work in a funeral home! She worked in some type of factory that used it in their manufacturing process.

sorry to wake you up.... ....thanks, now you can go back to sleep. Just wanted to make sure you were there. Can I have a massage? Can I get your phone number?

The note-taker: From the second you walk in the room they have pen and paper in hand. They start with your name and then demand to know every little thing you are doing so they can write it in the "NOTEBOOK." Heaven forbid you do something that the nurse before you didn't do because then the notebook is consulted and items are cross referenced and thrown in your face. Another lengthy discussion must follow. Adding insult to injury and sucking out your last drop of patience they ask you to slow down because they can't write as fast as you are talking.

I do the same thing! I switch back and forth until one hand feels more comfortable. I do this with IV starts (usually pick my right hand), most procedures, even bowling! I also felt like a weirdo especially when people are watching. I usually tell people when I am starting their IV right handed, "Would it bother you to know I am left handed?" I usually get a laugh and distract them for a sec. When I write my name on the dry erase board I often get the comment, "Oh no, a lefty!"

Oh my, the last two days at work I have caught two nurses pushing it without diluting! Of course there was damage to the veins! I am still livid. Time for some major educating.

The previous poster has excellent tips, try to follow them. The only thing I would add would be to try melatonin. I have not used it myself but have talked to many nurses who have. I know you said you didn't want drugs but this may not fall in that category depending on how you feel.

Just remember that everyone has bad nights. So when you encounter one don't let it get you down. Don't think that you are a horrible nurse. Keep your chin up and remember it won't last forever. The next shift will be better. With every night on your own you add more experience and more confidence to your belt. Best of luck.

I had a dream about my great grandfather the day before my son passed away. I hadn't dreamed about him in a long time. I remember him sitting in one of his old cars and he was talking to me. I remember the conversation being very comforting. I look back on that dream and like to think that it was a preparation of sorts and a pledge that my son would not be alone.

Probably already been said by other night-shifters but I do call doctors. Often doing chart checks I discover meds that have not been given or labs not called and I call in the middle of the night to get chewed out from things missed by dayshift. I am not saying we don't miss things on nights but the majority of the time docs aren't cheery when you wake them. That doesn't mean that I don't have a responsibility to call. I try not to leave things for dayshift but honestly in the last 15-40 minutes before I leave we are swamped by docs coming in to write orders. We go from 0 to 15 charts with orders in that time. Of course it would help to explain that there are usually 3 rn's that have to give report one at a time and we can't leave until we are all done. Our lpn's usually leave while we are still reporting. So it does get tricky. Do what you can but don't feel bad if it doesn't all get done. Every nurse has to pass along things once in a while. :)

There are no other licensed personal in the office. The case managers work with the doctors to coordinate health care, usually it is mental health issues that are faced. The nurses say it is illegal for them to give the meds. I looked up the state practice act but can't find anything. Currently, the pts have to bring their meds down and take them in front of unlicensed people on duty. thanks for the replies this far. :)

Yes, I meant administer meds. The nurses do not work in a hospital, they work in an office. They counsel pts, coordinate health care, and so on.

If you are not working in a clinical setting but you are using your license as a case manager, is it legal to dispense meds to your patients if it is ordered by the dr to be observed? I know this is very general and does not give the full picture but I am curious what others think.

true, true

As a parent who experienced this I have mixed feelings. The things we saw were burned into our brains. We were only allowed back when it was clear they would not save him. I honestly can't say that I am thankful or not. I think it really depends on the individual family members. Ultimately I wish I could have held his hand and kissed him when all that stuff was going on but I would have been in the way. I can look back in awe of the code team. They honestly did not want to stop the code even after the doc in charge gave the order. Thank you to all the PICU and ER nurses (and others) who deal with ped deaths, you are amazing.

Eww, I know what you mean! There is one nurse at work that treats me that way and it really gets under my skin. It makes me feel like she is undermining me in front of my patients. Most of the time the info she is "teaching" me in front of the patients is either wrong or I am fully aware of. Once I was hooking up Buck's traction and she totally took it away from me and said, "No you do it this way." That really angered me because I was doing it the right way. I walked out of the room and walked right back in when she walked out to fix her mistakes. She left the weight hanging against the bed frame. I know I know, I need to confront her instead of checking for mistakes but I am a chicken. So take advice from the chicken stand up for yourself in a kind but firm way. :) Best of luck.

1. What kind of floor? med-surg/ ortho (they do have aides on dayshift) 2. Ratio patient:nurse? 1 rn to 9-13 pts, 1 lpn to 5-6 pts (sometimes up to 9) 3. Is it functional? we struggle to get everything done 4. Have you worked in an environment that had aides/techs before? How did it compare? yes, much better 5. What other support staff do you have, that those of us with techs/aides might not? lpns

I work on a med-surg/ortho floor. I have between 9-13 patients. We have lpn's that are med-nurses, we still give prn's and administer some pushes and piggy backs. We (lpn and rn) are responsible for hourly charting on every patient. This is where we run into trouble. It is nearly impossible. Once you round on all the patients it is time to start again. Not to mention the tasks that pop up like: cleaning up incontinence, med passes, trouble shooting patients problems, calling docs, and so on. Those things make it easy to get behind. Lunch breaks also throw us off. So, yes I struggle with getting it all done. I just do as much as I can and try to make sure my patients are well cared for. Honestly the less critical. stable pts, often get less attention and I hate that but it is reality.

I did not work in the medical field before I graduated and I really wish that I could have. I wasn't even comfortable turning patients when I first started! I didn't know all the little tricks that come with experience. So the seasoned nurses stood around looking at me thinking "this is what you get when you get a brand new RN?" Fortunately I learn quickly. I can't tell you how many times I have heard someone ask "Have you ever worked in the field before?

I work night shift on a med surg floor that has 38 beds. We usually have three RN's and 4-5 LPN's. The RN's sit and take report on all patients, the LPN's usually only sit in for their pt's. Report usually takes about an hour. It stinks, but it comes in handy when you are helping others out with their pt's.

Larry, that is mean! Always had a feeling you ED nurses were doing that on purpose. Oh well, guess we would do the same. :)

We are doing this too. I have found it so difficult to get around to doing this every hour (or two if the LPN is helping me). I get so frustrated!