ready to quit

Dont despair, get out of med/surg, hell holes in my opinion, never worked them in my life and wouldn't. You can work anywhere, with potential for growth and change, don't believe a year of med/surg is some mandatory starting point. Look around, ICU, ED, OB, Psych??, what are your interests and goals.. there's a million different options, you'll find your niche

Med-Surg can be a very discouraging place for new grads. Just because med-surg doesn't work out doesn't mean you wasted your life. Good luck finding something that fits.

well I would like to be able to not work ina hospital period sadly everyone wants you to work ina hospital for a year.... I am not stupid I worked hard and long to get My "RN" maybe I should not feel so bad this last floor wanted me to have 10-12 patients at one time anyways... sigh.,... I've had over 7 pts per 12 hour shift... good luck trying to provide good safe competent nursing care... did you know my trainer told me you don't have to listen to each pts lungs each day if they can talk thats good enough? and oh yea get this because of the new changes in medicare from now on they wanted me to document any red area on a pt as a deep tissue injury.. but thats not a deep tissue injury how do you know that? I asked hush mark if you don't document that way we don't get paid now deep tissue injury you understand us.

I know the feeling, but can't imagine a ratio like that. I'm on a floor that is med surg with another speciality emphasis (stroke/tele) and it can be a really grungy, eat you alive, stress buster type environment. But I feel I'm there to learn the gruntwork and master time management, plus a few skills here and there -- chest tubes, heparin drips, codes, and various medical patient problems and the skills/thinking that go with them. I am learning TONS everyday I'm there, through trials and tribulations at times.

I do NOT have 8-10 patients, though. We have only 4-5 and I would have never gone to a ratio like that. I am lucky to live in an area w/ choices I guess. We also have great travel nurses who move through our unit and I learn a lot from them as they have various backgrounds.

I don't plan on staying there forever -- no way. i will do my committment to them and then move to telemetry or perhaps a step down ICU place next. I have very clear plans. By the time I make my way through all of these units I'll have a fantastic base of experience and maybe I can travel or something. I'm 44, BTW and feel I have a lifetime ahead of me.

But it can get discouraging during the interim -- just try to learn, learn, learn . ..I have a good time just reading through patient's charts/histories and try to learn all I can about the labs and test also.

Do you have other hospitals in the area -- choices?

well I would like to be able to not work ina hospital period sadly everyone wants you to work ina hospital for a year.... I am not stupid I worked hard and long to get My "RN" maybe I should not feel so bad this last floor wanted me to have 10-12 patients at one time anyways... sigh.,... I've had over 7 pts per 12 hour shift... good luck trying to provide good safe competent nursing care... did you know my trainer told me you don't have to listen to each pts lungs each day if they can talk thats good enough? and oh yea get this because of the new changes in medicare from now on they wanted me to document any red area on a pt as a deep tissue injury.. but thats not a deep tissue injury how do you know that? I asked hush mark if you don't document that way we don't get paid now deep tissue injury you understand us.

Sounds like a dreadful place. Still don't get down on yourself as wasting your time, when it sounds more like you need to leave a bad institution. (Please don't write it's name here.)

please do not give up just yet !!!!You are just getting your feet wet and it will be very stressful, trying, agravating (sp?)...think of it as a learning experience...an extension from school...get some time in and then if you are still not happy, there are SO MANY other avenues for you to pursue...

Doctors office, clinics, home health, psych hospitals, out pt. surgery, just to name a few.....you have worked HARD to get that degree....give it some time.....we all have days (even after 22 +++ yrs.) that we wish we were doing something else, somewhere else....tht is reality...but in the end, I would not have been happier doing anything else...:heartbeat:heartbeat

just my

Mike: You are NOT alone! I am 7 months in on a ridiculously chaotic med-oncology floor:scrm: and I am waiting as I write this to see if I got a new (non-bedside) job that I interviewed for yesterday. I cannot survive where I am, and I will keep looking if I don't get this other job. DO NOT give up on nursing; it's hospital nursing that is rife with dysfunction, not nursing itself. There are PLENTY of possibilities; don't despair!!!! :plsebeg:

Thanks for all the advise here. I am a new grad and I too work in a med/surg unit with 8-10 patient ratios . We do team nursing, but even with team nursing, I still have to assess all 8-10 patients that night, give ivp pain meds, charting, etc. It can be overwhelming at times , but I take it one step at a time. I am learning each time I work on the floor. I gave myself one year to work on this floor and them plan to transfer to what I want to do.

I had an interview for a RN 1 position for the county yesterday and was told I would be put on a waiting list. So hopefully that pans out. Just keep up the good work, be flexible and just keep on swimming. I guess we all have to start somewhere. Good luck.

P.S.: Sorry, Mark, for calling you Mike!!! I apologize...

hey everyone

I will not give up on nursing I worked hard to earn my RN I like nursing I like working with patients and I love medicine I had a appointment with my MD and described some symptoms I had been having related to keeping organized and more forgetful lately.. He said well you know what let me do some screening here after a bunch of questions he was well you mark really have many symptoms of Adult attention deficit disorder so who knows could very well be maybe thats why school was hard for me?

anyways he has me trying a medication and I'll see him again in 4 weeks and a whole bunch of labs cas DM type 2 and thyroid problems run in the family.

Mark, What interested you in nursing?, where did you see yourself as a nurse, what are your goals? I'm trying to understand if you didn't want hospital or LTF where do your interests lie?? dept or specialty,,,maybe 23 can give you some guidance if we had a greater understanding