:crying2:Over the past couple of years I have come to this site for answers and occasional comfort to know that Im not alone.
Today I feel alone. After 21 years of nursing, both lpn and for the past 3 years rn, Im ready to give up.
I recently started a new job at a local hopital on a tele unit. Im very comfortable with my skills and the nursing isnt the issue. Its the computer! I spend 75% of my time in the computer. Im slow at it for sure, but today i had to use 3 different computers because of malfunctions of some sort with all of them.
Its a tough enough job that we do, taking care of people who seem to not appreciate what we do. I feel like a waitress, a maid and generally the one that gets dumped on most of the time. I understand that patients are hurting and sick, again not a new nurse. I just dont know if the direction that healthcare is going is a good one.
Its always been about the almighty dollar, but now that is all I see. Please is there anyone out there who can cast a positive light in my direction? I hate to give up all these years, but Im not sure I can keep going.
I understand the frustration everyone is having, but if I may: computer charting is relatively new. Yes it can be incredibly sucky, but it takes time to get things right. I have to think that the process will get more streamlined as time goes on. In my personal experience, computer charting is WAY easier and faster than paper charting ever was. Granted, the facility I work at now has a computer in every room - I quit my last hospital job after three months, and a good portion of the reasoning was because I couldn't stand the COWs. But back to the point: what is your hospital's IT department doing? They should be keeping things running smoothly, and if they aren't then you need to put in requests for them to work out the kinks. Or use whatever process improvement system your facility has to request changes.
I really, really don't want to offend anybody, but it also seems to me that the younger generations, those of us who grew up with computers, are able to fly through the charting while the older nurses are the ones who are slowed down by the process. I work on a busy med/surg unit (no 4 patients per nurse ratio, I can promise you), and yet I am almost always able to get all of my assessments and morning meds passed within the first three hours of my shift. As opposed to some of our older nurses, who frequently find that they have reached the end of their shifts and haven't opened a single chart.
I would suggest getting more familiar with your computer system, or just computers in general. Take a computer class. Take a typing class, if you are pecking away at keys. Play around with the computer and see what new things you can find. Our computer program is overwhelmingly big and not very user friendly, but once you've learned all the little ins and outs, you can chart a lot in a very short amount of time. The most time-consuming thing is actually logging on, which they improved by having the computer automatically log on with a tap of the nametag.
Sorry for droning on, but I feel like a lot of people get in their own way when it comes to computers. Working with a computer is like training for a sport - if you do the exact same thing every time, you won't ever push your limits and you'll be stuck in a rut going nowhere. Take the initiative and improve your own understanding - I promise it will do nothing but help you.
Malfunctions with the computers have absolutely nothing to do with user age, more likely the age of the computers.
You misunderstood my point - those were two separate thoughts. Let me try again.
1) If you have computers, you have an IT department. Utilize it!
2) If you are older, you are more likely to be less adept at computers (again, don't mean to offend. Just an observation). So you must take the initiative to correct this if you plan to stay in nursing for a while.
You misunderstood my point - those were two separate thoughts. Let me try again.
1) If you have computers, you have an IT department. Utilize it!
2) If you are older, you are more likely to be less adept at computers (again, don't mean to offend. Just an observation). So you must take the initiative to correct this if you plan to stay in nursing for a while.
I didn't misunderstand anything.
"If you are older, you are more likely to be less adept at computers", not necessarily.
Stereotype or generalization or just offensive tone in general?
"If you are older, you are more likely to be less adept at computers", not necessarily.
Stereotype or generalization or just offensive tone in general?
That I did say, but that is not what you were referring to in your last post. This is a VERY different statement from "Malfunctions with the computers have...to do with user age". If you didn't misunderstand me, then you know that I never said OR implied the latter statement.
And yes, older people are less likely to be adept at computers. This IS a generalization, but it is nonetheless true for the most part. Obviously some older folk have taken to computers like a fish in the water, and it doesn't mean that some younger people aren't dumb as bricks when it comes to electronics. But by and large it is true. Are you really telling me this isn't something you've noticed, honestly? It's not because older people aren't as smart (do I even need to say this?!?). It's a matter of what you're used to. We got our first computer when I was in elementary school, so I'm pretty immersed in computer culture. That is very obviously an advantage over someone who never touched one until they were in their 40s or 50s.
If you disagree, that's fine. But all I've noticed is, at work AND outside of work, this seems to be a fairly decent representation. And as I've said, if you truly did not (intentionally) misunderstand me, there was a complete dichotomy of ideas between malfunction and familiarity, which you smushed together so that you could be "offended."
Start browsing the internet for jobs in your area and get an idea if and what is available. Sounds like you just need some new scenery and a change of pace.
I posted something similar a few days ago...computer charting is but just one of many issues facing healthcare that is causing problems..patients seem to be more ill these days - even in the face of advancements in treatments and medications..patients that normally would've been placed in ICU or intermediate care units are now on "regular" floors where the staff is already overwhelmed. Turn over of patients - admissions/discharges - is also high thanks to the "get them in get them out or we won't get paid" theme song of most facilities. One of the things that would help is to have a dedicated admission/discharge nurse - who does nothing but this - patients wouldn't have to wait, the nurse who is already taking care of others could continue his/her day and pick up report once the patient is admitted/settled. If there are no discharges/admissions this nurse could assist others -
Though a lot of people like the 12 hr shifts I think this too is becoming an issue - 12 hrs ends up being 14 or more, nurses are frantic to get things done on their days off because they know, more than likely, they will be late getting home on the days they work, so fatigue is an issue. Interviews take "forever" now - you wait for the call, then go back one, two maybe three times and still wait. Hiring freezes are in effect in some places because of money and yet the nursing staff remains the same or less as the patients pour in. Patients are waiting longer to seek treatment because its expensive so they are more ill which equals heavier acuity. And the CEO's of the hospitals are making TONS of money...for me, I start a job this month in risk management - something I've never done before, M-F. I also have a few other applications out there...A doc office I interviewed at is not willing to hire an RN..but LPN's stand a good chance as do techs/nursing assistants. I've decided I will look for a job that will pay me fair but allow me a balance to my life as well. I just don't think, for me, the hospital offers that..working PRN doesn't really pay where I'm at in the sense so many FT and PT nurses need the OT the shifts are few and far between.
Like others, I have no words of wisdom other than to say life is too short to be chronically unhappy. Use the nursing degree as a stepping stone to something else - teaching, computer science, whatever. But if you feel sad, ill, anxiety ridden on a daily basis because of a job - its time to leave.
Specializes in Mental Health, Medical Research, Periop.
After 21 years of nursing sounds like you need a nice vacation on a sunny beach. You know a place where you can forget about work. Maybe a cruise or something. Much luck to you!!
All I can tell you is what I've been feeling more and more these past few years: Life is too short and precious to spend in a job where you feel unappreciated, demeaned, and easily dispensed with (which increasingly describes many nursing jobs).
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
:crying2:over the past couple of years i have come to this site for answers and occasional comfort to know that im not alone.
today i feel alone. after 21 years of nursing, both lpn and for the past 3 years rn, im ready to give up.
i recently started a new job at a local hopital on a tele unit. im very comfortable with my skills and the nursing isnt the issue. its the computer! i spend 75% of my time in the computer. im slow at it for sure, but today i had to use 3 different computers because of malfunctions of some sort with all of them.
its a tough enough job that we do, taking care of people who seem to not appreciate what we do. i feel like a waitress, a maid and generally the one that gets dumped on most of the time. i understand that patients are hurting and sick, again not a new nurse. i just dont know if the direction that healthcare is going is a good one.
its always been about the almighty dollar, but now that is all i see. please is there anyone out there who can cast a positive light in my direction? i hate to give up all these years, but im not sure i can keep going.
sounds like you need a nice, long vacation! don't make any permanent decisions until you've taken some time for yourself.
computers are everywhere -- malfunctioning ones, too. i cannot think of many jobs where you don't have to use one. even waitresses seem to communicate orders to the kitchen via computer, mechanics utilize them to locate parts, and my cousin the farmer uses his for budgeting, banking, planning his planting, figuring his breakeven price, keeping track of his cattle, his feed, and now one of his children. your hospital must have an it department. memorize the number and call it the moment you find a computer with issues. if everyone just curses about it and moves on, it won't ever get fixed or replaced.
i'll agree with you about the direction of health care. "customer service" seems to be the largest detriment to the industry i've seen in my 34 years. even worse than ronald reagon's drgs -- and those caused an incredible stir when they came down the pike. but along with the change in health care, the general public is changing as well. people in general seem to expect more -- to demand more -- and give less. with the big push in customer service in health care, you can't find it anywhere else. the checker in the supermarket is yelling at her boyfriend on her cellphone when i come through the line, all the utility companies have computers you must talk to when you call with a question or concern and forget trying to talk to the company about some electronic device you're having problems with. no one speaks english well enough to communicate the exact nature of the problem or of the fix.
it seems patients and visitors are becoming more hostile and demanding. and we're supposed to bend over backward to provide "customer service." if we went back to "healthcare", i think the industry would be in much better shape -- certainly there's be less frivilous lawsuits about how "my ice water wasn't cold enough."
nasty, hostile, demanding people are everywhere and in every line of work. so are computers. the grass probably really isn't any greener. but in nursing you get a chance to help people through their very worst hour. you can save a life or maybe just a limb. you can learn something new every single day and you can gather some amazing stories with which to regale your friends. besides -- you already know how to do it. you don't have to take time off and be retrained to do something else at a time in your life when the college fund is probably of great import. if your current job is intolerable, maybe the computers actually work in another unit of your hospital because folks report the ones that don't. transfer into icu and learn something really different or maybe palliative care. go to utilization review if you think monday through friday is something you would like to try -- i shudder at the thought!
whatever you do, you're not alone. most of us have weeks -- even months-- like this. your job is relatively new and that may be part of your problem. maybe you just need to settle into the job a bit more.
It's tough, like you I've been a nurse for 20yrs. 10yrs LPN and 10yrs RN and I burned out right after RN school. I traveled for the past 8yrs which helped a lot but even then it started to wear on me. Some mention vacations and that is all well and good but it never really changes. When I was traveling I only worked about 8-9 months out of the year, take 2-3 weeks off every 3 months, usually took from November until mid to late January off and that kept things fresh for a few years. Eventually even it wasn't enough to offset the day in/day out frustrations of dealing with demanding patients and unrealistic managers.
I'm now in PA school to see if a role change will help me, I love medicine and still love the ER but just don't ever see myself going back to that. Life may not be greener on the other side of the fence but at least I can have more input on the direction of my career and the care I deliver instead of feeling like a sacrificial lamb. Good luck on your future decisions, no real words of wisdom just a nod of understanding to your predicament. Good luck.
carl5480
35 Posts
I understand the frustration everyone is having, but if I may: computer charting is relatively new. Yes it can be incredibly sucky, but it takes time to get things right. I have to think that the process will get more streamlined as time goes on. In my personal experience, computer charting is WAY easier and faster than paper charting ever was. Granted, the facility I work at now has a computer in every room - I quit my last hospital job after three months, and a good portion of the reasoning was because I couldn't stand the COWs. But back to the point: what is your hospital's IT department doing? They should be keeping things running smoothly, and if they aren't then you need to put in requests for them to work out the kinks. Or use whatever process improvement system your facility has to request changes.
I really, really don't want to offend anybody, but it also seems to me that the younger generations, those of us who grew up with computers, are able to fly through the charting while the older nurses are the ones who are slowed down by the process. I work on a busy med/surg unit (no 4 patients per nurse ratio, I can promise you), and yet I am almost always able to get all of my assessments and morning meds passed within the first three hours of my shift. As opposed to some of our older nurses, who frequently find that they have reached the end of their shifts and haven't opened a single chart.
I would suggest getting more familiar with your computer system, or just computers in general. Take a computer class. Take a typing class, if you are pecking away at keys. Play around with the computer and see what new things you can find. Our computer program is overwhelmingly big and not very user friendly, but once you've learned all the little ins and outs, you can chart a lot in a very short amount of time. The most time-consuming thing is actually logging on, which they improved by having the computer automatically log on with a tap of the nametag.
Sorry for droning on, but I feel like a lot of people get in their own way when it comes to computers. Working with a computer is like training for a sport - if you do the exact same thing every time, you won't ever push your limits and you'll be stuck in a rut going nowhere. Take the initiative and improve your own understanding - I promise it will do nothing but help you.