I am a fresh and shiny new RN and getting slaughtered in the ICU. I worked there as a tech for a year before I finished school and thought it would be an easy transition as an RN. Boy was I wrong!!
Here's the deal....I had a particularly crazy morning; crazy high maintenance family in one room and an admit (at 0745) from the ER (found unresponsive- drug OD) in the other. The admit was nothing like the ER nurse reported to me. Pt was vented, b/p in the 200's, couldn't tell if she was seizing or posturing, etc. While trying to complete the 3 pages of doc orders on the new admit I get a dirty needle stick (as her ex-husband calmly informs me that she has a life long history of IV drug use). Needless to say the morning was so insane that I didn't have a chance to sit down and do ANY charting. Charge calls a RN from home to come in and cover for me while I go get my blood work done. I feel HORRIBLE about the whole situation....I waited until the last minute to take care of myself so as to not leave so much work for the oncoming RN. Well....she comes in ******. I apologize all over the place, trying to explain what the morning was like. During report I had to go look at vent setting as the RT was in there changing them throughout the morning. Fast forward....come back and approach the RN and she basically tells me to do my charting and stay away from HER pts. Fine! Whatever!
Go into work the next day and have been taken off the schedule for the day and then am subjected to a 2.5 hr meeting with the nurse manager. This RN hand wrote 6 pages of notes detailing stuff that she thought I had done wrong, mind you nothing life-threatening....no pillows in admits rm (no need to turn her that morning as she was bucking all over the place), no oral care done (no time as I was trying to control her b/p and figure out her mentation), etc etc etc. She also printed off all of my charting and circled things that she thought I was lying about. I received a hefty write up (level 3...4 is dismissal).
When I was working this week I took my lunch break and came back early....to find her going through all of my charting (she was charging).
To say that I feel threatened is a gross understatement. The nurse manager told me that if I make one more mistake then I will be dismissed. Yicks! I am an absolute nervous wreck. Things get out of control very fast in the ICU. And we are currently so short staffed that most RN's have to take 3 pts each. My nurse manager told me that I was not using my resources appropriately but it is hard when everyone is as busy or busier than you are!
My intentions are to move within the next 4 wks...but I am wondering if I should go ahead and resign now to avoid the chances of getting fired first.
And one additional note....if I were to do it all over again....I would never never never take a position in an ICU right out of nursing school. There is just too much that you DON'T know!!!
