Should I ditch this J-O-B??

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Specializes in Cardiac, ED.

Hey guys...I'm new. This is my first post...virgin!!!! LOL...Anyway, I need your advice. I am a Cardiac Nurse on a step-down tele unit. I take pt anywhere from Post-op day 1-2 CABGS c chest tubes, to Cath pt's c integrlin, Reopro. We take all kinds of gtt.....NTG, Cardizem, heparin, ect, and to titrate. PPM/ICD, the list goes on....Yeah, to say the least we are VERY busy. Very high turnover. I take 6 pts at a time, if I'm lucky I'll get five. I am sooooo stressed. I feel that I am not taking good care of my pts, just the bare min. I have talked with my Nurse manger and she says this hopfully won't last long, maybe to July. I don't know if I can wait that long. I really like the people I work with, they have your back. But, I don't know if the pt census will go down. I can't keep this up forever...any thoughts???:idea:

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How long have you worked?

If you have put in a year or so, feel free to look around at other jobs. You already have a job plus experience to help you. Just knowing that you do not have to do that job forever, can make a shift seem less hard.

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Specializes in Cardiac, ED.

I've been there for 2 years...:deadhorse

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Specializes in Med/Tele.

I would start looking elsewhere........it seems a bit dangerous to stay there. You dont want to lose your nursing license and with a good 2 years experience you should be able to find an area you like and get hired! You could just stay PRN at the current job.......

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The nurse patient ratio for that kind of care sounds very dangerous. Why don't they have more nurses? You have wonderful experience that would get you hired anywhere. Look around for something else. Your license is on the line. I don't think you can give the proper physical and emotional care for that many critical patients. I would be stressed too. It's not worth it.

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I have talked with my Nurse manger and she says this hopfully won't last long, maybe to July.

This statement made me laugh. They always tell you the staffing problem is temporary. It usually does not change. I think they make the decision to cut staffing but they don't tell you. Easier to string you along making you think things will be better somewhere down the road. It just happened to me again recently. Guess what I fell for the false promisses, AGAIN. For a while anyway, now I am retired, AGAIN.

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Specializes in Telemetry, Oncology, Progressive Care.

That sounds like a lot. At my hospital the nurses who take those patients get 3-4 of them. 4 is the max. We have 2 different tele units. The first one takes the post op cabg patients and most sicu transfers. My unit takes all other tele patients.

I am on a tele floor which sounds like a step down from where you are at and I get 4-5 patients. My patients are all generally pretty stable unless I have someone taking a turn for the worst which can happen on any unit. We do drips on our floor but not any titrations (except for heparin). Nitro is limited to 20 mcg, Dopamine and Dobutamine up to a certain amount, Cardizem, amiodarone, and insulin drips. There might be others but I haven't done them. I always ask first.

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