Tough it out for a full year?

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Hello all,

I am a new nurse who has been on a med surg floor for five months now, have been on my own for almost three of that. I have spent alot of time reading posts about new nurses being unhappy etc. Here and there, I have gone home crying, obsessed about work on my day off etc. Trying to keep it all in check, keep my head up and stay postive. I have made my share of goofy mistakes and keep trying to learn from them.

I'll try to keep this short, but I have come to realize that I made the wrong decision for my first job. When in nursing school, I thought I wanted to work in a hospital. This hospital is close to home, and I was familiar with it from clinicals, and I figure med surg is about the same anywhere. Well, as many places, we chronically work understaffed, rarely have an aide on the floor which makes patient care more challenging with a 6-7 ratio, usually having a couple of fresh post ops and confused patients. On more than one occasion I have feared for my patient's safety. I could go on about my concerns, but the bottom line is I am not comfortable with the general care the patients receive. There is alot of disorganization, not only unique to my floor but the hospital in general. I feel like alot of things were missed in orientation, as it was disorganized, and I never received as promised my evaluation after 90 days. I have approached my nurse manager about this several times, and she always puts me off to another time, as she's over worked taking on two units right now. Except for a rare few, the nurses I work with are not particularly supportive or helpful. I really think the prevailing symptom of the staff is overworked, dispassionate and burnt out.

This is not what I want for my career, that is for sure. I am a positive person by nature and this place is really dragging me down. I really am looking to settle down in a position and stay for a while to gain skills and expertise. At this point, I am not sure if I even want to do hospital nursing. I worry though, that i am falling behind in the skills I should be acquiring during my first year. There are several large teaching hospitals with many more opportunities with in commuting distance.

So the burning question is, do I tough it out for the first year? Should I cut my losses and try to find another position?

Any advice, or personal experiences are greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

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Specializes in Telemetry & Obs.

Tough call....I'm sure you're concerned about your employment history, but think of it this way: if you get so burned out there that you decide nursing just isn't for you what employment history will you have to be concerned about?!?!

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Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

IMHO if you are going home crying and the staff aren't supportive, then I would say look for another job. I wouldn't say to give up on hospital or med-surg nursing per se but just somewhere else. But don't give up on nursing. ;)

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

My advice is to keep your current job for the moment -- but start looking for another. Take your time in choosing your next job and investigate it thoroughly before you quit your currnet job. You don't want to make the same mistake again -- assuming that they will have a good orientation, adequate staffing, etc. Be sure before you leap to a new job that might be worse than the one you have. Big teaching hospitals can be quite hectic -- and they are not necessarily better-staffed, etc.

But if after a thorough investigation, you are confident that you have found a better job, then I would recommend that you take it.

llg

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My advice is to keep your current job for the moment -- but start looking for another. Take your time in choosing your next job and investigate it thoroughly before you quit your currnet job. You don't want to make the same mistake again -- assuming that they will have a good orientation, adequate staffing, etc. Be sure before you leap to a new job that might be worse than the one you have. Big teaching hospitals can be quite hectic -- and they are not necessarily better-staffed, etc.

But if after a thorough investigation, you are confident that you have found a better job, then I would recommend that you take it.

llg

I agree with llg (as usual :) ). The longer you can continue in your current position, the better (in terms of your resume'), and take your time looking for a new position. Don't forget that it is perfectly fine and reasonable to ask, in the interview process, to speak (privately, of course) with some of the nurses who work on the floor you are considering. It's kind of traditional to ask to talk with the newest hire on the unit and another nurse who's been there a long time. If that means scheduling another appointment and coming back another day because they don't happen to be working that day, it's worth doing. The newest hire can tell you about what her/his actual experience has been with orientation, attitudes of other staff toward new people, etc. The longer term nurse can tell you a lot about strengths and weaknesses of the unit that you probably won't hear from administration.

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Okay, this may sound crazy, but are you working day shift or night shift? If you are working day shift, have you thought of working night shift? The reason I say this is that usually at night, the nurses seem to work better together...also, the patients are more likely (though not always) to sleep and stuff like charting is more easily done during the night shift than day.

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Thank you all for taking the time to respond. Yes, I am totally in agreement that I will be keeping this job until hired for another. I also know that with a larger hospital comes more oppportunities as well as more people, more chaos. That's why I chose this small community hospital for the cozier atmosphere. I had also worked here previously as a unit secretary some time ago and had a great experience. Things have obviously changed.

Thanks to all who have taken time to reply. I appreciate the support and this is the beginning step for me to begin to research a different position. I have been trying to tell myself that things are better than they are.

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I would work there for at least a year to get some experience under my belt.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.
Okay, this may sound crazy, but are you working day shift or night shift? If you are working day shift, have you thought of working night shift? The reason I say this is that usually at night, the nurses seem to work better together...also, the patients are more likely (though not always) to sleep and stuff like charting is more easily done during the night shift than day.

Good question. It doesn't sound crazy to me at all. A lot of new grads find the night shift to be a little less stressful than the day shift.

llg

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Just chin up and stay there while actively working towards another one that you would love. Take your time and really look close before you leap. Put in every effort you got in this one and learn as much skills as you can. Al the best!

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I'm in the same boat you are, I feel like my tele/med/surg job is dragging me down and making me miserable. I have only been in this job for 3months, and I really want to stick it out to have the experience, but I don't think I can. I found an ad for a job I would really like, an outpatient clinic job at a university that involves patient education, but I'm afraid they'll think I'm underqualified or a quitter with only 10 months of total nursing experience.

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