Unsure RN. Advice needed!

[RN0820]

New RN here needing some advice. I graduated in May and have been working in a very busy post surgical floor for the last 5.5 months. I have learned ALOT...both about nursing and about myself. I had two very good preceptors and most of the staff on the unit is very helpful and supportive, the unit manager is very involved with her unit and has an open door policy. BUT, I just don't like it. I took the job because I worked in the hospital as an aid and had a foot in the door, but now I'm just second guessing everything I have worked for. I know being a new grad takes time, but things keep getting wrose, not better.

I am on a 8 hour Days/Evenings WEEKLY rotations and my personal life (I used to love to run/work out, spend times with family/friends) have fallen to the wayside. My work schedule is irratic and my personal life has suffered. The unit itself is one of the most stressful of the med/surg units in the hospital. We take on extended recoveries and observational patients along with our regular post ops, so some days I discharge my whole team and readmit all new ones....adding up to 8-10 patients a day.

I have made some mistakes...thank God no one was hurt, but it has made me fearful of, and very anxious of, high risk meds and high risk patients. I am very anxious in general. I feel like any day someone will sue me for missing something. I have spoken to my unit manager, and she was very understanding, and also said she did not want to lose me as a nurse and offered me positions on her other units (ortho and rehab....ortho openings are because she had 6 nurses leave at once...not a good sign) Rehab opening is only for midnights, which I feel would screw up my personal life even more. Also, she also offered to have a senior nurse follow me for time management (since I wasnt getting lunch breaks and staying over 2+ hrs charting) but I havent seen it, and I have reminded her three times.

It all comes down to this: I don't want to stay in a position where my mental health takes a beating. I don't want to strain my personal life anymore. I don't want to fear being sued or killing someone every day. I dont want to start taking anti-depressants because of a job!

I want to go into pulbic health or occupational health nursing, maybe even pre admission testing....more of a clinic nursing type job with regular hours and a less stressful atmosphere. I want to teach patients, I love explaining the How's and Why's. The local health dept. has an opening I applied for (same pay as the hospital), along with another occupational health position that is an hour away. I'm not sure if I am making a mistake by getting away from the floor so early. I am afraid that if i go somewhere else I won't like it either and jobs are so scarce i dont want to burn bridges. What if they aren't as supportive? What if the MD is a nightmare? What if I dont have enough experience to be in a more independant nursing setting? Maybe I should just stay until something less stressful opens up at the hospital? AHH! These quesitons are never ending!

Thanks for being patient and reading all of this, I really appreciate any advice you can offer :redbeathe:redbeathe:redbeathe

Especially if you have made the transition between the hospital and the office setting with less than a year experience.

Peace & Love

[surferbettycrocker]

my words of wisdom are very far and few but to me it sounds like your'awakening' to some of the harsher realities of nursing. i have been doign this dance for some time now and i dont feel any LESS like you described above and i am no where near 'new grad status'

the good thing is it soundslike you are very conscientious and that is a critical trait for a nurse.

it may get easier people will tell you that. but i can honsetly say for me it has not. i still worry about everything you posted up tehre. maybe we just both need to find our 'niche'?

[mentalhealthRN]

I know that feeling--quite well really. I stayed just under 2 years and like you was too stressed to stay any longer. I decided to go into psych and well I ended up loving it and found it WAY less stressful. Many days may be crazy but its in quite a different way then in medical. --just a thought that you might toss around and maybe hang out for a couple of days on a unit just to see what its like. I am with you on the idea that its not worth a job to sacrifice your own sanity and well being. Message me if I can be of any help......good luck to you.

[sneakfreak]

hi..i think we kinda in the same line of thinking and feeling here..I was working in an institution where the number of patients exceeds 3 to 4 times the actual bed capacity of the hospital.. it was really a pain, wherein whenever I go home after work, I cant do anything anymore I just lay down and rest until the next day comes and of to work again.. I'm missing my workout routines and cant join in family activities..So what I did is I try to specialize on something aside from working on busy wards.. I trained and got my certificate for IVT, trained as an EMT-B, and I applied for training in the ER...I guess what your thinking of doing is kinda right.. try and explore somethings that might fit you.. we all know that nursing is not all about hospital works anyway..

[RN0820]

surferbettycrocker--I think we do both need a niche! Hoepfully it gets better for you too. Thanks for the insight.

mentalhealth rn- Thank you for your insight. I have thought about the psych field, not sure what to think though (do you see a trend? LOL) Our facility has a small psych floor, two PICU rooms, no peds and barely any geriatrics, and about 10-12 regular psych beds. I floated there as an intern quite a bit, and I noticed I was sensitive to patient's comments. Sometimes they would group up and say things as you walk by, or would do things that were prohibited in front of me just to test my limits. Sometimes that was upsetting, I would get all red-faced and have a hard time shrugging it off. How do you deal with the more manipulating pts?

sneakfreak- Good for you. ER would be too risky for me, but along the same lines I have thought about possibly getting my public health or occupational health nursing certificates on the side to help broaden the horizons a bit. Thanks for your help :)

[armyrn26]

Doesn't sound like a unit for a new grad. You should find somewhere with 12 hour shifts then you only have to work 3 days. 8 hour shifts do strain your personal life. If I had to guess you are younger nurse. This is a career so it takes a lot of time and energy. Maybe you could drop to part time.

[steelydanfan]

I have read your post 4 times, and I still don't know what you want, or get a sense of what you want; other than a nursing job where you have NO liability, and can't screw up.

Ain't gonna happen.

Security and job fufillment comes with expertise; dare to become the best in something you enjoy. You can get sued for ANYTHING, ANYTIME and ANYWHERE; hopefully you did not become a nurse with visions of lawsuits dangling over your head.

[GHGoonette, BSN, RN]

First off, all those "what ifs" are not going to help you make a decision! "What if" you meet and marry a fabulously wealthy man and never have to work again? "What if" you win the lottery? "What if" the sky falls on your head....?

Before you write off either of those in-hospital posts, investigate them a little further. Try asking the NSM if you can shadow in these departments for a while-in fact, why don't you do a bit of nosing around for yourself? There might not be any vacancies in other departments right now, but maybe something will come up in the near future.

I wouldn't be in too much of a hurry to get out of bedside nursing just yet; you are still very new, but you must be doing something right if the manager wants to hang on to you!

[indigonurse]

According to the nurse practice act in my state a licensed nurse should never accept an assignment knowing they cannot safely take care of the patients. It is better to quit, transfer to another unit, work an undesirable shift, even change professions, etc. then it is to harm a patient which could lead to serious consequences concerning your nursing license.

[RN0820]

steelydanfan- your right it would be nice to have a job with no liability....And daring to become the best at something you enjoy...that was insirational...thanks.

GHGoonette-Your right, I should shadow. And stop the What If's!

As for Toydemom- Wow. First of all, I did not accept a job where I could not safely take care of patients. I just said the high risk meds and patients scare me! I'm a new grad...I'm going to be scared of all the responsibility and liability. We have people's lives in our hands and I am smart enough to know this and be scared of it at the same time!! If anything it makes me more careful. And if it was between me quitting or me knowliny hurting a patient I would quit in a heart beat but I know it isnt to that point nor will I let it! So please, this whole warning me I can lose my license isnt a help and if anything worsens anxiety for a new grad. I can safely take care of my patients....these are just fears, not unsafe practice. The point of this was just to explain that I don't want to work in such a high stress area and a more low key job sounds nice!

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

did i understand that you've only been at your current job for less than six months? the best thing you can do is stay where you are for a year, preferably two and learn everything you can. if you change jobs now, there's no guarantee that the grass really is greener, and then what? try to change jobs again? that's job hopping. you accepted your current job, and the manager made sure you got an orientation. you owe her some actual work when you're not on orientation.

being a new rn is miserable. no matter what job you end up in, you're probably going to be miserable for the first year. the only way out of that misery is to suck it up and go through it. given that, why risk your reputation and your career by job hopping?

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

For an immediate change I would go to rehab permanent nights. Rehab is mostly teaching and encouraging patients to cope with the changes in their lives- which you are good at. For me rotating shifts was worse than permanent nights because when I was on a set schedule I could at least predict when I would be feeling awake and ready to go out with friends. The rotating schedule was a crap shoot.

Even if you think you will be moving on from nursing entirely a transfer will give you more experience in a different field. It will expose you to different people and subspecialties, and give you a fresh start. I would complete the year in the first job...but it sounds like you have an opportunity right now to move without penalty...grab it.