Vent/rant about work

[%D#2]

Hey guys. I just wanted to talk about my typical workday. The things I love. Things im not fond of. And just get other people's input.

i LOVE my patients and they love me. They're like my adopted grandparents :)

i love my CNAs they are the bomb

i love being a nurse and helping people and I love my job duties I just wish I wasn't so rushed.

i used to love all the managers until they stopped having our backs. They seem to care more about paychecks and don't realize that the acuity is not properly staffed. And so we get blamed whenever mistakes happen. I've said several times I need just one medication aide if possible.. This work load has gotten very intense.

as people may have read my other posts im working my first job as a new LPN with 7 months experience. I am the only nurse in the building with 50 patients. 40 of those people are assisted living patients but some should be subacute in my opinion. 10 of those patients are in our small subacute neighborhood. I go in at twelve and for those two hours Its the most relaxed part of my shift. I follow up with doctors or help the day nurse give meds, change dressings, etc. then the day nurse leaves at two.

At two pm I start all the 3pm and 4pm meds in subacute, Get done around 330pm. Then I run up to the second floor where it's AL patients, pass all the 430pm meds.. Then I go to the third floor and pass all the 500pm meds. If it's not too busy it flows nicely and I get things done and take a quick break to get some food but most of the time I can't do that because if there are a lot of people calling me or any emergencies that takes priority. So sometimes I go without a break and eat a yogurt or a cheese stick and then go back down to the subacute unit and start all the 6pm meds (if I don't start them at 5 I am there til 7). But there are 7pm and 8pm meds for the rest of the facility which I try to start at 6pm. Between 6pm and 900pm im running back and fourth between the 2nd and 3rd floor. Residents in AL don't come to me, I go to their rooms or hunt them down where ever they are. We don't push the med carts cause we'll end up killing ourselves lol. So we prepare the meds and run around like idiots.

By 900pm things start to slow down and I try to eat a snack and chart. I'm supposed to leave at 10pm but this generally isn't the case. And due to hypoglycemia, exhaustion, having not peed for hours, possible emergencies, doctors calling, etc., sometimes I forget to chart little things, like "faxed this doctor" or "followed up on that minor thing" emergencies and major things are always extensively charted.

my issue is not care related, it's task related. My documentation has gotten better but now it's being pretty much micromanaged because there have been so many careless mistakes. But I give myself credit still, as I've gotten MUCH better.

i now carry around a little notebook that fits in my scrub pocket and then read it while I chart.

BUT the other day a patient refused her medicines because she was nauseated and prob wouldn't keep them down. Instead of charting properly I forgot to document it a do the medication aide from the morning sent an email to my boss. I had documented it in the shift report but neglected to put it in the chart or mar. So it looks like a missed med. However the medicines were in a sealed packet not removed so it was okay for them to be left in the cart.

I am going to stick it out here for a year.. And probably while I'm iin school for RN. I don't like leaving jobs too fast.

But im exhausted, depressed, burnt out. I have no medication aides on my shift to help. I do everything.

I dont get get to spend a lot of time with patients which means my assessment skills are improving at a slower rate.

i am not able to grow here which is why I am going back for RN soon. And also will have my LPN-hospice cert before that in hopes to find a home care job while in school and get more time with patients.

Sorry if if this is a lot, I have to get things out before they eat me up. I come home stressed and doubting myself a lot.

Thanks guys.

[%D#2]

Also I think I may have done the wrong thing by getting IV certified. The reason there is an RN on day shift with the LPN is cause the LPN can't do everything that I can do. So I'm starting to feeling like they're milking me for all im worth cause I technically "can" legally do everything on my own in subacute. I think I sold my soul to the devil sometimes lol