Very frustrated!!!! Venting!!!!

[stella123 rn]

I am so mad. I do not know what to do. Last night at work I was working with an LPN with 7 patients. (from what I have read on here, we have good ratios, yet we are forever busy). We got an admission and they gave it to me. I was upset because the LPN was leaving half way through the shift. There were 3 other nurses and an aide on the floor. One nurse only had 2 patients, another only had 3, and the last one had 5 with the aide. I ended up having 8 of the 18 patients. I was running around and could not get anything done. I know that I should have said something, but I did not want the other nurses to get mad at me. And their patient's were not anymore complicated than mine, that was not the issue. I just did not think it was fair. The charge RN said "well he is young, he will be easy." Well, he was not easy. I admitted him at 6pm and was in his room all night until 4am practically. He had major pain control issues, and my other 7 patients were busy too. I was just steaming. One nurse stepped in and helped me. That other two sat at the desk all night. Then they all left at shift change and I was stuck there for another hour and a half charting:(

[mattsmom81]

It is hard to learn to be assertive if one is not accustomed to doing so, but it is an essential skill in today's nursing. Wish all nurses were fair and kind, but there are bullies, manipulators, and slackers working the politics in nursing like everywhere else and we have to learn to set boundaries with people like this.

If sticking up for yourself in a professional manner doesn't work (and sometimes it does not) be prepared to move to a more positive environment. If the bullying and the advantage taking is in the culture you may not be able to change it..and must look out for yourself. Don't stay and be miserable if it is getting to you. Life is too short.

It is nice to think assertiveness and attitude can make big differences, but reality is that one person is unlikely to do much to change an established culture, negative atmospheres drain our energy, and adjusting OUR attitude is not always enough to make a bad situation workable.

Just do your best and if it ain't working, move on. Good luck. We've all been there one time or another, believe me. Nursing for me today is finding the least objectionable environment of practice I can find for the pay. I think lots of seasoned nurses are at this point after years of bashing our heads against walls and trying to improve a system where our input is not valued.

[barefootlady, ADN, RN]

I hear ya, mattsmom! Being assertative is not a quality we all have, some people just would rather do the extra work. In the end, you will hate the job and your fellow employees. Learn better ways to say "No", but learn to say it.

[Trixie01]

I would have quickly told the charge nurse you had X number of patients and nurse Y only had 2 or 3. I would tell her you do not feel comfortable trying to take care of that many patients when its not a dire emergency that you do. You had other staff, why didn't she assign it to one of them? Sometimes, if you let them think you can handle all that, they will mark you as a easy target to dump on, trust me - I wouldn't want to work for a place that treated staff so unfairly. If it continues, just leave. Good luck!

[Scarlette]

Gee, I'm wondering if we work at the same place.