Wanting to quit

Published

Hello all,

I'm a new grad RN on a med-surg/tele unit. I'm on my second month of orientation and I've come to the realization that med-surg Nursing is not my niche. I think it's a combination of working med-surg and doing nights. I feel like I have no social life and all I do is sleep. Everyone says that with 1 year med-surg experience you can basically go anywhere, but jeez it's going to be a long year.

Basically my question is how soon is too soon to quit? Now? 6 months ? 1 year? I'm pretty sure I can stick it out for at least 6 months but past that would be a real pain in the butt. Of course if I had to I would. I didn't sign any contract or anything like that, but I woul feel bad because my supervisors are really nice and my coworkers are great. Not so great 1:6 patient ratio, night shift, and the docs. It's a tunnng joke how mean and nasty the night shift docs are, but nothing is done. Our hospital policy is to not take verbal orders, but if we don't we get yelled at/cussed at by the doc. Then we get reprimanded by admistration for having too many verbal orders entered and nothing happens to the docs. Half the time we have no tech.

The other night my preceptor was floated to the ED and I was left with all our patients by myself because they didn't have enough nurses for us to give our patients up. Mind you, we were already floated to the ICU at this point. I didn't feel safe and I had an emergent situation happen and I had no back up.

we are constantly being floated which I was told wouldn't happen when I got hired. Am I just singing a tale as old as time here? Are all hospitals like this?

In my area there are a lot of open position for new grad and experienced nurses so I don't think I would have a problem finding another job. I also think part of the problem is I don't exactly know where I want to work. I just know where I don't. (Med-surg, ER, ICU) I've been thinking about outpatient jobs as well maybe that'll be a better fit?

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Hello all,

I'm a new grad RN on a med-surg/tele unit. I'm on my second month of orientation and I've come to the realization that med-surg Nursing is not my niche. I think it's a combination of working med-surg and doing nights. I feel like I have no social life and all I do is sleep. Everyone says that with 1 year med-surg experience you can basically go anywhere, but jeez it's going to be a long year.

Basically my question is how soon is too soon to quit? Now? 6 months ? 1 year? I'm pretty sure I can stick it out for at least 6 months but past that would be a real pain in the butt. Of course if I had to I would. I didn't sign any contract or anything like that, but I woul feel bad because my supervisors are really nice and my coworkers are great. Not so great 1:6 patient ratio, night shift, and the docs. It's a tunnng joke how mean and nasty the night shift docs are, but nothing is done. Our hospital policy is to not take verbal orders, but if we don't we get yelled at/cussed at by the doc. Then we get reprimanded by admistration for having too many verbal orders entered and nothing happens to the docs. Half the time we have no tech.

The other night my preceptor was floated to the ED and I was left with all our patients by myself because they didn't have enough nurses for us to give our patients up. Mind you, we were already floated to the ICU at this point. I didn't feel safe and I had an emergent situation happen and I had no back up.

we are constantly being floated which I was told wouldn't happen when I got hired. Am I just singing a tale as old as time here? Are all hospitals like this?

In my area there are a lot of open position for new grad and experienced nurses so I don't think I would have a problem finding another job. I also think part of the problem is I don't exactly know where I want to work. I just know where I don't. (Med-surg, ER, ICU) I've been thinking about outpatient jobs as well maybe that'll be a better fit?

As a new graduate, you're not going to be an attractive candidate for the most plum positions. Your job does sound rough, but the grass may not be greener on the other side at this point in the game. I stayed at my first job for a little over two hellish years and had a very stable, non-nursing work history before that. Our ration was 1:8 and an LVN with 8 to cover, as well (16 total to get report on!!). Everything since then has seemed "easy" in comparison, though.

There's no right answer though. You could fill out a few applications and see who calls back and what they have to offer?

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I wouldn't quit until I had another job lined up. Take a deep breath. There are many options.

Are you working 40 hours a week? Can you cut back to 32 hours?

Schedule a week off, even if you don't have vacation time, can you take a week off with no pay? Use the vacation time to reflect, relax, and re-charge yourself.

While on vacation apply for different jobs. Either at another hospital or clinic, or simply a different unit within your hospital.

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