What to do when you've had it!

[MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN]

So...here goes...

It's a bad time for nursing and the economy as evidenced by so many looking for work BUT I CAN'T STAND MY JOB ANYMORE! During the past 5 years we have had 5 management groups, ridiculous increases in patients, no increase in staff, higher acuities, and our current situation involves a team who have absolutely no clue as to what is happening on the floor every day! We work in danger, our patients are in danger, and I am just sick of being there. My once great ER is on the brink....and I worry every day if it will be me or my neighbor nurse who misses something and causes a patient's demise.

I can't sleep, can't get up on work days (therefore late), drive my husband crazy with saying " I don't want to go to work tomorrow.", and overall just feel so down about what I do....I am so distressed and feel there is no one on our side or to be trusted. The environment is stifling and dangerous. If I didn't work with decent people I think I'd go stark raving mad! Why do nurses allow themselves to be treated this way?

When I got out of nursing school I was offered a ton of management jobs, but turned them down feeling that a good nurse manager was a working nurse who understood. The bumblers I work with were nurses who as managers just don't give a crap! I don't get it! They wouldn't know a management principle unless it was sent on a poster and hung in an office, and then perhaps if explained to them.

Even writing this I feel sick to my stomach...I know I am not the only one....sickcalls and lateness have been ridiculous! I think I have to leave for my own sanity, but am scared that somewhere else may be just as bad or even worse. I have actually considered taking a couple of per diem positions in an effort to get enough hours but am unsure if I will be able to do it.

I wish I knew what to do and could use a few ideas and maybe a kick in the butt. I don't know....

Maisy

[Scotchtwin18]

I wish I could say things are different. I work at a Level 1 and if I were to post, I'd post it just like you did. Only where I'm from our pay is in the bottom 30% in the country. I'm just not where you are yet. I've worked there for 1 year and the pressure is immense and the hospital things ER nurses plot to make their night bad. It's disgusting how the entire hospital works. Good Luck to you. You have the experience ever consider flight nursing. Patients will be of a similar acuity, but only one on one.

[MAISY, RN-ER, BSN, RN]

I haven't considered flight nursing, but have considered critical care transport....but so many of my toxic co-workers are doing this and have flooded the market with their sarcasm and negativity. My current environment has cooked me and these people to death! I feel like I am not nice anymore....and people who were once sweet are so jaded and "just not nice" anymore. It's sad.....

Oh forgot to mention, new interim is also in charge of patient satisfaction (primary job)....so do you think they give a crap about any nurse....it's all about the numbers and hcaps.

M

[vivacious1healer]

I feel your pain. Management has no clue what RNs endure on a daily basis: they expect more while working with less; and for God's sake do it with a smile, because we value those damn Press-Ganey surveys!!!

That is a business model that has no right to be used in healthcare when lives are at stake. Go ahead and flame me all those nurses with MBAs that work in management.....these people have clearly forgotten what it was like to be a bedside nurse.

I too am at my wits end. Just called in sick the other day for a 'mental health day', and using my days off to update the resume, references and send it out for some local agency work and whatever else may turn up. Also put in a transfer to another floor.

Doing something helps me to cope as it gives me a sense of control.

[mamamerlee, LPN]

1. Try to develop a hobby outside of health care to help develop different aspects of your life. 2. Contact your EAP for an evaluation for depression. 3. Consider a transfer to a different unit.

Best wishes!

[nurse_mo1986]

Sounds like burnout to me. I'd try to transfer to a diff position on a floor or get the H#@# outa dodge before you completely burnout of nursing. If you've got experience, then obtaining a diff position shouldn't be that hard to find.

[loricatus]

Ohhhh, do I know where you are coming from...

Thought that travel nursing and agency would be different and it oonly got worse because I became the scapegoat for the very thing i thought I would be getting away from.

Changed specialties to PACU and things were worse, if you can believe it!

Now, I have been working hospice as a case manager and things are more tolerable because I lead a team, can set my own hours, deal with patient & families one-to-one and limit my time at the office where the same old, same old takes place. I never thought I would enjoy traveling by care patient to patient; but, it actually makes things more tolerable. And, most of the nurses cover each other's back, instead of stabbing each other's back. The ER assessment skillls are invaluable in hospice-both nurses and docs have shown respect (shocking word to use) because of things I brought into the job from the ER world.

[TreehuggerRN]

At my job they keep piling on omore and more, but they don't feel the need to hire any more help because some people are still getting their breaks in.

[what2donow]

Here's an idea: Write a scathing (probably anonymous) letter to the editor of your local paper- or maybe contact a local TV news channel- and spill your guts about the conditions at your ER and the fear you have that these conditions have the real potential to cause harm to your patients. I know it'd be very risky, but can you imagine how management might react to that kind of PR nightmare? Maybe it'd scare them into actually changing their ways. And really, doesn't the public have the right to know that this is what's going on? Not that I would like to be the one to blow the whistle, but shouldn't it be blown?

[EmergencyNrse]

They talk about ER burnout and I think you are there. I was there too. It's not pretty...

Stressed, not sleeping, angry. You need a change of venue before it consumes you. If you're in a small area it's harder to up and go work somewhere else. Me, I started traveling and never looked back.

Each and every new assignment is a thrill. I get to do what I enjoy (Emergency Medicine) and I don't feel pressured into the politics of the institution. No more "scripting" asking people what I can do to make them "mostly satisfied" with their visit. Press-Ganey and Gallup be damned! I get paid not to get involved and I can concentrate on patient care. I'm smiling more and so are my patients.

One other benefit is that I have seen and been exposed to so much more...

I've worked a Peds ER. The really profound childhood illnesses never go to a regular ER. I was sheltered from Muscular Dystrophy, Cleft Palate, Cystic Fibrosis, Cancer-Kids as well as the sickle-cell and other blood disorders.

A really good assignment and experience.

Trauma Center Levels 1, 2, 3 now. Really keeps you up on skills when you get away from in just 1 hospital. Too much routine in staying in one hospital. It kills your brain. There are more protocols and approaches in other ER's.

Critical Care Transport- Working back on "the bus" has been a good time.

I started this oddessy on the ambulance and it's fun doin' more as a CCT-RN.

Get your references in order and look for a change. Go somewhere else. Do it for you before it's too late. Both your physical and mental health will improve I can't tell you how much.

Good Luck

[DolceVita, ADN, BSN, RN]

Honestly...you need to look after yourself. When you get to that stage in a job...any job...it is time to move on.

I would try to procure another job before you leave -- it is always easier to get a job while you are working. Then come to allnurses to vent until ou get free of this place.

[PAERRN20]

I could have written the same post! I work ER and it is getting worse by the day. Demanding patients, not enough staff, drug seekers, increased waiting times...it is awful! I have been in nursing just shy of 2 years and I know I don't want to do this for the next 25 years. I am going back to get a graduate degree but not in nursing. I am not sure what I am going to do- but I am getting out of floor nursing for sure!