Is it just me , or does it seem that soooo many new nurses are posting questions about being stressed and overworked ? I understand that nursing is a stressful job but my goodness. I'm not complaining about them I'm just concerned about why their stress level seems to be to the point many of them want to leave nursing. Is it that they are not getting the proper training for what the job entails.(4 year and 2 year) I know that the nurses I precept come to the unit with little experience with pt care. It seems the little things stress them out because they have never done them. Therefore, somehting like a critical pt, completley discombobulates them. Many times they can't get past a simple procedure let alone critical thinking. I've done ER /ICU/OHRU for almost 30 years now. I'm " Old", and many days I feel busy and overworked but, I can still keep up with the best of them. Nursing is no more stressful now than it was in the 80's. Sometimes I just want to say , put your " I'm a nurse now, panties on" , stop whining and start learning. If you didn't learn it before you got to the hospital, you need to learn it sometime.
For some people, anything critical of the status quo is considered to be "whining". For others, it is considered whining when you only complain but never have any solutions to offer.
Were the suffragists "whining" when they demonstrated for the right to vote? How about MLK Jr. Was he whining? Working conditions for nurses is a very real, valid issue facing new grads today. When a quarter of new grads leave nursing within the first year because of these conditions, I think it deserves some attention. Speaking out for ourselves might be considered "whining" by some, but by others, it might be considered activism.
working conditions for nurses is a very real, valid issue facing new grads today. when a quarter of new grads leave nursing within the first year because of these conditions, i think it deserves some attention. speaking out for ourselves might be considered "whining" by some, but by others, it might be considered activism.
virgo, omg, is that statistic true?! are 25% of new grads really leaving nursing for good within their first year!? gosh, that is scary!! :uhoh21:
I disagree with those who have posted that nursing is not anymore stressful then it was 20 or 30 years ago.
For example, the patients I now take care of on a progressive care floor (glorified step down) are the same as the ones I used to take care of 10 years ago in a SICU. The only difference is now I have 3-4 patients a shift - instead of 2.
Our patients are on vasoactive drips (which we are titrating for bp, co, etc), they have chest tubes, epicardial pacers (which again we are constantly adjusting), epidurals (and all the low bp nightmares that go along with them) plus we have to walk them three times a day, feed them, give them lots of narcs (all post op hearts and lungs) and get them well enough to go home - which is on average 4-5 days post op.
So yes, I think it is more stressful, especially for nurses who are new or have limited work experience, because we now do loads more surgery, they patients are sicker, and we are pushing them out the door faster then ever.
That said, I think in many cases nursing is as satisfying as it ever was. We send far more people home well and fixed then we used too.
And I think that perhaps the original poster needs to step back a moment and try to remember what it was like to be a newbie. Its attitudes such as this that do not help but only hurt the situation.
I guess the bigger issue is -- what can we all do to support the new nurses and help them stay in nursing.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
double standard here: new nurses are to "put on big girl panties and suck it up"; seasoned nurse must be allowed to "vent".
you're right -- there is a double standard. there are threads upon threads of newbies venting about how awful their preceptors are and how seasoned nurses "don't remember what is was like to be just starting out." the thing is, seasoned nurses do remember what it was like, but newbies have no clue what it's like to precept. but in any thread where seasoned nurses vent, someone jumps in to tell them how they lack compassion or are burned out or shouldn't be precepting.
and you're right again -- some people shouldn't be precepting. often, however, they don't have the power to just say no. they just put on their big girl panties, suck it up, and deal.
so feel free to vent about your awful preceptors and the seasoned nurses who pick on you. but please, allow the seasoned nurses to vent as well.
Not trying to be cynical or anything I just don't understand what is considered "whining". I'm not a newbie yet but I will be after Dec 19th at 6pm(but whose counting...). When I read some of the issues that the newbies are dealing with, having to do all kinds of procedures and things that you only read about in school and not having someone to go to when you don't understand, doesn't sound like whining to me. Having a few weeks of orientation on how to deal with every system in the body, drugs, doctors, staff, delegation, laws, customer service and documentation all while protecting your license and maintaining your cool and having a preceptor who is not around to have or back nor management, does not sound like whining to me. I don't expect anyone to hold my hand when it is my turn but I do expect that if I don't understand something that someone would take the time to explain it to me. Now if after they explain it and I keep asking the same question over and over and then get mad when they don't have time to keep answering over and over then I consider that whining. I bet one things for certain and two things for sure, people thirty years ago were not so "lawsuit happy" as they are today. I think the ultimate fear of any newbie is hurting someone, losing your license, going to jail and never being able to practice nursing. We are truly living in scary times.....
Here's a rule-of-thumb you can feel free to use: if your co-workers nod agreement and add their own two cents, that's venting. If they start ducking around corners to avoid you, that's whining. A lot of times, it really is as simple as that, and the weird part is, the exact same statement can be one or the other, depending on (among other things) when, how, and how often it's made.
I feel like being a middle-aged male newbie has given me a little different perspective on this issue. Some of the nurses I have most in common with are women half my age who, like me, are new to the profession and facing the same challenges I am. Some of the nurses I work with are women who are about my age. They have decades of nursing experience, but they remember the Summer of Love, Woodstock, Vietnam, and Civil Rights marches; their knees and feet and backs and brains are sore from years of wear and tear; and hip hop music gets on their nerves. And some of my coworkers are guys, which in some ways transcends age or experience, because we really are swimming in a sea of estrogen, and while I'm not saying that's all, or even mostly, bad, it can get stormy in the blink of an eye.
So I find myself telling my fellow new nurses, "You think your aide is lazy? Back in my day, we didn't even have aides..." and my fellow middle-aged nurses, "That new station clerk is hot!" and my fellow dudes, "It sure is hot in here. Is somebody fooling with the thermostat?"
My training occured in the 50's and early 60's; we had "stress" but they didn't have a word for it yet. I lived in a nursing dorm where we were all going through the same experience and we had many instructors that were graduates of the School of Nursing we attended. We started on "real" patients 4 months into training with ward experience for part of each day-it was built up over time to 40 hours a week plus class. If you could not manage there was some guidance but most of it was the "buck up" type. Doctors were nasty then too ; we did not have the volume of medications or the documentation issues faced today, neither were patients suing Doctors and hospitals right anf left. It was a simpler time all round with limited outside distractions. The School of Nursing put limits on social life and study hours were enforced; now many have families (not allowed back then) some try to work other jobs to support themselves, also not allowed. We are only wired for so much activity and training is a full time business--I cannot imagine doing it over, and I do feel compashion for those that are struggling; my advice would be to look at your entire picture and truly examine what you are trying to accomplish--your first and primary goal should be training, unless you already have family, gets complicated quickly, doesn't it? Anyway narrow your scope and try not to do everything during this critical learning time. so much for an old nurses recommendations. Rehab3
I have to admit that when I was a new nurse. I was never really stressed, or anxious, or nervous about the work. Or about new things I needed to learn and perform daily. I loved the anticipation of learning and seeing something new. I still love that anticipation when it comes to learning a new skill. But I can truthfully say that I never stressed out over anything. One I love what I do. Two, I knew I was there to help and to learn.
As far as nursing today. Yes things are more stressful. Work wise, worldly wise, disease wise, anything you can think of wise. I think they also put stress into the city water we have to drink. If that is not enough we drink stimulant drinks, because someone tells us we will perform better if we do. Then we take pills to chill us out at night, so we can do it all over again. We do not eat right, as we are all striving to that advertised norm stress we live with on a daily basis. There are all sorts of other factors nowadays that distract us and worry us to no end. Back when I started we did not have these stimulant drinks and pills to pop us up. Well we did, but not to the excess that we do now.
1. Nursing school provides a foundation for nursing, but, IMHO, it does not prepare a new nurse for the reality of working in a hospital. Working on the floor, even the new nurses just off of orientation are given a full load of patients (6 or more?), and given an LPN to "cover", who also may have 6 patients. Some of these patients have multiple comorbidities, a large number of medications, different diagnostic tests being ordered, families to be tended to, etc. As with any new job, there are protocols to be learned, and in the hospital, there seems to be a protocol for everything (for good reason). What I'm trying to convey is that this is a work environment like no other, and the learning curve is steep. Trying to meet expectations from patients, experienced nurses, doctors, etc. just out of school is a bit demanding and stressful. I don't believe many nursing graduates finish school with the false idea that nursing is going to be easy, but they also don't think they're going to be overwhelmed from the get-go; they just don't have any concept of how demanding things will be. I believe the solution to this problem is assigning new nurses an increasing patient load over time (months) until they reach the same patient loads as experienced nurses. Allow new nurses time to accomodate, learn, and hone their time management skills. When they reach the full patient load, they will have improved on many of the basic skills they'll need to juggle tasks and will be more prepared to spend more time on critical thinking, etc.
2. Remember that you've been doing this for a long time. Most of your day is second nature to you. Think of all the medications you're familiar with, procedures, charting/paperwork. Nursing judgments you make in a split-second are based on those years of experience. Remember all the improvements and changes that have been made in healthcare since you first entered into it. I don't mean any disrespect, but it's my hypothesis that there is a lot more to learn than there probably was 30 years ago, and that holds true for almost any profession. For example, in the computer/IT world, if you're out for 3-5 years, you are basically a "dinosaur". Many things change, many things improve, many things become more complex over time as a result of progress.
3. Money. Nurses are way underpaid for what they do. I think the majority of people go into nursing for the right reasons, but it can be very disheartening to be thrown into what healthcare is today, work as hard as nurses do, and not be compensated as well as they should. There are a ton of jobs/careers that pay better, less work, less stress, yet nursing still has a reputation for making "good money". We make decent money, better than some professions, but we're way behind where we should be. What I'm trying to say, is that it's difficult for a new nurse to justify the learning curve, mental/emotional aspects of learning to be a new nurse with the demands of the job.
4. I do not promote whining, etc., in any way. New nurses should be eager to learn, but please remember some of the points I listed above. Altogether, it can be a big pill to swallow.
5. Many of us come from different careers, so we have other experiences/viewpoints to draw from. I think if nursing is the first career choice, and the first real career experience, the hospital/new nurse environment may be more of an acceptance than those who have had another profession previously.
Unfortunately,many of the new nurses I work with prefer to spend their downtime texting friends on their cell phones. talking with each other and shopping on the internet. Unlike the apparent olden days, when a patient crashes they run the other way or ignore the problem rather than at least observing the management of that patient. They don't want to learn how to operate complicated technology and frankly this "old girl" (graduated in 1981) is sick of that behavior.
Unfortunately,many of the new nurses I work with prefer to spend their downtime texting friends on their cell phones. talking with each other and shopping on the internet. Unlike the apparent olden days, when a patient crashes they run the other way or ignore the problem rather than at least observing the management of that patient. They don't want to learn how to operate complicated technology and frankly this "old girl" (graduated in 1981) is sick of that behavior.
I'm sorry that you've had that experience on your floor. I've only been a nurse for a year, and fall completely into the Gen Y group.
I NEVER have my cell phone with me while I'm working. I've Never recieved a personal call while at work. I do talk with coworkers during downtime, but I also clean areas that housekeeping seems to "miss", I research pathophys I'm not familiar with, read the manuals for our machines, do nursing histories on my patients, etc.
Try to remember that not all of us are looking for an easy way out (if i were I would NOT have gone into nursing, lol).
that is wonderful!! One of the ways I learned (and am still learning because in Nursing there is ALWAYS something new to learn) is by reading and observing. Sound like you are on the right track.
If you didn't learn it before you got to the hospital, you need to learn it sometime.
Virgo_RN, BSN, RN
3,543 Posts
For some people, anything critical of the status quo is considered to be "whining". For others, it is considered whining when you only complain but never have any solutions to offer.
Were the suffragists "whining" when they demonstrated for the right to vote? How about MLK Jr. Was he whining? Working conditions for nurses is a very real, valid issue facing new grads today. When a quarter of new grads leave nursing within the first year because of these conditions, I think it deserves some attention. Speaking out for ourselves might be considered "whining" by some, but by others, it might be considered activism.