I GOT THE JOB!!

Little over and hour ago I got the call that I got the job at the local health department!! OMG. I am so happy. No more 12s, no more weekends, no more bedside nursing. I am just ecstatic. This job may have it's ups and downs like any job, but at least I don't have to deal with this crap anymore. Getting away from the madness is literally a breath of fresh air for me. I didn't cry. I did get teary-eyed once. I just don't think it has hit me quite yet. I only have to work 2 more weeks and then I'm done with this hospital. DONE. No more going in there and literally loathing the fact that I'm working for a place I hate. I didn't always hate my job, but the changes that have occurred are just too much for me to care for. I'm fine with change. I really am. I'm changing jobs right? But I can't handle change that doesn't help the people, but hurts the moral and the atmosphere instead.

Heading to work right now. Going to write up my notice and turn it in tomorrow morning!!

Woot!

Me

Pre employment requirements

I completed pre employment requirements Monday. That included the background check and drug screen. This, according to the sheet I received from the center, is a good sign that I've been hired. I shouldn't have anything show up in my record because, honestly, I haven't done anything horrible. No traffic violations, no arrests, no...anything. I don't do drugs so nothing like that should show up. I SHOULD, god willing, have this job in the bag. I'm so ready to give my two weeks notice and leave this hospital.

I'm tired . I really am. Staffing is only getting worse. I didn't know that going to a private 24 bed unit would mean we'd work short nurses and techs. I also didn't think it would mean people would have to be sent home each day and be forced to use their PTO just to get the hours they need to make a living.

Some people say the bad times come and then they go. Too bad I'm not willing to wait until this cycle of 'bad' is over. I know a bad situation when I see it. I'm ready for a change.

Change here I come!!!

I MAY have another job offer

OMFG. I interviewed for a position at the local health department and they called me today and told me they want to do a background check. If that clears I MAY have another job. I can't even begin to explain how excited I am about this. I've been hoping for another job and finally I took the initiative and looked for something else. If I get this job I'm saying good bye to the hospital life FOREVER. I don't need the stress. I don't need the insecurity that I feel working there and being threatened. Telling people they will be fired over something so silly as a module online is ridiculous. Fire me over almost harming someone, not over the fact that I didn't complete (even though I did and turned in twice) a freaking skill sheet.

PLEASE LORD. If you are still listening to me. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, give me this opportunity. I'll be very grateful. I really will be.  :)

Here's hoping,
Me

This job or I'm done with nursing

So, Tuesday I realized that I'm either going to stick with this job or I'm officially done with nursing. Changing job just won't help at all. I just don't like nursing. I thought if I changed the setting I'd be happy, but as I was sitting there waiting for this new nursing job interview to begin I couldn't even stomach changing from one nursing job to another one. It just seemed like a complete waste of my time. I wouldn't be happy there either because I HATE NURSING. That may seem a bit harsh. There are some parts of it that I do like. Some of patients and families are nice and I enjoy interacting with them, but a large majority of them are mean.

I just have to stick it out, do my job to the best of my ability and deal with it. If I change jobs it'll be to work in a non nursing environment. It's nice to actually realize something about my unhappiness. It's not the job...it's the field.

Edit 7/3/13- Major changes. See next post.

Skills I've done as a nurse

Skills I've done as a nurse

1. Focused Assessments
2. Head to Toe Assessments
3. Insert NG tube
4. Insert Foley Catheter
5. Remove PICC line
6. Remove JP, Hemovac drains
7. Wet to Dry dressings
8. Dry dressings changes
9. Inline Suction Pt.
10. Irrigate Foley catheter and rectal tube
11. Insert Rectal Tube
12. Draw blood from PICC, central line
13. Hang TPN, PPN
14. Administer PO, IM, IV, topical, SubQ medications
15. Hang Blood
16. Hang IgG
17. Start 20, 22 gauge IV
18. Applied a wound vac (added May 30, 2013)

I will add to this list as I think of them. :)

The Good and the Bad

Things I enjoy about my job:

1. The pay.
2. Yep, that's it.

Things I dislike about my job:

1. Needy patients and their even needier family members.
2. The sense of entitlement most patients have when they enter the hospital. No, we don't have a private room right now. Stop acting like a spoiled child because you can't have one right now. Fucking babies.
3. Being yelled at by doctors for informing them about their patient's needs.
4. Bipolar doctors who are nice one day and mean as hell the next.
5. Giving report to people who ask twelve thousand questions about things they could look up themselves.
5. Being responsible for things not being done by lab, physical therapy, xray, pharmacy, etc.
6. My coworkers
7. The paperwork
8. Working with alcoholics and extremely mean psych patients.
9. Passing medications to people who take forever to take them.
10. Being a narcotic drug pusher. Feeling like all I do all shift is pass pain medications.
11. Lifting overweight people up in the bed who can't seem to comprehend that they should try to assist in some way.
12. Having kids run around on the floor during the entire shift.
13. Family members who insist on remaining on the floor all night and don't seem to understand that they should move out the way when I enter the room. Especially those who block the door with recliners and get irritated when I ask them to move so I can open the fucking door.
14. My manager. Bless her heart.
15. Being called on my days off about stupid shit I can fix when I get to work.
16. Staff meetings that last 2 hours after a long night shift.
17. Working night shift.
18. Patients who ask for stupid things at 3 am in the morning. Example: I haven't had a BM ALL DAY. Suddenly they need a stool softener at 3 in the morning. No, I'm not calling the doctor about that. Sorry.
19. Day shift nurses who miss very important orders all day and claim to have only seen orders such as transfuse 2 units of blood at shift change even though the order was written at 9 am that morning.
20. Feeling anxious about the team of patients I'll have to take care of because I'm not comfortable with most of the comordities on the floor.
21. Feeling like I have no support on the floor most days.
22. Never getting the chance to take a break.
23. How sick to my stomach I get before each shift.
24. Open visiting hours. Yes, please come visit your family member at  2 in the morning. They don't need to sleep. And yes, bring your kids as well.
25. Family who call for updates on their family members at 9 pm. No, I can't give you any information over the phone. Why didn't you just come to the hospital during the day?
26. Being swung at, having ice thrown at me, being called a bitch by patients.
27. Damn. I hate everything...

Am I experiencing nurse burn out?

Taken from this website
Could I be experiencing job burnout?

Ask yourself the following questions:

Have you become cynical or critical at work? Yes, so much so that if something goes wrong I've gotten to the point where I laugh and say 'yeah, figures." Nothing surprises me anymore. Patient pulls their IV out. Figured that idiot would. Pt family has a complaint about something that happened on day shift? Yeah, well get over it. Nothing I can do about it. I wasn't here. I'm snappy, I'm mean. I'm not that nice nurse I was 12 months ago. Nursing is changing me. 

Do you drag yourself to work and have trouble getting started once you arrive? Yes, and almost throw up in the car before I get out. I used to be so quick to get started working. Now I can give two shits about starting on time. Pt will still complain that I haven't served them fast enough. Who really gives a fuck anymore.

Have you become irritable or impatient with co-workers, customers or clients? Yes, to the point when I vent when I get home. More about patients than co workers. I know my co workers are going through the same hell as me. Patients, not the really sick ones, need to grow a pair and go the fuck home.

Do you lack the energy to be consistently productive? Yes. I take mini breaks during my shift. It helps since I never take my full thirty min. one. Guess it adds up.

Do you lack satisfaction from your achievements? Yes, but then when I think I've done something right I get told I did something wrong. I don't see the point anymore.

Do you feel disillusioned about your job? Yes, by all the lies I was told when I was hired.

Are you using food, drugs or alcohol to feel better or to simply not feel? Yes, wine on my days off. Yay for that warm sleepy feeling. Food not so much. I don't eat as much as I should I think.

Have your sleep habits or appetite changed? Yes, I sleep okay, I guess, but I'm always tired no matter how much sleep I get.

Are you troubled by unexplained headaches, backaches or other physical complaints? Yes, reflux, head aches, muscle aches, pain, and dizziness. YES, YES YES