B’s blog

Well, it finally happened. The charge nurse that I really don’t care for on our unit put in her 2 weeks 2 days ago to goto Hospice and that leaves a full time day charge nurse position open. At first I was approached by my supervisor and the Director of Med/Surg nursing for the whole hospital, and was told that they want me in that position. But then a few days later told me that they didn’t want to break up my weekend since we have such great teamwork. I’d have to switch weekends AGAIN if I got that position. And honestly, I don’t care what they do to my schedule after my May/June trip back to Iowa. Then they also told me that Stephanie, one of the other relief charge nurses came to them asking about the position. So since she has seniority, they offered it to her first and she has until Friday to decide. If she doesn’t take it, then I will. It’s only an extra $1/hr but it’s more than what we got in Iowa for being charge. Another thing is that if staffing is adequate, I don’t have patients. That is sort of bitter sweet for me. I feel like I need a break from direct patient care some days but I know I’ll miss it too. I guess it’s up to God at this point. I’ll know more Friday. Even though I’ll still only work 3 days a week, I’ll have to start 15 minutes earlier and most likely will have to stay later to give report on all the patients to the night charge nurse. So I’ll be getting at least 3 hrs extra on my checks every week. That would be nice too. But like I said, it’s up to the Big Man upstairs!

This is the last weekend I’m training our new day shift nurse. She really is good considering she’s only been a nurse for 9 months. I really get along with her too. She’s organized, tries really hard but has fun doing it. I hope we don’t scare her off. I’m trying to sit back and let her run the show, only coming to me for questions. She needs to learn how to take a full load of patients all by herself. And I need to learn how to back off and let her tread water, even when the sharks are hungry and circling. This next schedule I’m relief charging 3 times. I do it all the time on the weekends when our charge nurse has to take patients. I’m not afraid of it like I was 4 months ago when they threw me into that role. Now I think I can do it and do it well. One of our day charge nurses that is full time has applied for a manager position on another floor. I doubt she’ll get it but if she does, my director and supervisor want me to take her spot. Unfortunately they don’t want to break up our weekend since we have become a good team. So unless they change their minds, I’m gonna continue being a regular staff nurse. I would consider it though if it was offered to me. I think I’m getting more confident as time goes by. One thing that I was thinking about too was maybe agency does make more money than I do now, but in 7 months I have gotten a $3 raise and it will only be a matter of a couple years before I am where the agency staff is. But an added bonus for sticking it out is all the PTO I will receive. I already have like 110 hrs in the 7 months I’ve been here. That’s 9 12hr shifts already or 3 weeks! I’m using most of that when we come back to Iowa though.

I heard today that the average “life span” of a working RN is only 5 years. That’s when burn out happens. I’ve been a nurse for 9 years in May. I’ve seen burn out. I’ve had burn out. I’m the walking billboard for burn out these days. There’s no question that I’m longing for a change. I thought the move to Texas would be change enough for me. But working full time has been alot more difficult than I remembered back before I had 3 kids. I hate feeling like I’m missing things. I was really lucky to get to stay home during the week when I lived in Iowa for the last 5 years. I guess I didn’t realize just how fortunate I was. It seems like I goto work and then come home and the kids have grown up just in those 12 hrs I was gone. Now that we are settled into our home, making friends, and settling into the community, I was really hoping that there would be peace of mind with my work life and I just can’t seem to get that no matter how hard I try. I miss alot about N6 in Iowa. I miss the carpeted floors, the teamwork, the friendships I had there, and the fun relationships with the residents. I need to feel like a part of the overall healthcare team and I don’t feel that way here. I feel like the docs are too arrogant for their own good and they disrespect the nurses horribly. I feel the nurses are so overworked that they don’t ever get a free moment to get to know one another and befriend each other. I started taking smoke breaks 3 times a day just to be able to get some sun and have conversations with other staff. I don’t smoke but if I don’t go outside I go nuts during the day! I can tell a little improvement on my attitude on the days I get outside. I keep praying that things will fall into place and I’ll be able to show more patience and tolerance. If you can spare a prayer, I’d take one!

I have been in my current job only since August 1. So about 3 1/2 months now. Well, tomorrow my boss wants me to be the charge nurse. Now that sounds all high and exciting but it’s scary when you don’t know all the doctors, their specialities, any of the other hospitals in the state of Texas, yet alone Houston. I asked for at least a day of orientation and it was one of the hardest days I’ve had in a long time. I was charge nurse at Methodist on the weekends and even took a full patient load but things were not as hectic as they seem here.

Here’s a typical day for the charge nurse here vs at Methodist: At Methodist the charge was responsible for making sure the next shift assignments were made, talking to the staffing office to verify staffing numbers, assigning admits, handling any conflicts that may come up during the shift and taking care of 5-6 patients of their own. Here, the charpmge nurse gets report in the morning verbally from the night charge nurse on all 28 patients. She then goes around and introduces herself to all the patients and finds out what their needs are going to be for the day. She then sits with the case manager and figures out what doctors she needs to call to start the discharge procedure which takes most of the day since the doctors mostly round between 4-7pm. Getting them to call back is a nightmare. Then she is responsible for reviewing each and every lab value that comes through the printer and calls all the abnormals for the nurses. She checks all the orders entered by the unit clerk and notes each order on the kardex at the desk and in the computer. This goes on all day non-stop. She calls all the consults and here all the docs like to pad each other’s pockets so they are consulting each other up the wa-zoo. Then the doctors arrive and 7 out of 10 will usually try to yell at you for one thing or another or ask you 100 questions about each and every patient on the floor. When all that is done and the day is over, you have to report off to the night nurse and usually that takes until 8pm or later. Did I mention that the day starts for the charge nurse at 6:15-6:30? Now we don’t have our own patient load or else I’d about die, for real!

So wish me luck and say some prayers that I’ll make it through the shift and never have to do it again for a long long time!

Just heard that we have a guy on one of the other wings of the hospital where I work that was swimming with his dog to safety and was attacked by an alligator! Needless to say, that dog is no longer!

Also, prayers please for my father in law Steve. He works as an insurance adjuster for a private claims company and was called yesterday as he was in Walmart enjoying his Sunday afternoon that on Tuesday he will be shipped to New Orleans. They don’t know how long he’ll be there, maybe up to 2 weeks but he was told to bring along a gun. Prayers please for his safety as he sees first hand the horror of this hurricane! Prayers also for my mother in law as she is left here alone not knowing if her new husband will be safe or not.