I’ve been working at the hospital as a student nurse for over a month now and so far it’s been fairly good. I’m still finding it very difficult to change departments almost every shift, but it’s getting better. It’s great that I’ve been getting more comfortable with the environment and my role as a nurse. Hopefully it will pay off during my next clinical work that starts in a few weeks.
My big issue with working at the hospital is realising just how stressed out everyone is! It almost doesn’t matter what floor you are working on, they are always short-staffed and over worked. Last week, while working on the maternity ward, all the nurses had worked double shifts in the last few weeks... that means working 24 hours straight. 8-0 Working a double every couple of weeks appears to be the norm for most of the hospital. It’s freakin’ scary. Yesterday, while working in paediatrics, one girl started to cry because she was over-worked. The horror stories just keep coming. Ugh. It’s been stressing me out but I’ve been too afraid to mention it because people might say: “I told you so” or “You can’t freak out now... you haven’t even started!” I didn’t sleep much last night or the night before because all of this has been on my mind... this morning it caught up to me in the form of a migraine. Even though I tried my best to push through it (medicated, showered, etc.) I just couldn’t and ended up calling in sick. It has me a little freaked because I’m not even two month into it and already calling in sick?! Gah!
Anyway, there’s not much point to this post other than needing to get this out.
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3 comments:
Wow. That sounds really brutal :( I, too, worked as an ESN but I was lucky enough to only be on one unit my entire time and it wasn't nearly as bad as that. Is that the only hospital/facility you can work as an ESN? Are most of the other ESNs having the same experiences? That type of environment can't be good for your peace of mind and I feel sorry for the staff on the units :( Don't feel bad for calling in sick. That would stress anyone out and I know I would have done the same had it been me. Hang in there! Do you have many hours more to go?
nursing's not like that everywhere... i've never done a double 12 hour shift and i've been nursing for 10 years...
are they being mandated to work?
I only have three more shifts and then it's back to so school so it's not so bad. I'm really glad to find out this isn't the norm. There's another local hospital and I'm constantly swaying between working at this hospital or the other one after I graduate. A friend of mine informed me over the weekend that the other hospital rarely has doubles. They both have their pros and cons.
The nurses aren't mandated to do doubles, but I think it's more of a peer pressure thing... it looks bad if you don't do it.
I feel much better now that I've talked about it. I realise now it's normal to be freaked. I know I have tons of options and shouldn't limit myself to this one hospital.
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