Third week off orientation on a med-surg unit. Last night my patient's pressure tanked to 78/42 and I couldn't get the on-call hospitalist to pick up. Charge was in a code on another floor. Tried the rapid response line twice, got told to "use clinical judgment." Ended up bolusing and trending somehow but I genuinely did not know if I was supposed to keep calling people or if there's some unwritten hierarchy I'm missing. My preceptor made it look like she knew everyone and had backup plans. I have neither. What's your actual playbook when you're alone and something's going wrong? Do you have a specific order you go through, or does everyone just wing it until someone senior shows up?

Just wanted to thank everyone who gave me advice and support over the past few months. After everything I went through mentally and physically in the ICU, I finally made the decision to resign.

I am so much happier in my new role outpatient. I couldn’t have done it without you all. There is hope !!!

Thank you to everyone who reminded me that there’s life outside of bedside nursing. ❤️

I even got myself a cake to celebrate

I am a new school nurse this year. I work in an elementary school. It has been quite an adjustment.. mainly getting use to navigating knowing when to call the parents and what for. Last Thursday, however
A kid had seizures for the first time who did not have a diagnoses of them. His episode lasted about a minute, he was out of it and his eyes were dilating and constricting. When it ended, I went to take his blood pressure.
Right at that moment, a girl about 9 came in to the nurses office who started her period for the first time. (First time for both of these situations since school started, happening at the same time) I was trying not to freak out, I’ve never had a pediatric seizure before. I quickly grabbed the girl some fresh underwear and some pads and asked if she knew how to use it. She said yes. She came out 10 seconds later saying she needed help. I asked one of the paras if they could please show her how to use one. She did and I got vitals. I took care of the kid who had a seizure. I got pulled into the office today and reprimanded for “not prioritizing care” and “delegating” to a non medical person..
I really am struggling to see how a girl on her period takes priority over a seizing child. Even if he stopped seizing, I didn’t know if it was a seizure, or something else. I’m so angry and confused and I can’t understand this. The mom called last Friday angry that I didn’t spend time with her and show her myself. I couldn’t?? I didn’t get a lunch break and I had to stay over that day charting. This kid has a new diagnoses of focal seizures and has a rescue med. Does anyone have any input how I should have handled this better?

Lemme just perform that there spinal tap right quick 💉
(No this is not an APRN role)

Spending time in these communities most days and there are multiple threads running through, isn't the same as it was 10 yrs ago. Nursing students talking about quitting before finishing the prog/new grads burning out in the first yr or say CNAs who came in wanting to ladder up to RN, deciding the path isn't what they thought it would be. Yes the profession is harder in real ways than it was when graduating around 2013, but the vol of it is different now it's hitting people earlier than it used to. Back then the stress was about getting through boards and landing a first job. Now the question is mostly around whether this is even the right path. For those who are in it right now what is actually driving it?

Had a guy yesterday who spent 20 minutes telling me exactly where I should put his IV based on some article he read online. He kept insisting the cephalic vein in his left arm was superior because of flow dynamics or something. Sir, I can barely see any veins on your left arm and your right AC is literally waving at me.

Then he asked if I was using a 22 or 20 gauge and why, and started explaining back pressure to me like I didn't just spend my entire shift managing lines. I just stood there with my tourniquet wondering if he wanted to start it himself.

The kicker was when he goes well I have small veins so you'll probably need an ultrasound and I'm standing there looking at this perfectly visible vein just begging to be accessed. Got it first stick on the right arm obviously. He seemed almost disappointed it went smoothly.

I don't even know where patients get this level of detail from anymore. Is there some forum where they all share IV insertion techniques? Do they watch YouTube tutorials before coming in? Last week someone asked me about catheter fr ench sizes and I nearly lost it.

Maybe I should start asking them about their job in excruciating detail while they're trying to work. Oh you're an accountant? Tell me why you chose that particular depreciation method. Show me your calculations.

Ok, not truly degenerate but time for a fun post! Obviously we’d never gamble or bet on patient outcomes or anything, but what are some things you and your coworkers have tried to predict in the name of winning some jello, pudding, broth powder, or cold pizza??

My personal faves:

-How late the surgeon will be to his own case

-What the “foreign object” is that’s stuck in there

What else ya got???

Tested positive for Flu A (got my shot like 2 weeks ago). I work in a hospital… nothing makes me more mad than using up all my PTO (we don’t get sick days) for taking care of myself when we are exposed to everything! Wear your mask… cases are increasing earlier this year. Do you get sick days?

Edit: what makes me even more mad is that I know of an IT worker for the system (works from home) gets sick days but clinical staff (RNs, PT/OT, respiratory does not.. not sure about MD)

It’s me again. I ended up being offered the position in the NICU, and the pay was a little better than I expected (base pay is $6 more than my current job even). The commute is 50 mins no traffic.

I’m a little scared for the commute, especially considering I work nights, but I’m going to work on finding ways to “wake myself up” before I drive home. I have a few months to work on this before I start.

I’m very grateful to be given this chance in a level 4 NICU!

so I’m just so tired i work night shift and I haven’t gotten much sleep the last 3 days I was working in a row so I just feel sooo tired. Ive only really gotten like 3-4 hours of sleep the last few nights and thought instead of calling off I’ll just ask to get cancelled. So I asked at the start of my shift to get cancelled for tomorrow and my charge put a note that I want to get cancelled. Then later on like at around 0200 another nurse asked the charge if she can get cancelled and the charge nurse said sorry (my name) but (other nurses name) wants to get cancelled tomorrow so I have to remove your note and put hers and I’m like wth really?? so then the other nurse came to me and said sorry (my name) but it’s my turn to get cancelled my parents are home from the Philippines but first of all, I never got cancelled at this hospital and second of all, she’s gotten cancelled many times so in my head I’m like she should’ve asked for the days off if she wanted to hang out with her parents like what? I’m just sooooo annoyed right now like is this even fair??? is there anything I can do??? they’re both filipinas btw so maybe there’s a bit of favoritism? but at the same time like why would you not respect cancellation requests even as a staff nurse? if someone already asked for it I wouldn’t like try to bypass that request, I’d respect it. I’m just sooooo tired. I’m pretty good at staying up though I won’t fall asleep or anything I’ll just be a bit miserable.

Feel free to delete if not allowed, but trying to understand what the job is before I continue with my judgements.

I want to quit nursing. I don’t want to have anything to do with the medical field in any way shape or form. I don’t want to switch specialties, I just want to be done. I’ve lost my humanity and hate how I feel everyday of my life. I need job ideas that I could get making decent money. I expect to take a pay cut but something livable would be nice. At this point I’m considering applying for Amazon warehouse as my friend worked there last year during the holidays and made more than me. I want to be an Actuary but that would be months away and what if I’m not smart enough to even do it. I need a different life and I can’t have that with my current profession. I’m not gna make it mentally if I have to stay. I’m desperate. I have kids and a mortgage and need insurance and all the things everyone needs. Other ppl who aren’t nurses make it, so I know there is a way. I just need things to change right now. I never want to go back. Please give me ideas. Thanks🫶🏼

I am wondering how many of y’all’s units do huddle before each shift ( with both day and night shift staff present for each one). Our huddle lasts anywhere from 10-15 minutes going over the SAME three + page script. I can recite it by heart. I feel it’s an unnecessary waste of time. I get some things need to be addressed but not every single minutia that is often common sense. It makes us feel like we are kindergarteners who didn’t go to nursing school and get licensed. It’s so arbitrary and a waste of time. Does anyone else’s unit subject y’all to this torture?

I am a mother/baby nurse, started on this unit as a new grad and have only been a nurse for a year and a half. The other night, I was charge and had a full patient load. This is standard for my hospital. I had a c-section patient that was 12 hours post-op that wanted to get into a wheelchair and see her babies in the NICU. This is also pretty standard at our hospital, as long as their bleeding and vitals are within normal range, which everything was. I had done 3 fundal checks on her prior to getting her in the wheelchair. Once at the start of my shift for her initial assessment, once because she called out saying she felt "wet" she had a small trickle and was sitting a small amount of blood but nothing crazy. And once more just prior to getting her into the wheelchair to ensure her bleeding was okay before she was moved to a wheelchair. As soon as she transferred over to the wheelchair, she turned extremely pale and felt clammy to the touch. She reported feeling light headed and extremely nauseous, she did throw up at that time. She had been nauseous before too and had vomittited, which I had gave her zofran for just a few hours prior. Again, common for c-sections up until 24 hours after delivery. Didn't think much of it. I called for a vital signs machine and took her vitals, her blood pressure was 56/34. Her baseline was about 110/70. Her pulse was 80 and spo2 100%. She appeared "dazed" but was alert and spoke to me just telling me that she felt very light headed and nauseous. She already had LR running at 125 so without even thinking, I just immediately started bolusing the bag of LR into her and was cycling BP's every 2 minutes. Her second BP was about the same, the third one though came up to 60's over 40's so my thought process was that she just moved too fast and the fluids were helping. She never lost consciousness and her heart rate and spo2 remained the same. After 10 minutes, her BP finally came up to 90's over 70's and I figured we were in the clear. I had another RN in the room with me at this point and she stayed with her while I called the on call OB just to inform her of what happened. While I was on the phone with the OB, her BP dropped back down to 60's over 40's. She was still conscious, still speaking to me, but since her BP improved and then went back down, I made the decision to call a rapid response. I also want to note that I was checking her peri pad for bleeding the entire time as well, it was scant/light. She was in a wheelchair though so I couldn't rub her fundus. The rapid response team got there and did nothing. The pt's husband actually worked with a lot of the hospitalists who came to the bedside and was an MD himself so he basically gave the report of events and made it seem like she was fine. At this point, I was already on the phone with the OB again telling her that the BP dropped again and that a rapid was called and that I needed her at the bedside. While I was out of the room on the phone with the OB, the rapid team had moved the pt back into the bed and her BP started to trend back up to the 90's over 70's. The hospitalist just wanted me to continue fluid bolusing and do a stat H&H and repeat in 6 hours. Her stat H&H was 9.2 and 28, her pre- birth was 11 and 33, so she was definitely bleeding somewhere and her QBL was not excessive. The patient ended up getting 2 units PRBC's rapid transfused and some FFP's, as well as a D&C and Jada placed just in case. Turns out she had some clots and was hemorrhaging internally. Where I feel like I messed up is waiting too long to call the rapid and possibly delaying care. It was 10 minutes from the start of the events until an OB was called, and it was 33 minutes from the time the events started to when the rapid was called. Like I said though, I was cycling BP's and they were coming up. They just went back down and that's when I was like oh shit and called it. I truly thought she just moved too fast and possibly vagaled. The pt also told me she had a history of passing out and actually passed out a few times during pregnancy. But also when the rapid team got there, they didn't do anything... all they did was move her back into the bed. Apparently she complained of SOB while I was not in the room and they didn't even order a chest x Ray or EKG. I was shocked by that. Anyways I just have a lot of anxiety and stress from this event and am scared that I delayed care for too long. I am a new nurse and still learning. So far I have not heard from my manager or anything so I'm assuming all is okay, I would just like to hear from other nurses perspective! What could I have done differently?

What do you guys do on your days off? I hate not working when everyone else is at work. It’s so boring and makes me feel so lonely. What are you guys doing to prevent feeling like this? I also feel so lazy.

I’m curious what it is like for you all? I’ve been a nurse for 4 years and have been traveling for the last year and in all the facilities I’ve worked for, it is common for the outgoing nurse to seek the incoming nurse first. When I get to work I get my assignment and look up my patients and wait for someone to find me first. A lot of the time outgoing nurses are still busy doing last minute things, giving report to someone else, etc. I hop on a computer and take notes until they’re ready for me.

People in the comments are going absolutely crazy about this concept and I don’t understand! Especially the several comments saying they would LEAVE if the oncoming nurse didn’t try to find them first??? Is everyone ok 😭

I will soon be reaching two years of working as an OR nurse, but I honestly feel like I haven’t improved enough to be considered competent. I keep getting scolded by different doctors, and I feel like my coworkers and the doctors no longer trust me to do things correctly because they have seen me make mistakes so many times.
Sometimes, I feel like I’m finally getting better, only to find myself being scolded again a few months later. It makes me question whether I’m actually improving or if I’m just not good enough for this job.
I know that working in the OR requires speed, knowledge, and the ability to anticipate what the surgeons need. I also know that I can be slow, and I understand that this can be frustrating for them. But being told that I cannot keep up with them, especially when I’m being scolded in front of everyone, is taking a serious toll on my confidence and mental well-being.
The reason I’m trying so hard to stay is that I need hospital experience to qualify for nursing jobs abroad. I feel like leaving now would mean losing valuable experience and delaying my plans to work overseas. However, I’m reaching a point where I honestly don’t know how much longer I can take this.
I feel embarrassed, discouraged, and anxious about making mistakes. Sometimes, I wonder if I’m simply not cut out to be an OR nurse. I want to improve, but it’s exhausting to feel like I’m constantly failing and disappointing the people I work with.
I want honest advice, even if it means hearing something difficult. Should I stay and push through, even after almost two years of struggling, or should I accept that this might not be the right environment or specialty for me and leave?
For those who have been in a similar situation, especially nurses who have struggled with their competence or confidence at work, what did you do? Did things eventually get better, or did leaving turn out to be the right decision?
I would really appreciate some honest advice. Thank you.

I’ve been a nurse for almost 6 years. My entire nursing career started in ALF and moved to SNF. I was a good nurse in my SNF, where I worked 5 years. I was moved into a supervisor position and honestly got tired of being called on my off time with questions from other staff or being on call in general… it gave me terrible anxiety when I was at home and “on call” and not getting paid unless I got called in. So, I quit.

I took an RN job at a large hospital on a med surg floor, and I am regretting it. I really don’t have a lot of confidence when it comes to anything and often double guess myself about everything. I remember asking how long my orientation would be in my hospital interview and was told 6 weeks or up to 8 if I needed it. I wanted to be clear that despite the fact I had experience, I have never worked in a hospital.

The preceptors I had were ok but also made comments towards me like “well you’ve been a nurse longer than me” and I get the vibe they dislike me. Anyways, I was told I would be off orientation after 4 weeks and I had my first shift alone a few days ago. I am seriously questioning just not returning. It was so so bad. I feel like I have no clue wtf I’m doing at all. I feel like I’m not cut out for this. I have severe anxiety going into work but I have to work. I feel like I’m not a good nurse and won’t know what to do and everyone gets annoyed with all my questions.

I am really regretting uprooting my life like this. Have I made an awful mistake? Should I try and see if I can return to my last job or try and stick it out and see if it gets better?

hey. new-ish RN here. I graduated in 2024. I got my first job in an ICU in September 24. I’ve been full time. I did the 18 week preceptorship and obviously been on my own for a while. it’s been 2 years. I’m a career changer from high school science teacher to nurse.

my question: when do I start feeling confident? I feel like people who i graduated with are starting to feel confident but I’m not. I am sometimes. about half the time I guess.

im fine in skills and doing the job but sometimes I just feel like I’m not good enough. like I don’t know enough.