Advice Needed! Please Help!

I have a total of 14 months of experience on a PCU unit in a smaller hospital. I do love nursing and what I am doing, but frustration is building and I dread going to work.

As I do not have any prior experience, I am not sure if the frustrations I am experiencing are everywhere or if there is something seriously wrong with my facility. We have recently had a change in management, both director and clinical coordinator. At about the same time we had a huge exodus of many of the more experienced staff as well as CNA's.

We are constantly short staffed and lacking in the most basic of supplies. They have only hired new grads since I started; so, the ratio of experienced RNs to brand, new, fresh out of school RNs is out of balance. Constant mistakes and lack of knowledge and judgment is making the environment dangerous. I feel like management is aware of the chaos on the floor and they just do not care. They seem to bury their head in the sand and refuse to admit there are problems that need to be addressed.

I feel that at this small, country hospital everyone is disinterested in doing the job they are being paid to do, and it is costing lives.

I am in an area where there are plenty of other options, and I feel confident I would be able to find something I would be interested in. However, I am at the stage in life that my husband and I would like to start a family soon. I am not sure if this should have any weight in my decision. On one hand I have a good start on saving up PDO for my time off, but is it worth the stress and frustration to stay? Would I not be better off trading a better environment for paid time off?

Would you more seasoned nurses please give me very much needed advice?!?
There's no perfect job environment; there will be frustrating issues wherever you work. However, if what you described is truly accurate about your organization...and you specifically state you live in an "area where there are plenty of other options"...then this decision is not that hard....you should be looking at those 'other options'. If patient safety concerns don't motivate leadership to intervene and support the staff, then it's time to move on. You can always start a family while working other jobs. -theRNJedi

If you have managed to stay in touch with those coworkers who have left, I would ask them if their new jobs are better. That would be the best indicator. I felt the same way about my first job, and I was sure I was going to like my second job better just because I thought things couldn't be worse. Well, they can. My first job was definitely a better environment than my second. The grass really isn't always greener.