First day on the floor

Nurses New Nurse

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Specializes in Ortho/Neuro.

[color=deepskyblue]well, i graduated in may and have been working as a cna for 4 years on the floor i am working on now as a rn (ortho/neuro). i was in hospital orientation in a classroom for the past week and yesterday i finally got to work on the floor!!! it was very exciting for me! it felt kinda weird to say to the patient, "i am one of your nurses today"! i had a good day, we had a surgical and an er admit plus all the other patients. i got to pull two drains (a jp and a orthopat), i also got to cath a male (which i had never done before), give iv meds, set up the iv pump, set up three pca's, take an admission history, and *gasp* call my first doctor! he was really nice (a neurosurgery resident)! all in all, it was a good day! i actually had fun! i am very excited about my new position and i want to hear about all of your first days and firsts!!!

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I am so glad to hear you had a great experience, My experience (2 weeks so far) has been horrible. I have been assigned to three different preceptors. The first preceptor was very nice but she was also the charge nurse and didn't have time for me, when I needed her I couldn't find her. The second nurse (today) has been a nurse about 20 years, she is my age. She sat around drinking coffee for the first two hours. then started to talk with the doctors as they made their rounds as far as precepting she did a very poor job went home almost crying from frustration. I am a bright person and really have good common sense but there is a transition from nursing student to nurse. So far I haven't got good direction and am really frustrated. I want to be as good as I can and give the best treatment to everyone but it is really hard when no one shows you the way.

Sorry for the vent. I feel a little better. I am just glad it is working for you

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Trauma, Ortho, Neuro, Cardiac.

Awesome! Thanks for sharing your experience. I'm tired just reading it. :)

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Specializes in Case mgmt., rehab, (CRRN), LTC & psych.

It's wonderful to know that you have had an eventful, good first day on the floor. Hopefully your entire nursing career will be filled with many more of these eventful, good days.

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Glad to hear you havinga smooth transition so far.........learn all u can! Remember days like this when you have a rough day........I have been in orientation 7 weeks and I have to remind myself constantly of the better days because some days are soooooooo hard!

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Specializes in Level III cardiac/telemetry.

DId you really get all the way through nursing school without doing a male cath? I'm still in school, and had a thread going a few months ago about my fear of male caths! My instructor assured me that I WILL have to complete one before graduating. We even go to a different hospital just to do those because the hospital we normally do clinicals at only has males cath males, females do females.

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Specializes in Ortho/Neuro.
DId you really get all the way through nursing school without doing a male cath? I'm still in school, and had a thread going a few months ago about my fear of male caths! My instructor assured me that I WILL have to complete one before graduating. We even go to a different hospital just to do those because the hospital we normally do clinicals at only has males cath males, females do females.

No, it never came up during clinicals. I only did one female (twice) who was in labor and we straight cathed her once then put in a foley later that day! My clinical experience was not very good when it came to doing stuff like that! We didn't have much IV meds or anything. I only inserted one IV in school and now that I work in a hospital with an IV team I don't think I'll ever be proficient at it. I asked my preceptor about that and she said when we get a patient with good veins we can try, but she isn't very good at them either. I was told that I can spend a day in the GI lab and start them there (unpaid). I will probably do that later when I get a handle on my new position.

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Specializes in LTC and MED-SURG.

congratulations sabrina's mommy on your first and many more great days!!!

i went through lpn training w/o doing a single cath (male or female) on anything but a mannequin. so far in 8 weeks of working, i've done three females (just one, completely by myself) i was excited

re: first day on the floor

did you really get all the way through nursing school without doing a male cath? i'm still in school, and had a thread going a few months ago about my fear of male caths! my instructor assured me that i will have to complete one before graduating. we even go to a different hospital just to do those because the hospital we normally do clinicals at only has males cath males, females do females.(/quote]

no it never came up during clinicals. i only did one female (twice) who was in labor and we straight cathed her once then put in a foley later that day! my clinical experience was not very good when it came to doing stuff like that! we didn't have much iv meds or anything. i only inserted one iv in school and now that i work in a hospital with an iv team i don't think i'll ever be proficient at it. i asked my preceptor about that and she said when we get a patient with good veins we can try, but she isn't very good at them either. i was told that i can spend a day in the gi lab and start them there (unpaid). i will probably do that later when i get a handle on my new position.[/quote']
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Specializes in LTC/Behavioral/ Hospice.

Congratulations on your first day! I had my first day this past week and it was a mix of emotions! My first med pass was veerryyy slow. I started an IV (got it in the first time!) and attempted to learn where everything at the nurse's desk was. I talked to a doc for about 3 seconds and then realized that I needed to get another nurse because she was asking questions that I couldn't answer. LOL. I had one resident chew me out for being late with her meds and another resident hug me and tell me that I was a good nurse, so I guess that evens out. LOL.

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Oh my god, it seems you were thrown in deep end, sometimes it can be a good thing too. I am glad it went well for you. Next week I start and have to act as RN, which is weird. I hope all goes well for me. I think first week is orientation and then go to the wards and be preceptored. I am scared out of my head.

:chair:

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Specializes in heme oncology, critical care.

im glad that you are doing so well on your floor as a new nurse. im on day three on my floor, and the only thing that keeps going through my mind is the song "everyone knows im in over my head...".lol. im on a critical care floor, and it is so hectic! plus theres the computer charting which i hate. theres so much to learn!nursign school definetely does not prepare you for evrything that goes on in the real world. i felt like i was drowning the first day, but by the time the day was over, i was getting the hang of it. my preceptor is phenomenal. the first day i just kinda followed her around and got familiar with things. the second day she gave my very own patient (the max amount of pts is 3, we had 2) and gave me total control over her care. on sunday night i barely slept because i was so nervous about being on the floor. but the staff is sooo nice, and are really making me feel welcome. ive heard a lot about nurse eating their young, and have witnessed it in the clinical setting, but not here. im so glad because i never thought i would be on a floor this intense (i really wanted to go to peds but there was nothing available at that hospital, and i really wanted to work there). but i am so grateful for the experience, and i am sure that i will gain great nursing skills .

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DId you really get all the way through nursing school without doing a male cath?

I never did a cath (of any kind) while in nursing school. In clinicals, most of the patients already had Foleys, and if one needed to be done the primary RN just went ahead and did it so as not to be bothered showing a student how to do it.

Looking over the procedures we learned in nursing school, there are quite a few that I never had the opportunity to actually do in the clinical setting. But being familiar with the steps involved in each procedure, coming across as confident to the patient, and knowing when to ask for help if unsure is all you really need.

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