I Have A Confession to Make

[MoriahRoseRN]

I have been out of school since May05, and I have not started working as an RN yet. I am too scared.

I have seen old classmates around and they ask where are you working. My answer is always I am staying home with the kids for now. This is only partially true. I am too frightened to go to work.

I am afraid that I won't pick up fast enough, or forget a lot of things, etc.

Two of my instructors told me I don't think on my feet. They are probably right. My nerves were shot half the time in clinicals, and I felt like the most inadequate student in the clinical area half of the time.

If you have advice for a specialty, usually they require one year of nursing. There doesn't seem to be much of a shortage in my area, except for med-surg.

I am just not sure how to get over this. I know that I will be totally stressed working as an RN (many new nurses on this board have posted about how stressed they are, do I want to live like this?). I'm afraid if I don't get a job as an RN now, then I can kiss nursing goodbye.

Thanks for reading this long post.

[etexnurse]

I was scared to death my first day, really for the first year. I had to force myself to go to work everyday. I didn't have a very good orientation and didn't get much help when I first started taking patients. But everyday, I got more confidence and then things just fell into place. I'm not saying that everyday is great, but I know how scary it is. Just hang in there. When you interview, ask about the orientation process and make sure that they stick with it. I wish you great luck. God bless.

[bullcityrn]

I don't know if all hospitals offer this, but what about doing a nurse residency? It gives a new nurse the chance to get on-the-job training, so to speak, and might be a little easier transition.

Don't give up on yourself! Good luck!!!

[truern]

Have you considered working in a doctor's office?? Maybe a clinic?? Somewhere without the stressors found working in a hospital setting?

Don't give up. You've come so far already. Find your niche, and I'll bet that fear factor will fade forever :)

[Jerico, BSN, RN]

Well, welcome to the boat! :) :) You are definately not alone!

I had the same issues. SO - what I did was looked and looked until I found

a nursing position that offered EXTENSIVE training.

I mean 4-6 months of training. It may mean a move, but it would be worth it.

[Daytonite, BSN, RN]

You want to find a job that is going to be low stress, but it will also most likely mean a pay cut. Hospital RNs make big bucks because they are expected to handle the stress and the workload. This is something you should talk about with nurse recruiters if you are looking to go into hospital nursing. Make it very clear you are scared to death and worried about not being able to perform up to what they will expect, but don't reveal to them that your instructors told you that you don't think on your feet. You always want to present yourself in the best light. A lot of the thinking stuff will come with experience. Otherwise, I would say to look for a nice, quietly, well run nursing home where you can start out as a part time treatment or med nurse just to get your feet wet. DONs in nursing homes are often more flexible in their hiring and willing to give people chances. Once you start to get a little experience and begin to kind of feel your wings of competency you'll be wanting to get your hands into more. Something else you could try to do is find work with a doctor's office and be willing to take a pay cut as long as the doctor understands your worries about performing. I'm talking about a doctor who runs his own practice, not a large practice of physicians. You will have to sell yourself. Most doctors hire MAs because they can train the MA to do whatever they need them to do in the office. You're already trained up to an RN level and would be a bonus at MA wages. I wouldn't put off starting work for too long because you will get rusty.

[Town & Country]

If I were you, I would get a job on a Med-Surg Unit.

I would tell the Unit Manager that I'm just out of school, and scared, but wanting to get in there and learn.

What you need is a thorough orientation and preceptor-ship program.

You are paralyzed by the fear of failure.

Also, your instructors told you you cannot think on your feet.

Don't worry about failing, because you probably are going to fail.

Even nurses with YEARS of experience do things "wrong" every day....they make med errors, mistakes, and ALL THE REST OF IT.

You don't have to be PERFECT to be a nurse. You are just a human being, like the rest of us.

Just tell yourself that d*mmit, I'M GOING TO BE A NURSE AND A GOOD ONE!!!

You have already proven yourself by being able to do the work to get through nursing school, don't shortchange yourself. You can do it.

YOU have to WANT IT.

The DESIRE must come from inside you so that, after a disheartening day, you can still lie down at night and know you want to go back to work, helping sick people get better...that's what it's all about.

Don't let anyone stop you.

[nurse_clown]

when i graduated from nursing, i went straight into child welfare. it was a great job. then hubby and i moved to a different city because he was getting promoted to a new position in his company. so, i quit my job to find another one. i was so chicken to work in a hospital. i started working "casual" shifts. i realized i needed more experience because acute care is far different than child welfare. so i asked for more shifts. now, i am part time on oncology/palliative care and part time in long term care. perhaps trying community health nursing would be good for you to start. it's mostly day shifts and you have a chance to some work at home. it was good for me since i had a young child that i could put into day care.

[lisa41rn]

Gosh, you hit a nerve for me, but please hear me out!! I too was scared to get that first job. I had two kids and adopted a third and my husband said to stay home with my daughter since she just came to live with us. Well I did. I loved raising my kids, but it was the worst thing I could have done...when it comes to my nursing career. I never felt good about getting through nursing school and not actually working as a nurse. Well, eight years later I took an RN reentry course and got a job as a med surg nurse. Let me tell you, it's exhausting trying to make up for the lost time. Please don't stay out of nursing too long. It only makes it harder. Part time might be the way to go, but the more I work, the better I feel. It has been almost a year since I started the reentry course, but I've come a long way. I still am trying to find my niche. I really would love to work two days/week with no holidays or weekends should a job even exist like that!! I work in a hospital now and don't make much money at all!! Can't imagine making less. Please try to get out there and work a little bit. You'll feel better to get those first few weeks of a "real" nursing job behind you. Good luck.

[bladensburg,OHrn]

It's always frightening to start that 1st job as an RN. I too had instructors that were very critical of clinical performances. I just developed a "what do you know - I'll show you I can do this" attitude. It made me work harder, and never, to this day, MANY years later, do I give up working harder. Now it's to be the best I can be, the most knowledgable I can be - for my pt's. Maybe that's what they wanted to instill in me all along - a commitment, not to them and their program, but a sense of commitment to the pt's I care for. These days I do most of the orientation for our busy med/surg unit. As the educator for our unit, the 1st thing I ask - what do you think you need? Where's your experiences, and fears? And TOGETHER we formulate a starting place. Our new grads get 12 weeks of full-time orientation, and can be extended up to six more weeks (it's on an individual basis). Most are ready by the end of the 12 weeks - no matter how inexperienced and afraid they started out. I urge you not to wait any longer, it will only get harder and harder the longer you wait - and you WILL forget many things. You've already made it through the tough part - school AND let's not forget the boards...the rest is manageable. Never be afraid to say what you don't know - that's how we all still learn from each other. Ask what type of orientation they provide, visit the unit - are they getting along, do they look like they're helping each other? Can you meet some employees? Ask if you can shadow for a part of a shift - we do this too- it gives prospective new employees the real world picture, and ask questions. But don't delay....chances are you know much more than what you think you do. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[BeenThereDoneThat74, MSN, RN]

If you have any desire to work in acute care, you need to grab the bull by the horns and get in there. The longer you wait, the harder it will be. Trust me, it happened to me. Not by choice, but I could not get a job in acute care (I welcomed a med/surg job). I worked in home care for three years, and felt like a new grad when I finally got into the hospital. Even in home care, I knew I was missing that valuable acute care experience.

On the other hand, if you feel like you may be more comfortable in an outpatient (office, clinic, home care, school nurse) setting, then go for it. This may be the place for you. But understand that your first job (especially if it's in the hospital) will be difficult. You will dread going to work, and you will feel like you learned nothing in school (my theory is hope for the best, but expect the worst!!) This is the way it (usually) is. You worked very hard to get your degree and license, use it now. You can do it!!!

[bladensburg,OHrn]

OK, so I have a question. Since I am relatively new here, and don't fully understand how all this works, could someone please inform me? I replied with what I thought was advice to MoriahRoseRn's dilemma about starting her nursing career many months after getting her license. How is it then, that I got an e-mail (which looked like another reply to this query) from nurse educate? It's not a problem, but I don't understand how it happened?:smackingf