Love the 1st year

Nurses New Nurse

Published

Specializes in Neuro ICU, Neuro/Trauma stepdown.

Doesn't anyone here love being a nurse in the first year? I do!! I worked really hard for this, I've been coming to allnurses for a long time and therefore knew what I was getting myself into. I do have days that don't go so well. There are times I'm on my way home thinking I should have done this or that, or, I'll do it that way next time....

Of course, my optimistic attitude is probably related to spending six years working in LTC as an aide. Although i'm busy now working as a nurse (i love being busy, the time just flies), I don't break my back and i'm not pouring in sweat from shift start to shift end. I can actually wear makeup to work. And i don't have a sweat rag hanging out of my back pocket!!

I know its awkward having to ask questions all the time and admit I don't know the stuff that a seasoned nurse probably thinks I should know, but as a new grad I'm entitled to ask questions and recieve valid responses...and I do!!

Seems like we on these first year of nursing board should be sharing what we learn, tips we pick up along the way and celebrating what we've worked so hard hard to achieve. Instead, It almost seems like every new grad is horrified and feels incompetent!! We weren't supposed to learn everything in school guys, I'm studing in my books or on the net everyday!! I'm learning sooo much, and actually retaining information. In school I felt like I couldn't retain any new knowledge because I never had a chance to apply what I've learned. The OJT sticks with a person, for every mistake that I make I'm confident that I won't let it happen again ....and i move on. Poop happens.

so what's up? any of you newbies feel the way i do?

[banana]Find what you love, Love what you find![/banana]

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this is really great to hear! not that other people who are having a hard time don't shouldn't be able to vent in this forum, but it's nice to hear something really positive like this. thank you!

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Doesn't anyone here love being a nurse in the first year? I do!! I worked really hard for this, I've been coming to allnurses for a long time and therefore knew what I was getting myself into. I do have days that don't go so well. There are times I'm on my way home thinking I should have done this or that, or, I'll do it that way next time....

Of course, my optimistic attitude is probably related to spending six years working in LTC as an aide. Although i'm busy now working as a nurse (i love being busy, the time just flies), I don't break my back and i'm not pouring in sweat from shift start to shift end. I can actually wear makeup to work. And i don't have a sweat rag hanging out of my back pocket!!

I know its awkward having to ask questions all the time and admit I don't know the stuff that a seasoned nurse probably thinks I should know, but as a new grad I'm entitled to ask questions and recieve valid responses...and I do!!

Seems like we on these first year of nursing board should be sharing what we learn, tips we pick up along the way and celebrating what we've worked so hard hard to achieve. Instead, It almost seems like every new grad is horrified and feels incompetent!! We weren't supposed to learn everything in school guys, I'm studing in my books or on the net everyday!! I'm learning sooo much, and actually retaining information. In school I felt like I couldn't retain any new knowledge because I never had a chance to apply what I've learned. The OJT sticks with a person, for every mistake that I make I'm confident that I won't let it happen again ....and i move on. Poop happens.

so what's up? any of you newbies feel the way i do?

[banana]Find what you love, Love what you find![/banana]

Thank You!

I need a positive thread here. I am a foreign nurse waiting to start my first work here in US. I have no experience except the clinical's and the summer work I did between the semesters. When I read most of the threads on this site I get horrified. I wonder what the @@@@ I got in to?

We need more positive threads.

Cheers Ola

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Happy to hear that your experience is a good one!

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Specializes in Critical Care, Cardiothoracics, VADs.

I think people get disappointed when their expectations don't meet the reality. Since reality isn't changing, you can adjust your expectations. I had exactly the same experience you did - I loved it. I can remember times where I felt like a total fraud being an RN, but it wasn't ALL the time.

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Specializes in Neuro ICU, Neuro/Trauma stepdown.
I think people get disappointed when their expectations don't meet the reality. Since reality isn't changing, you can adjust your expectations. I had exactly the same experience you did - I loved it. I can remember times where I felt like a total fraud being an RN, but it wasn't ALL the time.

how true, not to be a dork, but some lyrics from one of my favorite songs:

I've seen enemies act like twins

and I've seen grimaces twist into grins,

disregard your good deeds and your sins,

it's who adapts, that's who wins.

My favorite nurses to work with are the ones that take anything in stride and go with the flow. My practice as a nurse is constantly under developement. Everyday i do things a little different. I go in with with the same intentions everyday, try to make a plan for the shift and yet still be ready to reformulate that plan at any time. But hey, that's how life in general works, isn't it?

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Specializes in ICU, Research, Corrections.

I love it too. Sure, there are some bad moments, poop happens. My first year will officially be over on 1/4/07. I started as a new grad in the ICU and I think I have learned more than I ever learned in nursing school. I had a horrible preceptorship but made the best of it. Now that I have almost a year of experience I recently changed hospitals and even got a 6 buck an hour raise too!

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Specializes in Neuro ICU, Neuro/Trauma stepdown.

wanna know what i did last night? i gave a pt haldol through the y port not realizing i had an atb running and it immediately precipitated in the line!! ACK!!

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Specializes in Developmental Disabilities, LTC.
Thank You!

I need a positive thread here. I am a foreign nurse waiting to start my first work here in US. I have no experience except the clinical's and the summer work I did between the semesters. When I read most of the threads on this site I get horrified. I wonder what the @@@@ I got in to?

We need more positive threads.

Cheers Ola

:yeahthat:

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Specializes in Cardiac.

I love it now! I had a rough start to my orientation, but I learned a lot! I love coming to a job where I rely mostly on my brain! It's really fun, and I love learning something new everyday!

It's really the first few months that bite!

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I am enjoying my first six months, I can't believe I have officially gone from a level 1 nurse to a level 2 nurse lol. The hardest adjustment for me was not the job, just getting used to working full time again was difficult. Now tho, its evening out and even tho I still get really tired now and then, I feel that my nursing practice is really shaping up. I am comfortable enough to relax a little, share a joke with a coworker or doctor, and realize that I am capable of doing this job!

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Specializes in Telemetry/Med Surg.

I'm loving it. From orientation to now, I'm still learning new things every day. Yes, there are wild, crazy moments but I just go with the flow, we all work together to get things done and it's been very positive.

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