May 2008 grads....how are things going?

Nurses New Nurse

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Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

For those of us who graduated in May (or thereabout) how is the first few months of nursing? How are you feeling and where are you working? Thoughts?

I'm working in a PICU at a teaching hospital and I LOVE it! I learn something new everyday and my co-workers are the bomb! I feel supported and there is always someone if I need help/have questions.

There have been some days where I feel very overwhelmed and want to throw in the towel but most days I really enjoy it. I'm thankfully that I work on a very supportive unit to new grad ICU nurses. I had a 10 week orientation and that was adequate I thought....so far so good on my own.

Yesterday was funny for me, I have to share. Everyone had told me that new residents don't know anything but I never really believed it. Well yesterday was the first of the month and the new residents/interns came. The resident who was assigned to one of my patients (we usually have 1-2 patients per nurse) told me it was his first day and he didn't know what he was doing. So *I* the new NURSE had to show him the ropes....she him how our vents worked, etc. He then got assigned to pull back my patients PICC line to 5cm and I had to show him step-by-step how to do that and then I dressed it. ME a NEW nurse?! LOL He was so thankful and kept shaking my hand and telling me how thankful he was.....lol. Hopefully down the road he will remember the nurses who helped him when he didn't know what he was doing :)

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Specializes in Transplant/Surgical ICU.

Graduated June and started working the begining of August in a transplant/surgical ICU. I love it! I am still on orientation as you would expect, and my preceptor rocks! I am learning so much, and feeling more comfortable everyday.

I'm glad to hear you are having a good time, hope everyone else is doing good. This is our year!

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I graduated on May, took NClex on July 3rd and passed in 75 questions...thank god!!! was able to have some time before my job started. I started on aug 25th...still in orientation until the end of October. I love my hospital so far. everyone is really nice and teaching oriented which is important since i have a lot yet to learn!!

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Specializes in Cardiac Nursing.

Graduated in May and just got offered my first RN position. I'll be working NICU. Haven't taken the NCLEX yet, but it is scheduled. Its been a very bad several months, I applied everywhere I could think of and just wasn't getting interviews. That all changed two weeks ago and I now have a job on the unit I wanted.

Now I can concentrate on studying for the NCLEX. I'm supposed to take it Sept 23rd, but I am thinking of changing it to take advantage of the fact my new employer will pay for Kaplan.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Graduated in May.. passed the boards July 15th.. and start my first job on Monday (September 8th) at the hospital I've been dreaming of working at for 2 years! I can't wait. I'm so excited and nervous.. wish me luck!! :) And good luck to everyone!!

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Specializes in Med Surg, ER, OR.

Also a May man and am working at a local hospital (150 beds) on a med-surg unit. The staff are very helpful and I am workin my last two weeks of orientation. I am so scared to come of by myself, but i had an eye-opening shift yesterday. My preceptor was off with her sick daughter yesterday and i was left with another preceptor. The girl i am used to being with is very helpful and eager to pick up my slack (gets bored easily); however the girl I was with yesterday let me be on my own and only helped if I needed something important. It was a relief and a pain, but made me realize that I will be OK on my own and will adjust in just a few short weeks (I think). Good luck to everyone else!!!

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Nice to read some success stories. :D I started orientation on a medsurg floor in June. Although I dreaded medsurg when I was in school, I'm surviving it now that I'm out. The nurses I work with are friendly, supportive, and always willing to answer a stupid question. I only have a few more orientation days, and then I'm on my own. Even though I know that I haven't learned everything I need to know, I still feel ready to be off orientation. My preceptor is great -- I'm just ready to sink or swim.

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It's going great! I am knee-deep in orientation (critical care) and still have 2 more months left. My preceptor is amazing! She's 65 and one of the most intelligent women that I've ever met. I am honored to walk in her footsteps.

At first I was questioning myself because I was just going through the motions and not using the critical thinking that I was taught in school. It finally came to me last week! I've been thinking since. I caught (not literally) a PE! It really boosted my self-esteem when it came to assessments.

I'm very happy I chose nursing. :redbeathe

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Specializes in ER, Cardiac Tele/ICU Stepdown.

Hey everyone!

Glad to hear everyone is liking nursing so far! I am working on a cardiac step down unit. I have been on orientation for 8 weeks, and today was my first day on my own.... I bearly slept last night, I was so nervous!! But it actually went okay!! The nurse to pt ratio on my floor is 4:1, well I come in this morning and I was only assigned 2 pts. I sent one to the cath lab before 0900 and was left with only 1 pt...the morning was so slow!! Well when I get back from lunch, of course my cath patient was back, on a heparin drip, a bicarb drip and of course I had to do the post procedure vitals every 15, then 30, 1 hr and so on.... as if that isn't time consuming enough, I get a transfer from the ICU, a fresh CABG, only 1 day post op!! Thank goodness he was in pretty good shape! Between getting my cath lab pt's meds and vitals caught up, and getting my transfer charting done on my CABG, I bearly saw my other pt!! Surprisingly, somehow I got caught up and ended up leaving on time!

I can't help but still have this nagging feeling that I forgot to do something!! I'll probably have dreams about it!!

Sorry for the rant, but besides all that, it was still a great day! I just wish I could fast forward past the newbie, scared, unsure nurse stage to the experienced know everything nurse!

:loveya:Good luck to all you new nurses!!:loveya:

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Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.
Also a May man and am working at a local hospital (150 beds) on a med-surg unit. The staff are very helpful and I am workin my last two weeks of orientation. I am so scared to come of by myself, but i had an eye-opening shift yesterday. My preceptor was off with her sick daughter yesterday and i was left with another preceptor. The girl i am used to being with is very helpful and eager to pick up my slack (gets bored easily); however the girl I was with yesterday let me be on my own and only helped if I needed something important. It was a relief and a pain, but made me realize that I will be OK on my own and will adjust in just a few short weeks (I think). Good luck to everyone else!!!

I was scared to be off orientation at first as well. I literally couldn't eat and didn't sleep the night before the first day I was "on my own", I was so scared I was shaking driving in to work. But the day actually went well and boosted my confidence a bit and now I am REALLY liking being "on my own" because I am finding my own way of doing things, etc.

I know it's nerve wrecking but I think you will actually like being on your own and finding your own groove so to say. You WILL be ok on your own :)

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Specializes in OB.

I passed boards June 23rd and started work on a High Risk OB floor July 28th. I had a good relaxing time off to review (yep, I took my books to the beach!) and I'm really enjoying work. I have 7 more weeks of orientation but my preceptor has really pushed me hard and I'm feeling pretty confident...and hoping that come mid-October when I am actually taking patient's on my own I am still this confident!

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Specializes in Diabetes, Primary care.

Graduated May 19th, took my boards on July 4th. Started working in a major university hospital on July 21st, on a medicine/neurology/oncology floor. One week left in orientation! I cannot imagine how I will be able to do everything on my own. My preceptors (I have 2) were great, and alway picked up my slack, and still on most days I run around like a chicken with my head cut off. I'm so scared I'll miss something, do something wrong... Oy vey.

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