New RN - introducing myself/advice

Nurses New Nurse

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Hi,

My name is Jamie and I just graduated from nursing school this past August. I recently just took RN boards and passed. I graduated with a BSN and am currently working on a Medical/Surgical unit. To be honest, I'm really really feeling overwhelmed as a new nurse and so paranoid of doing something wrong. I made good grades in nursing school, and I know the knowledge is there - just not the experience. I go home and night and stress about if I did this right for this patient, if I should have done something more, if I shouldn't have done something I did, and ect.. I'm driving my fiance and myself nuts I think (lol). Sorry to introduce myself and off the bat ask for advice, but this seems like a very supportive forum.

I had one patient this weekend that came back post-op (40yr. female, alert/oriented) and was shivering excessively but was afebrile. The OR nurse said she had shivered alot in the OR too. She was visibly and audibly shivering so badly it was increasing her pain level and making her uncomfortable. I put 2 thin blankets over her and turned the thermostat up to 70 (was on 65). I checked on her frequently but when the aid came in to do vitals her temp was 102. She was otherwise asymptomatic. I immediately took the blankets off and tried interventions to cool her down. I just felt so bad all weekend long thinking I caused her temperature to raise that high.

Somedays I feel like I'm doing good as a nurse and other days I feel so incompetent and so guilty. To my knowlege I haven't made any other major mistakes, but is it normal to worry like this constantly? I want to be a good nurse so bad, and I'm so afraid I'm not measuring up.

Thanks for letting me vent though. I really needed to get it off my chest.

-Jamie

Specializes in Telemetry, OR, ICU.
Hi,

My name is Jamie and I just graduated from nursing school this past August. I recently just took RN boards and passed. I graduated with a BSN and am currently working on a Medical/Surgical unit. To be honest, I'm really really feeling overwhelmed as a new nurse and so paranoid of doing something wrong. I made good grades in nursing school, and I know the knowledge is there - just not the experience. I go home and night and stress about if I did this right for this patient, if I should have done something more, if I shouldn't have done something I did, and ect.. I'm driving my fiance and myself nuts I think (lol). Sorry to introduce myself and off the bat ask for advice, but this seems like a very supportive forum.

I had one patient this weekend that came back post-op (40yr. female, alert/oriented) and was shivering excessively but was afebrile. The OR nurse said she had shivered alot in the OR too. She was visibly and audibly shivering so badly it was increasing her pain level and making her uncomfortable. I put 2 thin blankets over her and turned the thermostat up to 70 (was on 65). I checked on her frequently but when the aid came in to do vitals her temp was 102. She was otherwise asymptomatic. I immediately took the blankets off and tried interventions to cool her down. I just felt so bad all weekend long thinking I caused her temperature to raise that high.

Somedays I feel like I'm doing good as a nurse and other days I feel so incompetent and so guilty. To my knowlege I haven't made any other major mistakes, but is it normal to worry like this constantly? I want to be a good nurse so bad, and I'm so afraid I'm not measuring up.

Thanks for letting me vent though. I really needed to get it off my chest.

-Jamie

You sound like a very sincere & caring nurse. Never lose those characteristics, yet give yourself time to gain experience. Plus, learn to relax & let go once you've given report to the oncoming nurse.

:)

Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

Hi, Jamie! Don't beat yourself up. We all went through this phase you're going through. It is a very stressful time. It really is more of an extension of school except you don't have an official instructor to stand at your side all the time. You are truly "putting it all together" now. You have to be able to find resources on your own at this point. Hopefully, you have a preceptor and other staff nurses who are willing to take the time to show you tips and tricks.

Keep your textbooks within easy access because you will probably be needing to open them frequently still. I would hit my textbooks every time I got home from the hospital during my first year or so out of school. So, look up fever in the index and start re-reading on it. You are going to find that what you were seeing was a patient having chills. Her body temp was so low it was compensating by trying to raise her temperature--thus, chills. You didn't give her the fever, believe me. When I get chills it is so uncomfortable that I pull blankets around me--chills make you feel like the source of the cold is coming from the center of your body! I turn up the heat and wrap up in more than one blanket and I still feel cold. It's a very odd sensation. It is also not unusual for a patient to come back from surgery and experience a temperature spike. After all, the body has just experienced an invasion of some type and been under physical stress (re: Hans Selye's theory of stress). For this reason many post-op patients receive antibiotics in the immediate post-op period--many times started in the PARR. I would have raised the temperature in the room and given the lady blankets too.

As you become more proficient in performing an RNs job, your feelings of paranoia go away and your stress level decreases. For now, they are helping you to be careful in your practice until all these things become second nature to you. Hang in there!

Welcome Jamie, and losten to everything that Daytonite said! She is totally correct. Welcome and vent whenever you want!

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

Welcome to allnurses.com. Try to stop beating yourself up like this. Lesson learned, and believe me, we all learn them. Glad you are here. Now stop beating yourself. You are still learning!

Thanks for the encouragement and advice! I really appreciate the kind words.

-Jamie

Specializes in OB, ortho/neuro, home care, office.

It is possible that all of her shivering was prelude to the fever. I had a patient with a terrible fever yesterday, up to 102 (103 overnight) and she was shivering something fierce. I kept the air on, and kept trying to tell her to take deep breaths, so she could calm herself a little. I am fairly certain she has sepsis, and did contact her doctor after her fever climbed again. It would go down from time to time, to normal, but it climbed back up at the end of the shift. Anyway - don't worry, you did what you could! Great job!

Specializes in PCU, Critical Care, Observation.

Sometimes the anesthesia used in the OR can cause shivering also. You did fine!

Jen

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