orientation

Nurses New Nurse

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Tomorrow I start my 3rd week of orientation and in 3 more weeks I am on my own. I don't know if I will feel confident yet after only 18 shifts with a preceptor. Last week she had me take all the patients on my own, take phone calls from doctors, lab and pharmacy and I did SBAR...all on my 2nd week. I'm feeling overwhelmed and sometimes I feel like I don't have a clue. I've been reading other posts on here about their orientation and it seems most get more than 6 weeks before getting thrown to the wolves. I guess most of my fear is about talking to doctors and also giving SBAR to the next nurse. I feel unsure of myself and very self conscious. How do I overcome my fears and anxiety? I don't want to look like an idiot...but I sometimes feel like one. How long will I feel this way? Ugh.

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Things are going better this week...

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Julz68,

Your orientation appears to be very well structured! Speaking as a nurse educator, (multiple decades of working with new grads) I can assure you that the most challenging aspect of your transition into 'independent' practice is the ability to manage the workload. Like all other skills, it is impossible to achieve competency in this area without actually practicing it yourself. By incorporating this into your orientation, you are being given the opportunity to develop this competency while your preceptor is still watching over you - ready and willing to prop you up if you start to falter.

Based on your follow-up post, this is starting to pay off for you - Congrats! By the end of your orientation, you will definitely be able to manage that workload with minimal assistance. Well Done!

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Thank you for your reply! I think you're right in what you said and it is also very reassuring. I thought it was too soon to be pushed into doing everything on my own on my 2nd week, but now I realize that it is to my benefit. I just do not have a strong personality and am not very assertive. That is the reason why I'm not comfortable talking with doctors. But I know I am going to have to learn to be more assertive if I'm going to be an effective patient advocate.

Yesterday I was doing everything on my own but had my preceptor always nearby if I needed her. I had 3 discharged and 3 admissions throughout the day and it was very busy! She did help with passing a few oral meds so I could focus on all the IVs I had going. One patient had 5 different bags hanging at once. It was hard to keep things straight and keep focussed...but I did it. I think I only was able to pee twice during that whole 13 hours! Its amazing how fast the time goes when you're so busy.

SBAR seemed to go more smoothly also. I didn't feel as clumsy with it as I had before.

Next week is my last week on days and then I have 2 weeks on nights ...after that I'm on my own. I will be full time straight nights. I'm glad that they had me orientate on days my first few weeks. It didn't make sense to me at first, but now I realize its because I need to get used to talking with Drs, lab, pharmacy, families, ancillary staff...

I have worked nights as an aide on another floor for the last 11 years..so I will be glad to get back to my night schedule and develop my routine as a night RN. :)

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Specializes in Family practice, emergency.

One thing that helped me get used to talking to doctors was when my preceptor said "It is their JOB to talk to you, to answer your questions, and to wake them up at 330 am." Some are kind, some crabby, but don't let a bad attitude make you scared to talk to MD's. They are people, too, and have good days and bad as well as their own insecurities!

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So far, I'm finding that the docs on my floor are a lot more approachable than the floor I came from when I was a CNA. I used to work on a cardiac floor and some of the cardiologists could be nasty! I'm sure that is where my fear stemmed from.

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