Overwhelming

Nurses New Nurse

Published

I will graduate in 32 days Whoo Hoo!!!! BUT..... I swear sometimes I am on the floor and I can't help just feeling scared out of my mind. Sometimes I thing I don't know ANYTHING, and I will surely kill someone if I get on the floor on my own.

Did anyone else feel like this, or should I re-apply and go through it all again??? (just kidding there's NO WAY!)

Pie,

GIve it time, and you will be doing alright. It's easy to get behind and get disorganized, any day, even as an experienced RN. I just woke up last night at 0130 and realized I had forgotten to do something...Not lifethreatening for the patient, but sort of important...

Give yourself more time, and things will start to fall together!

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Specializes in Transplant, homecare, hospice.
Oh man, I'm on orientation for the 3rd of 13 weeks. I am taking the full patient load (4), which I am pleased with, but I get so mad at myself, and embarrassed when I miss things. I just keep wondering (aloud sometimes) when/if I will EVER understand all of the goings-on. Do things ever sink in? I mean realistically I know they do, but I sure hate being new. When does the Critical Thinking come? Or is it one of those things that either you have or you don't? If that's the case, I'm in trouble. I just don't want to be one of the nurses that other nurses talk about, or that no one wants to follow. I have heard stories about a nurse who would have so many IV antibiotics to hang, but she would be behind with them because her main priority was to bathe her patients. I mean I could figure that one out, but there are sometimes where I feel like my prioritizing is lacking. I'm going to bed now. Thanks for letting me vent.

Hey there. I can say that what you're feeling is completely normal. You will feel overwhelmed at times when you get out on your own. As for understanding priorities, it will come as well. When you get report from the nurse leaving, you will get an idea of who has the highest acuity. I'm sure you're already critical thinking, probably not with confidence and independently yet. But you will. You'll get there. Hold your head up and don't let anyone cut you down. You'll make mistakes at times too. It's all a normal process. You'll be fine. Think positive, believe in yourself, and remember that you're not superhuman. Good luck!

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Pie,

GIve it time, and you will be doing alright. It's easy to get behind and get disorganized, any day, even as an experienced RN. I just woke up last night at 0130 and realized I had forgotten to do something...Not lifethreatening for the patient, but sort of important...

Give yourself more time, and things will start to fall together!

Thank you so much. It is not fun to be new in this field.

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Hey there. I can say that what you're feeling is completely normal. You will feel overwhelmed at times when you get out on your own. As for understanding priorities, it will come as well. When you get report from the nurse leaving, you will get an idea of who has the highest acuity. I'm sure you're already critical thinking, probably not with confidence and independently yet. But you will. You'll get there. Hold your head up and don't let anyone cut you down. You'll make mistakes at times too. It's all a normal process. You'll be fine. Think positive, believe in yourself, and remember that you're not superhuman. Good luck!

Thank you! I wonder if I could be on orientation for a year, that would be nice :-)

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
Thank you! I wonder if I could be on orientation for a year, that would be nice :-)

Although formal orientation seems short (no matter how long it is), on my unit the orientation process does last well beyond the scheduled period. That is to say, everyone knows you're new. A good charge nurse will consider that in making assignments, and decent co-workers will be happy to answer questions and help out when possible.

I do think part of the key, though, is you. Experienced nurses don't like know-it-alls--I've been told repeatedly that the nurses they worry about are the ones who don't ask questions. On the other hand, no one appreciates laziness. If you're willing to do what you can, to ask for help when you need it, to help others when possible, and to work really hard at getting better every day, you'll probably be just fine. Before you know it, there will be people even newer than you are, as lost as you were, and you'll be helping them!

It is hard, but it's also fun, exciting, and sometimes very rewarding. Before you know it, you'll laugh about the things that scared you in school.

One last thing: if you really care about your patients, they will pick up on that. It's good to look as confident as possible with patients, but if they can see that you care, they'll forgive a lot.

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Thank you all for replying, I am relieved to know it's not just me. Thank you again!

Vickey

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Specializes in Emergency.

I'm not trying to scare you, but for me, nursing school was NOTHING compared to my first 2-3 months in the ER as a new grad. I have never been so stressed out or scared in my entire life. I absolutey hated nursing and was devastated because I didn't know what else to do with my life since ER was the only thing I had wanted to do for so many years. Then one day everything just fell in to place and now after 5 months I have been on my own for over 3 months and I feel I am almost as functional as most of the nurses around me, I just ask for help if I don't know how to do something or I am nervous. I absolutely love my job, I love the people I work with, I love the doctors and the nurses and the techs. I love getting a decent paycheck and I actually don't mind going to work. I have days where I want to run screaming every once in a while--but so does any job.

So my advice is to get geared up for a couple months of pure torture, get through it, and once you get to the other end you can put all of this behind you forever. What is a few more months of torture for a lifetime of having a great job

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