Reflections on your completing your First Year as a nurse

[grinnurse]

hello everyone-

wow. it's hard to believe, but, alot of us on this bb have nearly completed our first year. it seems like the time has flown by when we were first posting where we were going to start our careers at. i just think reflection can be a good thing every now and again and was wanting anyone that wanted to participate in this with me by just answering a few questions. share anything else you would like as well.

#1. what has been the number 1 change in your life since you began your nursing career? mine has been that i no longer keep my mouth shut if i disagree or think something is being handled wrong. not only has this benefitted me in my career but with everyday life in general.

#2. are you still at the facility that you originally went to work?i will be starting at a new hospital on the 31st of may

#3. what is 1 thing that you will never forget from this first year? for me, it will be the color of cyanosis. i had an elderly stroke patient that was dying and the family decided to take her off the ngt that she had been receiving her nutrition through. the moment the ngt was out she turned a shade of blue that i cannot describe and was definately not expecting (another nurse was in the room to help me reposition and clean her bottom). all we could do was to cover her back up and get the family b/c they wanted to be there when she passed.

#4. on a scale of 1-10 (you know the rest of the saying), where would you put your confidence level now? i will give myself a 4 in general but a 5 on more of the common disease processes, meds, and procedures.

#5. what has been the silliest/dumbest thing that you have said or done this first year? we had an er nurse call down to the unit looking for a "tampon", i yelled out, "i've got one in my bag down here, you want me to take it to them?". my charge nurse was rofl with tears streaming down her face, and when she finally got composed told me that they were looking for a nasal tampon!!! that one had yet to be lived down!!

thanks to everyone for letting me share this first year with you b/c it has helped reading everyone's posts in knowing that we are not alone.

[rn-n- 2005]

Hi all again! I forgot to answer question #4. I totally skipped it!! :lol_hitti

On a scale from 1-10 where would I pit my confidence level? Hmmmmm, that's tough one. On a good day it's a 6 and on a bad day it's a 2 or 3. Definitely better than last year!!

If I knew last year how MUCH I didn't know then I would have been 10 times as scared!!!!! :chuckle

Ann

[NicuNightRN]

#1. what has been the number 1 change in your life since you began your nursing career?

i have to plan my life out at least a month in advance! my sister wanted me to go skiiing with her in march, and i couldn't go because she only told me 2 weeks in advance... plus, i sleep strange hours...and my friends from work and i go get margaritas at 7:30am, because it's our happy hour!

#2. are you still at the facility that you originally went to work?

yup

#3. what is 1 thing that you will never forget from this first year?

i don't think i can choose one. before i was even off orientation, i was around when we took a baby off the vent. i was there when the doctor listened with his stethoscope every 10 minutes and finally told the parents he had passed, and then helped with cleaning the baby and such later. this was such a bittersweet day though, because only a couple hours after this happened, i found out that i passed boards (i found out at work). later, when i was off orientation, i helped the same family bottle feed the surviving twin for the first time. it was a busy night, but i found time to sit there and check in on the dad every few minutes after i got him started on the feeding. i'll never forget his look of amazement that he was actually feeding his baby!

#4. on a scale of 1-10 (you know the rest of the saying), where would you put your confidence level now?

i'd say about a 5. when i find out i am admitting, or i have a 1:1 assignment, it goes down to about a 2 for a little bit, but then i get into the swing of things and my confidence slowly recovers. i've had trouble with venipuncture and iv starts lately (some of these babies are so picked over!!!), but this week started an iv and got 2 blood draws in one night, so my confidence soared to about an 8 by the time i left work this morning!

#5. what has been the silliest/dumbest thing that you have said or done this first year?

i think i've tried to block out most of the really dumb things. i do remember freaking out the first time i got a really high potassium level on a baby, and thinking that i had to call and wake up the nnp right away... then was reminded by another nurse that it was from a heel stick, and those potassiums are always high from hemolysis, don't worry, etc...