How can I be a good nurse when I'm so scatterbrained?

[hnnrgh]

I'm close to my two-year mark in nursing and I still don't feel like I have all my **** together. I was working in a med-surg VIP ward before - not by choice, I HATED IT - and after making some errors I decided to put in a transfer to somewhere I would be able to breathe better. I wanted clinic, but because they wanted me to gain more experience they offered me day surgery, and I accepted.

While I'm doing far, far better than I was back then, and I am happier, I just feel like my ****'s not at all together for the past feel days. The system's all different. Nobody really has 'cases' they're personally responsible for and everyone oversees the entire ward, so everyone steps in when things are not being done. Because I'm from the ward they have a very high expectation of me. I just feel like I'm disappointing them, because I tend to make careless mistakes when stressed. Yesterday, for example, I was transferring a patient to the general ward and brought down the wrong casefile. My colleague wanted that casefile, and she had to come down to give it to me. She even told me she was getting tired of me.

So far, I haven't made any mistakes that were anything serious, but it's always the small things that I tend to get nagged for, and I just wish I could be that person who wouldn't need to be reminded of this or that. I want to be that person who can carry out her duties smoothly, with not a single person saying anything. So far, it's been two months here. If I continue feeling so inadequate, I'm considering resigning to find other options. Perhaps slower-paced work (because life in day surgery goes by like a blink of the eye), or a change in career entirely.

I've always had the feeling that nursing was not for me. Not because I disdain the hard work, or I hate touching anything 'dirty', but because I'm a scatterbrained person by nature and even in everyday life I tend to forget things. I'm afraid that I'll ALWAYS be like this, no matter how much experience I acquire. What should I do?

[caliotter3]

A notebook and a pen could be your best friends. Line through each entry as you deal with it or it is no longer an issue on your shift.

[cleback]

A notebook and a pen could be your best friends. Line through each entry as you deal with it or it is no longer an issue on your shift.

Something like this... can you create your own brain sheet to reflect things you'd want to do or check on? I'm a bit scattered myself and would be lost without one.