Anyone else about to graduate and...

chaxanmom · Mar 23, 2008

Sorry but I gotta :chuckle at how much you sound like a new mom! I don't know anything...they can't send a baby home with meeeee!!!! :lol2: Just think, new moms feel the same way as you and most babies survive anyway so your patients probably will too! :nurse:

frez · Mar 24, 2008

I am about to graduate and I feel the same way. I am just starting my clinical transitions(internship) now and I am nervous and excited at the same time. I realize that I am not expected to know everything but am still worried I mean I am going to being caring for someones life. I hope everything goes well with everyone who is graduating this May. :yeah:

Frez

mcknis · Mar 24, 2008

I will be done with you, but in June. Congrats on getting this far and keep up the great work. I do feel the same way that you do, but don't feel bad. I work at a local hospital and all the new grads I have seen come in the 2 yrs I have worked there feel the exact same way that we do. They all do great and have told me, "You learn everything you need to know in the orientation period. Very little is actually learned in school." We are always going to be learning something. Face it...nursing is not a one time learning career. We will be learning and educating over the course of our careers! Good luck, and don't loose the focus!

ladyinred667 · Mar 24, 2008

I am about to start my preceptorship in L&D and I keep thinking "Aaah! I need to review my stuff before I start! They are going to ask me something and I'll have no idea and look like a total idiot!" But who has time to do that when we have 4 tests in 2 weeks right before that?

Kiringat · Mar 24, 2008

Graduation is May 10th! And yes, I am freaked out. I've been doing my senior internship with an amazing nurse who works in the ER, ICU, and GI lab, so I've gotten to see areas in which school has given me no experience in at all. I mean, I had never touched a respirator or seen the monitoring involved in caring for a comatose patient before Saturday night. Its scary to think of how much I have had to cram in my head over the past two years, but just how little that is compared to real nursing.

LesMonsterRN, ADN, RN · Mar 24, 2008

Let me share a word of wisdom that my LPN instructors gave our class just before graduation: consider your first year out of school as the beginning of your real nursing education. No one expects you to know everything as a new grad. What will be expected is for you to watch, listen and employ your newly honed critical thinking skills in your practice as a new nurse. Take a deep breath, relax and enjoy your new adventure! :heartbeat

RNAlmost10 · Mar 24, 2008

Yes, I feel the same way! I will graduate in a few months and the closer it gets the more freaked out I become! But one of the hospitals I do clinicals at has an intership program for new RN's, you pick 6 units/floors and stay there for one month, then rotate! Friends say it is a good way to get a lot of experience in a short period of time. Maybe you could find a similar program? :nurse:

southernbelle08 · Mar 24, 2008

*raises hand*

I think we ALL feel this way to some degree. I know I certainly do. However, I have been told time and time again that the real learning is going to start when we get out there in the world. We have our foundation to build on and we'll start building. We're going to make it, everyone who went before us did!!

Now if I could just find a job....LOL!!

JessiekRN · Mar 24, 2008

Thank you all so much for your responses.. it did make me feel a lot better to hear I'm not alone in this. I'm feeling very humbled and a little bit frustrated by how much I don't know after all this time and effort.. the more I study the more i realize how much more there is to learn! I think now that I am 7 weeks away from graduation the reality is starting to hit me.. for months I've been waiting to get out of school and now I find myself wishing there was some way to slow down the clock.. I know we'll all be okay though and I'm trying to tell myself this is normal.. I feel a lot like I did two years ago going into school and having no idea what to expect!! :) Thanks again guys you are great.. good luck to us all.