Being Beside One's Self

Face it, being new is not easy. New nurses, new to a unit, new to a specialty, they all are overwhelming at first. Nurses can and do find that the successful ventures at school, in one's former unit or even in one's former specialty don't often transform easily to something completely new.

To get to the meat and bones of practice, one has to learn to ask questions, yes, but also to have at their disposal other avenues to be able to think about how to find answers. Sometimes, a "I understand that medication xyz should be taken in the evening. I am thinking I should include this in my discharge teaching.

Is this appropriate?" This goes a great deal farther than "what is this med? How is the patient supposed to take it? When now? Wait, what????" This is not inclusive to new grads only, there are lots of medications and/or procedures that may be completely new to any number of seasoned nurses.

Know and use your resources. That is what they are there for. Use a paper brain. It helps you to be organized. Learn how to assess well. Head to toe. What sounds and looks like issues. What is going in a patient, and what is coming out. Document what you do, how you did it, what the patient's response is, and what you taught them about it.

With all this being said, there is such a thing as negative countertransference. Which essentially is not about you, but about a mentor/preceptor/co-worker who, because of their own practice issues and/or opinions that are not positive, or they have issues with the facility, will transfer those feelings onto you and your practice. Besides being counter-productive, it makes for a really, really long shift.

But here's the thing. You have a life outside of the facility. You are ultimately responsible for your own practice. If you don't know how to do the right thing, or what the right thing is, absolutely know where to find it. Even if it is going to the house supervisor and asking for assistance. You are an independent person in your home life. You are well able to make decisions based on any number of circumstances.

To be able to do that in practice in your work life, don't be afraid to ask "If I am unclear on something, where is it that I go to find it? Do you have clinical books/websites/policies that I can review? Because I think the time to ask these questions is not when things are critical and immediate. I want to be well versed in the procedure first whenever possible".

Other people's issues are not your own. Your entire life is not tied to a facility. Nurture the parts of you that are non-nursing. Then, when you go into work, know that you will be your best nursing self, know how to become one with your practice, and that you will focus on your practice and your patients.

If someone you work with is less than stellar in character or behavior, know that you will not feed into that, make it rent space in your brain, and/or make you question yourself or your abilities. That gives it power to overtake you. And that doesn't need to be a priority for you or your practice.