A year in...and trust me, it gets better

mom2michael, MSN, RN, NP · Jun 9, 2008

Good for you!!!!

locolorenzo22, BSN, RN · Jun 9, 2008

That's good to know......I'm scared/excited/going to vomit over my starting in about 30 days.....and it's good to know things will get fixed up after a while....thanks for sharing!

jessi1106, BSN, RN · Jun 9, 2008

Excellent to hear that you are settling into your new role.

I am coming up on my first year as well...and YES it truly has gotten better....I don't feel so stupid as often, lol. Can't believe how MUCH I have learned and grown this past year!

Piki · Jun 9, 2008

That's wonderful. Good for you!

I'm a month shy of my year anniversary and I agree, it's gotten much better. When I look back at the things that scared (for lack of a better term) me when I first started (like an ng tube coming out, or having to deal with the like of feeding tubes or hanging TPN) to now, how things for the most part go pretty smoothly. Or how often I had to run to the charge nurse with questions. A lot of it is just getting some experience under your belt and feeling confidence in your own ability to handle things without asking for help. Plus, learning better how to manage time. I am much better at that!

NsgChica · Jun 9, 2008

So I'm just a few days shy of my one-year anniversary. I can't possibly write everything here that I have learned in the past year, or explain just how much my life has changed because of nursing.
In my first year, I wanted to quit my job, and looked for a new one at least every other week. But then the next time I went in, I would have a good night, or a good learning experience and decide to stay. Now, even though I have bad nights, I am staying because I really truly love taking care of my patients, and I love my coworkers.
I can't count how many patients I've had pass away on my shift, and even more who would pass away just a few hours after I left. (I work geriatrics and we get a lot of hospice and comfort care patients) I've recently realized how much it changes you to work so closely with life and death.
In the past year I've started nursing, moved out on my own, gotten married, gone on several vacations and weekend trips, and just bought a new car. These are all things that I truly believe would have NEVER happened if it wasn't for nursing.
I don't want to type forever, but I just want to let all the new grads know that it DOES get better. Some days REALLY suck. But even when you hate the nursing, think of what nursing is doing in your personal life too, because sometimes that helps you get through the bad spots, and eventually you'll learn to love the job, too, not just the benefits.

MelBel,

Thanks for sharing your story. I really appreciate it...as I am sure everyone else who read this thread is greatful. I currently am at the stage where I want to quit my job every other week. However, there are days I have a great learning experience and that makes me want to stay. I don't like my coworkers...a lot of them are very catty and talk about you behind your back. This nsg doesn't think critically, this nsg has no clue, this nsg has no common sense, this nsg kills patients, this nsg can cut it...blah, blah, blah:angryfire....I hope nightshift is better:cry:

Tweety, BSN, RN · Jun 9, 2008

Sounds like that even though it's stressful, you're realistic, keeping a mind open to learning new things, and self-nuturing through vacations and other rewards.

Good luck in your career!

SoundofMusic · Jun 11, 2008

I'm about seven months into it and I have to say things are somewhat better, although now I'm getting into deeper things I have no knowledge of, or at least no experience with and it's still hard. I'm still getting used to co-workers and still not feeling like I mesh with them most days -- but it's getting slightly better here as well. Still feeling like a rookie -- but it has been nice to make the money, have a purpose, see SOME patients really do well due to my care, etc. There have been rewards -- and yet still a lot of scary days.

I just really try to concentrate on the patients. I remind myself I am IT for their day, other than the PT/OT folks or respiratory, or whomever, or docs -- but I am the one who ties their day together -- and however I perform will really affect their day. If I concentrate on that and forget the catty crap at the nursing station, I can really get through the day and make it my own.

Not to say that I'm all that in love with nursing either, the state that it's in, etc. I wish it could be better somehow and that the changes would come that would retain people and allow people to really be the nurses they want to be.

I also wish some of the people on night shift would just LEAVE.

MMARN, BSN, RN · Jun 14, 2008

MelBel,
Thanks for sharing your story. I really appreciate it...as I am sure everyone else who read this thread is greatful. I currently am at the stage where I want to quit my job every other week. However, there are days I have a great learning experience and that makes me want to stay. I don't like my coworkers...a lot of them are very catty and talk about you behind your back. This nsg doesn't think critically, this nsg has no clue, this nsg has no common sense, this nsg kills patients, this nsg can cut it...blah, blah, blah:angryfire....I hope nightshift is better:cry:

I'm also at the stage that I want to quit my job, not nursing, but that job. I agree that there are some days that are better than others, but I also do not like my coworkers. They mistreat me and forget that I'm new. I never use that as an excuse, but I wish I could. And sometimes, it's not excuse at all because that's the way it is. I've only been an RN for a month and a half now, and on my own for 2 weeks. The looks and scorns I get sometimes are inexcusable and wrong. I hope things do get better, or I'll simply ask for a transfer right then and there one of these days.

I'm about seven months into it and I have to say things are somewhat better, although now I'm getting into deeper things I have no knowledge of, or at least no experience with and it's still hard. I'm still getting used to co-workers and still not feeling like I mesh with them most days -- but it's getting slightly better here as well. Still feeling like a rookie -- but it has been nice to make the money, have a purpose, see SOME patients really do well due to my care, etc. There have been rewards -- and yet still a lot of scary days.
I just really try to concentrate on the patients. I remind myself I am IT for their day, other than the PT/OT folks or respiratory, or whomever, or docs -- but I am the one who ties their day together -- and however I perform will really affect their day. If I concentrate on that and forget the catty crap at the nursing station, I can really get through the day and make it my own.
Not to say that I'm all that in love with nursing either, the state that it's in, etc. I wish it could be better somehow and that the changes would come that would retain people and allow people to really be the nurses they want to be.
I also wish some of the people on night shift would just LEAVE.

I have yet to feel like I make any type of difference in anyone's life. There have been patients who I've discharged tell me that I'm very nice and I was wonderful to them, but I don't get that feeling at all. Instead, I feel that way about the other nurses who have taken care of the pts I'm discharging. Not me. I'm still trying to figure things out, and I'm not doing such a great job of it. I had a pt of mine die during the night shift (after I took care of him during the day) and I knew he was in bad shape. I took his vitals, gave him his meds, changed the dressings on his wounds, kept an eye on him, wanted to call Rapid Response, but because he was a DNR, the charge told me that he was probably just restless. Well, you get restless from a lack of o2 too. Needless to say, he fell asleep for me, and during the night, after asking for a bedpan to do his business, he died. In that situation, I helped in no way. At all.

I also wish some people on nights would just leave. I'm insanely afraid of giving report at the end of my shift because there's always something that I did wrong for a nurse. Always. I either didn't finish something, forgot to begin something for them, didn't do what they would have wanted me to do, didn't listen to dictation the way they would have, etc. Obviously because I definitely don't have anything else to do; because, you know, I sit all day sucking my thumb, actually getting a lunch (yeah, right), getting my breaks (pfft!), and not have 4 other pts who may or may not be critical. But, of course, I'm the newbie and who would have compassion on me? Yeah. Right.

:bluecry1:

babiebee_2000 · Jun 14, 2008

I am so happy you posted that. I had a night that was so uncommonly bad even the more experienced nurses cringed. I now feel like i want to quit and go somewhere else. I was in tears like a child because everyone had a serious issue and none of the doctors were calling me back. I am so terrified to go back to y job it is making me consider calling off. I feel so DUMB at work and I just feel like I made a big mistake. I have six months in anf feel absolutely horrible.

UM Review RN, ASN, RN · Jun 14, 2008

Reading all of your posts brought back fond (not!!) memories. Memories of fear and dread. Wondering if I would have to give report to that one mean nurse (FYI -- every unit has one). Knowing I would get the worst assignments, get talked about behind my back, get eyerolling from the experienced nurses when I asked for help. But I needed experience so I was determined to stick it out.

It's hard to get experience. You have to show up every day and slog through the muck, and it's hard because a lot of days, it seems like no one gave you any hip boots.

It helped me to vent and to process all that emotion and information by journalling.

As soon as I was sure that I knew what I was doing, I got out. By then, it was their loss.

I'm now on a unit that is the best. I help them, they help me, and surprise, surprise, we all get along.

I'm positive that all of you are better nurses than I was, in the beginning. If I could do it, so can you. Use this time to get experienced. Then you can make good choices about where to go with your career.

Best wishes to you all.

SoundofMusic · Jun 14, 2008

I am thankful I don't have those mean nurses to give report to -- but what I have is nurses who are apathetic and don't seem to care that I even taped report, or have anything to say at all. I don't know which is worse.

I think I'd rather be corrected for my bad performance than to be ignored. It just doesn't even seem safe for the patients.

At our place the night shift comes on and jokes and socializes for the first 30 minutes while they should be listening to report. So, you sit around, waiting for them to notice you and get your verbal -- OR, they just brush you off and ask if there are any updates and tell you it's ok, "they'll figure it out."

I hate that. I work hard to gather all of that for report, take the time to record it --and then they act like it's not even worth their time to listen to it. I just can't stand the night shift crew.