Advice you have for novice nurse you wish you knew?

Ruby Vee, BSN · Sep 19, 2016

Med/Surg is a good choice for your first nursing job. It's a good place to learn the basics, and you get exposed to a wide variety of patients and disease processes. There is so much to learn!

In nursing, there is always something new to learn, and if you become stagnated where you are, there's always another area of nursing to learn and explore. I started out in Med/Surg, went to oncology because it was so interesting to me and wound up in ICU.

If I had a chance to do it over, the one thing I would do differently is to focus more on workplace relationships. I didn't understand that, within reason, it is better to be nice than to be right. If your colleagues like you, your work life will be so much more pleasant and easy. Well-liked nurses can survive even big mistakes with their jobs and their careers intact. Nurses who don't fit in will find they don't have that luxury. I see over and over in this forum nurses advising that they "aren't here to make friends." "I just keep my head down and get the work done." "I concentrate on my patients, not my coworkers." That's bad advice. The best way for a good career is to get along with your colleagues and to be liked.

Swellz · Sep 25, 2016

Ask for help when you need it. I had a lot of difficulties with trying to move mountains and not asking for help from my coworkers because I felt I had something to prove. I did to an extent, but I also had to learn (soooooo many times haha) that healthcare is a team exercise and I don't have to drown.

However, don't ask for help when the answer is right in front of you. I have a coworker that I love dearly but she is always freaking out when a pt of hers is on a drip because 'what if I don't have enough lines I don't have time to put in an IV'... but she never looks up her compatabilities first. She almost never needs an extra IV. If you can look it up and the extra couple of minutes won't harm the patient, look it up.

If I could do it over, I would have left this job earlier haha. I've been a nurse on my unit for three years, and worked a year before that as an extern. Four years is a long time to work somewhere you don't particularly like. I wanted to repay the training and loyalty they showed me, but I also feel I am more of a hindrance if I'm coming in cranky all the time because I don't want to be there. Oh well - rectifying that soon!

AutumnApple · Sep 26, 2016

I'd practice more balance between my work life and home life. At times it seems we must sacrifice one for the other, but that is not the case. Truth is, if one is off balance the other suffers.

I read about balance in books and such, and "understood" what they were getting at but I didn't have much faith in it happening to me. It did. A neglected home life became the bane of good nursing performance for me.

I think, overall, the thing I needed to be told was: I DO NOT have to be the hero every day, every waking second (on and off the clock). I need to be competent, reliable, respectful of others, but not necessarily a hero. My head was in the sky with "the calling" and I had convinced myself anything short of hero status was a fail.

Eventually I had to redefine what makes a hero, or burn out of the profession.

A few other things I wish I could tell myself: Be careful of who you consider a friend in this industry, often your co-workers are functioning with poor coping and will surprise you with what they can do/say at your expense. Commute, parking and scheduling play a bigger role in liking the position than I ever imagined. Keep in contact with your friends who aren't in healthcare, you need those nights where it's not all about what happened on the job.

AllOfMyWat · Sep 26, 2016

Here are some things I doubt people will tell you:

1) Trust has to be earned. Don't be a backstabber. Anticipate being backstabber until someone has a record of reliability.

2) Always select a job with an attentive DoN and a competent administrator. They also need to care about performance, human welfare, or preferably both, but at least a lot about one.

3) No one cares about your personal life. 9 times out of 10, information shared will be used to harm you. I work in corrections, but I don't share info with anyone. My marriage, children, pets, religion, ethnicity, where I live is no one's business. If someone asks, I usually give incorrect information, or tell them I don't provide those details if they're coworkers.

nutella, MSN, RN · Sep 27, 2016

Forget about your personal life for a year. Do not plan something right after work because most likely you will not get out in time. Make sure you have tissues, and if you use mascara make sure it will not run off easily as you probably will cry like most of the other new grades I have seen... .

Once you are off your official orientation look for somebody more experienced who you get along well and ask that person if he/she would be willing to mentor you!

Libby1987 · Sep 27, 2016

I think I decided on the Med surge floor for a couple of years to gain experience however just to pick seasoned nurses brains.
a. What kept you ambitious throughout your nursing career?
After I grew up a bit, I learned I thrive on having purpose and impacting lives. I walked away from an easy stay at home life with disposable income and love what I do now more than I ever even liked my leisurely life. But I'm an odd duck.
b. If you could have a do-over how would you have planned your career out?
I wouldn't change much, but I would have obtained an advance degree instead of all of those girls' trips and lunches.

Treat the first year like boot camp. Don't expect work life balance. Practice good self care (diet, hydration, sleep, moderate exercise) but also dig in and live and breathe the learning experience. Set yourself up for where you want to be in 5 years, the investment and sacrifice will pay off when you have a job you can do long term.

Plumrose15153, LPN · Sep 30, 2016

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Plumrose15153, LPN · Sep 30, 2016

Thank you all!! I really appreciate this and I'm definitely going to treat my first year as a nurse like bootcamp. I'll take the first year to really soak in being single, being a full-blown nurse and learning everything I can about being competent. I definitely agree about taking care of yourself like hydrating, sleep, exercise and keeping your personal life private. In addition, I think you're right, just assume everyone helping you can potentially hurt your patient (or backstab you like someone mentioned) and I think I'll be a smarter nurse.