Any advice? New Nurse-first job in ltc

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Hi all,

I will be starting my very first nursing job in a nursing home and was wondering if anyone has any advice. I am an old grad from Dec 2009. Due to the fact that I have been caring for a family member, I just recently passed NCLEX a couple months ago.

I am very excited to start my new journey and was wondering if anyone has any advice as to things I should be refreshing my brain with before I start my job.....or any advice at all that you feel necessary to share. I will be working with both acute and long term patients.

I thank you all in advance!!

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I also want to point out that I did work as a CNA in a nursing home for 5 years and as a nurse intern for a year. So i am fully aware of the stress involved with being a nurse in a nursing home. So please dont feel as though you are going to scare me off with anything you may want to say. Its just that have been out of the game for sometime and could use any advice to help me be the best that I can be.

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Specializes in Gerontology, Med surg, Home Health.

Congratulations on your job. The best advice is to read through the posts here. We have some very smart people who contribute to this forum. Try not to let all the negativity get you down.

Be organized...prioritize....realize you will not know everything and it's okay to ask questions.

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Thanks for your input and congrats, CapeCodMermaid. I appreciate it! Yeah, I have read through some of the forum and found some helpful stuff and lots of negative stuff that was giving me anxiety lol. Thats why I made this thread, in hopes of finding some seasoned and new nurses who may have some input on things that I may have not of thought about familiarizing my self with.

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The best advice that I can give, is to learn to say NO. So many managers take advantage of new nurses and push them over the limit with hours worked. I have seen it time and time again. After I told these new nurses that they have to learn to say no, when asked to work more hours, doubles, ect. they said that they felt great after sticking up for themselves. It doesn't take long to get burned out on nursing. When you get to that point, you make more mistakes and your mood may start changing.

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