Any POSITIVE first year/nurse residency program stories??

JummyBaby88 · Nov 23, 2020

Hello,

I can give a little feedback as I have recently completed my residency as of this month. A little background on me was that I graduated nursing school in December 2017 but finally started my residency in February 2020.

As you can tell when I started my residency I was more than nervous compared to your average new grad as I didn't start working post two years graduating from nursing school. I wish I could say it was due to a personal reason or even due to the NCLEX but that is not the case. I passed NCLEX three months after graduating nursing school and the rest of the time was looking for a job.

Anyway, I started my residency at the observation unit, which is a medical-surgical unit but at a faster pace, a month before COVID. However, by March onsite training was moved to virtual sessions online and my unit was closed as there wasn't enough census to keep it open. So most of my residency was at different floors such as cardiac tele, orthopedic/trauma, and even at the surgical floor. It was hectic due to the change and getting adjusted to the different flow in each unit but the nurses were really empathetic and helpful to help with the transition and understanding of me being a new grad and not having exposure on their floor. Of course, there were times were I wasn't getting help from the preceptor I was assigned to on the different units/floors that I was sent to, but I always seek someone else who seemed willing to help.

Finally June came around and the observation unit opened back up and my original preceptor was with me for a week and then I was going to transition on my own. I freaked out because I was on so many different units with different patient populations I was nervous but once again the support in my unit was tremendous. The clinical supervisor was going to evaluate me at the end of the week to see if additional training was needed but after evaluating me he stated that I was okay being on my own and my preceptorship was over.

So since June until now (November) the remaining months was honing on my skills of IV insertions, blood draws/phelebotomy (we have to do our own labs on our unit ), foley catheter insertions, tube feedings, and etcetera. Throughout this process time management, nursing process, critical thinking, and etcetera was being developed but I always asked another nurse or clinical supervisor if I had questions or was unsure about anything.

Long story short, my residency was not what was expected and in most cases it could have caused some new grads to quit and throw in the towel. But what helped me tremendously was my faith in the Most High God, tremendous support from other nurses, practice, and Youtube. Yes Youtube! I learned IV insertions, lab draws, and refreshed on my Foundations and Med-Surg skills on Youtube videos. I was able to always ask for help from fellow nurses and health care techs who were more than ready to assist with a question or cause me to ask for help from another nurse when I was confused by a situation. If you're especially concerned with COVID, I can only say I have had numerous of patients who have been positive but my care for them has never changed compared to someone who doesn't have it. I became a nurse because this is my drive, passion, and desire to help my patients so care never changed for me. I can only say, follow your facility guidelines concerning proper PPE.

This has been a crazy ride and I think in a normal period of time without this pandemic I wouldn't have been floated to different units and probably would have been on the observation unit. But due to the pandemic I was exposed to so many different areas and units that it became a little easier to grasp the different diseases process and procedures that my patients have on my current unit. Due to COVID we started getting trauma patients and since I spent almost three months on the ortho/trauma unit with chest tubes and tractions it wasn't daunting to me when I had a patient that needed one. All I can say is be ready for change as you are going to have a lot of it during this period of time. Don't be afraid of criticisms and harsh critiques, be able to delegate, and don't be afraid to ask for help when you know you don't know.

amoLucia · Nov 23, 2020

Jummy - nice to hear of someone who had a positive experience all-in-all.

And welcome to AN.

May_2020 - good luck on your new job as you start your career.