Anyone ever feel like this

caliotter3 · Nov 29, 2017

Please be thankful that you have a nursing job at all. After getting experience there, you will have the opportunity to look for another position that might interest you more. Meanwhile, the residents deserve your best efforts.

iwannabeanursee · Nov 29, 2017

Please be thankful that you have a nursing job at all. After getting experience there, you will have the opportunity to look for another position that might interest you more. Meanwhile, the residents deserve your best efforts.

True. I'm not bothered by the residents I just feel like I'm a bother to the other nurses. They think I should already know this stuff even though this is my first lpn job. They're not really nice.

Davey Do · Nov 29, 2017

I got a job at a nursing home and came back feeling depressed. ... I just feel like I don't know what I'm doing...I'm a new lpn ... I don't wanna be there.

I graduated as an LPN and attended the pinning ceremony on a Friday night and started as a job working in a LTC facility as a CNA on a Sunday evening shift, as they had no openings for an LPN. I worked as a CNA for a short time when a MN LPN positioned opened up.

In those days I despised working the MN shift but did so for about three months until the hospital where I did my LPN clinicals hired me for their new Psych unit.

Basically, iwannabeanurse, I'm trying to convey that any experience in your chosen field is a good thing. Although I did not like the shift, or the work, I gained knowledge and experience working as a nurse. I worked Psych, Surgery and Chemical Dependency treatment for a total of about seven years while I got my RN and then I moved on to sometimes bigger and better things. Sometimes not.

Richard Bach wrote, "Don't turn away from possible futures before you're certain you don't have anything to to learn from them". I am glad that I did not turn away from opportunities where I learned and gained experience working as a nurse.

I would advise the same for you, iwannabeanurse. The very best to you.

Scottishtape · Nov 29, 2017

I began as an LPN in a nursing home as well. I hated it at first.

It was depressing, I didn't feel like I knew anything, and I hated life.

It took about a year for me to start feeling confident in my abilities, and that's normal!

You're brand new. These feelings are feeling that countless other nurses have felt in their first years for eons.

The key to it, is to work through those feeling, and continue to learn and grow as a nurse.

In long term care specifically, once I realized my job was easier when I made real connections with the residents, I started to love my job.

To this day, I remember those connections and they help me in my new area as well.

Keep plugging along, never stop learning, and keep a positive attitude and you'll be just fine!

iwannabeanursee · Nov 30, 2017

I had a bad day yesterday. I messed up on a sterile dressing change. My gloves got stuck to the tape and the dressing ripped. I was so embarrassed in front of the nurse training me. I have no nursing experience aside from my clinicals but yesterday was even worse than my first day. I work on a subacute unit and it's very overwhelming lots of med passes, charting, orders I just think it's too much for me. One of the nurses was shocked when I told her I was new bc most new nurses start on the Ltc unit. Why would they put me on subacute then? I'm dreading to go in today.

Libby1987 · Nov 30, 2017

I had a bad day yesterday. I messed up on a sterile dressing change. My gloves got stuck to the tape and the dressing ripped. I was so embarrassed in front of the nurse training me. I have no nursing experience aside from my clinicals but yesterday was even worse than my first day. I work on a subacute unit and it's very overwhelming lots of med passes, charting, orders I just think it's too much for me. One of the nurses was shocked when I told her I was new bc most new nurses start on the Ltc unit. Why would they put me on subacute then? I'm dreading to go in today.

Did you go home and practice with gloves and tape for about an hour? Practice maintaining sterile tech? Look up the meds you gave the previous shift?

Flatline, BSN, RN · Nov 30, 2017

That feeling you have tells me you are a great nurse and will become better.

A new nurse that is full of confidence and self-assurance is a dangerous nurse.

Those feelings will go away as you learn and build your skills, don't fret, you are on the right track.

Crush · Nov 30, 2017

I did LTC as a CNA for 2 yrs and then went on for my LPN that I thought would be super easy. But I started as a LPN doing med-surg. There was a learning curve but having the right preceptor can make a difference too. I have worked LTC as a RN and I can tell ya that the med passes are a beast when you are first learning and then to add doing treatments on top of that, well......take a deep breath. Your feelings are normal.

Practice will make it better. Maintain using the skills you learned in school and ask questions. If you feel your preceptor is not a good match, can you get another? No matter where you work or what area, the first year to year and a half are difficult and there will be a learning curve.

I agree with what someone else said though. Making those connections with the residents was the best part of my experience in LTC. Made the job bearable. Best wishes.

Davey Do · Dec 1, 2017

I had a bad day yesterday. I messed up on a sterile dressing change. My gloves got stuck to the tape and the dressing ripped. I was so embarrassed in front of the nurse training me. I have no nursing experience aside from my clinicals but yesterday was even worse than my first day.

When I started in OR after 3 years of working in Psych, I was all thumbs. The Assistant supervisor suggested that maybe OR wasn't my calling. I cried.

Then, after 3 months, it all came together! And it will for you, iwannabeanurse.

It's like a Auto Mechanic Friend who I was learning from said to me,"Everything's hard before it's easy".

Keep on keeping on.