Brand New MedSurg Nurse

Published

Hi guys! I took and passed my boards last week (yay!:up:) and am beginning my first RN position on a Medical unit. I am very nervous about this for 3 reasons:

1) I completed my 6 week internship in school in the same hospital as my new job, but in the ER. To me, the ER setting is completely different than being on a typical floor (as far as charting and report goes). This means I've been away from the 'typical floor' setting since April/May.

2) A friend of mine completed her internship on the Medical unit I'll be working on, and they hired her also. This means that she has a little bit of a leg up on me, as she already knows the staff and feels comfortable there, whereas I'll be "brand new" even though I was offered a job there about 2-3 weeks before her.

3) MedSurg typically gets a bad rap and I'm afraid to get burnt out or run around more on this unit than I might elsewhere (not to say that other units aren't difficult because I believe they all are in their own way).

With that said, I am nervous to begin my new job. I have a bad habit of putting a lot of pressure on myself and comparing my progress to others, and I don't want it to stress me out even more. I'm nervous that the nurses I'll work with will expect a lot from me (I have no clue why I think this).

Does anyone have any advice for a brand new nurse? [End rant] :unsure:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Congrats on landing a job :)

Every one of us was a new nurse once and most of us are really nice to new grads and do not expect you to know everything or be as fast as the other nurses. I only said most because once in a while you will run into a nurse who seems to forget he/she was once a new grad but most nurses are nurses because they have good hearts and like to help people. This shows in the way they treat each other too. So don't worry you will be fine, remember you are one of us now :)

The best piece of advice I got was ask anything because its been asked before! Never do anything you are not 100% sure how to do either. Always do your checks on your meds, it's that once that you're too busy that a med error will happen... That saying if you don't chart it, it didn't happen, is soooo true! Stay that extra 5 minutes (or 30 if you have to) to make sure you have charted what you needed to. Now relax and enjoy your new job :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you so much! 99% of the nurses I've been in contact with through nursing school or where I worked as an aide were great, so I'm hoping my new place of employment will be just the same! I appreciate your help/tips!!! :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I can't believe I forgot to mention this, but I strongly believe in listening to your CNA's! They spend so much time with these patients, (I know I was a CNA for several years), they see things a lot of times before we do. They also can be another set of eyes, no they can't do assessments but you can ask them to let you know if a pt is showing certain s/s so you know you need to assess them sooner or more carefully. I also always listen if they have concerns, for example a certain pt is acting different, they might not know what is wrong but they know their pts & usually know if something is not right...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I can't believe I forgot to mention this but I strongly believe in listening to your CNA's! They spend so much time with these patients, (I know I was a CNA for several years), they see things a lot of times before we do. They also can be another set of eyes, no they can't do assessments but you can ask them to let you know if a pt is showing certain s/s so you know you need to assess them sooner or more carefully. I also always listen if they have concerns, for example a certain pt is acting different, they might not know what is wrong but they know their pts & usually know if something is not right...[/quote']

I totally agree! I worked as one during my time in school, and I know how helpful it was to the nurses when I informed them of things they may not have noticed because I was in the room more often. I truly think everyone should work as an aid prior to becoming a nurse- it gives you a new found respect for all of the hard work they do and how important they really are to the staff.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion