Brand Spanking New Nurse.

[tlc2003]

Good evening to all! Brand new ADN nursing graduate here. I absolutely love this forum. I'm humbled and honored to be able to identify with so many people, strangers and friends, that I admire so very much. To get to my point, I graduated in May 2016. I applied, was interviewed, and hired into my first choice hospital, in for my first choice specialty, the ED, with a 13 week internship, two months before graduation. I've completed the classroom portion and almost three weeks of actual on the floor work. I will be on my own by September 25th. Thus far I've had a blast. I've learned WAY more in the last two weeks on the floor than I EVER did in my formal education. My preceptor is an absolute GODDESS. All of my co-workers are beautiful. Kind, compassionate, caring, eager to actually FIND me in a room and ask ME (the lowly oriented) if they can show/teach me something. I'm in love. By the way, I'm not a young woman with no life experiences. I'm a 35 year old woman whose been married to a fire chief for 14 years and a mother to one very outspoken, vivacious, energetic 11 year old daughter. I was a CNC machinist for years. I'm not a woman given to bouts of emotional insanity. BUT, I have an insatiable crush on every single person I work with because they are just flat out incredible. Ok, y'all done listening to my gushy girlie sentimental dreck over my first nursing job yet? Ready to hear the nitty gritty? Ok, here goes. I'm completely overwhelmed. I have two rooms right now. Three next week. My charting is a train wreck. I've yet to do an IV on my own. I've only ATTEMPTED one single in and out cath. So far I've only managed to do chest compressions once, push ami/epi once, totally froze during a "pseudo-seizure". I forget what EMS is telling me as they're telling me and I'm *trying* to put it in the computer. Nursing school told me to do it ALL on my own. The real world tells me to use my fancy schmancy radio and CALL for help getting vitals and EKG's. My preceptor tells me I'm doing great. I feel like she took a class on how not to send your new nurse screaming for the hills. She's sincere, not fake, but I'm getting SO MUCH help. It makes me anxious. Are you helping me because that's what you're supposed to do (if so, I LOVE it. I'm a people pleaser and a big HELPER. Once I'm proficient I can't wait to help someone else. Hokey and idealistic, huh?)or are they readily on hand because I'm floundering and they're concerned if they're not there then my patient's going to crash and burn. I know I'm new, but God I HATE being a burden. If I haven't given enough information about my dilemma for y'all to give an answer please tell me, but, am just neurotic? Just new and inexperienced? Not cut out for the ED? Please also know I am NOT trying to complain or sound whiny. I absolutely love the ED. I hate my slow and clumsy skills, lack of knowledge, and this dragging desperate feeling of being a burden to these fantastic nurses I'm currently working with. Thanks so much for any input, positive or negative. You all speak from experience and I sincerely appreciate it.

[quiltynurse56, LPN, LVN]

Sounds to me like the answer is new and inexperienced. Reading this forum and my own experience shows that wherever we work right out of school, we have those same thoughts. We can't imagine ever being competent enough like the experienced nurses we work with. I'd say it takes a year to really feel comfortable in your own skin doing the job you are doing. The more you do it, you gain experience and confidence.

[missmollie, ADN, BSN, RN]

First and foremost, you'll receive better input if you break up that wall of text. It's a pain to read through.

Regardless, I did read it. My advice: First, nursing is collaborative. You won't come out of nursing school with all the knowledge you need. Nursing school was just one big test preparation for the NCLEX. Congrats. You passed. Welcome to the real world.

You are not going to know it all. You won't know it all in 3, 6, or even 12 months. You will encounter things that you don't know how to handle. Luckily, there are people who have probably experienced that exact situation before. Ask questions, talk things out, and realize you have a lot to learn.

Skills are simply something that anyone can learn. An I&O cath is pretty standard after you do a few. Starting an IV is pretty standard. You will become better the more you do, and you'll do more with every full week of work you put in. Don't worry about skills, and learn to let it go when you seem to have a night where you can't get a single IV started. Sometimes you'll do great, other times you won't. That's life.

If your preceptor says you're doing great, take that to heart. He/She has watched a lot of new nurses come through the ED. Not all made it. You've got that something that tells them you'll be good. Roll with it. Nursing is not about knowing everything, but it's about learning what you don't know and applying it the next time you encounter a similar situation.

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

...And all the COB's in the house say hey ho.

)

Go git 'em, Grasshopper. You're on your way. Relax. :)