Desperately needing the help of some oncology nurses!

IVRUS, BSN, RN · Sep 19, 2011

Hi, I recently was hired (after a lengthy interview process of 3 months) as a Clinical Tech (aka Patient care technician at some hospitals I believe) in the oncology unit of my hospital and I am sooooo nervous! I'm also a 2nd year nursing student who wants to get into critical care but now that I am training in the hospital for the next 3 weeks I am finding myself more and more scared of actually working on the floor. I have only ever dealt with death maybe once in my lifetime and Im finding myself full of doubts about my own performance. My head is full of "what ifs". What if I don't do something right and it causes someone to get hurt? What if I do not provide enough emotional support for someone at the end of their life? What if I cant handle watching a patient die? Will I be able to handle the emotional ordeal of cleaning the body? Does anyone have any tips on what I can do to prepare myself for this big leap forward? Also, since you guys are nurses, what tips can you give me to be as helpful as possible to the nurses on my floor? Is there anything you would suggest I do before hand during my training or something like that? Im just so nervous and I know the experiences I gain here will be invaluable to me when I become the RN I dream of being...Im just so worried I might mess something up. Any advice from my seniors? any advice or words of encouragement would help greatly.

First... STOP. Take a deep breath and relax..!!!

"What if" syndrome will create SO much anxiety, Don't allow that to happen to yourself.

Know your job description, and be able to perform it. Days of orientation will calm many of your fears. TAKE ONE DAY AT A TIME. Worrying about what will happen in 10 minutes, much less 10 weeks is detrimental to your health and to those around you. Knowing that a patient, especially one with CA, is dying, can be a blessing to the patient and to see their caregiver "freaking out" when they've accepted it can be detrimental.

Soooo, treat each case individually and use your nursing intuition and common sense to help guide you. Once someone has passed, just their shell is left behind. Cleaning their body to enable family to come and grieve is a blessing as you are doing this one last act to honor their memory.

Once you become knowledgable about your job, you can anticipate the RN, or LPN's needs, and help by having Vital Signs, FSBS, and other things done timely and accurately. This will greatly help your professional staff members and ultimately, that WILL BE YOU.

Philpster · Sep 30, 2011

Exactly what IVRUS has said.

Don't worry.

You are chosing a hard profession, the fact you are worried shows you care, you will qualify, become a nurse with responsibilities and take each day as it comes. You will reflect daily on what you could do better / differently and this is all part of your learning curve.

Oncology is a tough area, I personally LOVE the patient continuity, they come in for their chemo, you play a proactive part in symptom management, they go home then come back. Some will have an increased quality of life, some will pass away. Palliative care is a wonderful area to work in - it's common sense nursing, are going to turn a pt every 4hrs to stop them getting a pressure ulcer? - not neccesarily, you will be moving them - sometimes after subcut morphine - to ensure they are comfortable. Reassuring relatives is critical at this time. How you will react when you first face a death may surprise you. You can still talk to the pt and tell them what you are doing. Respect and dignity does not end when the heart stops. The body is literally the shell.

Nursing is a tough profession on it's own without you sending yourself into a nervous breakdown. Take each day as it comes never be afraid to take a breather, be safe, be conscientious and you will be fine.

It's the ones who 'know it all' that need to stay away from patients!

After a while it will become easier, I promise then you can pass on your knowledge tontje next bunch of fools who choose this mad profession! Which I of course say in jest! We all want to 'make a difference' - sometimes holding a hand or smiling can be just that....

Good luck