Feeling Overwhelmed

[nursingwhat]

I’ve worked as a nurse for approximately 7 months. This is my first nursing job and I work on a surgical floor. I sometimes feel like I somehow passed nursing school by chance and didn’t actually learn everything I needed to know. I feel like I still ask simple questions and second guess my decisions. When will this stop??? Or did I not learn enough in school? Am I incompetent? Having to call surgeons regarding their patients is terrifying half the time because they all berate the nurses.

[River&MountainRN, ADN, RN]

When calling the provider, remember your SBAR communication---even if you initially have to write it down to remember/organize it all! That takes a lot of the pressure off. ?

[Davey Do]

3 hours ago, nursingwhat said:

When will this stop???

I was frustrated learning how to deal with problems on my '51 Chevy pickup truck and my auto mechanic friend said, "Everything is difficult before it becomes easy".

[Kallie3006, ADN]

Surgeons are in a class of their own. The easiest way to deal with them is to know in advance what they are looking for and why you are calling. Example- patient came from PACU 2 hours ago and is complaining of nausea and Zofran isn't working. Did the patient eat anything? Like a chicken fried steak with mash potatoes and corn that their family brought them because they haven't had real food in 23 hours 10 minutes and 48 seconds? I would personally skip the phone call on this scenario and have done so before, true story.

Take notes on what each doctor is wanting and what they look for when you call, make sure it is something that needs to be called on, or can it wait until they round on the patient or the floor. Include your charge nurse on when you need to communicate with the doctors, sometimes the doctors call to check on patients, someone else paged ect and the question or concern can be relayed on your patient or the doctor can be transferred to you saving a second call.

You want to cluster care with your patients to enable you to work smart and not hard right? That's the same thing you need to do when talking to the doctor. Know what you need to relay, what you are expecting to get an order for and the update on the patient if applicable.

It gets easier!!