my first couple of months

I am at 7 months and can relate. In the earlier months I drove home crying on several occasions. I really felt so stupid at times, also overwhelmed, unorganized and in disbelief that this is nursing???FINALLY I am feeling (somewhat) more comfortable and confident. I owe so much to my great coworkers who have been so supportive.

It sounds like you also have a very supportive atmosphere. Thank goodness for that. By reading some of the threads here it sounds as if some units have horrible cultures for a new nurse (or any nurse for that matter).

Congtats on 8 months, soon you will be the one that the "new" nurses will be relying on!:wink2:

Hang in there - you will get past this & one day look back & see how far you've come. I just celebrated my 3rd year on a telemetry floor. It does get easier!

Jen

Hi there!

I can relate so much to you! I also am a new nurse on a tele unit for 8 months. It is so very scary, but also rewarding.

In school, I never thought I would want to work on a cardiac unit. I hated the heart lectures in school, and thought I would be happier in the ER. So much has changed since then! I have a friend who works in the ED at my hospital. She keeps asking me when I am going to come work with her. Tonight when I saw her I told her how happy I was where I am now. I really love it. It does occasionally get rough, the families and the pts are challenging, but it really makes me happy when I can leave after a shift, and feel good about what I did that day.

I will probably always have days where I go home crying, I will always have room for improvement (just tonight my supervisor pointed out some issues from a previous shift), but I am human, therefore not perfect, and just have to learn from my mistakes. I also learn something new every shift. I have great support at work and at home. My SO understands when I come home, and cry, but can't talk about it due to HIPAA (usually due to a death). The most amazing thing to me is that I am enjoying the bond I make with the patients and the family. The main reason I wanted to go to the ER was so I would not have to make those connections...now, I am finding that it is important to me to develop the relationship between nurse and patient. I look at "customer service "issues as a challenge, and if I can't totally fix it, I like thinking that I made things better.

I still have days where I feel like a complete idiot, but so do nurses with more experience than me.

At work, I give the best I have to offer. Thats all I can do. Thats all anyone can ask of anyone.

I love what I do.

Amy