First Job and Want to be as Prepared as Possible

[ToHealTheSick, BSN, RN]

Hi!  I am a new grad nurse who has just accepted a position on an L&D unit.  I'm super nervous, but also really excited!  I interviewed for both L&D and Mother/Baby, and although L&D scares me more than Mother/Baby, I had a better gut-feeling about L&D's management and training process for new grads after the interviews and shadowing on the units, which Is why I chose it.  I've always said that NICU was my dream unit, but I loved my L&D clinicals during school, and after the interviews for this job, I told my Mom that I felt like Mother/Baby would definitely be a stopping-off place, but that L&D could become a long-term career.

At this hospital, we have the only high-risk antenatal care unit and Level III NICU in the entire region (15 surrounding counties in 3 states), so we're pretty busy! ?  I know that some level of nervousness is probably good, because it'll ensure I ask questions.  My question to more experienced nurses is, how do you keep a willingness to ask questions from spiraling into constantly second-guessing yourself and causing hesitation? 

Also, any advice for things I should go ahead and be reviewing?  Maybe that sounds like a dumb question, or like I'm getting ahead of myself, but I want to be the best new-grad L&D nurse possible, and be prepared to learn as much as I can.  I've been trying to look over common L&D meds (pharm was my worst subject in school, so I want to get a leg up on being prepared), and fetal heat strips and associated interventions.  The unit specific orientation is 16-20 weeks (depending on the needs of the new nurse) with a preceptor, and new grads are also required to be a part of a hospital-wide Nurse Residency Program for their first year in-hospital.

[Nurse SMS, MSN, RN]

Your biggest challenge as a new nurse is going to be managing your anxiety, learning time management and adjusting to how this is completely different than what school told you it should be. 

There is nothing you need to do right now except make sure your mental and physical health are being taken care of and that you show up every day prepared to learn. Being a new grad is super humbling. If you can accept that and start learning time management, you will be ahead of the curve.