First 2 months at work - need some advice (stress is piling)

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Specializes in Medicine.

Hey everyone,

I just recently started working on a medicine floor and I get 5-6 patients. I have an extremely hard time finishing work on time. Mostly due to events that come up during the day. I have PCT's that work with me but I still have trouble getting work done.

When patients or their family members ask me to contact their doctor or the team about their medical plan, I mostly tell them I will. Most of the time I really don't have answer for them and I just don't know how to keep them at bay. Then I have to go page the team, and wait for them to page back which can be very time consuming.

By the time I'm done with 10 o'clock meds, its time for 12. I just had end of orientation review, and the manager, my preceptor and nurse educator say I'm where I'm supposed to be at this 8th week, but I feel afraid to go on my own because my preceptor still catches things that I do wrong sometimes. I understand this first year will be very stressful, but I hope I can manage on my own.

I understand the concept of prioritizing and delegating. However sometimes there are situations where they both need your attention, and I come into conflict on whether I should stop what I am doing to attend to this new situation or finish what I'm doing first. Sometimes people just aren't around to help you and you really need something done that instant.

On top of that there's so much paper work to keep up with during the day it slips my mind. I am a very forgetful person and everyone tells me to write things down, but sometimes I even forget to write it down or I'm just way too busy to write it. I feel that one day I may forget something extremely important..

please help.

Thank you in advance.

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I dont know how to help you, but just think if you were in my shoes. I am a new nurse graduate. I have 60 patients and I only got a weeks orientation. It takes me 2 hours for first med pass,then two hours for charting and the many other things I have to do. 1/2 hour for lunch. Then finally, it takes me three and a half hours for final med pass before I leave to go home... Im still getting used to it, and its very stressful as well. I know this doesn't really help you much, just wanted to let you know your not alone, sista

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Specializes in Medicine.

It is comforting to know I'm not the only one that is stressed lol, but not sista, brotha!

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Ask you preceptor and peers their advice. Ask them what works best for them to help them stay organized and on task. Where is your preceptor anyhow? Maybe they need to step in and handle some of the calls to the doctor which would allow you to focus on patient care. Best wishes!

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Specializes in Medicine.

My preceptor is actually phenomenal but I told her to step back so I can do things myself because I will be on my own next week. I need to be able to take on everything myself.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, TCU, Education,CCU, Research.

Listen, it is really important to remember that you are a new nurse. Seek the knowledge of the people around you and give yourself a break! It will take you approximately 6 months to a year to be comfortable in your own skin in regards to your job. I have been a nurse for over 30 years and I still learn things everyday. Keep searching for new knowledge, take a deep breath and realize you will get better with time. You have to learn to prioritize the important "stuff" first, then do the rest. Also good to remember, that's why there are 2-3 shifts-it's a team effort. I hope that you can learn to not be so hard on yourself, that's part of what leads to burn out. Good luck with your career and I hope that you love your choice of nursing as much as I have over the years.

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You are exactly where you should be. If you dont think so, ask for more time. Try to find some time to ask your preceptor some specific questions about the times during your shift when you felt unsure about the decision you made. Ask her what she would have done.

With time and experience you will learn how to prioritize better. We have all been there.

right now its like your putting a jig saw puzzle together. You have all the pieces, you have seperated the edge pieces and looked at the picture on the box. you have the corners and edges in place. Now you are seperating the different colors of the pieces ,eg. the green ones for the grass, and the blue ones for the sky,etc.

Before long you will start to recognize how it all fits together. I promise.

You will never stop learning. You'll find what works for you in relation to how your thought processes are wired.

You will see there is some truth in the phrase "Thinking Like A Nurse".

At this point. Keep The basics in mind. ABC's.

Be careful with the documentation and giving the right meds, right dose, right route,etc for your meds.

Utilize your unit secretary for some things related to making calls,etc.

Look at your progress...not your short comings . You have grown, you will continue to grow.It will not always be like this.

jesse

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Specializes in L&D; GI; Fam Med; Home H; Case mgmt.

Let me tell ya brotha (haha), it really sounds like you're exactly where you should be right now. Doing at least a year on a medical floor will be amazing experience for you and you will be able to move on and do whatever you want after that (if you do want to do something different). You've only been a nurse for 8 weeks!! That's nothing! Learning prioritization is a pretty huge undertaking and it sounds like you're coming along. You will learn SO MUCH in the next year it will boggle your mind. You will feel like a new person in a matter of a couple of months probably. Feeling like a noob, or a fish out of water, is totally normal right now. But you do need to figure out how to stay organized, whatever that method may be, because you don't want to make a major mistake due to lack of organization.

You are very smart to ask your preceptor to back off a bit and allow you to start doing for yourself. That is seriously the best way to learn. I really think you're doing okay. To be honest with you, I tried the hospital and the amount of paperwork (or computer charting, or both) I had to do was so utterly ridiculous that I had zero time to spend with my patients (and I was on a birthing floor, so the mamas needed a lot of education). I was miserable. I felt like my knowledge and talents were absolutely wasted because of all the CYA stuff I was always having to do. I don't think I will ever go back to working in a hospital for that reason alone.

Hang in there and keep plugging away. I think you will find that day by day it will get easier and more doable. And then you can find a job that you really love (if this one isn't suitable).

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It's normal. I can't remember to do morning assessments if they aren't on my sheet. Which is why they are. EVERY SINGLE THING that I need to do in a shift, it's on my "brain" sheet. Slash through it when i do it, another slash (making an X) when I've charted it. If it's X'ed then I don't need to think about it. If it's not, then I've got something to do. If something comes up that I need to do, I take the 2 seconds to write it down then, because 2 seconds now can save 2 hours of grief later.. I'm a good nurse but I have a horrible memory.

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Specializes in Medicine.

Thank you all for the encouraging remarks. I knew this year would be tough, and I will definitely stick it out.

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Specializes in Management, Emergency, Psych, Med Surg.

Don't think you are alone. I have been a nurse for 32 years and sometimes (like today) I just want to pull my hair out. I will tell you one thing, if you want to know the plan of care, look at two places on the chart, the progress note and in the case manager or social worker note. They will usually write something to indicate what the plan is for the patient. In addition, if you are too busy, your charge nurse can be talking to family members about these types of questions. Ask him/her for help. When the nurses on my unit are busy, I speak with the families for them.

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