First Shift on my own

well congrats on that!! i hope you have easy load tonight

remember you have resources to help you. charge nurse, seasoned nurses.

i would worry if you didn't need to ask for help on your very first night alone,

good luck!!

Good luck!

When in doubt ask about...You can do it...have faith in yourself

I've been "on my own" for some years now - and I still ask my co-workers about certain things.

What's more, sometimes the nurses who've been around longer than I've been will occasionally ask me something!

I think it's a 'validation' issue. We think we know that to do but there is that nagging doubt in our hearts. The whole 'what if?'

Soooo, we question our peers about our troubles. Not because we don't know what to do... but just to receive validation that what we are about to do is the most reasonable course of action.

All said and done, sometimes, we just don't know! And at that point, rather than do something wrong - either through action or inaction - we consult our peers.

There is nothing wrong in this - after all, wouldn't you rather ask the question for the 1000th time rather than not ask and risk harming the patient? :)

Welcome to night shifts!

cheers,

PS: Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment.

Good luck! Let us know how it goes.

Sooo, I survived my first night on my own, and I am so ready to crawl into my big, comfy bed right now.

I went to my coworkers with tons of questions, got several opinions and felt like the night shift team really took care of me. I worked with them as a tech for 2 years, so I knew I could count on them, but they really made sure I had a nice first night.

I am also so greatful for our awesome charge nurses, who do everything they can to make sure the assignments are fair and equal. I had an excellent assignment to help me ease into being on my own. Sure, it would've been nice to "prove" I can handle a difficult assignment, but I was quite content with killing the nerves by having a calm assignment my first night alone.

All in all, it went well, though I do have to say it felt really, really lonely with no one walking around, or without a million people asking me a million questions all shift long.

Then again, I really didn't mind the sound of silence. :)

Thanks to everyone for the good luck wishes!! Clearly they helped! I am now off to bed! :)

Congrats on your first nite. (The first step of a thousand mile journey, etc)

I looove when our CNA's stay on and move up to work beside me as an RN! (Shucks, they grow up sooo quick, don't they?) And the newbies are always willing to stop to co-sign orders, eyeball my insulin dose and all these PIA tasks you need a 2nd RN to do!

This message thread is so comforting! I work my first shift on my own tonight and am very very nervous about it. I know the other nurses are very supportive but just the thought of something happening quick and not having someone right there is pretty scary. Hoping for the best!