Day 2 as a "Spanky New R.N."....the saga continues.......

happystudent, RN · Aug 13, 2004

Wow...you're doing so great!!! I appreciate you updating us here so the students can see what we face when we are released into the real world. I'm in awe of YOU!!! You're a great nurse. Keep up the good work! :)

WOW, Thanks! I feel like a 'bumbling idiot" at times :rotfl: ..........but I know it will get better!

garn2b · Aug 14, 2004

Hi Happystudent,

Thanks for letting a novice pre-nursing student like me peak into what your days have been like. I've been following your posts for a while, and I must say that you've been very inspiring. Thanks for sharing the good and the bad with us all, and I agree with the others...you're a great nurse. :saint:

Love-A-Nurse · Aug 14, 2004

i never had any doubt you wouldn't do just fine. keep the update coming.

Altra, BSN, RN · Aug 14, 2004

Thanks for the update, HappyStudent ... sounds like you're staying on top of things! I'm also in awe ...

Keep us posted! :)

Truly_Blessed · Aug 14, 2004

WoW...keep posting! Although things might seem a bit overwhelming to you, I love how you keep a positive attitude. I bet you're a wonderful nurse. Keep these posts coming!

EvelynRN-BSN · Aug 20, 2004

okay happynurse i love your stories. i just started busting out laughing when you were talking about the days coming home in your scrubs and passing out on your couch. i remember those days just in clinicals. i start my orientation sept. 13 (16 week orientation). i will try and post what my days are like starting as a new grad in ccu (critical care unit). i don't know if i will have the energy you have just to type up my thoughts and feelings for the day. i will find out soon. i work as an rn at a cosmetic surgery center, but that is totally different. i love my job there and have been there almost three years. i started as a medical assistant. i hate having quit or even go to one day working there but i have to work a year in the ccu if i want to get into a crna program. i know i have to help people who do not want to be in the hospital. totally different clientale.

it sounds like your a great nurse and very friendly to your patients. your bubbly sweet attitude comes out in your words that you type. your a trip! ha! ha! ha! you have to continue to post. i just love reading your stories. i bet the patients love having you for a nurse. your very upbeat and that is what a patient needs. someone that can make them smile at the worst of times. sounds like you can do it.

good luck in your future adventure through orientation. i look forward to reading your future experiences. keep up the good work.

evelyn:p

jaimealmostRN · Aug 20, 2004

okay happynurse i love your stories. i just started busting out laughing when you were talking about the days coming home in your scrubs and passing out on your couch. i remember those days just in clinicals. i start my orientation sept. 13 (16 week orientation). i will try and post what my days are like starting as a new grad in ccu (critical care unit). i don't know if i will have the energy you have just to type up my thoughts and feelings for the day. i will find out soon. i work as an rn at a cosmetic surgery center, but that is totally different. i love my job there and have been there almost three years. i started as a medical assistant. i hate having quit or even go to one day working there but i have to work a year in the ccu if i want to get into a crna program. i know i have to help people who do not want to be in the hospital.
evelyn:p

hi! don't mean to hijack this tread but i just have a quick question. what did you do in the surg. center? did you scrub or do consults? i'd love to work parttime in a plastic surg center, but don't want to scrub. are there any options? thanks! :)

EvelynRN-BSN · Aug 20, 2004

Hi! Don't mean to hijack this tread but I just have a quick question. What did you do in the surg. center? Did you scrub or do consults? I'd love to work parttime in a plastic surg center, but don't want to scrub. Are there any options? Thanks! :)

I still work there and love it. We have a consultant who is not an RN, but I have helped out when she was on vacation or sick. Good commission. Our office has a surgery suite inside of it. So all of the surgeries are in and out. I work along side the doctor on normal office visits and assist him with fat injections, botox injections, and other procedures done without anesthesia. I see post op patients the day after surgery and to some teaching on how to care for themselves, for example, breast massages, belly-button cleansing, emptying the drains, so on and so forth. I remove their drains, sutures, staples and whatever else that needs to be taken care of. On surgery days the anesthestist has his team that he brings from the hospital to assist with surgery because when I started there I started at a medical assistant. I have helped in the OR before, have interviewed patients before surgery but I leave that to the OR team. I currently do not go in on surgery days, since I am beginning the new job. I even took patients out to there care and if someone pays to have a nurse go home with them, there is that option. I did that once and it paid really well. If you have any other questions pm me. Where do you live? I am getting ready to go to AAMC and won't know my schedule until 10 weeks from now so we are looking for someone full time to replace me, well I will come back on days that I can. We will always continue to work togather, but you would still keep the job.

Evelyn

EvelynRN-BSN · Aug 20, 2004

I just viewed where you live, New Jersey. We are in Maryland. It is not enough pay to commute. I thought I would throw out the offer though.

happystudent, RN · Aug 30, 2004

UPDATE:::::

Well, I guess its been a few weeks since I posted , so I guess I should fill you in................

Gosh! Where do I start......lol

Last week was insane :rotfl: , so maybe I will start there.....

Friday was a great day for me! I had two preceptors in one shift! My regular precep's had the day off and I was supposed to also, but i had to make a last minute switch in my schedule. Anyway, the shift started off with a bang, nurse precep #1 from 3-7 was aaaaaaaaawwwwwwwwsome. I felt so comfortable with her. She seemed to know the exact time to ask me if I needed help. I was in the process of pulling my 1700 and 1800 meds and she would give me gentle reminders about things I was overlooking.....Nothing bad, just reminding me about certian antibiotics that needed to be hung and ready...that was cool.Its the whole PRIORITIZING THING...I was prioritizing backwards....hehehe :chuckle I was giving pills when ivs needed to be hung first so they will finish on time for the next one...GOOD CALL! :rotfl: now I know........I did manage my pt well, she said I was doing fine...it comes with experience...how the heck was I supposed to know, she said..

she cracked me up!!!!! :chuckle

Precp#2 came on at 1900 and I gave him report on all our pts and told him that I would resume care and I felt I was handling things okay.

He was awesome as well. We both did a dSG chg on one of our pts. It was a decub the size of a plate on his coccyx. :uhoh3: He talked me thru it because it was very overwhelming :uhoh3:

If you have seen one that size....YOU KNOW what im talking about. ANyway, that night went off w/o a hitch.....i slept well that night.....

NOW SATURDAY WAS A NIGHTMARE! I was assigned to a nurse who basically followed me around all night writing down my errors on a sheet of paper and everytime I sat down for a minute, she would shove her notes in my face saying...(as she crossed each misdemeanor off her list) in pt 2's chart, you didnt document the ml's of iv meds, in pt 3's chart you didnt check off the safety box, in pt4s chart you didnt write the order correctly, you

have tocall the doctor again..............all evening this went on.

I have come up with my own system of triple checking myself. The things she pointed out to me would have been completed on her specified time frame if she wasn't so busy following me around like im a toddler in a glass figurine store...sheeesh! :rolleyes:

That alone made me soooo nervous! All I kept thinking about was.."what she going to find next", "what else did I miss"!

I felt so degraded.

My confidence was shook!! I was getting to a point where I felt like things were "coming together". One night with her left me downtrodden and useless. :sniff:

I got to the point where i felt like I was about to cry. :uhoh3: You know, when your face gets real hot and you start to feel kinda sweaty. That was me.

I did,however, get a chance to vent to another nurse. I thought maybe it was me. I dont know what its like to precept so I have no idea what going on in her head so I really am trying hard not to judge her.

I just felt she was being unfair to me as a professional. Standing over my shoulder watching me write my notes, getting meds out of the pixis, drawing up the meds is uncalled for at this stage in my orientation. I have two weeks left, and if I cant perform these essential tasks by now, by myself, IM IN TROUBLE!

I dont know, guys. I will push on and get thru this. I love being a nurse, you know that! IT WAS A TOUGH NIGHT! :stone :) bUT i MADE IT THRU!!!!!

woooooooooohooooooooo! :rotfl:

any thoughts or suggestions would be great! :)

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Aug 30, 2004

Full day, huh? :chuckle
Glad you had a good one... gee.. when I started, I ony got a HALF a patient... :uhoh21: :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl:
Enjoy the days ahead, Happy. Lots of learning, and hope you get the bestest preceptor EVER !!! :)

Did you get the top half or the bottom half?

Hellllllo Nurse, BSN, RN · Aug 30, 2004

Happy student (happy new grad?)

Sounds like things are going well overall. I have precepted, but was never given any instruction on how to do it. I just winged it, but I think it went ok.

I don't have any tips for you except to say I'm happy for you and all the best to you!