Does nursing ever get easier?

[Red_Diamond]

Hi all. I'm a new nurse about to start my 5th week on a ENT/Urology floor. I'm about half way through orientation at this point. I hadn't had any previous experience with nursing except in clinicals during school, and I was a CNA at a long term care facility before. I'm finding the job incredibly overwhelming and difficult. I feel like one of my biggest downfalls (besides learning the flow of the unit, the different surgeries and procedures...) is keeping up with my patients. I try to write as much down as I can before I start my shift, but I feel like I forget to do so much. Just simple things like remembering to chart I's and O's, forgetting to chart that I removed an IV, or that I have to take a blood glucose right before bed. I'm feeling a little unorganized, but I also think my new preceptor has been acknowledging orders and not telling me, because for example, yesterday she had told me to stop the IV on a patient and saline lock him, but I hadn't read anything about his fluids stopping. Sorry about the long post, but does anyone have any suggestions for me starting out as a new nurse? I'm thinking about asking to extend my orientation. I feel like there's so much that I don't know. I guess I'm looking for some hope that people started out as flustered as I am right now and somehow managed to become a great nurse. I was never at the top of my class in school, I was just an average student. I'm starting to doubt if I can do this! Thanks for your input.

[sunshiny]

Yes, it gets easier! Every experienced nurse has been where you are today, and you will be where they are soon enough.

My tips:

1. Always CYA (cover your patootie). That means never just accepting what another nurse/staff member has said. You always want to double check the order yourself, go assess the patient with your own eyes. Not that you don't trust them, but if things go bad, your excuse can't be "So-and-so told me that was the order." Don't put your licence in that hands of someone else'd memory or interpretation. And chart what you assessed/did, or it didn't happen. CYA.

2. Use a daily sheet to write reminders of tasks, meds, treatments, VS, etc. Cross them off as you do them. At the end of your shift, it should all be crossed off. Write down anything you need reminding of. This also helps provide a timeline of events for your charting.

Keep up the good work! You got this!

[Devnation]

Yes! Thankfully, it does get better. I spent my first year feeling like an utter moron, and my preceptor was a woman who was responsible for 4 people quitting. She was very experienced, and had a wealth of knowledge, but she liked to snack on your soul a little as a 3 am pick me up. I learned everything I could from that woman and rode it out. It was tough, but learning and perseverance won out. For example, I started in the ED, and back then my IV skills were atrocious. Now, I can get blood out of a turnip, and people call me for difficult sticks. And that preceptor? Eight years later I was an agency RN working at another hospital in PACU, when my former preceptor walked in. She had never worked PACU and had a hard time catching on. I watched her struggle and had plenty of opportunities to make her life worse. But I didn't. Instead, I killed her with kindness and helped out whenever I could. Watching her reaction to that was far more satisfying than any torment I could dream up. Hang in there, it gets better!

[NurseRebe2015]

I was like you when I first started out as a nurse. I'll tell you orientation is hard, I cried every day after work. Then my first month on my own the nerves would make me feel like puking, after a month things started getting better and over the next few months it slowly got better and better. Almost every nurse I've talked to felt the same way, everyone will tell you the first year is really hard, but after the 1 year mark it doesn't feel hard anymore. Hang in there! It will get better. Before you know it you'll be the experienced nurse. I started charging after a year, now nearly 4 years later I'm a supervisor.