First year RN Flops. Does it get better?

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I am a new grad working i my first nursing job in Med/Surge. At first I was thrilled to have a job, as some of my clasmates are still looking for work. I completed my orientation and have been on my own for a few weeks. At first, I felt great, but I keep making mistakes. I forgot to sign something, and I was called at home on my day off because I forgot to enter some orders. Now I have a sick feeling in my stomach every time I have to go back to the hospital. I feel like I am really messing up. I am still giving safe care, and have not made any medication errors. Are these typical things that happen to new grads?:nurse:

Specializes in Med-surg, ER, agency, rehab, oc health..

Keep your heads up! It DOES get better. We have all made mistakes, and ya you might have a couple old fuddy duddies which will always Bi*** at you but don't let it get you down. Get yourself a routine, remember that this is a JOB you aren't COMPLETELY altruistic.... or else you would be a saint... or an unpaid nun. That being said my shift that I have worked out for myself that works well is this... 7:15-7:30 introduce myself to all patients ask if they are in pain and make sure they are they are stable. 7:30-8:00 do my assessments. 8:00-9:30 pass meds. 9:30-11:00 check charts. 11:00-11:15 break. 11:15-1:00 chart audits and help other nurses get caught up. 1:00-1:15 break. 1:15-4:00 care plans and anything else that needs to be done. 4:00-4:15 break. 4:15-6:00 charting IV fluids and what not. 6:00-6:45 pass meds. I try to stick to this fairly closely. And if you are going into a patient's room try to get as much stuff done in that room as possible. Fewer trips = more efficiency. Now this doesn't always work exactly like that but usually it does, and usually I have time to help other's starting their IVs or help them get caught up. Also by taking a break you can organize your thoughts and hit the job again with a renewed vigor!

What I have found is 1st year sucks, 2nd year can be discouraging... starts looking up about the middle of the 2nd year. Keep your chin up. And keep learning!

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I am in a transition from LVN to RN program, first semester, and i have a really good teacher, she has us do these care maps for each diagnosis our patients have, and that helps things click, however when you say that ya'll are studying the disease processes and labs after hours, what are you actually looking at? pt stats? or textbook? just curious, i am a little scared to death and want my first years out to be a smooth as possible, lol.

ps how did ya'll study for boards?

Thanks!!

Kaci

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Specializes in home care, med/surg ICU, ER, Hospice.

I am very fond of the "Nursing Made Incredibly Easy" books. I refer to the Pathophysiology one and the Fluid and Electrolyte one frequently. I also refer to my medication book.

When I was in nursing school, I studied with 5 or 6 other students in a study group (we are all still good friends). We studied for every test together at each other's homes. We would review everything that would be on the tests. We also would make up questions and then go over them together.

To study for the boards we used the NYCLEX review books.

Good luck!:up:

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" Doing it well is a real gift for the patients, society, and yourself."

hmm i never thought about bedside nursing in this light. this statement really struck a chord with me; you are totally right!:up:

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Specializes in ED.

1rst week in my unit and i feel terrible. I feel so dumb. made so many mistakes (not big ones), but easily corrected. :(. i have 8 weeks on orientation. i hope by the 8th week i would improve greatly by then :(

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Specializes in CCU, OR.

When I started in the OR, years ago, after 4 months, they gave us our wings....

There used to be a few BASIC things to get set up after the patient was drapped and the tables drawn up; connect the suction, connect the cautery pencil, the cautery pad, pour warm saline and water and put the kick bucket in a convient location for catching sponges....I'd forget at least one thing. I certain remember climbing under the drapes to apply a cautery pad any number of times. The surgeons, most of whom were cranky, did the "chop, chop" routine that was supposed to get me to hurry up(which only unnerved me more!).

About bloody messes IV's- I had a friend who could get IV's beautifully, but she always made a huge mess. Always- no mater how hard or easy the stick was...All she could do was tell the patient that she was a messy sticker but SHE ALWAYS GOT HER VEIN. Most of the patients did just fine with that explanation.

As to the tourniquets- :lol2: I can't tell you how many times I see CRNA's, anesthesia residents and anesthesiologists forget to take it off- especially if several people are trying to get a stick on a patient with no veins.......

In the OR, there is never a day when someone will try to throw something like suture onto the sterile field and WHOOOPS-it goes sailing over the table, falls off the edge, etc. We all try to be careful, but hey- it happens.

It will always happen- there will always be some niggling little thing waiting for you through out your career- and the "whoopsies" will get smaller and fewer in number.

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First off, newone09 & Allthesmallthings - thank you for your posts! As I was reading them, I couldn't help but feel a huge sense of relief because everything YOU are feeling, I am feeling. I'm also at my 6 month mark and I actually came on to this forum hoping for some inspiration/advice because all afternoon I've been beating myself up over something my manager brought up to me last night - apparently I had not initiated a standing protocol order and she needed an explanation of what happened and why it wasn't started (which, in my defense, I had talked to my charge nurse about since I was not sure what to do in the situation and I followed everything she had told me). My manager initially began the convo with "you're not in trouble... I just need to know what happened" but I, of course, took the whole conversation to heart.

This isn't the 1st time she has had to talk to me about something (thankfully, like in your situation, nothing disastrous has resulted from my mistakes) and I rationally can tell myself that it will not be my last, but I'm just feeling down on myself for having made these mistakes. I'm also a bit frustrated at this point because it seems like my units policies/procedures are not being practiced or even made aware of across the board - more than once, seasoned nurses have told me how to do something or have themselves done it and I knew that it wasn't correct p/p. Since I'm still the by-the-books-new-nurse, I find that I sometimes find it difficult to know what to do or who to listen to in situations that I know don't have a specific p/p for me to review 1st.

Since I obviously am having a hard time dealing with the whole "don't take work things home with you," I think I'm going to try and take some of the advice from this thread and a few others I've read through and head over to the gym or even do some retail shopping. But, I also wanted to share with you the best advice I have received, yet. It's from my mom, who is a veteran RN and preceptor to many new nurses -- Always be safe, for your pt and for yourself. You WILL make mistakes, but be a good nurse and verbally acknowledge it, apologize from it, and LEARN FROM IT.

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Specializes in CT stepdown, hospice, psych, ortho.

My first day on my own I discharged a fragile little old lady to be driven home 4 hours by her devoted, antsy son only to remember about 30 minutes after she left that I forgot to remove her PIV. Awesome :) Luckily I had a super great charge nurse that called the son at home in the evening and talked him through removing it but I felt like such a heel. Then she confessed she had sent someone home with a PICC when she was new.

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