Freezing At A Critical Time

[PinkPeony]

Hi! So I am a new grad nurse and I recently started a job in the emergency department. A few days ago my job had a surprise simulation code. I was out in triage and there was no patients, so the nurse training me stepped away for a moment walked out and it was me and a tech. Well maybe a minute later the surprise sim starts. A girl runs in screaming that someone is delivering a baby. Everyone gets up but no one is really moving. Then I spot my coworker not normally in the area being apart of the sim at the time. Anyway, I was asking the tech if she had seen where the other nurse went. She didn’t know and then she said let’s go out there and see what’s going on. That when I ran out the door to see manikin in the car. I would say every happened in less than 5 mins. We ran through the rest of the sim for the most part. But when I came back out the tech thought my response about asking for the other nurse was a funny response. I however do not. I have some anxiety and I want to be good a my job. But this experience just made me feel like my response to an emergency is wrong or delayed. But I keep thinking back to a time when I was at work (before the sim) and there was a real emergency I responded quickly even though there was no one else around to help really.  Any advice for a new grad trying to feel somewhat confident in my nursing skills?

[Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN]

I would expect looking for your preceptor during an emergency/unknown situation to be a normal response for a new graduate nurse who is still in orientation, especially if there was other staff responding to said situation. 

 

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

Responding to emergencies calmly and confidently takes time. Give yourself grace as you acquire this skill. Drills can be stressful but the true intention is to help facilitate learning and ensure processes/ policies/ procedures are effective/ appropriate to respond to given situations. 

Learning to manage your anxiety in urgent/ emergency situations is a skill - just like any other skill takes time and practice to master. Part of figuring this out is coming up with strategies that you can use after an emergency to help YOU debrief/ cope/ process.

A little bit of well managed anxiety can be a good thing (I know that might sound crazy) - in the respect that it can prompt us to be detail oriented enough to not miss subtle things that could potentially make a big difference for ourselves (safety concerns for example) or for the patient (changes in condition). It takes time though to learn to harness the "positives" of anxiety and part of that comes with experience, practice and time.

Hang in there!

[JKL33]

TBH it sounds like maybe this surprise was especially for you, that's why you had the perception at first that no one was really moving.

I think they managed to just have a CQEE (confusing quasi-educational event). As many of them are.

I agree with the above poster, it is very natural to seek preceptor in an unusual circumstance where something is clearly "off," especially when you just recently started. Don't think too hard on this or let it get you down in any way.

All is well ??

[RNperdiem, RN]

Next time one of your coworkers is in a code/emergent situation, help out and observe what the other nurses do.

Somehow, I found it easier to learn when it isn't your patient.

When it is your patient declining, don't be afraid to call for help. Even if you do freeze, your patient will still get help until you unfreeze. Experience is the real teacher.

[GranaG]

Great Advice! I remember as a new nurse feeling the same way in unfamiliar situations. Experience is an excellent teacher.  Find someone you admire their conduct/ethics and ask questions.  No question is a dumb question. It just takes time. Hang in there.  Welcome to the profession, the hardest job you will ever love.

[HarleyvQuinn, MSN, RN, NP]

I'll never forget when I was new and in orientation, the Head Nurse and our educator (civilian CNS) came in super early one morning to pull a mock code on us. This was on a busy mother-baby unit and no prior notice that they were doing the event. How they set it up was to go into an empty room at the far end of the hall and press the code button. This obviously bewildered the staff who knew this was an empty room and no patients were at that end of the hall at that time. Needless to say, they were not impressed by the delay in response when it came to us trying to figure out just what the heck was happening, sending a staff member to see who was even in the room, and THEN starting the song and dance for their education event. 

 They figured out quickly that they had to draw a little more attention to what they were doing. It was not a huge military hospital. We knew where all the patients were and all staff were in sight, so we knew it wasn't one of us who pressed the button. It was also a locked ward with access only by badge due to the special population. It was quite an interesting morning, though. 

[JKL33]

^ This is pretty much EXACTLY what I mean by "CQEE."

Seen it so many times. And then we are all supposed to cheerily act like this is something other than silliness.