never seem to be getting the hard patients

iluvivt, BSN, RN · Mar 10, 2016

If that is indeed the case there is nothing wrong with that! You have the rest of your career to take care of patients and you will learn something every day.Just take the assignment you are given each day and do the absolute best you can for your patients. You are a new RN and it does take time to get experience so I would not look around to see if others are not trusting you with more difficult patients and just stay in your own lane.In due time you will get better and better and your confidence will slowly build. Focus in on your own assignment and if you find you have extra time reach out to other nurses and ask if you can watch and learn or assist with anything.I was always suprised how much I can learn by observation.

sandytoes · Mar 10, 2016

Well it's only been 4 days?! So your assignments for those days can't really tell you if there is a pattern. Maybe all of the patients in the floor are less acute? Or maybe they are trying to keep nursing assignments consistent and another nurse had the harder patients on shifts previously?? Or maybe your charge is being easy on you because they recognize you are new and want to ease you in. If it was me, I would be so thankful. Being a new nurse is so hard and there is so much to learn and managing time and doing all the charting is much easier with a less acute load. I would take this as a blessing! The hard patients will come, trust me!!!!!

xoemmylouox, ASN, RN · Mar 10, 2016

Oh the hard patients will come. Take this time to spend that extra time with your patients. Review their charts more thoroughly than you usually do, talk to them about their health/what got them there, review meds that you are not super familiar with, observe procedures you don't know, volunteer to do IV's if you aren't super confident with them, etc.

RNperdiem, RN · Mar 11, 2016

I would be more worried if they were "dumping" the less desirable assignments on the new person; this does happen. Accept your good fortune.

heronurse · Mar 11, 2016

Well atleast you will get the flow and let your mind settle in with the stress and workload. I remember my first week, manager doesn't seem to care they just gave me whatever patient there is.

Horseshoe, BSN, RN · Mar 11, 2016

Seems like your coworkers can't win...first they give you the "hard" patients, but come to your aid when you have trouble keeping up . Then, they try to cut you some slack and let you get your sea legs by lessening the acuity of your assigned patients, and you complain that your coworkers have no confidence in you.

Focus more on learning and less on your pride. You should be grateful to have staff who are responsive to your needs and make adjustments so that you can get comfortable as a new nurse without crashing and burning.

mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN · Mar 11, 2016

Be careful for what you wish for.

:unsure:

NanikRN · Mar 11, 2016

Hi so i'm a new grad myself, have been working on my own for 4 days now. On my first day working independently i got the hardest patients on the ward, struggle a little bit at first and had to ask others to do some legworks for me like obs and getting 2 oral meds ready since i was really busy with one particular pt. After the first day I found myself seem to be getting the easiest pts on the ward. Just worry that my fellow colleagues are not confident letting me look after the sicker pts so they put me on with the easy ones...

As a new grad working independently for 4 whole days, I rather doubt you really know which patient are "the hardest on the ward".

Just do your job the best you can-- the harder patients will come

GE90 · Mar 11, 2016

thank you guys for all ur input! :) I feel a lot better now!

Was simply worry that I've lost my trust from my colleagues after the dramatic first day