New Nurse; No experience; Help

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi,

I am a new RN nurse. I passed my NCLEX 4 months ago. I dont have any background as a nursing assistant. I hardly remember anything from nursing school. I barely passed nursing school. I dont feel like I have the skills or knowledge to be a nurse.

Where do you think I should apply? Nursing homes, hospitals, clinics?

I am scared to work at a nursing home because they don't give any orientation. Hospitals may give longer orientation but the job may be more chaotic. I really don't want to hurt anyone or get my license revoked.

Oh, and on top of all of this, I am struggling with mental health issues; i.e. anxiety and depression.

If you have any input, please help.

Thank you.

amzyRN

1,142 Posts

Specializes in ED, Cardiac-step down, tele, med surg.

Move somewhere where they have new nurse orientations/new grad programs. See a therapist to get your anxiety under control. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Specializes in Neuroscience.

Nursing school is the equivalent of learning how to swim on dry land. It doesn't mean anything until you're in the water.

There is not one nurse on this forum that knew exactly how to be a nurse when they started their first job. You learn on the job, you improve your skills, and you become better.

Decide what interests you, and start applying to any and all positions that are open. Best of luck!

Specializes in Pediatrics, Mother-Baby and SCN.

Yes I agree, get your anxiety and depression treated. Crack down on review if you actually don't remember much. You will need to learn a lot on the job for specific things, working on time management etc. but you definitely need to have a strong knowledge base. I recommend something like this : Mosby's Comprehensive Review for the Canadian RN Exam: Janice Marshall-Henty: 9781897422052: Test Preparation & Review: Amazon Canada

That is a book we used to study for our RN exam and it goes through a summary of basically all your main subjects, all the most important info. Read the whole book. Work on a chapter a day or every 2 days or whatever time schedule works for you while you're applying to jobs. I see Mosby's does have a newer version of this book for the NCLEX, it is significantly more expensive and may focus more on questions. This one you could get for $9 Canadian, but if you want to have the updated version I think it's more like 60$. I can't vouch for that book as I haven't seen it but I would assume it may be fairly similar but with more questions and maybe more of an american twist?

So yeah 1) Work on your mental health issues: doctor (discuss treatment/meds/where you should go from here), then follow his/her advice and also a therapist may be something he/she suggests as well. Work on mindfulness and meditation. Sounds silly but peer reviewed research shows it's helpful for depression and anxiety.

- I did this program (book and cd) The Mindful Way Workbook: An 8-Week Program to Free Yourself from Depression and Emotional Distress: John D. Teasdale PhD, J. Mark G. Williams DPhil, Zindel V. Segal PhD, Jon Kabat-Zinn PhD: 9781462508143: Books - Amazon.ca

it is an 8 week program and you don't notice changes right away but over time it slowly helps retrain your brain and helps teach you some coping strategies.

2) Study study study, and get your knowledge base strong. Use a book like that, watch videos on youtube, read allnurses, etc.

3) Apply for jobs preferably with longer orientations or residency programs. May involve a move. Make sure your mental health is under control before embarking on a move if thats an option :)

Good luck!

mangosoccer11

31 Posts

Hi,

Thank you everyone for the advice. I really appreciate it. I am looking into doing some mindfulness classes and going to a psychiatrist for my depression.

I believe your right that I need to increase my knowledge about nursing. I will take your advice and start reading over a few nursing books.

Swissmiss7

16 Posts

Nursing school is the equivalent of learning how to swim on dry land. It doesn't mean anything until you're in the water.

There is not one nurse on this forum that knew exactly how to be a nurse when they started their first job. You learn on the job, you improve your skills, and you become better.

Decide what interests you, and start applying to any and all positions that are open. Best of luck!

So true! And sometimes it feels like drowning! Even though I graduated at the top of my class, when I walked onto my unit as a new grad last month it became very evident that meant nothing when it comes to actually working as an RN. You summed it up, I'm learning on the job, I'm improving my skills, and I'm becoming better. Each day is a journey!

To the OP, decide what you want to do and go for it. Everyone starts as a new nurse, it's okay to to be unsure of your skills. Unfortunately, many nursing programs do not give each student the opportunity to perform many of the skills required as an RN. I just performed my first straight cath this past week. Was I nervous? You bet. Did I get through it? You bet. Will I be as nervous next time? Nope! You too can do this! Also, I am not sure about nursing homes, but my particular hospital offers a pretty good orientation program. It's a Level 1 trauma center, so I'm not sure if that plays a part in the length of orientation. However, I'm in an acute care setting and my orientation is 5-6 months.

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