Starting as new RN

Gary Mendoza · Oct 7, 2017

As a new RN you're going to find that there is a lot you didn't learn in school and you're going to be disorganized for a while. The best advice I can give you follows:

1. Don't be scared to ask questions out of fear of people thinking you don't know what you're doing. You don't and that's fine. I'm 10+ years and ER nurse and I still ask questions. If a new nurse isn't asking me questions it scares me.

2. If you hear of anything happening that you have not experienced, do your best to get involved with it and, you guessed it, ask lots of questions.

3. Read, practice and learn. It will probably be scary to get involved with new things, but it will make you a stronger nurse.

4. If you find a nurse disliking all your questions, try to bring it up with them and let them know you're just trying to learn and become a better nurse (they should already know this). If they continue, address it with the dept. director. We all have bad days, but continued bad behavior needs to be addressed and they should be helping you learn, not making you hesitant or fearful to ask questions.

5. Don't be afraid to ask for help. We all need help at times and good nurses know that helping others is helping themselves in the future.

Welcome to nursing

Davey Do · Oct 7, 2017

Congratulations on your new position, QuennRN299, and welcome to AN.com!

Gary Mendoza gave some great advice. I can only encourage you to take it slow and try not to get overwhelmed. You've been through Nursing School, so you have a good idea of how things came seem overwhelming in the beginning.

Good luck to you and let us know if any specifics come up.

PixieRN1 · Oct 7, 2017

A general tip to remember...at the end of the day, nurses don't float around like angels on their toes bringing tidings of comfort and joy to all...we are just humans and being a nurse is a job, like many other jobs. Every job has problems and Nursing is not exempt.

There are still personality clashes, varying work ethics, people do things differently than each other, some coworkers rock while others suck, you still have a boss who is very human, and you aren't going to like your working conditions all the time.

I encourage you to remember that many problems you will encounter aren't specific to Nursing...this will help during the times when you begin to doubt your sanity for choosing Nursing.

It's easy to put nursing on a pedestal after school. But please don't forget that every nurse is a human and has different life experiences that have molded them and their attitude and practice. Don't forget that this is still a job and like any job, there is absolutely going to be crappy stuff. If you can remember that many of the problems you will face are generic job problems that you will find anywhere, it will help you from wanting to run from the nursing profession specifically.

Best of luck