How to deal with making mistakes and low confidence

[Petra81]

Hello all,

I've been nurse only for a year and a half and I made lots of little mistakes in the beginning. Finally , lately it seems like I was doing better but today I made a mistake of infusing blood too fast. (asked wrong person ) It seems like I keep making one mistake after another and my confidence is spiraling down and so is my credibility with my colleagues. When I use to be musician, if I wasn't doing well, I just locked myself in room and practiced and practices. But there is nothing to practice in nursing. There is always something new coming your way. I LOVE my job and am very happy as a nurse, but it seems that I'm not talented in it.

I'm getting depressed and wandering if I should change career and go work to McDonalds :/

Any advice?

[rachstept]

Hey Petra

I don't have any advice, but I am in the same boat as you. Lots of little mistakes and losing credibility with my co-workers. The anxiety is driving me mad. I've been workingfor a little over a month

I am trying to take a step back and slow my breathing when I feel like I am going to fast. And I want to use resources like my android to figure it out.

We are new and sometimes it feels like the more experienced nurses have little to no tolerance for our mistakes.

Don't change careers, I am sure the care you give to your patients is noticed by them. We need to give ourselves a break and take all the time we need so we prevent our mistakes. I know how hard that is because nursing on the floor is such a fast paced profession. Don't give up on yourself!

[DemystifiedRN, BSN]

Hi Petra,

You are not alone! Every new nurse goes through this stage. One thing that I did (and continue to do) was to review my facility's Policy & Procedures--over and over and over. You'll gain confidence over time, please don't give up.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

The first year (or two) of nursing is rough -- the transition from student to nurse has a steep learning curve. I struggled for nearly two years before I started to "get it."

Your mistake wasn't in asking the wrong person how fast to infuse blood, but in having to ask at all. By now, you should know where your policy and procedure manuals are located and look it up if you have a question about how fast to infuse blood. It takes longer than asking someone, I know, but you've already learned the dangers of asking the question of someone who doesn't know the right answer. And if you look it up, you're more likely to remember it the next time you need to know.

I don't think nursing requires "talent", per se. I think it's something that you train for, and then continue to challenge yourself by learning more, learning new things, consolidating your knowledge. At a year and a half, you have just begun your nursing journey.

We all make mistakes -- I've made some real whoppers in my time. The key is to not make the same mistakes over and over. Not to worry -- there are always NEW mistakes you can make, as I've learned over the past 3.5 decades. You won't ever run out of mistakes!

[jojo489]

My best advice is to step back and take a breath. I'm a new nurse too, and we do all make mistakes.

Nursing isn't something you practice and get good at, it's a learning process and in that process, mistakes will be made. As a nurse, you're faced with new people, new diseases or disorders, new symptoms and new situations every day. You may get it right a lot, but there will be times you do something wrong on your first attempt. The key is to continue to learn from your mistakes and do your best not to make the same mistake twice.

We are human...and to err is human. Remember that. Nobody is perfect.

I applied a wound vac wrong once and got chewed out by a nurse at the wound center because a small portion of skin peri wound became macerated overnight. It was embarrassing and I felt like an idiot...but I will tell you, now, when I apply wound vac which is quite often, I always remember to drape the wound as close to the wound edge as possible and honestly, that incident made me better at applying them.

[TriciaJ, RN]

I think there are 2 factors at work (although they may or may not apply to you): 1. I've precepted a lot of nursing students and had reason to wonder if their school was really helping them succeed. I met a lot of students and new grads who had very poor time management skills and were short on other skills, even close to graduation. I think there are schools who are happy to take tuition money and leave you less than prepared. 2. Hospital and nursing home staffing levels are generally quite deplorable. When everyone is running pillar to post, who is available to mentor you? It makes you have to learn by trial and error and the errors get you in trouble and erode your self-confidence.

Hang in there. Your learning curve will level off and you'll be a top-notch nurse.