I hate those days where feel totally dumb

babynurselsa, RN · Sep 18, 2005

Hang in there. Your comfort level will build. Even experienced ER nurses see new stuff, or stuff they haven't encountered before. If something new cfomes in or something you need to get more experience on try to get in there even if it is just to watch.

carachel2 · Sep 18, 2005

Ah well, now I feel a bit dumber. Apparently 86 people have looked at this post and only one has responded ! Thanks for your kind words. I can assure everyone who is reading but not responding that I am *not* dumb, just encountering a lot of new situations which I have not seen for years and for which I was not trained for technically wise.

psalm, RN · Sep 18, 2005

...don't feel dumb, just inexperienced with some procedures. Just remember the ABCs and go from there. Ask for help when you need it; ask the nurse educator for some one-on-one training with trach care and/or whatever you have zilch experience. :)

JentheRN05, RN · Sep 18, 2005

The amount of responses doesn't say how many people care, or think your 'dumb'. You are fine I am sure, everyone and I mean EVERYONE of us have a bad day where we just can't get things right. But if you hold onto that then it will continue. Treat each day as a new day and think positive. It can be done!

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Sep 18, 2005

The amount of responses doesn't say how many people care, or think your 'dumb'. You are fine I am sure, everyone and I mean EVERYONE of us have a bad day where we just can't get things right. But if you hold onto that then it will continue. Treat each day as a new day and think positive. It can be done!

DITTO !!!

Hey.. I feel "dumb" about SOMETHING at least ONCE every day still ! :chuckle

But you know what? That's a GOOD thing ! Rather than allow it to make me feel inadequate, I just turn it around in my head and see it as a challenge... and an opportunity to learn something else new !!!

I'd get bored real quick if I knew everything... :rolleyes:

Hang in there.. give yourself some credit for all you DO know, and use the "dumb" moments as motivators to learn something you want to be able to do or even excell at !

Attitude is everything ! :)

vampireslayer · Sep 18, 2005

Oh gosh, I could write a book about feeling dumb! I have NO nursing experience, either, so I dont' even have that to help me! I'm a new grad still with my preceptor in a level 1 trauma center and I feel dumb ALL THE TIME!

Funny thing is, I NEVER used to have confidence problems...until now. This is a second career for me, and I have always been good at what I do. I graduated college the first time with "highest honors", graduated nursing school with straight A's...but working in the ER has REALLY been a humbling experience for me. There is just so many things I don't know how to do, and then add to that all the things I could do if I could just find the dang supplies, or if the carts were just stocked with the stuff they're supposed to be stocked with. Then add on the computer systems, one for charting, another for admin stuff like printing patient labels and finding physician phone numbers...I have no problems using computers, but learning 2 new systems, while learning "real" nursing, while learning ER nursing, while learning how & why & where & what...and who to call for xyz....I'm just overwhelmed, and feeling stupid constantly!

So hang in there and let us all know how things go, as every day you tick off some other "new" thing that you used to not know how to do, but now you do!

VS

Camelhappy1 · Sep 18, 2005

Howdy! I have a sense of what your feeling. I am fairly new to the ER also... I have never had problems with IVs in the past year UNTIL I came into the ER. I get so humiliated, because once people see that you keep missing IVs they assume that you have never done one before.... and then they assume that you are a complete newbie to nursing and try to tell you how to give an IM injection!.... YES - most of the time I feel like a complete BOZO, especially around the techs because they are so awesome at the technical things. I think people have a way of making you feel inferior without realising it. It doesn't help that most people don't give you a chance to prove yourself - then of course they aren't going to know what you are capable of. I KNOW I am a very capable nurse, but the ER (andf ER staff) so far has made me feel like a first year nursing student. Hang in there - don't forget you got someone else over here feeling the same vibes....

Happy-ER-RN, RN · Sep 19, 2005

I am a new grad with 3 months under my belt :chuckle in a level one trauma center. I have been on my own (can't take trauma's yet) for about 3 weeks. I almost gave up SOOOO many times but finally this week something just clicked. I am sure I will have nights where I feel like running again, especailly after I start trauma education, but for now I feel like I am going to be okay for the first time since I started this job.

I feel dumb all the time as well, for example, last night I was trying to do an i-stat lab for a poss. stroke since we had no phlebotomist, well, we usually have one, so I had no idea how to do it. I got my sample, put a little drop in the cartridge and tubed the rest of the blood up to lab. Well, the cartridge wouldn't work. So I take it out, then drop it and splatter blood all over my self. Then I realize I have tubed up my blood and now have no more blood for another cartridge. Gee, sorry pt. I have to stick you again because I am a complete idiot, and no, that's not YOUR blood splattered across my scrubs. (I didn't really have to stick him again--long story, but I still felt like an idiot).

Anyway, I have never even seen a trach. in real life. I am not kidding. I wouldn't have the slightest idea what to do with one that was malfunctioning. If I had a pt. with one, I would just get someone to help me though, the staff I work with are great. I think that's what finally made the difference, I finally got used to not knowing whats going on a lot of the time, and I realized it's okay to not know what's going on as long as I get someone who does. I also learned how to detach when it gets really hectic. When I have way too many pts and everyone is rushing around and yelling I just switch over into a different mind frame and tell myself that all I can do is my best and nothing more. Being stressed out is not going to help ANYTHING, so I just let the yelling roll right on past me and just do my best without being stressed out about it. It doesn't always work, but I don't come home in tears anymore after a busy night.

We will all somehow survive this. And we will surely be different people after we do survive.

FrankG · Sep 19, 2005

I am new to the ER (4 months now) and I had a day yesterday where I hit NADA IV's (liver transplant patient, dialysis patient, etc.etc,....one right after the other) and a patient from a nursing home whose inner cannula of her trach kept popping out. I have NADA experience with trachs and felt totally out of my territory. Our hospital has eschewed the old proverbial skills lab that used to be required before you transitioned to a clinical area in favor of testing for critical thinking ability. I begged for a skills lab to bone up on all of these things that I had not seen for over 10 years.
Just had to say I hate feeling dumb. I do ask a lot of questions though.

I hope you don't mind me butting in; I'm not in the ER nor a RN; but I am a new LPN and this thread title could've been mine. I'm in a SNF and I can't get my meds passed in decent time. Today one residents husband came and got me, his wife was in the dining hall. She always gets a B/S check and insulin there at four. It was 4:30. When I had her ins ready, the protective sleeve that slides forward over the needle was jammed forward and I couldn't retract it. I tried to get some leverage by bracing the plunger on my chest and pulling back on the sleeve. :imbar 5 units squirted in his face. I just wanted to go home and mail my license back to the state.

I have so many stories and I've only been on my job a week. The funny thing is, I have two residents with trachs and that's not a problem for me. I was lucky, in my first LTC clinical I had two long term comatose MVA victims with trachs and a great instructor.

Here's another stupid story: Wound vacs -- I'd never heard of them. My CNA (a fourth year BSN student) has done plenty of them in clinical, I'd never seen one before; but I'm the licensed one and she can't do it. So there I was being talked through it by an aid.

Frank

grammyr · Sep 19, 2005

I know how you feel. I have been in ER for almost 6 years and there are still many days where I have what we lovingly call them brain farts where all the knowledge you have suddenly gets expelled and you aren't even sure of your name. They are down to about once a day now and last for no longer than 8 hours. They used to last the whole shift some days so I feel like I am getting somewhere!!!!!!:rotfl:

Cute_CNA, CNA · Sep 19, 2005

I'm not a nurse, so I haven't done IVs, but there have been many days where I had to wonder if my IQ didn't fluctuate a bit down to negative numbers. Some days are better than others. I call them brain farts, too, btw.

I think nurses tend to be hard on themselves, and I think that's a good thing in some ways, because it shows that they're aware of their flaws and need to constantly improve. I think it shows that you care about the patients when you're concerned about the quality of the care you give. In other ways, though, it lowers your confidence when you beat yourself up. Like many things, there needs to be a balance.

Just practice until you feel comfortable, and watch more seasoned nurses do things that you're not familiar with. Don't be afraid to crack your old nursing books for a refresher.