I suck.

[Virgo_RN]

That is all.

[BSN75]

Sending happy thoughts your way!!!

By the way, sometimes I think I SUCK but usually I figure out that it;s everyone else who sucks!!LOL

[locolorenzo22, BSN, RN]

i think everyone has those nights where you KNOW you suck..sometimes even a crappy patient load can cause you to doubt yourself.

we all have bad nights. you don't suck...your night might.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

{{{{VirgoRN}}}}

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

I guess I just forgot what it's like to be The New Guy, and how terrible for one's self confidence being new can be. It seems one day I feel pretty good about how things are going, and the next, I feel like the Worst Nurse in the History of the Universe. Last night was one of the latter.

I think it doesn't help that my preceptor has tons of experience and they keep putting us in the hardest zone because they think it's "good experience" for me. I hope, once I am off orientation, they throw me back into the hangnail zone for a while, to get my feet under me.

Oh well, just keep plugging away, I guess.

BTW, all of your kind responses brought tears to my eyes.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

Hah! I've got that sick-to-the-stomach-on-the-way-to-work feeling again! I thought those days were gone......and it's hard to find a good ear, because I don't need to hear "You signed up for it" right now. Seems people always like to point that out....

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Hang in there, VirgoRN. You're in an exciting part of nursing. It'll get better. And your confidence will return as it does.

[cookienay]

Here is a thought... maybe they are putting you in the warzone because they know you can handle it. But we all suck at some point- you will get better I promise!!

[CharlieT]

I can have great day after great day, then do something that makes me look, feel, apear to be an idiot. The lows are nearly never as bad as they seem at the moment. The highs are nearly never as good as they seem at the moment.

We are all human. Hugs to ya'.

[DebanamRN, MSN, RN]

I totally sucked when I was new. Now, I just suck sometimes. Mostly, it's ok. Hang in there. Only the uncaring truely suck. You definately don't qualify.

[Lunah, MSN, RN]

There is no suckage. :) Virgo_RN, I definitely love the hangnail zone after a few days in our war zone! Although we also put psych, isolation, and ob/gyn stuff in our hangnail zone, so some days THAT really sucks.

Hang in there. You CAN do this!! We all have bad shifts/days/moments. *hugs*

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

Tonight was much better. I'm 2 for 2 on my ABGs, and I got pulled in to help with a trauma. I'm trying to make myself useful to my co-workers and to establish rapport with them. I'm getting used to the different docs. I'm getting much more aggressive about nausea. If the patient feels even remotely like they could possibly puke at some point, they get the protocol. I'm not messing around ANY MORE when it comes to puke, dammit. Been bitten on the ass one too many times by denying nausea one minute then puking the next.

And babies are getting less scary....though I have not poked one yet, and I'll be terrified when I have to....I'm getting better at IVs, but not THAT much better. I don't even know normal VS for babies. If the baby is alert, wiggles their arms and legs, follows objects with their eyes, coos, smiles, etc., then hey, the baby looks okay to me, and I see no reason to poke them!

Yeah, I'm babbling, but it sure as heck is better than feeling like the Worst Nurse That Ever Lived.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

The ER is the most fun, terrifying place you can be.

I still get butterflies sometimes but that is okay because that is what keeps us on our toes.

BTW if you get a chance to go to an Emergency Nurse Pediatrics Course, do it - it will be invaluable.