Inexperienced RN

Published

hello all. i'm new to this site. i'm currently unemployed, living at a remote base in belgium with my husband. we will be relocating to the us in a few months and i am afraid that i won't be able to get a nursing job because i lack nursing skills/ experience. i know cna's & cma's who have more clinical skills than me. i wasn't impressed with my nursing education even though i received good grades. they valued the importance of communication rather than actual clinical skills. so now i know how to communicate therapeutically, but i don't know how to start an iv and i absolulety suck at drawing blood, esp on a peds patient. after graduating in 2002, i landed a job at a peds clinc where i gave shots all day long, attempted caths, and did few blood draws. and now 2-3 years later i've been unemployed and away from the us for over a year. i'm at the point where i feel useless as a nurse...is this even the right career path for me? for those of you who work in a hospital setting, do hospitals provide training for new nurses or just feed them to the wolves? i didn't enjoy my hospital rotation back in college, everyone seemed too stressed and overworked to teach me. i never want to be one of those grumpy, mean, old nurses who like to bite the heads off of new grads...hehe

bentley

Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

Hello and welcome to the wonderful family of allnurses.com. Enjoy your stay, and best of luck to you. :)

Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

Don't feel bad you just haven't had time or the place to learn your skills, someone will hire you and give you orientation, probably like a new grad. Maybe when you get back to the states look for a nurse refresher course this should help.

Look for a good nurse refresher course. It will help you get back in the swing of things and regain your confidence.

I think you will do just fine.

Good luck

Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatric, Behavioral Health.

Welcome to allnurses!!!!!

Specializes in Behavioral Health.

I agree with sunnyjohn. Find a good refresher course when you get back stateside.

If you think about it...nursing school isn't really about the clinical "skills"...any one can learn them with enough practice (most people anyway :chuckle ).

Don't doubt yourself. We need a few more good nurses out there.

Is your DH Air Force??? I am a Navy spouse and my sis-in-law is in the AF and transferring to a base in Beligum this fall.

Best wishes to you.

Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.
hello all. i'm new to this site. i'm currently unemployed, living at a remote base in belgium with my husband. we will be relocating to the us in a few months and i am afraid that i won't be able to get a nursing job because i lack nursing skills/ experience. i know cna's & cma's who have more clinical skills than me. i wasn't impressed with my nursing education even though i received good grades. they valued the importance of communication rather than actual clinical skills. so now i know how to communicate therapeutically, but i don't know how to start an iv and i absolulety suck at drawing blood, esp on a peds patient. after graduating in 2002, i landed a job at a peds clinc where i gave shots all day long, attempted caths, and did few blood draws. and now 2-3 years later i've been unemployed and away from the us for over a year. i'm at the point where i feel useless as a nurse...is this even the right career path for me? for those of you who work in a hospital setting, do hospitals provide training for new nurses or just feed them to the wolves? i didn't enjoy my hospital rotation back in college, everyone seemed too stressed and overworked to teach me. i never want to be one of those grumpy, mean, old nurses who like to bite the heads off of new grads...hehe

bentley

:balloons: hello and welcome :balloons:

when applying for a new position in a hospital, they will give you several weeks of orientation. however, i suggest to utilize some type of refresher course before applying. you will fare much better, i am sure.

i am sure you can do just fine.

thank you everyone for the replies. i'm looking forward to joining the nursing force again =) i will look for a refresher class when i head back to the us. regarding your sister in law going to belgium, if she's stationed at mons/shape she will probably enjoy the tour since that is a larger base, but i'm at kb which is very remote and there are no jobs available.

bentley

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