?'ing becoming a nurse now...

[Calzonan RN]

I had to get my CNA certificate as a pre-req for nursing school. Right now I'm in block I, and have yet to do my clinicals, so when an agency called me a couple of weeks ago to work as an agency CNA I jumped at the chance. I was really excited about working in a hospital and hoping that I'd be more comfortable when I started clinicals. I showed up at the hospital for my shift. I was working 7p-7a, and figured since it was nights it would be a little slower, which was good since it had been 15 months since I finished my CNA class. Well it turns out I was the only CNA on the whole floor. And the beds were full, 30 pt's. The charge nurse was really nice and took about half of the patients while I covered the others. The other nurses were really nice to me too, which I was thankful for. It really sort of scared me though, to see how stressfull and overworked the nurses were. We were all running around nonstop all night long and it seemed like being understaffed was a normal thing at this hospital. I had been told by some friends that med/surg wouldn't be too bad, most of the pt's should be BP, but almost all of them were CBR. Five of my pt's were in isolation, one of them was physically restrained and would scream at anyone who entered her room. As soon as I received report my first instinct was to run!! Get out while I still could, but I couldn't do that to the nurses so I stayed and helped as best I could. I have considered going into perioperative nursing after NS but have been advised that I should spend at least a year in med/surg to strengthen my nursing skills. After my experience the other night I'm not sure I ever want to go back to med/surg, let alone spend a year there!! Did any of you that are nurses feel like this at first? Was it all a little overwhelming, or have I made a horrible decision to go into nursing? I'd appreciate any advice you can give, thanks,

Keli

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

Of course i think anyone new to med/surg will feel a bit overwhelmed at first. But it sounds as if you had a good group to work with that were trying to support you and help as much as they could.

It does get better as you get your routine worked out and get more comfortable around an acute care setting. There will be bad days and good, just like anyplace else.

Dont throw in the towel already, give it a chance, maybe they had some call offs or are just having a high patient census right now. See what develops for a while and if you still are as anxious in a couple months then maybe think about a different area of nursing. But dont give up nursing all together, because they have days like that everywhere else,, including McDonalds.

[DallasRN]

Oh, my gosh! I'm sorry, but your post made me laugh.

Absolutely yes!!! - to answer your question. I've been in nursing practice for almost 25 years now and counting school, it would be almost 30, but I can STILL remember those days of being so overwhelmed I didn't know which end was up. And truthfully? I still have days like that occasionally. I work med-surg now and love it after spending about 15 years in the ICU/ER environment. It's a different can of worms, but it can be very rewarding. That isn't to say there are some days I come home convinced I hate nursing, hospitals, patients, doctors, and even the birds outside. But I'm always ready to go back within a day or two. Maybe it's the challenge. :)

I've got to give you a round of applause for even attempting to work that sort of assignment with no experience to back you up. And you hung in there like a champ! :yelclap:

Education, knowledge, experience, and talking to other nurses will slowly make you feel more at ease, but you will still have those overwhelming days. Just part of the territory. And like the other poster said, even those working at McDonalds get overwhelmed at times. Patience, my friend. Nursing requires a bunch of patiencs on all fronts. Hang in there!