Is it normal after graduating to be nervous about being on your own?

[spacy224]

Hello. I am happy to have just graduated with my BSN from a 4 year institution. I should take my boards within the next month. Please keep me in your prayers because I have to pass NCLEX the first time in order to keep my internship at Children's Hospital so really nervous! (I'm about to start the Hurst Online Review soon to prepare).

Anyways, I'm excited for being done with school and getting a job but am also really nervous about being on my own now in the real world and really having lives in my hands. Is that a normal feeling when you are a new nurse? Thankfully, assuming I pass boards the first time, I'll have preceptors during my 6 month internship so maybe that's a good thing to help me get in the flow of things. But still nervous now that I'm really about to be a nurse!

[handyrn]

YUP, you're going to be nervous. We all were.

[pockunit, ADN, RN]

No. If you're nervous, you're a failure.

OF COURSE IT'S NORMAL. :redbeathe

I freaked out about my first day of clinicals, where I wasn't even allowed to look at a chart by myself, let alone do patient care. If you aren't freaked out, you are probably dangerous.

[j621d]

You are happily normal!

[DC Collins, ASN]

May I have a *hell yeah*?

I am about to start my fourth week of work, and I am still nervous. Every nurse I work with tells me that will go away...in about a year, lol.

You're fine :)

DC, ED NOC RN ADN

Abbreviations R Us :)

[Guest717236]

This is a normal response. You are not alone on the unit. In your

internship, your preceptor/s are resource people for you. You will

have a charge nurse,and other experienced RNs after your internship

to consult with. We all start out on RN training wheels, and it takes

years to really drive your RN sports car. Even then you run into

new situations and are constantly learning...hopefully with few

pit stops..

So take it step by step ...

and good luck on the NCLEX!

[Flo., BSN, RN]

you are 100% normal. The scary nurses are the one who are not scared.

[badphish]

Yes it is normal

Why an online nclex review course? Just take a bunch of those practice tests that come with your review books. Look at all those tables and charts in the review books u will be fine. I think people tend to overdue the nclex review. Get themselves all crazy.

[frodo-dog]

After block 1 I still had no idea what being a nurse meant. Having now just finished block 2 of my AAS, I do at least understand the nurse function.

Being in a bit of a panic myself about the impending (I like to panic early) issue of transferring from student to nurse, I calculated out how many hours I would be spending on an actual med. surg. floor during college, which is apparently where you need to be for a year after getting a license. It's not much time, not nearly enough not to be nervous.

I was panicking and asked the nurses about how you can finish an education and then get slapped onto a floor. They had been nurses for just under a year. They detailed about the internship that new grads need.

In the year since graduation, my nurse had not had the opportunity to insert a Huber needle and now, with a second block student (me) trotting behind her, she had to go and "perform" before my adoring eyes. Yes she was nervous and yes she had problems and yes she had to call in the "swat" team. But everyone was supportive and there are procedures for getting backup. It's what happens. Many of the nurses I followed (new and experienced) had problems with starting IV's. Everyone has been there and will go there. Remember that when you preceptor your first new grad on their first day trying not to tremble.

Hence the issue with a nursing shortage and new grads not finding jobs. Experienced nurses are taking on 7-10:1 ratios and working overtime yet no one wants to pay to train a new grad.

Good luck with your new job, the fact that you care means that you are in the right place.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

the new grads who scare me are the ones who are NOT nervous. You are very normal and I am happy to say it is a good quality because you want to do the right thing. It make take a year before you are comfortable in your own skin, so take a deep breath!

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

I am excited and apprehensive as well. I am starting my first job in january. I plan to review for the next 2 weeks, as I also prepare to move. How can we not be a little nervous? This is people's lives. Good luck! :)

[hiddencatRN, BSN, RN]

Yes! Very normal. I think it's abnormal not to be at least a little nervous. All of my friends who started new jobs talked about varying levels of anxiety prior to starting.