Is this normal for new grads?

Nurses New Nurse

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I'm a new grad nurse currently working on a med/surg unit. I am on my 3rd month of working. Every time I go home, I always have work on my mind! It drives me insane. I always think "did I do this?", "did I do that?", "oh crap! I forgot to tell nurse sally about this on report!" Is this normal for new grad nurses? Sometimes I'll wake up knowing that I did forget to do something on my shift and my heart will start racing. When my phone rings and I see the hospital's number on the caller id, I always think "Omg omg omg! I hope I didn't do anything wrong"

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I would say YES!! for a good at least 6 months after I started as a new grad I swear I was tachycardic and hypertensive on days I worked (and the day before and after). I couldn't fall asleep cuz all I could hear was the blood pounding through my ears and i could literally feel (without touching) my carotids pulsating and feel my heart pounding inside me. This would freak me out and probably made it worse, haha. I would wake up in the middle of sleeping and feel the same things. It eventually went away. I would also keep hearing all the iv pumps (especially the micro infusers) once I got back home especially while I was taking a shower. And of course always wonder if there was something at work that I missed. Not fun...

This won't last forever.

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Specializes in med surg ltc psych.

Yes! I was a new grad hired on to an ortho neuro floor at a hospital of all places as an LPN! I was thrust into a high level of care very soon. The PCA pumps were a scary task to me, and so I was in and out of the med room a lot. I had a set of med room keys, just two unmarked keys on a ring. One night after working a 12 hr shift I was in my bathroom at home and my eyes instantly zoomed onto a set of.. 2 keys. OMG I left with the med room keys! I am so in trouble and will have to get back in the car and drive right back. No.. they weren't the M room keys, just looked like they were. Those keys had been in that bathroom on that shelf for 2 yrs and I started hyperventilating when I saw them thinking the worst. I had many more OMG episodes beyond that too!

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Emergency, CEN.

Totally normal. You'll relax after a bit. Your dreams will return to normal. You're still in nursing school mode where you think you'll be expelled for getting a fingerstick a half hour too early. Real life is a little more flexible.

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I've been a nurse for almost 2 yrs and this still happens. I never know whether to call and bother the nurse I handed off my pts to with the things that I forgot to pass on, now that it's several hours later or if I should just let it go. It's an awful feeling. I just realized I forgot to chart a bolus from last night, this after the on-call evening resident wanted strict I&Os after the previous day shift had not charted anything. Ughhh. There is just so much to keep on top of and feel guilty about when you miss something! If this happened to me every day the stress would kill me, thankfully I usually dot my Is and cross my Ts before I leave the building ;).

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Specializes in Med Surg, Hospice, Home Health.

yep-nurse for 15 yrs here-i work as a weekend on call nurse for hospice, but i still worry i forgot to tell someone something.

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