hi everyone! i'm holli. i took boards on june 13th and passed with 75 questions. i am starting work on july 18th at the only hospital i ever wanted to work for. it is a great pediatric facility! i will be on the (post-op) surgical floor, and we also have all of the endocrine kids. also, they just added an epilepsy monitoring unit, for overnight monitoring and for the brain mapping they are doing. i expressed an interest in that, so they will cross-train me in that unit as well. i can't wait to get started!
Greetings All. I am so excited to have found this website. I am a new RN who graduated in May. I took the NCLEX in June and passed with 75 questions. This is my second profession and I am struggling with confidence in being a new RN. I am working in a busy Emergency Room and feel like I have had a good orientation. I am constantly asking questions and feel supported by the staff I am working with. My problem is confidence. I want to be a great nurse, but when things go wrong, I am so fearful and just don't know what to do. I am starting the night shift before too long and am also terrified about how this is going to work. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can build some confidence without having to dread going back to work. I really do love what I am doing, but sometimes I feel totally overwhelmed. Maybe I am developing an anxiety problem in my 30's! Thanks for the advice..
Greetings All. I am so excited to have found this website. I am a new RN who graduated in May. I took the NCLEX in June and passed with 75 questions. This is my second profession and I am struggling with confidence in being a new RN. I am working in a busy Emergency Room and feel like I have had a good orientation. I am constantly asking questions and feel supported by the staff I am working with. My problem is confidence. I want to be a great nurse, but when things go wrong, I am so fearful and just don't know what to do. I am starting the night shift before too long and am also terrified about how this is going to work. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can build some confidence without having to dread going back to work. I really do love what I am doing, but sometimes I feel totally overwhelmed. Maybe I am developing an anxiety problem in my 30's! Thanks for the advice..
Hi, and welcome! I'm in much the same boat, except that I'm 49. I work on a neuro floor, rather than ER. And since I'm working these things out myself, I can't offer much sage wisdom.
For what it's worth, I'm trying hard to cherish every success, however small, and to look upon every ridiculous blunder as a learning experience. If I were doing a careplan on myself, it would say Learns best by: the hard way. I won't say nothing comes easily. My patients and their families seem to know that I really do care, and that helps, sometimes a lot. Caring isn't enough, but it's a start.
I had a good night, night before last. Got an admission right after report, so I had five head-to-toes and an admission. Got a quick peek at all my patients, head-to-toes on the two worst, did my admission, and finished my assessments just in time to start 2200 meds. Had one pt with severe pain and nausea, had to page service a lot and they wouldn't do PRN meds, so each dose was a one-time order. By midnight, I was starting to see some light, but now it's time for another round of full assessments, and still having to page for toradol and phenergan. By 0200, I felt like I was pretty much on top of things, by 0700 everything was done except one PEG dressing I forgot, and charting. Wound up staying over three hours to chart (bad) but on the whole, digging my way out of a mess was a good experience.
I know the day will come when I can manage these things better. Entering orders on the computer eats a lot of my time, since a lot are still unfamiliar. We're strongly encouraged to strongly encourage the docs to put their own orders in (less chance for miscommunication) but the more I do it, the more I learn how.
The next night (last night) was a lot easier, and that's good, because I needed it, but I learned a lot more while I was swamped.
I get butterflies on the way to work, every time. I get close to panic from time to time at work. I get discouraged, frustrated, and even sometimes almost feel a little cheated that I was a very good student in school, and now I'm having to fight and claw my way to some semblence of competence. But, gee, you know what? It's fun. Who'da thunk it?
Good luck with your transition. I know it's hard. Apparently it has to be hard. I'm not sure why, but I guess that's how it is. We are so going to laugh about this, someday.
Thanks. I am sure one day we will laugh at this, but right now I would rather cry! I am enjoying what I am doing, and the ER is a great place to learn. It is a nice mix of basic skills and critical care. I would have LOVED to have done neuro, but we really don't have a neuro unit in our local hospital and I did not really want to have to drive some distance, especially with the price of gas now! I miss having the patient relationships, but I know that even in the short ER encounters I might be able to make a difference to someone. That is afterall why I went back for another degree in nursing. I too was one of the top students in my class and it is difficult for me to feel like I am struggling. I guess that is a good life lesson. I am continuing to strive to be good at what I am doing. Each day I try and learn something new and take the good moments when they come. How are you managing working nights? I start this week and am trying to stay up late in preparation. I have never been a night person so I am a little frightened...Thanks for responding.
hi i graduated in may, work on the med surg floor at Enloe Medical Center, in Chico CA, love the job just getting used to all the excitement. I am on the noc shift now and its a little boring, but I love being a LVN, and will go back to school next fall to be a RN. see ya for now
Wow! There are a lot of wonderful stories on this forum. There is such diversity in the departments people are starting on and the life experience they bring to the career.
My name is Mark. Nursing is my first job, but my second degree (I also have a BS Psychology). I graduated in December of 2004, waited to take my NCLEX until March, passed with 75 questions, and started my career in earnest in June.
I started on an ICU, because I dream of becoming a CRNA (Certified Registered Nurse Anaesthesis). I love it on "the unit" and could not think of working on any other department. This is my last week on orientation and I had the greatest preceptor in the whole world.
Hi may name is nicole i took my boards in june and failed but took them again on aug 10th and passed i started work on Aug 15th on an oncology/surgical floor im on my 3rd week of orientation at night. Welcome ALL
My name is Heidi. I graduated with an ADN in May, and took the NCLEX June 27, passed with 75 questions. I started working in Med/Surg in St. Paul, MN in June, but it's not for me. I was offered a job in NICU at a hospital in Minneapolis, and I will start there October 3! I am so excited, NICU is what I really want to do, I have firsthand experience with it, my son lived and died in a NICU, and I did a preceptorship in one last spring.
My name is Heidi. I graduated with an ADN in May, and took the NCLEX June 27, passed with 75 questions. I started working in Med/Surg in St. Paul, MN in June, but it's not for me. I was offered a job in NICU at a hospital in Minneapolis, and I will start there October 3! I am so excited, NICU is what I really want to do, I have firsthand experience with it, my son lived and died in a NICU, and I did a preceptorship in one last spring.
Howdy all! My name is Melissa, I graduated this past May, passed boards with the maximum number in July, and my first job was on the burn unit, which I no longer work on after 3 months. Currently I am confused as to where to work after leaving the burn unit. Any suggestions of areas that people are enjoying?
I also graduated in May and have been working in the OR. I did work there before, as an LVN, and am loving it as an RN too. Some days seem crazy and I wonder if I'll ever be fast enough or be able to remember everything, but other days are just so much fun! I love that we work with one patient at a time - your time with them is short, but you have the opportunity to make a big impact in that time. I can't imagine working anywhere else. Good luck to you!
Christine
Howdy all! My name is Melissa, I graduated this past May, passed boards with the maximum number in July, and my first job was on the burn unit, which I no longer work on after 3 months. Currently I am confused as to where to work after leaving the burn unit. Any suggestions of areas that people are enjoying?
Hello everyone! My name is Kristen. I graduated in May with my ADN. Sat for boards in June. Failed it with the maximum number of questions, then sat again in August and passed. I have been working in the ER of the second busiest ER in Dallas-Fort Worth area. I've just gotten out of a 12 week internship, and am on my own! What an amazing feeling!
EaglePacerRN
2 Posts
Greetings All. I am so excited to have found this website. I am a new RN who graduated in May. I took the NCLEX in June and passed with 75 questions. This is my second profession and I am struggling with confidence in being a new RN. I am working in a busy Emergency Room and feel like I have had a good orientation. I am constantly asking questions and feel supported by the staff I am working with. My problem is confidence. I want to be a great nurse, but when things go wrong, I am so fearful and just don't know what to do. I am starting the night shift before too long and am also terrified about how this is going to work. Does anyone have any suggestions about how I can build some confidence without having to dread going back to work. I really do love what I am doing, but sometimes I feel totally overwhelmed. Maybe I am developing an anxiety problem in my 30's! Thanks for the advice..