Lonely new nurse/ do you have nurse friends?

[BFLORES]

Do you have nurse friends? I am so thankful that I have a job as a new grad & I even lucked up in a hospital. Unfortunately, I think (at the moment) this has cause a slight strain on some of my friendships formed in nursing school. I am the first of my friends with this opportunity. I am hopeful & encouraging to my friends, but it is obvious that things have changed. Currently, I am in orientation & I hope once I am on the floor & others have warmed up to me...I'll gain more friendships. I am just bummed, wanted to vent, and wanted to know if anyone has been in a similar position. I plan to join organizations outside & w/in the hospital & also volunteer because I am passionate about being an active contributor. I am very friendly & out-going, but I am curious if anyone has any other ideas or ways they made nurse friends? Lord knows, it is nice to have those relationships!

[Bill E. Rubin]

Congratulations on the job! I feel your pain in a way, as I've been working in my unit for 2 years and I still don't have any real friends (though, in a reference to a Dilbert cartoon I saw some years ago, I have a small handful of coworkers who have been promoted from coworkers I'm friendly with to friends whom I never see outside of work).

Fortunately, I have friends outside of work and a rich and active life, yet it would be nice to have a friend or two who gets what I do for a living that I can hang with.

I have a couple of friends from school with whom I remain in touch, but they work at different hospitals with different schedules, and if it weren't for facebook, I would rarely keep in touch with them.

[Sparrowhawk]

NEver make friends at work. They're never true, don't last and end up being on the bad side.

[Orange Tree]

Be very careful about friendships your form at work. Take this time to realize that not everyone can be trusted and you should not be completely open and speak your mind with everyone. Be nice, courteous, and warm, but never let them see something you do or hear something you say that they can hold over you later. You don't know which of your coworkers is truly nice, and which one will be nice to your face but run back to the charge nurse and make sure she knows that you took an extra 2 mins coming back from break and that you didn't know what to do when something happened to one of your patients.

My thoughts....exactly! I plan to spend about 5 years listening before I dare to speak

[ShannonRN2010, BSN, RN]

I met my now BFF while working my first LPN job. :)

She and I worked at Urgent Care together, then at in LTC, then I went to the hospital, then I left and she went to the hospital, she got her RN license, I was an LPN, she became a DON of a LTC facility and I worked for her and made lots of nurse friends at that place. It is kinda weird, your best friend being your boss...lol

I hardly talk to ppl from LPN school and just a few from RN school, whom I happen to work with.

Just give it time...it will happen!

[morphed]

People you meet in passing phases of your life will eventually fade into your past. As far as friends at work, there was a study done that found that friendships formed at work generally lasted up to 1 year after one of the friends left the mutual place of employment. If work is the only thing you and someone else has in common, then the friendship probably won't last very long after one of you leaves.

To have more of a friendship with work people, you need to have some other activity/experience that bonds the two of you. I would seriously avoid getting too close with anyone though, you never know people's real intentions. And do not get involved in gossip, but I think you should listen to it if someone wants to say something. It's those tidbits of info that helps you realize "X is BFFs with the mgr so make sure I am extra careful with her", "Y will turn on you if she feels threatened so make sure I don't seem like a know it all around her", "Z will tell everyone what you tell her in confidence so make sure I don't spill too much with her." Don't get too caught up with it, but just listen to what people say and take what they say with a grain of salt.

I think you should look more towards becoming friends with people that you don't have to deal with on a daily basis. Other RNs and doctors that you meet at seminars, luncheons, etc. would be great people to get to know and they'll provide an additional benefit: a contact. Those people would make great contacts if you were trying to get a certain job or into a certain program. Plus they will be away from the drama that is work so they won't be part of work place politics/drama.

[msqtsmith]

I am looking for the same friendship! But I live in Wylie, TX near nobody LOL!

[swansonplace]

One option is even though you are working is to take a class toward a future goal. This way you can ease into the working world, and still have the friendships and support of the school environment. If you took it at your old school, you would still have your connections with your friends, and you can build new friendships gradually outside of school. It's a bit less traumatic, and lots more fun. Something new and somthing old.

[danh3190]

A couple of my nursing school classmates will always be friends even though I don't see them much anymore.

I don't have any real friends at work although I like and am friendly with most of the staff there. I just don't see work as a social occasion. I'm there to take care of my patients.

All of my friends are from activities outside of work.