Mind-Block

[al3x117, RN, EMT-B]

I'm a nurse with 6 months experience at a SNF. I recently got hired into the hospital on the medsurg/tele floor. I'm still in new grad orientation. My question is why am I slow. It's like my mind is going in slow-mo on the busy medsurg floor and your bombarded with tasks that you have to literally triage throughout the whole 12 hour shift. It's like my mind is fuzzy on the floor. Any experienced nurses know how to overcome this as a new nurse. I'm just really struggling trying to piece things together. You only get so much information in shift report but there are so many other aspects to patient care on the floor that can be really overwhelming. My gut tells me that it'll all click but I just keep asking myself when. Any advice would be much appreciated.

[HappyRabbit]

Hi- I'm a new nurse too and just wanted you to know that you are not alone. I read your description of being bombarded and feeling too slow and went, "Yep- that's the feeling." I described it to someone as if I'm in a rocket ship hurling thru space, and I'm supposed to grab all these stars as they go whizzing by and pin them down, but everything just speeds by so fast that there is no way I can grab all these stars. I cried at work and was told this is Normal New Nurse Overwhelm. Last week I started to feel better- so I know there's hope. It's not that I feel more in control, rather more comfortable with the chaos. Hang in there.