4 more months.....and I feel sick!

[CountrifiedRN]

Ever since I started nursing school, I couldn't wait for graduation day, to be a nurse. But now that graduation is right around the corner, I'm feeling really anxious and scared. Our instructors keep saying "In just a few short months, you will have RN behind your name, and you'll be on your own" and every time I hear that I start to feel nauseous.

I'm so afraid that I won't be able to keep up with everything I need to do, I feel really unprepared. I know that there is an orientation program to go through, but I've also heard stories of new grads being cut short on their orientation because of short staffing. There are so many skills that I haven't been able to practice in clinicals, and what if I get out there as a nurse and can't do something because of lack of skill??

Anyone else feeling the anxiety of graduation? Please tell me I'm not alone!:chair:

[Dr. Kate, BSN, RN]

Be prepared to ask questions, read the P&P manuals, check your books, and occ. make a fool of yourself. Be ready to laugh at yourself, pick yourself up and go on even when you think you can't. Know every one of us has something we don't do well or would prefer not to do or deal with.

And for what it's worth:

For the first 18 years I was an RN, I could not consistently or even occ get an NG tube inserted. I used to say if someone put a gun to my head and said they'd shoot if I don't put the NG tube in, I'd tell them to shoot me because there was no way I'd get it in. I could sometimes, if the planets were aligned correctly, get one in someone who had an et tube and was comatose. During those 18 years, I got really good at a lot of other things, including teaching people how to put in NG tubes. I got certified in two specialties. Then, all of a sudden, I got an NG tube in and the person wasn't intubated and was awake. Then it happened again, and again, and again. I don't know what happened or changed. But it only took 18 years. I also learned along the way to laugh at myself, a lot.

[Stargazer]

Dr. Kate: too funny! I did the same thing with IV's! Got into this cycle a couple of years after graduation where I would try and fail and then get really stressed about it, so I would be extra-nervous the next time and fail again, then I was embarassed that I couldn't get them, then I avoided them, etc. etc. Finally one day I had this really calm, Zen moment where I thought, "Well, I'll just sit down and take my time and try, and if I get it, I get it and if I don't, I don't." Got the IV in on the first try with this elderly man with horribly sclerosed veins (chronic steroid use secondary to autoimmune disorder). As I was taping it up, his wife squealed, "Are you in already? It normally takes at least 4 tries to get an IV on him!"

After that, I was fine.

[CountrifiedRN]

Thank you all so much for your kind words and advice. I have gotten some really good suggestions here, and I plan on putting them to use. I like the idea of posting a list for my last semester of skills that I need to work on. This idea comes at the perfect time because we are doing team leading in our clinical groups, which means that one student each week will be like a charge nurse, make the assignments and basically oversee the other group members. So I can try to put in requests for the skills I need.

Dr Kate and Stargazer, your stories are too funny! I haven't gotten to try an NG tube yet, but my IV skills are terrible. I've tried a total of four times, 2 times on two patients, and couldn't get it. So it gives me hope to hear that it eventually falls into place.

I talked to one of my instructors from last semester today, and told her how I feel. She assured me that she thought I would be just fine. I guess I just have to take it one day at a time.

It really means a lot to me to have support from all of you here. My friends and family just don't understand, even though they try. Thanks!

[fab4fan]

This is coming from someone who gets called to do difficult sticks for the floors: There are days that I feel like I couldn't hit the broad side of a barn, let alone start an IV.

When you graduate, what you've done is successfully complete the basics to satisfy your nursing program. You do not graduate an expert. Skills come with time, time, time. Nursing intuition comes with time, time, time.

It might be interesting for you to keep a journal when you start your job as a grad. That way, after say 6 months, you can go back and read where you were when you first started, and how much progress you've made. Then reread it in a year, etc. You'll see that you're learning and making more advancement then you think.

Just be sure to hold your ground when it comes to orientation; make sure you get the time that you need...this is your time to learn.

And know that everybody feels this way when they're pushed "out of the nest," so to speak. I'd be a lot more worried about you if you said you couldn't see why a new grad would be nervous about starting to work as a staff nurse...now THAT'S scary!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Love-A-Nurse]

(((((debby))))), i believe you will do fine and be a great nurse.

[peaceful2100, BSN, RN]

I think it is normal, I am graduating at the end of this semester too and I am nervous in fact the first day back reality hit all of us and all my classmates were like OMG, we are graduating here in a few months. We are all have pre-graduation jitters. The instructors told us to calm down and the instructors said they have all been there and done that and survived. They also told us that they would be VERY worried if we did NOT have some kind of jitters/anxiety going through us right about now.