My Very First Day...

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I have been a CNA for the past 13 years now and I just recently got my ASN degree. I have been at the same hospital for the past 4 years now as a Tech, so when I graduated, my boss offered me a job in the ICU. I was thrilled!! Just out of school, and I already have a job! Well, today was my very first day of orientation and since I already work at the hospital, I got to skip a lot of the general orientation. My boss put me right on the floor following a very experienced nurse. We had the responsibility of taking care of a man on a vent that had 3 different IV sites and multiple drugs running. (almost none of which were compatible, of course :-S ) It seemed like there was no way that we could care for another patient. My preceptor was extremely busy the whole day, not even getting much of a lunch break. We had no tech, so we did all of his care on top of all of the million other things this man needed. I was so excited to finally be on the other side, but I had greatly underestimated what my first day would be. I had absolutely NO IDEA the amount of charting that goes into taking care of someone with such a high acuity. I remained calm and just retained as much as I could. I walked away today feeling completely overwhelmed, and I am pretty sure that my brain resembles jelly. By the time I got home, I was completely exhausted. I guess the bottom line that I am trying to make is that as a CNA, I really had no idea just what the nurses did from day to day. To me, it just looked like they charted and gave meds, but after today, I have a whole new respect for my co-workers and fellow nurses everywhere! I am going to try very hard to not get discouraged, and hopefully someday I can be just as amazing as the nurse I shadowed today.

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Beginning your nursing career in an ICU is extremely challenging. It's your first day.

Take time to learn, please.

Wish your thread could be crossed to the CNA threads.

P.S. Unless that patient was crashing, he wasn't that complicated.

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He was pretty unstable, but I am sure I have to leave it at that. I am going to be sure to learn all that I can. It is a great opportunity, and I feel honored and excited that I get to work with nurses that have 30+ years of experience. I look forward to gaining some of their knowledge. Thanks for the input!

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Specializes in Hospice.

Awesome attitude! Don't lose your enthusiasm for learning. So glad you have a wonderful preceptor and role model.

It's funny to me to look back to when I was a CNA and realize how much I DIDN'T know about what nurses do.

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Specializes in critical care, ER,ICU, CVSURG, CCU.

you have fantstic opportunity learn all you can, and do the next right thing

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

Thank you for sharing your positive attitude and generous spirit with us. I wish you all the best of luck in your new job.

One piece of advice: Don't let anyone short-change you out of orientation experiences just because you have worked there for a while. As you well appreciate, your new job role is very different from you old one -- and you need to get those learning experiences and the time to absorb it all just like any other new grad.

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