Need some encouragement

SubSippi · Feb 14, 2014

You want to feel like you're progressing…you've started a brand new job as a nurse. There is NO WAY you are not learning a ton, and there's no way that you're not better at it now than you would have been six weeks ago. Similarly, if you continue to show up to work, there is NO WAY you won't get the hang of it, and I bet it will be sooner than you think. Nursing is very hard…but it's not rocket science. If you're managed to graduate from nursing school, pass the NCLEX, AND THEN convince someone to hire you, then you can learn how to do it.

Clinicals do nothing to prepare you for a real job, so you are starting from scratch. Don't expect to be good at something you're brand new at. You should expect to be frazzled and confused at first., and that's what all your new coworkers expect from you. It's hard to figure out how a hospital works, how to use the computer system, etc. I'm pretty new, about seven months into my first job and I felt like I was drowning the first couple of months off orientation, as did the other new grads I was hired with. I would say by about month three on our own, we were all feeling better, and by now we have our time management skills down pretty well.

In summary…

Don't. Panic. There are always people around to help in an emergency and to answer questions, and if it takes you a while to pass meds at first then no big deal. It happens. You're new, you're not supposed to be good. Keep trying your hardest, you'll figure it out.

xoxJanexoxDoexox · Feb 14, 2014

Did you try using a new brain? A new brain sheet that is! I've seen other posts about the importance of a well thought out sheet when it comes to time management and effectiveness. Hopefully a few of the more seasoned nurses can post one for you..or maybe try "brain sheet" in the search box. You made it six weeks and only have four left to go! You can do it

splendid, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Feb 17, 2014

Thanks for posting this. I'm 11 weeks into my first job as an RN and still feeling the same way: anywhere from sort of incompetent to completely incompetent. I haven't had a formal orientation because the Critical Access Hospital I work at is tiny, so my orientation has consisted of working as an additional RN and learning as much as I can during each shift. A couple of things I'm noticing:

(1) The degree to which I feel like I'm progressing has quite a bit to do with who I worked with that shift. Most of the staff are pretty good about helping me learn and pushing me when I need it, but there are a few (RNs and otherwise) who rub me the wrong way and make me feel stupid and hopeless. For whatever reason, their style and mine don't mesh. I suspect that they either don't want to or don't care to remember what it's like to be a novice who knows next to nothing and is just struggling to keep one's head above water. When I work with them I put in extra effort to remind myself that I'm doing the best that I can, that this is a difficult transition, and that I'm improving with each and every shift I work (even if it doesn't always feel that way).

(2) As xoxJanexoxDoexox suggested, getting your own methods of organization established will go far in helping you feel like you're gaining some control over your work. I've found that it's frustrating to have different people each showing me how to do things and then criticizing me when I do it the way someone else showed me (or that the same person showed me in a different way the week before!). At some point I'll know enough to know that I'm working within acceptable parameters and be able to say "you do it your way and I'll do it mine" but right now I'm still learning what's expected in the first place. I did come up with my own "brain" which I use in conjunction with one of the pre-printed forms the other nurses use; it has prompts for the parts of my inpatient assessments that I can mark off as I do them, spaces for labs that are most common/important, and room for random notes (things to talk to the physician about, etc.). On the reverse side I have an hourly schedule where I write down meds, when someone needs VS, etc. When I use that sheet I feel much more organized and on top of my game. As for the ED part of my job, I'm still figuring out a system for how to keep track of things there. I've also started working surgical recovery and will need to figure out a system for that as well. This all takes time and experience. We need to keep reminding ourselves that NOBODY had things figured out immediately when they began working as nurses, and it's okay to be patient with ourselves even when others aren't.

I don't know if any of that will help but I 100% understand where you're at because I'm right there with you. I guess we should be grateful for the co-workers who make an effort to help us, and try not to let the less understanding ones get to us too much. Easier said than done, but their actions and attitudes say more about them than they do about us.

I've begun promising myself that if I ever have the opportunity to work with a brand-new RN that I'll do everything I can to be supportive and build them up rather than tear them down. Negativity is NOT the way to help anyone learn or be encouraged in a new endeavor.

Good luck. I hope we can both hang in there and that at some point things will improve. Everything I've read here says that at some point (probably between 6 months and 1 year), it will. Until then, we need to have faith that we're heading toward competence, one difficult shift at a time.

NurseNightOwl, BSN, RN · Feb 17, 2014

It took me several weeks before I didn't cry on the way home from my first job. You will eventually get more comfortable, and don't let the jerks get you down!