New career... New nurse... Terrified...

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I am a 40 year old man. Just got a job at a locale hospital as a GN on a MSPCU floor (which I worked on as a NT during school). I was a caseworker for 10 years, and worked in real estate (title side) for 8 years before that. But I am terrified. I'm starting this new journey a great deal older than most of the other new nurses. (Thank goodness I'm not the oldest! LOL!)

I feel like I don't know enough or am competent enough or ready. I'm questioning why the heck I decided to do this so late in life. I honestly feel like giving my resignation before I am even done with the GN program.

I wasn't the best student in class (never failed a semester, but got by with a C in a couple semesters). So I feel like my knowledge base might be lacking. I was always praised in clinicals and told repeatedly by instructors, preceptors, and other nurses that they think I will make a great nurse (even the manager on my unit says she thinks I will do great), but I feel like my compassion is all I have. LOL!

I know I passed nursing school, I passed the NCLEX first try with 83 questions, and managed to get a job, but I feel like it's dumb luck. That there is so much more that I don't know.

Will I recognize a bad drug combination? Will I catch a doctors order error? Will I know what to do when 'x' or 'y' happens? What if... what if... what if...? So many variables!!

Am I just freaking myself out? Am I ready if I still have so many doubts? Should I just shut-up and be grateful since so many of my classmates can't find work?

Anyone have any advise?

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Totally normal new grad feelings.You feel like have fooled everyone and you don't know anything right? Oh my I was so full of those fears.I think we all are.I think it's much better to be nervous and conscious of what you don't know than be one of those "I'm a new grad and I know it all" people.Relax and don't be too hard on yourself.As in school aren't everything.

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Funny I'm in the same boat maybe not age but i'm a second career nurse. Anyways I just started my first week at my new RN job and I'am scared out of my mind. Like you I was the C student and yet excelled in clinical. I shockingly passed NCLEX in 75 questions. So I was lucky in having a job waiting for me. So I know I don't have much advice but I want to say hang in there! Don't give up before you start you may end up loving it! You joined nursing for a reason! Yet we are both freaking our and it's completely normal to feel this way. Some other new hires were laughing at me because I freaked out if I knew how to do a BP. Of course I DO! They said it comes slowly once you start and that's why your preceptor is there to guide you. We just gotta gain a little confidence! Best of luck! Congrats on your new journey.

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Hey, enough of that! Deep breath! You're smart enough, You're good enough & People Like You

Seriously, 'mature' new grads - especially those who have been successful in other career fields - bring a lot of very valuable skills to the job. In my experience, they are much more proficient at prioritization/time management, much more likely to maintain a 'cool head' and far more resilient than other new grads... able to deal with the emotional rollercoaster (I'm great -> I'm horrible -> I'm great . . etc) that is an inescapable aspect of learning to be a competent nurse.

You got this. :yes:

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Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.

I'm a career changer too working on a MSPCU and its by far the toughest job I've ever done. Whether it be acute care or long term care, nursing is tough and will feel even harder on us newbies. I thought surviving my accelerated BSN program and passing the NCLEX was the toughest thing I've ever done in nursing but I was dead wrong once I started on my unit. To be very honest with you, on several occasions I questioned if I made the best career choice. Many of the new med surge nurses hate to float to my unit because its that tough. I speak to the seasoned nurses on my unit about their first year as a nurse and no matter how many decades of nursing experience they have, all of them remember how rough it was when they were GNs. It's a scary transition for everyone.

You will have amazing days that give you that boost to keep you going and you'll have those days where you want to run for the hills and never come back because you're burnt out. On days off you're recovering from the previous shift. A big reason why I do come back is the support system. The support system on your unit makes a big difference in surviving your first year. No amount of clinicals can really prepare us for surviving our units. Once you come off orientation and your on your own, it will be scary but exude confidence (even if you don't feel like it internally). When I came off orientation, my ANM wrote down in the scheduling book that it was my first day on my own. When I came to work many of my colleagues made sure to check on me throughout the day and reminded me to eat. Trust me when I say you may not have time to think about eating when you have 101 things to do for your patients. Time management will get better with time. I'm still working on it.

All in all, making it and succeeding will be up to you. You made it through nursing school, getting licensed, and now you will be embarking on the real world of nursing. Congrats!

Sent via Glad2baRN's iPhone using allnurses.com

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Specializes in Neuroscience.

Nursing is humbling, but for heaven's sake, do you think you can't take care of that patient because you got a C in a class? Get over it. Live and learn. Welcome to motherhoo...I mean nursing.

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It's probably not OK for me to point this out but... You are a man. You are going to get a lot more leeway than if you were a 22 year old blondie girl with those exact same attitudes. In fact, if you were a 22 year old blondie girl, you probably wouldn't have been hired. You are pretty lucky to get a job.

Not to say you don't have the exact same fears as any other new grad. The point is to portray confidence. Not arrogance, but don't show fear and weakness. Women can pick out those emotions in other women and totally exploit them. You, as a man, will probably escape that. And your female collegues will probably assume a lot more confidence than you have, given that you are a guy. I hate to make a gender stereotype but nursing isn't gender blind.

All I can say is fake confidence untill you actually have confidence. I bet in a year they will make you charge nurse.

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