New Grad Anxiety

[nurseme3, LPN]

I am off my 3 month orientation starting next week and generally feel ready. My preceptors say that I am doing a great job and am right where I should be. However, my anxiety levels on off-work hours are through the roof. I dream about nursing stuff all the time, get anxious and nauseous during my days off thinking about going back in to work, and occasionally deal with bouts of insomnia. My anxiety is split half between worrying that I may hurt a patient and the fact that the experienced, day nurses really intimidate me. I want to do the best job I can, but I cannot keep operating at such a high baseline level of anxiety. Any tips, suggestions? Also, any tips for giving a confident hand-off report? (There is one nurse in particular--a known non-favorite of many--who dug into me about something that wasn't my fault and my preceptor defended me. I am scared to lose the preceptor safety blanket!)

Thanks for reading and for any suggestions.

[starletRN]

I don't have a lot of advice on this subject. I have been off orientation for over 6 months. It does get better but I still occasionally come home and worry that I might have harmed a patient or forgotten to do something important.

Just do a search on this forum. You will find plenty of people who were or are in the same boat you are and you will find more tips on how to manage stress.

I think for me what has gotten me through so far is my relationship with Jesus and prayer. It has calmed me down more times than I can count. Also, as you gain experience your anxiety will go down because there will be less and less to be unsure about.

[CodyRN]

Hi,

I am experiencing something similar. I recently moved to a different, much larger, hospital and an entirely different area of nursing. It is difficult on more than one level and I don't know what to tell you except that a few things seem to be helping me. When I get home, I review what I did that day, make a list of the things I know I did right and a list of the things I know I need to improve on. It sort of helps to see the list and change my perspective since I tend to be very hard on myself and it worsens the anxiety. I try to give myself credit for even the tiniest baby steps in the right direction. Then, I just have to tell myself that the day is over and try to move on. What is even worse, for me, is that I was a #1 student and so this struggle feels so bad. I did speak to my manager and trainers because one week, my anxiety got to the point I was ready to quit nursing altogether and I hadn't slept in two solid days. They have been very supportive and gave me a little extra time on orientation, which was both good and bad. Good, because I needed it; Bad, because I feel like I'm behind and that makes me feel worse. My preceptor always tells me, "Nursing is 24 hours," so when I worry that I forgot something or overlooked something, it encourages me that the patient has another nurse after me to hopefully catch anything I missed. Patient safety being the #1 concern of all nurses, right? All we can do is take one day at a time. I am really trying to maintain balance in the rest of my life, spend time with family, get enough rest, eat healthy and do some of the things I love to support myself during this struggle. Sometimes it takes everything I have to try to keep my mind off of work. It also helps me to pray, because when I know there's nothing more I can do, I have to do something, and it helps to believe that God is "always on the job," even when I'm not. One last thing, fear can paralyze us and then we are no good to anybody, not even ourselves. Hang in there, I'm trying to! And take it one day at a time.