Hello allnurses community! Love the postings here! I'm a new grad and have been working in the ED for 5 months now. I had the worst night ever! I had a pt with CVA who we ended up giving tPA. However, as the night progressed post tPA administration, the pt's respiratory status seemed to be deteriorating. The pt began to desat, his RR shot up, the pt became more and more restless and agitated, and suddenly the pt became extremely diaphoretic and had audible rales...he ended up with aspiration pneumonia d/t dysphagia. When the pt started to desat and I noticed I had to suction him more and more often, I had asked the ER MD multiple times to come take a look at the pt, only to be told to put a NRB on the pt. Well in the end, we ended up having to tube the pt and it took another nurse to yell at the MD to come in and take look! I'm so frustrated. First of all, does anyone know of a good way to prevent these types of complications post ischemic CVA? I've been searching journals and haven't found much.
But the bigger issue for me...is it normal for new grads to feel the like the dumbest nurse that ever came down the pipe when things like this occur? Is it normal to feel so incompetent when other nurses have to "take the reign" of your own pt? I totally feel like I could have done more to avoid these complications but I don't know what. I know I have my lack of experience working against me, but I hate feeling like this. My charge nurse was extremely supportive and told me not to worry that we all [meaning all ER nurses] have been where I am now in a hot mess and sometimes things like this just happen no matter how proactive you try to be. I just feel like I have a few good days where I just start to feel confident and then WHAM! I get a curve ball like this thrown at me. I probably shouldn't take it so personally but I honestly just want to give the best possible care I can to all of my pts. The new grad period of a nurse's career is so littered with ambiguity and uncertaintly. I watch other nurses I work with and they seem so confident and orchestrated. Will I ever reach a point where I will be just as confident? Help from other new grads and experienced alike please...and thank you!!! All pointers/criticism/advise welcome!
Ive been in the ER for 1 year now, it gets easier. But you have good and bad days. Feeling stupid is very common, I still feel that way at times. The thing to remember is..............Experience is the best teacher, making mistakes is part of the process and try to do it right the first time. Dont get discouraged, weve all been there, I watch nurses that have more experience than me and see how they handle certain situations and I pass good info on when I learn something new if the oppurtunity presents itself. Just hang in there...............dont give up!
Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.
You need to change your mindset and try not to tell yourself you are "stupid"......you are not..you got through nursing school...passed NCLEX...landed a job...and you are still there working and trying to learn..and that is "smart" in my book. Intelligence is the ability to learn.....you have that obviously. So you are a new intelligent nurse that is learning and growing professionally...try that mantra on for size instead of feeling stupid. I bet a lot of those nurses practicing may not even know half the book knowledge you have..they just have the practical experience. So hang in there and contribute what you can. The best advice I can give you is to actively keep on learning and I mean sign up for journals in your specialty and keep on reading...go on line and find read research...then share what you learn in the clinical setting. For years I posted the nursing question of the week in our office...I made it fun for myself and others
motivated2nurse
228 Posts
Ive been in the ER for 1 year now, it gets easier. But you have good and bad days. Feeling stupid is very common, I still feel that way at times. The thing to remember is..............Experience is the best teacher, making mistakes is part of the process and try to do it right the first time. Dont get discouraged, weve all been there, I watch nurses that have more experience than me and see how they handle certain situations and I pass good info on when I learn something new if the oppurtunity presents itself. Just hang in there...............dont give up!