new grad...and embarrassed

MichelleRN34, ADN, RN · Nov 11, 2012

I made my self a cheat sheet for each patient at the begininng to include all the inportant information that i need to relay. That way all the information was in one place and ready to relay.

BluntForceTrauma · Nov 11, 2012

You're beating yourself up for no reason! Give yourself a break. You will gain experience and you will learn from your mistakes. That's the way life...and nursing is! Yes, people will talk about your mistakes, that's the nature of the beast. But no matter what they say, just remember that they at one point were in your shoes.

kesRN · Nov 13, 2012

sometimes there are good shifts..and sometimes i mess up during report where all the incoming nurses listen..a couple of times already i made mistakes (in terms of orders and miscommunication) and everyone knows about it...
sometimes i encounter misunderstanding, and i end up getting somewhat reprimanded. i want to move on from it..but my mentor was there and she seemed disappointed...i like to do well--but sometimes i just fumble. ive been on my own for about 2 weeks now...
any words of advice ? thanks

I am a new grad, only been working for about 3 months in a long term and rehab facility. I work overnights, so what I do to get myself organized for report is I write it out for the next shift and that helps a TON (if you have time obviously). Another thing that helps is just to go through every patient towards the end of your shift and make sure you list their diagnoses, anything you monitored or changed like dressings, monitoring CSM/PP, any new orders, etc. on your report sheet. This helps me to get organized and gather my thoughts about my patients so to speak before I give report and it definitely goes way more smoothly!! Hope this helps :) Working at my job I barely got 4 weeks of "orientation" which really consisted of me working on a cart by myself with someone at the desk to ask questions if I had them. This was after probably 3 days of shadowing someone so I had to get organized VERY quickly! Good luck :)

lovinlife11 · Nov 14, 2012

I wrote everything important down so I could remember. Also, pay attention to those nurses who you feel give you an awesome report, you can really learn a lot from them. Keep your chin up, you're new and there is a learning curve.

wish_me_luck, BSN, RN · Nov 22, 2012

Another tip to not get confused on what info was given and what you did/need to report is use two pen colors one for taking report and one for what you did/giving report. :)

TaniqueRN · Dec 2, 2012

Listening to experience nurses when they give report is great, even though sometimes you may not understand what the hell their saying because their going so fast. But you learn from them in what to look for and what to say when giving report. However, it may be intimidating to give report to experienced nurses. Sometimes you may not know the answer to their pressing questions, but you'll be able to pick up on what to do the next time and what's most important.

SimplisticRnx · Dec 2, 2012

We are all human, it's okay to make mistakes. You'll get better at it with time. Heck, I know that there are some agency nurses that don't give a thorough report and make you do the research yourself. Just remember that you're still learning. Don't let those experienced nurses look you down because of some mistakes. Also, the orders that you tell them can be found on the charts, so they have to look at it anyways.