Im a mid-20 something new grad who just recently started orientation on a med-surg floor in a local hospital. I've been working in home health for the past few months and this is my first acute care job. I'm starting to notice some things about myself and it probably holds true for some people in my generation, especially after reading several posts from other new grads on here... Our generation really does feel entitled. "Our nursing program should've prepared us for what we will face in nursing, our jobs should go above and beyond meeting our expectations, our coworkers should never talk down to us."
I've worked before, never as a "professional" though, so I know what the real world is like. But for some reason, I just believed that things would at least be above average for me in nursing. Maybe its the caring nature of the field, I don't know... But obviously floor nursing is very stressful. No one's entitled to hold your hand. Your school isn't there to tell you what you're signing up for. That's YOUR responsibility (research your field, shadow established professionals, look online, etc). The reality shock of what nursing is really like can't all be blamed on our schools or new jobs. And just like the rest of life, other's won't always build you up.
Not to pass the buck, but I grew up in the early 90s and a lot of what we were taught in school was that "everybody is a winner", "you're special", and "you can be whatever you want to be." What was left out of the equation was that it won't always be easy, everyone won't always be happy for you and it's definitely going to take more than just thinking positive (i.e. some hard work and dedication). I don't ever really remember hearing about that side of the coin until late in high school.
A lot of posts on AN's for new grads tell us to "fake it till we make it." Maybe I'm not quite understanding what that means, but it couldn't be farther from the truth. Be humble. Ask questions. Regard your patient's safety over your ego and need to "fake it."
I came on to the floor for my 3rd shift with a preceptor, scared as hell but not wanting to ask many questions for fear of looking dumb, etc. After making a few mistakes early in the shift (none that were harmful to the patient, just wasted our time and put us behind), my preceptor nailed it in my head that it's better to ask NOW while I'm on orientation, then to be on my own and have my job on the line. She said when she first started in nursing she was humble, told everyone that she needed help and recieved any instructions/criticisms that anyone had to tell her. This preceptor has been working at the hospital for 18+ years and stopped at least 10 times during the day to double check something with the charge nurse, call pharmacy for clarification or even to ask another nurse what color tube she needed to draw a certain lab. No one looked at her as if she had three heads, her patient's got the best care and that was that.
I'm a quiet person by nature and a bit timid with my nursing skills. But I found that the more I let my guard down, admitted I needed help with things, the more confident I became. I didn't go into a room with a Lovenox needle that I haven't used in over a year, wondering If I would remember how this specific needle would work. I stopped and asked other nurses on the floor, and could walk into my patient's room confident.
This is just a start and floor nursing is a big reality shock for me but hey... I'm learning. Just wanted to throw this out to other new grads and for the older grads that are scratching their heads wondering why the hell some of us are how we are. I really appreciated the words from my preceptor today and know it'll help become a better person and nurse in the long run.
Penn and Teller ******** S08E09 Self Esteem Part 2
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
I grew up in the early 90s and a lot of what we were taught in school was that "everybody is a winner", "you're special", and "you can be whatever you want to be."
I absolutely love your post - The 90's was the decade of "Self Esteem" and "Potential" two of the most misused words in the pyschobable language that attributes to the high number of people with anxiety disorders, because real life is not a soccer game or spelling bee.
Now I grew up in the 60's and 70' a time when the country was changing in both good and bad ways from the standards of the 50's. All of this happening in the midst of two very unpoular wars over seas. When I was in middle and high school we lined up on odd and even days to buy very expensive gasoline. Sounds familiar right. I grew up with parents who worked hard for everthing they had and never asked anyone for help and taught us that life was not easy but well worth living. I remember my son wanting to play baseball and as hard as he tried he just could not hit that ball. He was upset because coaches were still saying that's ok everybody's a winner!
I finally had to tell him that no everyone is not a winner and the truth was that there would be some things that he would be very good at and others that he would be great at., but there were also things he might never accomplish and that was ok too. The potential to be a winner is in us all but sometimes winning isn't the true goal but learning to lose with dignity and move on to the next indicated thing and always try really hard. Know when to hang it up and find something you love. It turns out he's a natural with a basketball!
Nursing 20-40 years ago: Education was more clinically focused so nurses were more prepared, the job market was very open so nurses could live and work where a support system (friends, family, SO) was available and were able to work or transfer to units that they liked more easily, and education was much cheaper so nurses did not have massive loans tying them down like shackles. Working through school would pay off most if not all tuition.
Now: same type of work and workload, although many settings are improving and higher standards of care are being created. But some very important and major differences: nurses are more educated but are much less prepared. They don't have a high level of hands-on clinical skills when they graduate and a much larger burden is placed on employers to train nurses and educate them. The job market is a disaster, so people who want to work an RN job need to either wait 6-24 months with no guarantees that they will get any kind of RN position, or relocate to rural areas far away from their support system. Mobility between jobs and units is becoming more and more competitive. Nurses have massive loans in their names and
working through school is a necessity for many to survive, not necessarily to pay tuition.
And working 2 hours away from home to work as an RN after 2 months of searching is very different from relocating 1,000 miles to rural North Dakota to get an RN job after a year of searching. I sometimes hear older nurses say things like "oh I relocated 2 hours away for my first job" and think that it is comparable to living VERY far away from your support system, but it is not. 2 hours isn't bad!!!!!!
hppygr8ful, ASN, RN, EMT-I
4 Articles; 5,212 Posts
I absolutely love your post - The 90's was the decade of "Self Esteem" and "Potential" two of the most misused words in the pyschobable language that attributes to the high number of people with anxiety disorders, because real life is not a soccer game or spelling bee.
Now I grew up in the 60's and 70' a time when the country was changing in both good and bad ways from the standards of the 50's. All of this happening in the midst of two very unpoular wars over seas. When I was in middle and high school we lined up on odd and even days to buy very expensive gasoline. Sounds familiar right. I grew up with parents who worked hard for everthing they had and never asked anyone for help and taught us that life was not easy but well worth living. I remember my son wanting to play baseball and as hard as he tried he just could not hit that ball. He was upset because coaches were still saying that's ok everybody's a winner!
I finally had to tell him that no everyone is not a winner and the truth was that there would be some things that he would be very good at and others that he would be great at., but there were also things he might never accomplish and that was ok too. The potential to be a winner is in us all but sometimes winning isn't the true goal but learning to lose with dignity and move on to the next indicated thing and always try really hard. Know when to hang it up and find something you love. It turns out he's a natural with a basketball!
Go Figure
Hppy