New Grad, New Job, Night Shift, SAFETY

[joey1967]

Hi All,

Well, I've been officially indoctrinated into the wonderful world of real stress, nursing shortages and safety issues. I just received my schedule for my new job, which I start next week. Yesterday was my first day as a grad nurse (I have a BSN), I now operate under my own license. I went to get my schedule, and found out that I am working primarily nights (8 hour shifts) and many of them. Some 9 in a row with one day off. I also go from nights to a stretch of days with only one day off in between. I will have 6-8 patients, and might the one whose "title" holds the most weight, ie. I will have undergrads working under my license. I have been told by the manager there is indeed a nurse shortage, and one on the unit I am working on. I am the only grad nurse who applied for a job. I am worried about many things after reading similiar situations on this site. I am in Canada, we have no "long" preceptorship programs. We are thrown to the wolves right away. To make it more "stressful" in my situation, I chose to go into surgery, a new area for me, after doing my final focus in a completely different area. So I am not going to be "up to speed" like someone who has being working in this area for a while, skill wise. I obviously need to talk to the manager about this, but I've been told by other former grads, this is COMMON. Safety is a big issue here, I don't want to hurt someone or worse. I have NEVER done nights, I don't know how I will handle them, other than staying up all night to get a paper in, which made me feel sick for days. I need some guidance. My vetran nursing friends, the "old timers" who've all done night shifts, say in their day, this would not have happend, i.e. one new grad and 3 undergrads on a night. So I think their at a loss, other than to advise "don't do it". I don't want to look like I"m complaining and being difficult because it is a new job, one that I really wanted. I don't have the issue with the night shift other than having adequate, number of days off to readjust for a new shift (the union says at least 22.5 hours between shifts). What to do?