New grad nurse and feel so lost!?

[ns808]

I am an orientee at a cardiac interventional unit and I just finished my 3rd week of orientation on the floor. I am a mess. The first 2 weeks I was with different nurses each time, and just this past week I have been assigned to a nurse who I will be with for the rest of my orientation which I have about 8 more weeks left.

When it comes to report time I get most things down except for a couple of procedure names where I get lost sometimes. And then it comes time to prioritize and I am all over the place. I am constantly going back and forth because I forgot to take everything in the patient's room with me. And then it comes to calling doctors which I don't know when to call or for what I have to call. Then it's the orders that are so many that i miss things. When it comes to passing meds I'm slow because I check my meds like 3 times. Yesterday my preceptor threw me all 4 patients and I couldn't handle it. I was able to chart the initial assessments but the ones after which i have to do every 4 hours i was not able to and she did those herself. And on top of it we got a discharge and a new admit at 3pm which she did those as well. When it came to report time I didn't remember anything and told the oncoming nurse I'm so sorry I'm all over the place and my preceptor gave the report. I'm a mess, i'm all over the place and I'm trying to find my place but it seems impossible that in 8 weeks i can take care of patients all on my own. I am so scared and lost and want to quit already. My preceptor is great she has my back and all and she teaches me and said i'm good at passing meds and that im safe and that im great at documentation because i'm fast and detailed. But honestly i feel like im drowning. I also feel like my school didn't prep me well enough for this. What do I do? Help!?

[Rebekulous]

It sounds like you're actually doing ok. Taking all 4 patients after only 3 weeks is pretty impressive to me. (I'm going through orientation for a new job right now, and I just took 4 pts at the end of my 3rd week.) I'm not sure how structured your orientation is, but if you're feeling overwhelmed I would talk with your preceptor. It's hard to learn things when you are constantly being paired with someone new. Now that you will have the same preceptor for the next 8 weeks, it would be a good time to figure out your goals, and how you can get there. Maybe you can focus on one new thing each week, so you don't feel like you need to tackle everything all at once.

Eight weeks is a long time, so don't judge yourself when you're barely 1/3 of the way through.

[cleback]

Sounds about right. Keep going. It'll get better.

[Aunt Slappy]

Breathe.

Take advantage of having a good preceptor. Read these boards long enough and you'll see horror stories from people who didn't have one.

Your preceptor knows you can't handle 4 patients right now, but also knows you have to learn how in the next 8 weeks. Yes, she threw you out of the boat but she was also there the whole time holding the rope on your life preserver. You panicked and dog paddled, but that is expected right now. Next shift you'll remember your mistakes and not make them again. Then you'll make new ones and learn from those. That's the whole point of orientation. You won't feel ready at the end of it but no one ever does. However you'll be a lot more prepared than you are now, and everyone knows you're new, so they'll expect questions and hesitation.

No one expects you to act like a nurse with ten years' experience. Calm down, keep trying to get better, and just accept that it's going to be hard for a while. Growing pains aren't just for teenagers.