new grad nurse- not ready?

[NoDakRN]

I just graduated in May 2009 with my RN and got a job right away on a medical floor. i was thrilled to have found a job right away and was very excited to get started with my orientation:yeah:..well i was given 4wks of orientation, where after two wks my preceptor had me take our entire pt load while she would meanwhile do some of our tasks without telling me (such as adding in orders for admits that need to be done....shouldn't i be doing that so i know how?!...as well as calling the doctor/pharmacy/family/etc..) at the time yeah it bothered me, but i didn't worry about it too much. well now that i've been on my own for almost two months i feel like i didn't learn everything i should have during my orientation!

there has been a few times the charge nurse has asked me if i've filled out a certain form for a pt or put in an order that we're suppose to automatically put in when we admit the pt to the floor....:(i felt like a complete idiot when i had to tell her i didn't know what form she was talking about and didn't know i was suppose to do it!

last week a nurse pulled me aside and, very rudely, told me i had missed three medications the day before. i was shocked!!!! i try soo hard to look over my MAR as much as i can throughout the day, but to be honest it seems like i'm sooo busy and running around so much that i dont have time to sit down at a computer and look at new orders every five minutes!!!

is there anything i can do to prevent this from happening again? or anything to help get used to the floor and some of the smaller random tasks that need to be done? i just feel like i still dont know anything...and my supervisor wouldn't let me take a longer orientation because the other nurses on the floor felt like i was ready! how the heck would they know if i was ready!!!! anyways...sorry this is kind of long just needed to vent a little bit!

[TheCommuter, BSN, RN]

Moved to the "First Year After Licensure" forum. Good luck to you!

[ARRR10]

I have about 2 more weeks left of orientation and I'm also in the same position as you are. I'm taking care of a full patient load, but have yet to call the doctor (the opportunity did not come up yet). I already did an admit, but as you've stated, it was also my preceptor who entered all the orders, prepared the chart, etc. My preceptor is really nice and I learned a lot from her, so what I think I'm going to do is just voice out how I am feeling and if it would be okay if I can put in orders and stuff (I only have 4-6 weeks of orientation). I think after orientation you're never really are ready because you're still new to everything and to me its like you have to experience every mistake you did as a learning experience (but what really bothers me are the mistakes that are like life-threatning). Just always ask questions (especially the resource person on your unit) ALWAYS ASK, ASK, ASK, because your new and for me its like my right as a new grad to ask. Whenever I make a mistake, I record it on my notepad, go home, and examine why I made the mistake and what I am going to do next time to prevent this from happening. I try not to be so hard on myself and I always say to myself that this is a learning experience for you and you'll get through it.

I don't know, I heard from so many nurses that the first year is the toughest, but I'm trying to keep a positive attitude and I tell myself that I am new and I am not expected to be like a super nurse that knows everything, because its impossible. Its great that I have staff that are always helpful and nice. You've already been on your own for two months and it seems like your doing great. I would also like to hear opinions from other experience nurses.

Good luck to you.

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Actually you sound like every new grad nurse that has come before you. We all feel overwhelmed and undereducated.

Your orientation may or may not be the problem. There is no way you're going to learn everything you need to know in orientation. There are going to be days, especially this first year when you're going to feel overwhelmed that you have too much to do and not enough time to do it in.

Just keep on doing what you're doing to the best of your ability. It gets better with time.

We've all been there.