As a new grad I am coming up on 3 months off preceptorship on a very busy medical floor. We generally have 4-5 patients and cover LVN's. I was never started off with moderate acuity patients and was floated on my 2nd day on my own. This is tough, but I feel it is also a blessing, as I am learning a lot.
My problem is I feel so completely overwhelmed, stressed and barely even able to get to my charting done until 5 or 6 some days. I am constantly worried my patients are going to crash or "go bad" with any change in baseline due to many critical assessment team interventions I have witnessed. I also worry about making errors or getting sued.
I have been told I am doing well, a good critical thinker, but that I stress and take things too seriously. How do I learn what to freak out about and what to take lightly? Will this come with time? I am so burnt out already. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or tips.
I have been told I am doing well, a good critical thinker, but that I stress and take things too seriously. How do I learn what to freak out about and what to take lightly? Will this come with time? I am so burnt out already. Does anyone have any words of wisdom or tips.
Thank you!!!!
I feel your pain! I have been a nurse 1.5 years and I still get overwhelmed with what I don't know. I quoted this part of your response because I get stressed when things aren't on time or when I know I have 4 things to do at 1500, that is where prioritizing comes in and I just dive in and get it done. Maybe this is a fault of mine, but we are dealing with people when they are most vulnerable, it is impossible to take that too seriously. I try to look at the good qualities I possess, like that I truly care about my patients and will care for them with the best of my abilities.
As far as what to freak over and what to let roll off, that comes with time. I don't freak too much anymore. The thing I have a hard time with is giving shabby report to one of the 'goddess' nurses (the ones who seem to know everything, and seamlessly give patient care). Some days are so rough, and those are usually the days I have to give report to a goddess. I once made a boo boo, something I should have known but didn't, and one of the goddesses picked up that patient from me. She told me what I did wrong and said not to beat myself up over it, there is no way a new nurse can know everything. She said, the patient is fine, no harm done, now go home and forget about it. I told her fat chance of that happening and she told me to please not lose sleep over it, she has made dumb mistakes and lost sleep over them and it isn't worth it because what's done is done. See there, even the goddesses have flaws....
I want to add that all of our goddess nurses aren't nice like this one:saint:.
Yes, eventually, it will "start to come together"... but how to get by til then without feeling like a potential danger to patients and an unwanted burden to colleagues?
1. You graduated from nursing school.
2. You passed NCLEX.
3. You have proven your ability to provide a minimum standard (albeit, at times, a bare minimum) of safe and appropriate care for your patients. If you have a license, that's a fact of law. Granted, it may often feel more like a theory, or outlandish conjecture, but remember: Nursing school was hard. NCLEX was hard. A lot of people didn't make it. You did. This means something!!!
4. Okay, so you aren't as efficient as you want to be, and you don't know as much as some others around you. Work hard. Think hard. Do the things you know you have to do as well as you can. Can't get all your meds passed on time? Does it matter if Pepcid, Colace, and Senokot are 10-20 minutes late? Do the patients with serious meds first, leave the more routine for last. Pt A in 8/10 pain and Pt B needs a bedpan? If you give the pain meds now, Pt A will feel better in awhile, and Pt B will need a bath and bed change. Is relief in 30 min really that much better than relief in 32 min? Can someone else help with one while you help the other? BE a burden to your coworkers. It's for their own good. If you succeed in becoming a skillful, capable nurse, you can return the favor. If you fail, some other newbie will just be a burden in your place.
5. If they wanted a good nurse, they could have hired one. If they chose, instead, to try to build a good nurse, try to be appreciative. Try to make their investment pay off. Take the fullest advantage you can of this opportunity. Cry if you have to. Get frustrated. Get mad. Do whatever it takes to get through this, because if you can survive this ordeal, what on Earth is there that you won't be able to do?
6. It does get better. A lot better. I don't suppose it will ever get easy, but the day will come when you walk onto the floor knowing you can do this. The day may come--most likely will come--when there will be someone walking the Earth who might not be if you hadn't been scheduled on a particular shift.
3. You have proven your ability to provide a minimum standard (albeit, at times, a bare minimum) of safe and appropriate care for your patients. If you have a license, that's a fact of law. Granted, it may often feel more like a theory, or outlandish conjecture, but remember: Nursing school was hard. NCLEX was hard. A lot of people didn't make it. You did. This means something!!!
4. Okay, so you aren't as efficient as you want to be, and you don't know as much as some others around you. Work hard. Think hard. Do the things you know you have to do as well as you can. Can't get all your meds passed on time? Does it matter if Pepcid, Colace, and Senokot are 10-20 minutes late? Do the patients with serious meds first, leave the more routine for last. Pt A in 8/10 pain and Pt B needs a bedpan? If you give the pain meds now, Pt A will feel better in awhile, and Pt B will need a bath and bed change. Is relief in 30 min really that much better than relief in 32 min? Can someone else help with one while you help the other? BE a burden to your coworkers. It's for their own good. If you succeed in becoming a skillful, capable nurse, you can return the favor. If you fail, some other newbie will just be a burden in your place.
5. If they wanted a good nurse, they could have hired one. If they chose, instead, to try to build a good nurse, try to be appreciative. Try to make their investment pay off. Take the fullest advantage you can of this opportunity. Cry if you have to. Get frustrated. Get mad. Do whatever it takes to get through this, because if you can survive this ordeal, what on Earth is there that you won't be able to do?
6. It does get better. A lot better. I don't suppose it will ever get easy, but the day will come when you walk onto the floor knowing you can do this. The day may come--most likely will come--when there will be someone walking the Earth who might not be if you hadn't been scheduled on a particular shift.
I already used the "Thanks" button on your post, but I feel I have to expand on that Thanks.
Nursemike, I really, REALLY needed to hear/see that. There are days when all I want to do, and all I feel capable of doing, is quit. Then, I feel ashamed because I feel that way. I sometimes also feel that my license was a fluke; that it was just given to me because I was able to answer a few questions right. It's hard not to think that way when, at work, that's all you're made to feel and think. Your post, though, really opened my eyes and you're right. I get frustrated with myself when I can't give someone their 0730 Pepcid, and instead of giving that other pt their Dilaudid, I strive to give that Pepcid because of that set time. It makes me feel inadequate if I don't pass my meds at the times I think they should be passed. Of course, there is a time limit for a reason, but I shouldn't go to pieces if I'm not able to do it with enough efficiency as the other, more veteran, nurses.
Thank you for saying what you did because seeing someone say it helps a lot more than you know. It helps by not making me feel as lost as I would have before. So, thank you again. :)
Great template on Rannazhas message for those of you who wanted a template. I'll post mine but it's pretty simple. We have report sheets that we carry with us with the patient details on them so I have this sheet to carry as a quick reference for meds, treatments, etc. I/O is obviously ins and outs, the acronym POAR stands for the things I have to get charted, helps me remember that I've done them but you can make up your own acronym. The patient box is sized to fit the pts sticker.
Good idea to take the best of what you find on this site and make up a template that suits your needs.
I already used the "Thanks" button on your post, but I feel I have to expand on that Thanks.
Nursemike, I really, REALLY needed to hear/see that. There are days when all I want to do, and all I feel capable of doing, is quit. Then, I feel ashamed because I feel that way. I sometimes also feel that my license was a fluke; that it was just given to me because I was able to answer a few questions right. It's hard not to think that way when, at work, that's all you're made to feel and think. Your post, though, really opened my eyes and you're right. I get frustrated with myself when I can't give someone their 0730 Pepcid, and instead of giving that other pt their Dilaudid, I strive to give that Pepcid because of that set time. It makes me feel inadequate if I don't pass my meds at the times I think they should be passed. Of course, there is a time limit for a reason, but I shouldn't go to pieces if I'm not able to do it with enough efficiency as the other, more veteran, nurses.
Thank you for saying what you did because seeing someone say it helps a lot more than you know. It helps by not making me feel as lost as I would have before. So, thank you again. :)
I suppose there may be some new nurses who are so good, or so lucky, that they've never felt like running out the door, screaming.
wanna-be-nurse
67 Posts
Thank you so much Ranaazha, I think this will be very helpful in my time management.