New Grad Tele Nurse First Week

[akkelly8]

I know this question/topic has been asked many, many times, but I am a new grad starting on a telemetry floor this coming week and I am getting increasingly more and more nervous as it gets closer. I always felt very confident on the floor during clinical, but now that it is finally real, I feel like I am going to drown as soon as I start orientation.

Nursing is my second career (spent a few years as a high school teacher), so I am not new to the working environment, but am overwhelmed thinking about all that I will need to learn/remember over the next 12 weeks. Everyone keeps reminding me that I am not supposed to know everything and no one can expect me to be a stellar nurse from day one. I am also realistic enough to know that I SHOULD be nervous and I should expect to feel incompetent for the first little bit.

All to say, can anyone provide any tips/tricks to ease the transition into the nursing world? I feel some of my experience teaching high school has prepared me for the hectic nature of the floor, but I also recognize that this is a completely new world for me!

Any insight is greatly, greatly appreciated! Reading old posts has really eased some of the nervousness, but I am definitely still freaking out a little bit!

[matrixinian]

Also a new grad working tele! My best advice is to always ask questions, don't let docs bully you (especially the cardiologists), and don't be afraid to admit when you don't know something! There is always someone with more experience on the floor that you can use as a resource. Tele floors are hard because we get most of the admissions, transfers from ICU/CVU, and RATs from general med-surge, so we see a lot of different disease processes and procedures, and it takes time to learn the nuances for all the docs (like automatically getting orthos on a new admission because you know the admitting doc orders orthos on every patient ever). You'll get there, and it's a great floor to learn on. Good luck!