New Grad With a Happy Vent =)

[sarahsmile44]

Hey all! Just wanted to insert a little positivity. I was a bit scared of my first nursing job because I've read lots of "new grad horror stories" of nurses "eating their young", no breaks, no time to go pee, lack of support and poor management. Well, I consider myself VERY LUCKY then!!!

I landed a job in an Orthopedic GN residency program at one of the major metro Detroit hospitals. I've been employed with this hospital for about 13 years; previously in the laboratory as a supervisor, then on a medical MPCU floor as an NA and then as a Tech. I had an offer for an ICU job at a different hospital, but chose the Ortho floor at the hospital system I already worked at...but transfered to the smaller campus.

So...I want to brag on my floor for a minute! There are about 6-8 new nurses and we all support one another. I'm 9 weeks into my 12-week preceptorship and have had the BEST, most experienced nurses training me. They are totally supportive and helpful and never make me feel dumb. The dayshift nurses were great and now that I'm on nights, the nurses are even more awesome!!! I

've been taking the full patient load for about 5 weeks now, and our ratio is about 5/6:1. I basically use my preceptor for questions that come up, to bounce an idea off of before I page a doctor, or for a technical skill that's new to me.

I go to the bathroom when I need to. I take an early snack break and a dinner break. Yep, my phone does ring while I'm on break, but we are all assigned a buddy who doesn't mind running a pain pill to a patient, etc., while I'm on break. Our managers are awesome! We have 3 ANM's...morning, afternoon and midnights...total coverage, and they act as charge so that we have an extra nurse on the floor to keep our ratios even.

I have had TOTAL SUPPORT!!! I love my job. Yep it's tough sometimes, patients can be difficult, ortho has a lot of specialty things to learn like PNI's, PCA's, different types of braces, etc., but I'm learning!!! Best part is the total comraderie between us nurses and NA's. We are like a family. I feel totally included and welcome, and have right from the start. It's an amazing group, and an amazing unit to work on. Even the doctors are great.

I just wanted to post this so that all the new grads see that it isn't always scary to start out as a new grad!! Get in the right place and you will do great!!

[rubato, ASN, RN]

Wow! What a great, positive experience. You give me hope that it's not all bad out there. I think a lot of people come here to complain and we rarely get to hear all the good stories, so thank you.