New nurse anxiety and OCD

[Serotonin2]

I am a new nurse struggling with a lot of anxiety and OCD at work. I'm terrified of making mistakes. I did make several mistakes with an EVD and was put on an improvement plan. Now I find myself questioning every small decision that I make, triple checking again and again things I logically know I already double checked, asking other nurses for assurance multiple times that a certain action is correct even though I already asked the opinion of another nurse, or breaking into a cold sweat and nearly vomiting because I panicked thinking I made a mistake even though I didn't. This anxiety is causing me to have poor time management and practice less safely instead of practicing cautiously. How do I tone down my anxiety while maintaining attention to detail?

[caliotter3]

I would advise you to talk to your PCP. They can refer you to a therapist if needed. Meanwhile, look up self help info, starting with this website. Overwhelming anxiety is discussed here frequently. Surely you can find some tips for getting things under control.

[Serotonin2]

Thank you. I did talk to my PCP and am seeing a therapist as well. My PCP also started me on medication as well.

[MarkMyWords]

Good start. But don't expect the therapist to be an expert on OCD. My understanding is that most of them lack knowledge on techniques or skills to enable you to overcome this. The medicine takes a few weeks to work. It helps manage your symptoms and ease the anxiety, nicely, but is no cure. There are numerous self help books, read one written by specialists in OCD. Hopefully, this will all pass with more work experience.

Must be very nerve wracking now.