New nurse needs advice

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Hello all,

I'm a brand new LPN. I have been working as an LPN for about 6 months. 2 of those months being on my own. I was just wondering if it is normal to feel lost sometimes, or just to feel like you are not doing a good job. Most days I feel pretty good about the job I have done, but others I go home and worry if I missed something or I won't ever get my nurse 6th sense. I am definitely hard on my self some days because I know that I could have done better. Time management I have decent hold on. There is always room for more improvement with everything, and I'm not looking to be perfect, I just want to be comfortable enough to trust my own judgements without having to clarify every little thing first. Lol

I work night shift with amazing nurses who are super supportive but I feel like I ask to many questions and one day they will get tired of me asking.

any my advice for this newbie would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

What you are feeling is perfectly normal. General consensus is that it takes a good solid year to feel comfortable and competent as a nurse. As for asking too many questions, think about whether you are asking the same question over and over. That is where a lot of nurses will get frustrated- if you ask me the number for lab services on 9 out of 10 days, yeah, I'm going to wonder why you aren't writing it down for future reference.

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Oh no it's never anything like that. A lot of times it is stuff about EKGs or tests, or if something doesn't feel right to me about an order , then I ask for an opinion or guidance. I just want to be a little sponge and absorb everything.

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Specializes in LTC.

Like the previous poster stated, it takes a good year to feel 100% comfortable. I made a cheat sheet of important numbers, codes to doors, who to call and when..anything I felt I would need to know..I added it to the sheet. It has been re written several times. I have it taped to my clipboard. Asking questions or getting the opinion from another nurse is something you will do forever. You will learn to follow your gut...you will recognize the stench of cdiff after you dealt with it a few times. Someone just isn't acting their normal self and 9 times out 10...its a UTI. And that doesn't mean they need an antibiotic ..some may need extra fluids and something for discomfort...most docs wont treat unless the culture is >100,000.

The only dumb question..is the one you don't ask.

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Specializes in TBI and SCI.

You're 6 months in, OMG you're still new! Don't even stress! There is soooooo much that we DO NOT LEARN in nursing school, that you can only know from hands on experience! Also, who remembers all those lab values anyways? All those meds? Everyday will be a learning day, new meds, new labs, numbers, tx, everything. I ask questions all the time.

Last night I literally went to my coworker (causes shes so awesome and smart lol) and I go "hey are any of these really critical values that I need to cal the NP or can I just apss it to day shift?" (I'm a NOC nurse). She didn't look at as if I was stupid, she appreciated that I wasn't a nerd and just decided that since some values were out of range, I was going to call my NP and wake him up because my pt Hg was "too Low" , which it actually has gone up since his last labs a month ago (woohoo).

If your coworkers are fine with you asking questions, keep doing it. Take your notes, take your time and you will be the best nurse ever.

Before I leave I always- check my Emar, is everything signed off? I look at my report sheet and look at my shift notes from day shift and see if I followed up with whatever we talked about, think if I changed my feedings, cleaned my area, etc...

It's all experience and a process.

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