New nurses

[StudentNurseMichelle]

Hi all, I am new to this site so hi! I am starting school in Spring 08 here at a local community college in SW Fl for my RN degree. I have been getting very excited over the last few weeks, and have been reading some blogs that nurses in all different settings(mostly hospital) have written. The thing that is bothering me is that it seems like all they do is complain about upper management, about fighting with their co-workers and that most of them seem to "hate" student or newly graduated nurses. Any feedback for me,,,,I do not like to fight and don't want the more experienced nurses to be mean to me! (I sound like a baby, but I want to hear that people love there jobs and are happy with there co-workers!) Thanks so much, Michelle

[Tweety, BSN, RN]

Don't let what you read here jade you. We come here to vent. "Most" do not hate anyone, but a few do. The overwhelming majority of nurses are nice people struggling with tough working conditions (high ratios, sick patients, etc. etc.) and are just trying to get along. There are a few trolls in nursing that are haters, but you can't let them bother you.

People tend to exaggerate. A student might come across one or two bad nurses out of the dozens the pass in a day and scream "nurses eat their young and hate having students". Or a nurse may just have a moment in time when they are stressed, tired and overworked and might snap and the student judges them, rather than think "he had a bad moment, but probably isn't a bad person".

Good luck to you!

[Toquay]

I agree with Tweety. The one bit of advice I can give is be honest about what you are and are not comfortable with. Personally I liked a little hand holding when learning something new years ago but was very eager to learn. I love the freshness that nursing students bring to the unit, it actually makes me more excited about my role. The only stupid question is the one not asked.

Also when going through clinicals watch the staff of different units/ departments and see how they work together and if they are supportive and when you get close to graduation that will help you decide the best place for you start out in. Good Luck and chin up there are some very wonderful caring nurses that will help you become the nurse you want to be.

Toq