New Tele RN

I'm a brand new nurse and am on the Telemetry unit of my hospital. They don't offer a nurse residency program here, but I feel like I'm struggling to learn while I work. It wouldn't be so bad if we didn't have 5-6 patients every day all with cardiac issues or recovering from caths. It's hard to retain anything when you're scrambling the entire day just trying to make it through...

I would like to learn on my off days at home. Are there any resources like certain books Cardiac nurse residency programs use that I could buy to help me?

P.s

My orientation is ending in about 2 weeks and this is much more difficult than I ever anticipated . I had no idea just how much nurses have to do every day along with fielding calls throughout the whole shift. Any advice for how to organize yourself? Or keep information at hand for when the doctors call?

Thank you!

Congratulations on your new job!

You don't really need a nurse residency program to start out, and everyone struggles to learn while they work. Honest! The more you learn, though, the easier it will be to learn more. You'll have a better framework in which to fit new information. So even though your orientation feels like a scramble, you are learning. If you don't believe me, think about some of the things you did at work today that you absolutely could not have done on your first day!

Are you using a "brain sheet"? If you aren't, that's a great way to get (and keep) yourself organized. I'd be surprised if your preceptors aren't using brain sheets. Everyone's is a little different, so feel free to see what your colleagues are using and adapt it for your use. I take report on my brain sheet, write down labs that need drawn and note when I should be checking for results, list the medications and the times I need to give them, the covering physician (and sometimes his pager or cell phone number), any test I need to follow up on, anything new that pops up in the doctor's notes, orders I need to initiate, etc. I'm in ICU, so what I need to keep track of will be different from what you need. There's a poster here who has posted many examples of brain sheets, so do a search and maybe you'll find exactly what you need.

As far as what to study - the ACLS manual is a great place to start. You'll want to learn the rhythms and the code drugs anyway. I'm sure someone who is newer (I started in the 70s) will have some up to date resources for you.

Best wishes, and welcome to cardiac nursing.