Officially off orientation!

Published

Specializes in L&D.

Wish me luck as I start tomorrow evening on my own. My last day on orientation I had 8 patients and did it pretty well on my own. I still feel 8 patients is too much. I hope that doesn't happen too often. I know they're hiring more 3rd shift nurses so, hopefully the numbers will improve. I still LOVE my job! I look forward to going in every day. I could definately live without the extra classes I have to take. ECG, Neuro, etc. I'm still also enjoying 3rd shift more than I ever dreamed. I can't believe it!

Not sure if I've said it here before but my dream was always to be a L & D RN, but right now I can't even picture myself doing that. I love Neuro/Trauma. I do! Something I'd never thought I'd feel!

Here's to work getting easier as the weeks pass us by! :cheers:

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Specializes in Neuro, Critical Care.
Wish me luck as I start tomorrow evening on my own. My last day on orientation I had 8 patients and did it pretty well on my own. I still feel 8 patients is too much. I hope that doesn't happen too often. I know they're hiring more 3rd shift nurses so, hopefully the numbers will improve. I still LOVE my job! I look forward to going in every day. I could definately live without the extra classes I have to take. ECG, Neuro, etc. I'm still also enjoying 3rd shift more than I ever dreamed. I can't believe it!

Not sure if I've said it here before but my dream was always to be a L & D RN, but right now I can't even picture myself doing that. I love Neuro/Trauma. I do! Something I'd never thought I'd feel!

Here's to work getting easier as the weeks pass us by! :cheers:

Congrats!!!! Funny that you mention that bc just last week my best friend/roommate was in the hospital with a brain stem cavernova (sp?) and he was in the neuro ICU...I was just thinking how interesting it would be to work on a unit like that. While ive never never wanted to work L&D, I also thought that I might enjoy working 3 rd shift..Im so glad its working out for you! Keep me posted!

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congratulations on being off orientation .your going to be fine especially if you can manage 8 patients. I also work nights and am a recent graduate, but we can only have a max of 6 patients so it is crazy to think that you have a max of 8. so good for you. I think that once you get in to the swing of nights that you will really like it even more than you do now. I like that I have time (most nights) to really actually read my patients charts to find out whats going on in depth rather than relying on the previous nurses report. I work on an oncology floor and find that patients often really like to share their thoughts regarding their process at night when it is quiet and there family members are at home. anyway good luck!

Deb

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Specializes in ACNP-BC.
Wish me luck as I start tomorrow evening on my own. My last day on orientation I had 8 patients and did it pretty well on my own. I still feel 8 patients is too much. I hope that doesn't happen too often. I know they're hiring more 3rd shift nurses so, hopefully the numbers will improve. I still LOVE my job! I look forward to going in every day. I could definately live without the extra classes I have to take. ECG, Neuro, etc. I'm still also enjoying 3rd shift more than I ever dreamed. I can't believe it!

Not sure if I've said it here before but my dream was always to be a L & D RN, but right now I can't even picture myself doing that. I love Neuro/Trauma. I do! Something I'd never thought I'd feel!

Here's to work getting easier as the weeks pass us by! :cheers:

Wow Jen! You are so awesome-I can't believe you have 8 patients to yourself cuz I am still on orientation (week 5) & only have 4 patients now on the day shift, & even those 4 patients keep me soooooo busy it's crazy! I always wish I had more time to look at the overall picture, really read their charts, spend more time talking to my patients, etc. When does it get easier to manage so many patients? I think I'm impatient about the speed with which I do things-but anyhow-good luck to you-you'll be great! :)

-Christine

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Specializes in L&D.
Wow Jen! You are so awesome-I can't believe you have 8 patients to yourself cuz I am still on orientation (week 5) & only have 4 patients now on the day shift, & even those 4 patients keep me soooooo busy it's crazy! I always wish I had more time to look at the overall picture, really read their charts, spend more time talking to my patients, etc. When does it get easier to manage so many patients? I think I'm impatient about the speed with which I do things-but anyhow-good luck to you-you'll be great! :)

-Christine

8 patients really IS too many to have. There really is a difference in the number of patients you can handle during third shift compared to first shift. When I was on first shift 4-5 was plenty to work with - believe me! :nurse: Will you be switching to third shift?

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Specializes in ACNP-BC.
8 patients really IS too many to have. There really is a difference in the number of patients you can handle during third shift compared to first shift. When I was on first shift 4-5 was plenty to work with - believe me! :nurse: Will you be switching to third shift?

Jen, I'll be switching over to 3-11 PM in a few weeks. The most I'll have on that shift is 5 patients, plus I'll supervise the up to 5 more patients the LPN on my team will have. I'm getting more used to having 4 patients now-you're right, I think days is just so busy-& all my patients seem to be on like 25 meds all at 9 AM-it gets so crazy trying to get everything done (assessments, meds, charting) with all the tests & family & phone calls & other interruptions. I'll be happy once I move to evenings-I know it will still be hectic at times, but at least there's no 50 million AM meds to give! :)

-Christine

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Specializes in LDRP.

8 patients in neuro trauma???? neurotrauma icu or pcu?

that is insane.

i am on a cardiac surgery PCU, and the 3rd shifters may have like, 5 or 6 pt's. but i've never even seen tehm have 7. wow.

I am 7a-7p, and we have 4 pt's, 5 max, and only if we really have to. 8 pt's would be a disaster.

but congrats on getting off orientation!

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Specializes in L&D.
8 patients in neuro trauma???? neurotrauma icu or pcu?

that is insane.

i am on a cardiac surgery PCU, and the 3rd shifters may have like, 5 or 6 pt's. but i've never even seen tehm have 7. wow.

I am 7a-7p, and we have 4 pt's, 5 max, and only if we really have to. 8 pt's would be a disaster.

but congrats on getting off orientation!

I wouldn't even call it a progressive care unit. These patients are somewhat stable. We do receive other patients besides neuro as well.

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Specializes in Rodeo Nursing (Neuro).
Wish me luck as I start tomorrow evening on my own. My last day on orientation I had 8 patients and did it pretty well on my own. I still feel 8 patients is too much. I hope that doesn't happen too often. I know they're hiring more 3rd shift nurses so, hopefully the numbers will improve. I still LOVE my job! I look forward to going in every day. I could definately live without the extra classes I have to take. ECG, Neuro, etc. I'm still also enjoying 3rd shift more than I ever dreamed. I can't believe it!

Not sure if I've said it here before but my dream was always to be a L & D RN, but right now I can't even picture myself doing that. I love Neuro/Trauma. I do! Something I'd never thought I'd feel!

Here's to work getting easier as the weeks pass us by! :cheers:

Congratulations--and to myself, as well! I start my first solo shift in 5 hours. Neuro/neurosurg. Never thought I'd make it this far, but here we are. I hope I don't pee myself.

Our max is 6 patients, but even that gets hectic. I'm 7p-7a, so that helps, but I do hate waking people up at 4 for neuro checks.

I'll definitely drink to work getting easier. Weeks? That would be good. I was thinking months. But I do feel a lot better than when I started orientation.

Anyway, good luck.

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Specializes in Transplant, Trauma/Surgical, Pre-reg.

Congratulations, Jen!

I will be starting nights Monday. I work on an Ortho/Trauma floor, and our ratios are 5-8 on days and 9-12 (sometimes 15) on nights. I'm worried about safety for sure. I'm thinking after I get my year of experience I should head to California for better ratios!

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

Congrats Jen. How exciting and nervous it must be at the same time. :)

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Wish me luck as I start tomorrow evening on my own. My last day on orientation I had 8 patients and did it pretty well on my own. I still feel 8 patients is too much. I hope that doesn't happen too often. I know they're hiring more 3rd shift nurses so, hopefully the numbers will improve. I still LOVE my job! I look forward to going in every day. I could definately live without the extra classes I have to take. ECG, Neuro, etc. I'm still also enjoying 3rd shift more than I ever dreamed. I can't believe it!

Not sure if I've said it here before but my dream was always to be a L & D RN, but right now I can't even picture myself doing that. I love Neuro/Trauma. I do! Something I'd never thought I'd feel!

Here's to work getting easier as the weeks pass us by! :cheers:

Congratulations, Jen. I work in neuro also on nights (7p-7a) and have two more weeks of orientation. I can't believe you have 8 pt's. Here in CA we have 5 pt.'s max. It works out great. I couldn't imagine having 8 patients! Anyway, I really hope it gets easier. I'm feeling so much stress I think I'm getting an ulcer. Just when I feel like everything is going smoothly and I feel somewhat confident, somebody does or says something to me (from day shift) that makes me leaving the hospital with a deflated sense of confidence. I almost feel like they're watching me to see if I make a mistake. Not all the nurses just those few miserable so-in-so's. Anyway, I'm sure it gets easier like you said. Keep working toward your dream of L&D nurse. You can do it!!! :)

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