One Year Goes By Quickly...

[JoeyGirlRNNYC]

One year of nursing went by FAST. I can honestly say that the anxiety of not knowing what to expect prior to each shift has vanished. I never thought it would. Took a while but it went away. I've had some frustrating, funny, and sad experiences. I know I have many years ahead of me and I'm working on those next steps to further my career.

Two experiences I want to draw on:

1)__ I'm better at IV's now but on a Med/Surg floor I don't get as much experience as the ER nurses. Anyways, I had this guy. Super sweet. But he was a hard stick and he didn't get frustrated very easily. I stuck the poor man 4 times. Ah... Time#1: IV went in nicely but after securing he said it hurt when bending his arm :/ Time #2: Vein rolled Time #3: IV successfully in, but catheter wouldn't advance. Time #4: I hesistated to do more than three times but he was SO patient so I did one last time and no success. He had many good conversations with me after the fact and said I was a good nurse. Gave me warm fuzzies even though I poked him so much.

2)__ I had a male patient that was verbally abusing everyone. It takes a lot for me to have to raise my voice to a patient and REALLY tell them about themselves. This particular patient? I was done. Done with him. I told him he had an attitude and that he needed to stop being disrespectful and putting up fights all the time and that he WILL respect me and the nursing staff and not yell at us. When it came time to give him meds and do procedures, I was straight to point. He would put up arguments, I responded "What I'm doing is not an option. It has to be done." Wouldn't you know he shut right up after that. Respect for the rest of the day. At the very end, he even said, 'You are a great human being, you know that? You're a good nurse.'

But with nursing or any job, there are pros and cons, which I'd like to list:

Likes of Nursing:yeah:

• Majority (90%) of patients respect you and if they don't, they do by day's end
  
• Giving shots, yes
  
• Explaining medications to patients
  
• Having interesting chats with patients. There are those you could just gab the day away with...
  
• Family members who actually help out by the bedside, LOVE them
  
• The guy nurses on my floor (get along better with them, less gossip)
  
• 3 days of work a week
  
• Talking about poo everyday with confidence and comfort (hey, we all have our quirks)
  
• Fine tuning my assessment skills
  

Dislikes of Nursing

• Nasty a----le MD's or PA's
  
• Gossip/catty behavior among the RN's
  
• People who suck up to MD's and our nurse manager
  
• Uniform, blech...
  
• RN's who sit on their lazy bum all day and whine when you ask for help
  
• ANNOYING family members who do NOT help nor shut up and ask about EVERY LITTLE THING
  
• Patients who MUST have their status known (I'm such-and-such or I know so-and-so). Who the f cares?
  
• Did I mention the women and the gossip? Drives me up a wall.
  
• Long lines for pyxis
  

There's more but that's all I can recall off the top of my head for now.

Good luck to the new grads. We need you!! More nurses is a good thing!

[dsomday]

Wow, what you said about not having anxiety before each shift struck a cord. I have only been an LPN for 6 months working nights in a SNF. I have sat out in my car and cried, not wanting to go in to work. It got so bad I went down to p.r.n. and only pick up shifts here and there. I have been wanting to go back to school for my R.N. but just cant bring myself to do it. I do love nursing, and I knew it wouldnt be easy, but sometimes the anxiety of what COULD happen makes me ill.

[4evalearnin]

Thanks for the post it helps to get into the mind of a nursing student from the perspective of someone who is interested in the field

[siobhan74]

love the tips...I just have one month under my belt and I'm starting nights tonight. Loved the days and wondering what the night shift is gonna bring! I like the interaction with families and patients and feel at night I won't have that as much as the day shift??

[franciscangypsy]

I feel the same way, JoeyGirlRNNYC!

Can hardly believe it's been a year! I feel like you were talking for me... many of those things hold true for me.

I LOVE being a nurse!

[anewday]

glad to know. i start my first job on a busy medsurg floor soon

[Ambitiouz]

Nice post. I'm glad to hear the 1st year does pass quickly. Honestly I cant wait and I've only been at my first job since June and already I want to switch.