your opinion, as a new rn to an experienced one? night vs day

bubblymom373 · Sep 30, 2009

It sounds like you are doing a fine job. I think that its great that you try to help another shift. As for their comments, well retain what is useful ie: get an order to hold a med. Snarky comments just shrug them off, life is too short and those type of things are not worth the ulcer.

SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN · Sep 30, 2009

you will find out that no matter how hard you worked, how many things you tried to be proactive in doing in order to make the next shift run smoothly, and no matter how many things you did right, you will not be able to please some nurses because they are the nurses that eat-their-young!! those nurses will always think very little of your judgment, be disrespectful toward you, will take pleasure in pointing it out your mistakes, and will ignore the things you do that are impressive, not to mention gossip harshly about you to others behind your back. do not waste your time with them!

on the flip side of the coin, are the experienced nurses who will actually help you, know what they are talking about, admit that they are not perfect, praise you when you do something right (no matter how small), and give advice (tricks of the trade) that improves your nursing judgment ... these are the only nurses that you should observe and respect.

continue to take care of your patients and continue to do your best! if you have questions regarding policies on your floor or tasks that are to be done during your shift or the other shift, make sure you learn them. for example, ask a good experienced nurse if it is a good idea to give baths on night shift on your floor. i worked a floor that it was a good idea to give baths at night and i worked one that it was not due to the procedures etc...

also, you are not alone. join us on the first year after nursing licensure forum! https://allnurses.com/first-year-after/ by the way, i am a night nurse and i love nights! welcome!

AnnaN5 · Sep 30, 2009

You will find that no matter how much you accomplish during your shift there will always be a nurse on the next shift who isn't happy with what got done. It doesn't matter if you are a new nurse or experienced, so just keep doing what you are doing!

fiveofpeep · Sep 30, 2009

Im a soon to be new grad but I just wanted to comment on getting an order for holding a med. This is news to me too and perhaps something that should be touched up on more in the clinical setting. I remember a multitude of times where I had to hold a prescribed med and made that decision with an instructor or staff nurse but we just charted it. We never got an order for it.

RNKPCE · Sep 30, 2009

Wow I wish you worked on my night shift. I remember being a new grad there were always nit picky nurses. Sometimes they had valid points other times they didn't.

In regards to holding coumadin. If you have a supplemental order that says to hold for INR greater than 3.5 then you don't need to call the doctor or if you have a hospital policy. If you don't then you should call. If a patient refuses something like a stool softener I wouldn't call the doctor but most other meds I would. On occasion you will get patients that refuse a lot and the doctor may leave a blanket order that he doesn't need to be called for refusal.

kwkrnc · Sep 30, 2009

Hello,

Welcome to the most rewarding, wonderful, demanding and sometimes most stressful career. You should hold your head up. No doubt you studied and worked hard to reach your goals and you are in the early phase of a BIG learning curve...due in large part to the theory vs. reality of nursing. It makes me sad that we still have those among us who seem to be unable to support either new grads, travelers or simply new to the facility colleagues. I hope these experiences diminish but let me add this.....remember that the way any individual responds to us. usually has little, if anything, to do with us; but, is about them. The older I get the more true I realize this is and the easier it is to simply let these things go. That said...please do not hesitate to advocate for yourself as there will always be someone who feels the need to diminish someone else in order to feel okay about themselves. And on a final note, after all these years and most of it spent on the 7p to 7a schedule I can honestly say there remains a disconnect between day and night shift nurses as they have challenges unique to each. I've always said the only way we will ever 'cure' the problem is to have nurses work each shift until they 'get it'....All the VERY BEST to you as you sound like just what we need more of...bright, critical thinking, hard working folks who joined our ranks for the right reasons. Namaste, Kathy

P.S. Let me encourage you to join our professional organization, the American Nurses Association. I hope you will find, as I did, a strong and supportive environment and perhaps a mentor that you can discuss your concerns with. It makes a world of difference.

cherick22 · Sep 30, 2009

Ugh this is so common. Where I work there are one or two nurses everyone hates to report off to. One in particular will nitpick about something unimportant and carry on and on. It happened this morning...a patients tube feed was changed. "who changed it" who cares...this does not matter in the least. I dont have the time to research the names of the Doctors (often many) who place orders in the patients charts. Now maybe if I had two or three patients I would be able to answer her question but normally I have 6 patients.

It's hard to ignore these fools but you must be confident in your abilities and remember its their problem not yours. FYI: take note of who your reporting off to in the morning...maybe you wont get around to hanging extra IV bags and changing saline locks:icon_roll lol

nyteshade, BSN · Sep 30, 2009

It doesn't matter how many years experience you've got...some nurses just expect you to be super nurse...that is do your job, and some of theirs too! Lol! A few years ago, one supervisior told me, "do as much as you can, and endorse the rest...nursing is 24 hours." Best advice ever.