Overwhelmed New Nurse

[blauren91]

I'm an LVN who graduated December 2013. I passed the NCLEX my first try in March of 2013 and it took me nearly a year to find a job. I was hired at an urgent care clinic at the end of last month and am in my third week of training. I've only had two clinic days so far and I feel completely incompetent. I struggle with pharmacology and trying to grasp the administration side of things, such as learning what to fax and and learning the different paperwork that goes with certain charts. Did anyone else feel like this when they started out? Its been so long since I've graduated and I feel like I've lost touch.

[ER(notso)n00b, ASN, RN]

Sounds normal. Give it time, you will learn a lot of new things and start to feel more competent after a few more months. I'm on month 7 in a high volume ER and I felt the way you are describing for quite a while. Things are starting to get better for me now. Ask a lot of questions when you're unsure of something, and write down the things you don't understand so you can look them up when you get home. :)