Post-grad. GPN

murph · Jul 16, 2005

How do you get over feeling so sad after graduation. I felt so depressed while going to school because I was so stressed out on all the homework and assignments....and now, I'm just filled with mixed emotions. Even with all the stress during clinicals and class room studies, I have to say "I loved it." It was just exciting to know that I was going to school to become a nurse. What was your experience?
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" A GOAL IS A DREAM WITH A DEADLINE."
by the former class

Although it was 30 years ago I remember throwing up every morningb before going to the hospital during our summer session (between Jr and sr year)

I was so stressed that my instructor would follow me aroung saying Ms. Murphy you will never make a nurse! I freaked out when during childhood psyc

an autistic child bit me! An then there was the "A" because I managed my own anxiety during the adult psyc rotation. Yes I was stressed. I studied constantly for my boards and thought about nothing but nursing and being successful. When I first went into the hospital I knew that all of the LPNs were talking about the fact that they would need to teach me some :stuff"

They were right, I had never put in a foley, never irrigated an NGtube, etc.

Once I got some sucesses under my belt and began to know how to do things I felt better. In the beginning when a patient would ask for something I would by rote say I'll get the nurse. Finally you realize that you are the nurse and you can answer the patient's question. You just need a few successes under your belt to realize that it just gets better. Just keep thinking about why you want to be a nurse and why you say that you love it. You'll get there. We were all scared and if someone tells you that they were'nt they are lying. You will be fine.

Chelle2780 · Jul 23, 2005

I'm starting to feel some of the sadness you are talking about. I will graduate in about 3 weeks.....which is very exciting....but.....I like being a student. I think there is sort of a security blanket with being a student. I will really miss all of the girls in my class, when you spend 5 days a week for a year with people you start to feel like family.

I can relate, I am going through a whole array of emotions right now, sadness, excitement, self doubt, and nervousness. I can't wait until I get through the interview process, get a good job and start to feel like a real nurse.......I can just see myself saying, "I'll get the nurse." That is too funny.

Chelle

murph · Jul 23, 2005

I'm starting to feel some of the sadness you are talking about. I will graduate in about 3 weeks.....which is very exciting....but.....I like being a student. I think there is sort of a security blanket with being a student. I will really miss all of the girls in my class, when you spend 5 days a week for a year with people you start to feel like family.
I can relate, I am going through a whole array of emotions right now, sadness, excitement, self doubt, and nervousness. I can't wait until I get through the interview process, get a good job and start to feel like a real nurse.......I can just see myself saying, "I'll get the nurse." That is too funny.
Chelle

I still see my roommate from college, she is a diabetic educator, very different from my choice but we are still close, You don't have to let go of all of your family. And if you are smart you will always be a student learning as much as you can.

The new family that I found in nursing 30 years ago are still my family.

Every month I have dinner with a group of nurses. We all started in the emergency department at the same time. The things that we saw and had to do there drew us closer than my friends from college. Many of us have moved on to different specialities (The ER is a little demanding for those of us around 50!) These people are the ones who sustain me. Think about your friends from HS and how you feel about them now. (Yes I still have dinner with them too but that is not the issue) You will find your place. If you are anything like me you will not feel like a real nurse, capable of handling everything for about 2-3 years so give yourself a break in those first few months. Don't be afraid to ask questions, it is not the kind of job that you can "fake it". Do you know what speciality you have interest in? You will probably have to put in a year in Med-Surg (I hated that but it is the best thing, there you learn to know who is really sick and who can wait. That is important in any speciality) You also practice those skills that you learned or saw once but never perfected. In that first year find a buddy that you can comisurate with and identify a mentor to build a relationship with so that it is easier to ask questions. That first year is hard, learn EVERYTHING, do EVERYTHING that you can. Volunteer for the worst patient. That is where the learning and professional growth really takes place. You have all of rthe background now use it. Sorry if I sound a little idealist but even though I have been through allot I am still idealistic about nursing. (PS I have been to some parties as a young nurse with folks from the hospital that will rival any college party, if that is what you are into.) Cheerup the best is yet to come, I promise!!!

Murph RN,BSN,MSN

Chelle2780 · Jul 23, 2005

Murph,

You make me look forward to my first year of nursing. My goal is to work in the ED....that is just where my heart is but the more people I talk to, the more I think I should go to med/surge first.

I'm a question asker so I should be ok on the end. I am working on my resume right now, we are having a job fair at school this week and I am hoping to target a few of the local hospitals that day to talk to them.

I thought I would also get a list of everone's names, addresses and such so we can keep in tough. A few people I will be glad to be rid of but the vast majority I will really miss.

Thanks for your input....

Chelle

p.s. Just wondering, what area of nursing did you find most rewarding?

murph · Jul 24, 2005

Murph,
You make me look forward to my first year of nursing. My goal is to work in the ED....that is just where my heart is but the more people I talk to, the more I think I should go to med/surge first.
I'm a question asker so I should be ok on the end. I am working on my resume right now, we are having a job fair at school this week and I am hoping to target a few of the local hospitals that day to talk to them.
I thought I would also get a list of everone's names, addresses and such so we can keep in tough. A few people I will be glad to be rid of but the vast majority I will really miss.
Thanks for your input....
Chelle
p.s. Just wondering, what area of nursing did you find most rewarding?

My master's degree is in Burns Emergency and Trauma. The ED is the most challenging because you have to know the acute phase of everything from MI to preterm labor and what to do about it. But my blood always pounded a little more when we would get a trauma. Let me tell you a funny storry from many years ago. It was Christmas Eve about 10:30. The ambulance rolled in with a patient who had been putting packages into the trunk of his car and was hit. I was just about off but volunteered to stay to take the patient to arteriogram (this was the late seventies). I stayed with the guy until 4 AM.

He had 2 broken legs and maybe a pelvis (ican't remember) I got him to the ICU and all was well. At the beginning of Jan. I had to have my gallbladder out. A few days after my surgery I decided to ambulate to the lounge. There sitting and looking out the window was a guy in a wheelchair. I sat down next to him and asked what happened. He said that on Christmas Eve....

He was my patient from Christmas, of course he didn't remember his ER stay

or the hours that I spent calming him medicating him etc. But WOW what a day! He lived and I got to speak with him.

To answer your question trauma!

Chelle2780 · Jul 24, 2005

That's a great story. That is another thing that is taking some getting used to with nursing......never knowing what happens to your patients. You take care of them and sort of get attached to them and then send them on their way.....there is always a piece of me who wonders how they are doing.

If you don't mind me asking, what made you go back and get your masters? My teacher just finished with her masters as a nurse practitioner but she tells me that she didn't do it for more money (since she still wants to continue teaching) but just to be a better nurse and a better teacher.

Chelle

murph · Jul 25, 2005

That's a great story. That is another thing that is taking some getting used to with nursing......never knowing what happens to your patients. You take care of them and sort of get attached to them and then send them on their way.....there is always a piece of me who wonders how they are doing.
If you don't mind me asking, what made you go back and get your masters? My teacher just finished with her masters as a nurse practitioner but she tells me that she didn't do it for more money (since she still wants to continue teaching) but just to be a better nurse and a better teacher.
Chelle

I wanted to make things change, back then we did not have triage, there were no trauma centers except University of Maryland and only burn patients went by helicopter. There was so much that we could do better but who was I, why should anyone listen to me? Credentials!

I didn't learn allot of information, pathophysiology was more in depth and I really improved my clinical assessment skills but more than that it taught me how to think differently. In undergrad they give it to you and you give it back, in a Master's program you decide what direction that you want to take and you learn to integrate information and implement. You learn how to do research too. (I only did 1 project for school, too detail oriented for me).

I really didn't need the information that I got from the program, if you are an avid reader and interested you can get that yourself but it got me in the door of places that I may not have had a chance to get in without it.