AspiringICUnurse

Hey everyone. I just finished a shift and needed to vent! Firstly, I finished my shift and i was feeling POWEFUL! As a novice nurse, finishing your assignment with tons of time to spare, comfortable, satisfied patients and charting absolutely complete felt so good. Until I gave report ?. During report The oncoming nurse & her orientee brought to my attention that I made an error. My patient was receiving heparin dttp and has been therapeutic for days. I had her the day before and I did not have to play with the heparin at all so the new dosing was honestly unexpected for me. Anyways, I changed the dose after receiving the new PTT. it was appropriately verified by another RN. BUT I DID NOT ORDER A NEW PTT after 6hrs. (Dammit.) by report it had already been 8 hours (6:40am instead of 4-4:30am). I misordered a lab time for the therapeutic draw (24hr of the initial draw) vs the q6 draw when nontherapeutic . So my patient received a possibly wrong dose for two extra hours. ? the patient was fine no changes to tele, chem 7 or assessment. The patient did develop a jerk like involuntary moment (almost like when you dry heave) through the night but I was assured that was unrelated I reported the error to the MD, my charge nurse, manager and created a incident report just for formality. But unfortunately the nurse I gave report to was really condescending & immediately sought to report me and now I’m in bed feeling defeated. I definitely learned my lesson and will maintain the habit of reviewing the protocol with another set of eyes so I don’t make this error again but jeez I feel like crap. What do you do after a med error? Have you ever felt so bad and how do you feel better? Thanks for reading.

Hey! Thanks for the reply. The hospital policy is 6 months following orientation- which is a too short of a time frame for me. I guess I’m asking what make one feel ready; besides the politics and logistics when is it reasonable to transfer units? Is it when you feel like your work is redundant? Is it when you feel you’ve mastered most of the common cases on the unit and your ready for a different challenge ? Is it when you start to get really comfortable? Things like that. Gotcha! Thanks

Lol This forum really made me evaluate my word choices. By staff nurse i meant no longer an orientee & Yes. I shadowed multiple shifts in the ICU, ER & OR to get a feel of my desired specialty. I have had very limited exposure to them otherwise.

Firstly THANK YOU for being encouraging rather than condescending. I appreciate it. My floor is ENT, oral max and orthopedic. I honestly like it. It’s what encouraged me to take a look at SICU and OR specialties because that’s where my patients come from. And I like the trend of care and patho of it all. I will take your advice and stop being so anxious and take advantage of what I’m learning! THANK YOU By “ladder” I’m simply referring to where I am vs my end goal. Not putting the specialties in tiers. Thanks

The residency is a total of 6-8 months orienting. After that, I’m just a staff nurse. Thanks for replying. Lol what a reaction!! By God, I just mean I wanna be GREAT. By no means am I trying to be arrogant! I just wanna be the best I can be in all aspects of my specialty! I even have that written on my stethoscope. It’s my motivation!!

I ended up getting a job in a skilled nursing facility aka rehab. my assignment was always 10+ patients with lots of dressings, wound vac changes, TPN, tube feeds, abx, pain management, transfers etc (I’m exhausted just writing that). . Within 9 months of rigorous hunting I got a residency position in medsurg (not my favorite but it prepared me so I’m grateful). My dream is to be an OR or ICU God one day. Itching to working my way up the ladder soon.

Hey guys!!! Im currently a novice nurse in a med surg Residency program in Boston. At one of the larger hospitals- my dream hospital tbh. little background: I worked as an aide in a different hospital system praying for entry cause that hospital is the #1 hospital in the country (hint hint ) but getting in as a nurse was like pulling teeth! I ended up getting a job in a skilled nursing facility aka rehab aka DONT EVER DO THAT lol ( my assignment was always 10+ patients with lots of dressing, wound vacs, TPN, abx THE WORKSSSSS) and within 9 months of rigorous hunting I got the residency position in medsurg (not my favorite but grateful). Anyways, the hospital I work at now is great. My residency program prepared enough for me to work on my own and utilize any resources if needed. Orientation was scheduled for 6-8 months but I was able to be on my own after 4 months (thank God for that wild experience prior). Despite getting off orientation early, I reeeeally feel ready. I still have a little nervousness going into work cause of course I’m responsible for the lives of others but also because my floor is a surgical telemetry floor; all my patients are fresh post op or fresh traumas from the ED needing surgery and things can go south pretty quick. My dream is to be an OR or ICU God one day (I know two completely different parties but I’m young and I’m interested after shadowing). Itching to work my way up the ladder. I was wondering when the best time to make the switch once I feel ready. My hospital policy is 6 months after orientation but I know a year is preferred. Any suggestions? Any suggestions on what I can be doing in the meantime?

My nurse Residency program is in Boston. At one of the larger hospitals- my dream hospital tbh. I worked as an aide in a different hospital system praying for entry cause that hospital is the #1 hospital in the country (hint hint ) but getting in as a nurse was like pulling teeth! I ended up getting a job in a skilled nursing facility aka rehab aka DONT EVER DO THAT lol ( my assignment was always 10+ patients with lots of dressing, wound vacs, TPN, abx THE WORKSSSSS) and within 9 months of rigorous hunting I got the residency position in medsurg (not my favorite but grateful). Anyways, the hospital I work at now is great. We started off with lots of classroom work; reviewing policies and skills we’d use on the floor, practicing codes and techniques for safe practice. Once we were well oriented on paper, we were put out on the floor. Started with shadowing and slowly increasing the workload as our educators seen fit. Orientation was scheduled for 6-8 months but I was able to be on my own after 4 months (thank God for that wild experience prior). Despite getting off orientation early, I reeeeally felt ready. I still have some anxiety going into work cause of course I’m responsible for the lives of others but also because my floor is a surgical telemetry floor; all my patients are fresh post op or fresh traumas from the ED needing surgery and things can go south pretty quick. But with all the training and support I’m given, If i ever feel flustered I either have the knowledge, resources or staff assistance to get things done. for example, I work nights and as a new grad we were hooked up with these DNP fellows who check on us throughout the night, keep us up to date with our education etc. our hospital also has resource nurses so when *** hits the fan, we have an experienced ICU God in arms reach (biggest blessing). One thing about my hospital, though, that makes things a little difficult is the patient population but nothing a little patience can’t solve. My dream is to be an ICU God one day. Itching to working my way up the latter. Its interesting to hear from others about residency programs! I hope this forum continues! Ask me anything.