BlueSpruceDew
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Surely you’ll be paired up with a preceptor for at least your first couple of weeks right? Even if you’re not in a traditional new grad program, I would imagine that you at least have an experienced nurse orienting you & checking you off on policies and skills? if that’s the case, then you wouldn’t be alone while performing the skills for the first time anyway. I have 4 years experience as a nurse but it’s been years since I was in the hospital setting. For my first foley back in the hospital setting a couple weeks ago, it was as easy as “hey this patient needs a foley and I haven’t done one in a while, can you just be there while I do it when you have time?” Was enough... I know it can be harrowing feeling like you’re super new & need a lot of help, but there are LOTS of people who like to share their expertise & teach & be helpers. I know when one of my coworkers asks for help, it makes me happier to help them than one of my own patients needing help haha. Or when I can be nice to a new person and teach them one thing. Don’t forget there are nice & helpful people out there too!!
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Hi! On the one hand I’d say take the med surg job while you can get it, get your hospital experience & hopefully transfer to your preferred specialty when you can. But I also know that HCA is crap and I’d also be wary to work there, all I hear about is people trying to break their contract cause it’s so bad there. My mom actually does the nurse residency program at TCH and she told me their problem is this: because they haven’t taken any new nurse residents throughout all of Covid, now that they’ve finally opened up the program for this Summer again they’re very saturated. She said there were over 500 applicants for July start and they could only choose 80. And 80 at once is actually a large number for them, she’s very overwhelmed because they usually only do about 30 per class. if your resume has been looked over by other professionals then it’s probably fine, and the problem is just the sheer number of people all trying to get in after being shut out for so long due to covid. You’re not just going up against May 2021 graduates, you’re competing with everyone who was denied a start date in 2020 as well. Is there any way you could move to an area where it’s not so super saturated? I moved 1500 miles before my first nursing job so I know it is NOT easy but you might have to. I took a break from the hospital setting (med surg, then home care, now back to med surg) and I’m tellin ya, if you want to end up in the hospital setting I say try as hard as you can to start out there and stay there. It’s hard getting back in. if it were me, I’d rather move & start this Summer at a normal start time (around July/August) in a less than perfect specialty, than sit on my degree just waiting for something to open up. good luck to you!
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I have 4 years nursing experience. 1st year as a new grad was neuro med surg at a busy teaching hospital, did both nights & days. I moved 1500 miles from home for *reasons* after nursing school & did the only new grad program roughly around my new home. That year was really stressful but taught me a lot, I did my 1 year there and got out bc of the hour drive to and from. Then I did home care for about 2.5 years. It was good at first because it taught me to be independent & trust my own judgement & assessments, & become comfortable with trachs and vents. Didn’t really have to deal with Covid too much so that was a blessing. But then it got too easy and I knew I wasn’t growing or going anywhere with it. Actually it was too easy for about all of 2020 but I was lazy and complacent. now I’m back in med surg, at a small community hospital near me. I think I’m actually doing okay at it, 4 weeks of orientation & by the end of week 2 I was chomping at the bit to be on my own. MOST days I handle 5 patients just fine, still have plenty of questions (and googling) bc there’s a lot of med surg things I never really had to do for my neuro patients. sometimes I feel like I should be way more experienced than I am, with 4 years under my belt, and that makes me so glad I stopped home care when I did. Most nurses on my unit are cool & supportive, some try to make me feel small, I try not to sweat it. I don’t regret going into home care just because I see the path my life took and why God put me in that environment for a while, but I do NOT feel like a 4-years experienced nurse. I’m definitely not the overly-insecure question everything type, but sometimes I walk into work with that imposter syndrome feeling like “they really gonna let me take care of these people today?” LOL. I’m still learning something new every day. Doing good with time management most of the time but still making idiotic mistakes periodically as my brain adjusts to the new found responsibilities & protocols & just sheer volume of information. EXAMPLE: my hospice patient died today. I didn’t even feel emotion as I’m watching her take her last breath & mom sobbing because I’m internally going through the checklist in my head. Takes 5 calls to get through to Gift of Life because our phones were jacked up from a storm, had to call nurse supervisor, etc. Finally get that figured out, and now 2 other patients need their abx hung, it’s almost shift change, and my covid pt has BG 500 something. Deal with it all & have to pass on end of life care to night shift, that’s fine, mom is still in there anyway. Pt has been dead for about 2 hours now. Halfway through the drive home I realize THE FREAKING MORPHINE DRIP IS STILL INFUSING ????? just kill me please. I’m SO TIRED OF MAKING MISTAKES. I just want to go ONE SHIFT without feeling sheepish about something, or that little pang of bad feeling you get when you’re unsure about something. THANK YOU for reading my whining rant.