ewilson3

I am a new nurse and recently had this situation. I had a patient in for you guessed it "abdominal pain rule out pancreatitis," he also was an alcoholic and smoker but claimed he hasn't had a drink in two years. He was also on the patch. I work nights and was walking by the patients room and sure enough it smelled like smoke. (I had been warned if this happens to call security because he has been warned twice earlier in the day). I call security, they find cigarettes but no lighter in his belongings. Then they searched the bathroom and found another box of cigarettes and a little "device". He has been telling me i don't even have a lighter how could i be smoking. Well he was taking a piece of lead from a pencil and a kleenex and putting it in the outlet to create a spark to light his cigarettes. Needless to say I got my supervisor involved and the patient was discharged later that day. I tell ya, this is why i love/hate nursing. Always something new and interesting every day, but I prefer to not have to deal with this at 3 in the morning!

I work nights and just started in August. Also a new nurse. I am not gonna lie to you, there are some nights when you wanna cry but you have to try to remember all the other good nights. There are the occassional tough nights and you will cry. I hate to tell you that but everyone goes through it. It's a big/tough adjustment from being a student to the nurse. Dont be afraid to ask questions. It will be tough but just take it one day at a time and hopefully everything will work out. it has for me!! best of luck to you!!! you can always vent on here. i have found this site to be very helpful and supportive!

Hello everyone: I need some words of encouragement and advice. I am a new nurse who recently finished orientation. I work on a med surge floor (mostly surgical patients) on 12 hour nights. Everything had been going well until the last two nights. We always have ten patients each which seems like a lot and is pretty overwhelming to me. The past two nights I have just been feeling so overwhelmed and helpless. I have left in tears the past two days. There are only three nurses on the floor and lately we haven't even had a charge nurse on our floor at all. We share a charge nurse with our sister floor on nights, but lately we have been short staffed so she has been taking a patient assignment instead of just being in charge. So the past two nights we have has a float nurse and the only other nurse that is on the floor isn't very approachable and hasn't been very helpful to me. Today i didn't get out until nearly 930 am because I had to do charting. I just feel like there is no support, I still don't feel completely competent and there's no where to turn for help. For example I had a patient on high dose heparin drip protocol and she needs blood drawn from her picc and i can't do that yet (not certified yet), so i feel like i am bothering the other nurses when they have ten of their own patients to take care of. Also she needed her dose to be adjusted and to be given a bolus after her aptt came back too low but i didn't know how to do that so I ended up waiting until a day shift nurse showed up to verify i was doing it correctly and have her help me through it. Another situation that was very upsetting to me, the evening charge nurse called me tonight on my night off to verify an order I signed off. I basically made a huge mistake and am afraid to go to work tomorrow. I signed off the dose for 1000 mg of levaquin on our electronic mar, but the pharmacy had made a mistake, the order was for 500 mg Levaquin so the patient has been getting the incorrect dosage because i was overwhelmed, had no where to turn to for help and was rushing when i was signing off orders. I feel so bad and actually feel physically sick. I am trying to just take it a day at a time, but I am crying more and more, not getting sleep. ugh i just dont know what to do anymore! I have tried to talk to the day charge nurse because I can't keep functioning like this, she recognizes this is an issue and they are going to try to find more support or hopefully have a charge on our floor. any advice, comments, or words of encouragement are appreciated!!

I am a new nurse, still on orientation. Last night I had a patient on a heparin drip and TPN. I also had to give reglan iv push. this may be a stupid question, but I know I can't give the reglan in the TPN, are any medications or drugs compatible to push into the heparin drip? the patient had a picc so i gave it through a different port, but i am just curious if she didn't have another line, how would one give the regland? thanks for your help in advance!

Yes, volunteer to try new things, I am also a new grad. I had a lot of the same feeling, what if i am not competent, the staff doesn't like me, etc. My suggestion is whenever they need and iv insert, volunteer to try it, don't shy away from new things, you will never learn that way. We recently had a patient coding and one of the nurse grabbed me and pulled me in the room to start doing chest compressions. I was apprehensive about it, but after it was done i was glad to have that experience. also ask lot and lots of questions. if you are unsure of something ask your preceptor. they are there to help you. be confident, but don't be conceded. know your limitations, but also try to keep in mind alll that you learned in nursing school!! good luck, you will love it as i do!

awww. what a great inspiring story. that seems like just what you needed. hope the rest of your shift went well!

I am a new grad as well, I am currently working on a med surg floor. I would definitely recommend working on a med surg floor to start. I have friends that went straight into ob and are now regretting it. They are now realizing that they have limited their scope of practice. They will always only be able to do ob nursing or women's health. With a general med surg background, in a couple years if you decide ob is still for you, you can still go into it, but after a couple years you don't like it you will also have another solid knowledge base of basic med surg nursing to fall back onto

are you still on orientation, b/c if so you can always talk to your preceptor about these types of issues and how to handle them. if they really get that upset about missing one dose of medication when they know you are a new nurse, maybe that's not the best facility or first job work experience for you

i agree with the reply above, these issues definitely need to be discussed with your nurse manager or educator that is following you. the situations you have described are jeopardizing the lives of patients. it a very unsafe work enivronement for the nurse following and for the patients. i definitelly suggest you speak to one of your suPervisors!!

thanks for all your tips. i am really looking forward to going to nights. i know there will be fewer resources, but I am not a morning person and find days to be pretty overwhelming with all the discharges, patients going to procedures, etc. i am hoping i will be able to go to days eventually but for right now am looking forward to working nights to get my routine down pat. thanks for all the tips!! I really appreciate it

I think that unfortunately you should give it some more time. some of the nurses on my floor have told me that it will take a year to feel completely comfortable. I dont think it matters where you are, its going to be a struggle for the first 6 months or so. I just started in med surge and love the people i work with, but still feel overwhelmed at time and like I will never get it, just have some patients and try to stick it out. If you go straight into a specialty like ob, you will be limiting yourself to what you can do in the future if you dont really like it...just some food for thought

i am starting at 30.58/hour plus 4.50 for my night shift diff in the northern new jersey area, if you wanna know specifically for your area, you should make this post in the state you place to work in

Hi..I am a new nurse that's is going to be finishing orientation soon and switching over to nights. I am looking for some advice on how to switch your sleep schedule. How do you get sleep that first night? any tips would be greatly appreciated!! thanks

I think you may be mistakened...not all hospitals give preceptors extra pay. My experience is a preceptor should be there to help you in the beginning, guide you in helping you make critical decisions, help you learn the culture of your floor and how things are run. they already have relationships with doctors so they would know if and when a specific doctor would want to be called, etc. Basically they should be a resource for you until you get your feet wet. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem like you are getting that from the preceptors you have had. I would suggest speaking to your charge nurse of nurse manager about it. Every day while i have been orienting the charge and manager always come by and see if i have any questions and make sure things are going smoothly. they should be understanding that not all personalities blend well together. i think you should talk to a manager or educator about your struggles so far. hope this helps!

I graduated May 18th...started studying and taking kaplan a week later...took and nclex and passed on july 3rd!! and started working aug 25th (i wish it was sooner but that's when orientation started)