Ashnurse

I have been a nurse for almost a year now. I have two different jobs and my most recent job is in a palliative care facility. Since, I still work in the hospital where my first nursing job (medical unit) was I sometimes float there when they are short staff or for some extra hours. In the last three week I have started making mistakes at work, nothing big, but onces that I still have to report. For example, the other night I dropped a narcotic on the floor and forgot to waste it. This wasen't a mistake that reached the patient, but it is a mistake that makes me look bad and careless.There was a process that lead to this mistake and I have analyzed it over and over again and thought of ways to prevent it. I forgot to waste the narcotic, because I had a psych patient yelling at the nursing desk, so I got busy trying to calm him down and after I just completely forgot about wasting the pill. The day nurse called me in and asked me about it and then I remembered, so on my next shift I did report the incident. I know mistakes can happen, but I feel so careless making this kind of mistake that I know how to prevent.

I am having the same problem. I am a new grad nurse in Canada and I am working float on a med/telemetry unit and LTC. The med/telemetry unit is crazy! I am doing so well on the other two units and then when I get to the medicine unit I am completely lost, far behind, and have no confidence in myself. I have needed some help with a few skills I have never done before and some of the other nurses are not too happy to have a new grad there. It makes it for a difficult learning environment and I am terrified of making a mistake. I usually am given the hardest patients at well. According to the staff they are giving me these patients so I can practice and learn better, but it has become too overwhelming. One night I had 5 clients with chest pain. I was completely swamped between giving meds and doing assessments and calling for new orders and to update the doctor; I got no charting done until the end of my shift and some of my co-workers were laughing watching me struggle. I had to talk to the manager about my assignments and I was basically told to suck it up and welcome to medical nursing. I am interviewing for a new job next week on a paediatric unit and I am praying I get it, so I can leave medicine behind. I am so disappointed, because I thought medicine would be a great place for a beginner to learn, but the environment is just not the right fit for me. Its too bad, because I love floating to the other unit.

Thanks for all your replies. Thank you Chubby for being understanding and giving me some encouragement. I know there are a lot of great experienced nurses out there and I'm hoping to work with some soon, so I can learn from them. I have decided to start applying to some specialty units at my hospital (peds & psych) that are going to be hiring in the next month or so. In the mean time I will just stick it out and do my best. Medicine was never my favourite area, but I thought it would be the best area to start for practice and learning time management. For the most part I feel confident in basic nursing skills, but I am nervous about working in an area that did not let me practice certain skills as a student and then expect me not to have a proper orientation to them. I will miss working on the LTC area of this unit if I do get a new job in the next few months, but I really want to work in supportive environment. I think that the medicine unit is just so busy at times and nurses who work they do not have the time to help new nurses. I understand that and I am not blaming any of the nurses I work with. I know they are busy and I do not want to be extra stress for them. I have talked to a few nurses on the peds floor where I am going to be interviewing and they have a more comprehensive orientation for new nurses to their unit and the unit is smaller, so they find they are able to work together more as a team and help each other out. I will keep my fingers crossed and hope I get one of the positions they are looking to fill.

I did my clinical placements on a medicine unit, but the hospital has a policy that students are not allowed to do certain skills (IV insertions and trach care), since you have to be an RN to do them. Besides those skills I have done most skills while in University and am confident in other skills (ie, med administration, dressings, etc). I have asked nurses to come in the room with me for assistance, but I defiantly do not want to keep doing this. I understand that it is not there job to be teaching me and I do not expect that from them either. Now that I am working at this hospital I am finding it difficult to do this skills that I was not allowed to practice as a student without a proper orientation to them and I feel unsafe. I have already talked to my manager about this, but did not get much of a response or help. Since, I am on a casual contract my manager says I will not get a longer orientation that full time staff get. I will look into talking to the nurse educator for help. I was also thinking about talking to my manager to see if I can work night shifts only on medicine as it is less chaotic, which may allow me to take my time and become more familiar.

Hi Everyone. I graduated from my BSN in May and I just started working on a medicine unit and a long term care unit. Most of my shifts are on the LTC unit and I really enjoy it. I find it challenging, since I am a new grad, but I am able to get through the day and learn something new everyday. My shifts on the medicine unit are a different story. The unit is very busy and there are so many skills to be performed everyday. Most of these skills I have never done on a real patient before and I am having extreme anxiety everytime I think about having to go there to work. The staff are not very helpful. The other day they assigned me four cardiac clients with telemetry/chest pain/IV meds, etc and a post-op client with a trach. When the nurses gave me my assignment they started to laugh and said "good luck". I was so upset after this shift I called and cancelled my next shift. I do not know what to do? I want to be there for all the learning opportunities, but at the same time I feel so unsafe practicing there. I have brought up the issue to my manager, but was refused more orientation at this time. I just feel so lost. It took me a long time to find a job and I don't want to quit, since I love the LTC unit I am working on. I just feel so lost on what to do about the medicine unit and practicing there. When I am on my days off all I can do is think about work. I am constantly looking up information or practicing dosage calculations, so I don't have to ask for help from an unfriendly co-worker. I have never felt so alone at a job and the worst thing is this is a job that I need some guidance at. Sorry if I sound annoying. I just don;t know where to turn to for help. If anyone has some advice I would really appreciate it.

I suggest you look at northern colleges/universities. For example, I think the grande praise college in Alberta offers a nursing access program before you start the BSN program. It upgrades you in the needed courses to get into the nursing program. I have heard that they also help with writing papers, etc. I believe the course is a full year And then you apply for the BSN program. Many northern colleges offer support to those that need the upgrade marks to get into a program. You just might have to move.

You should be able to get a job as a nursing Aid in your province. Most nursing students qualify for this after the first year or school. I think you need to take the time to study and make this your priority, no matter what is wrong finically. I failed the June 2011 exam because I did not take the time off work to study. For the oct exam I took a few months and reviewed the mosby comprehensive book like crazy. By the end of my studying from that book I had two notebooks and cards full of studying notes. I also hired a nursing tutor for a week, who assigned me homework, things to study, and mock exams. It was expensive but worth it. I do not do good on exams and I'm pretty sure I got through nursing school, because of my good marks on papers. If I can pass this exam I know you can too. You spent four years in school, so don't waste it. Take the time to understand that you failed and analyze what went wrong and what you should do. If I can help you in anyway please let me know.

ms. Hopeful, you defiantly need to take the time and figure out where you are going wrong. I know how you feel. I failed the June 2011 exam because I did not take the time to study. what worked for me was taking a break from my life. I had to take a month off work to study (even though I really couldn't afford to). I studied everyday for as long as I could before the exam and I got a nursing tutor for one week. I had to Do a lot to pass my second time, because I am not good at exams. Please do not give up, do whatever you have to do to pass. If I can help you in anyway please let me know. I completely understand how you are feeling, take sometime to take in the fail mark, analyze the report they sent you and go from there.

This was my second time writing the exam. The first time I wrote I failed by 2 points. It was awful and I never thought I would get over it. However, the first time I wrote I was working full time and did not study as much as I should of. For this exam I took a month off work and studied like crazy. It is so important to study and know the information. I wish everyone still waiting success and if you have to rewrite, don;t give up. Find out where you went wrong and go from there.

I am on the west coast. Sorry not Ontario.

I passed the exam! I got my mark today and am freaking out, such a relief!

That is not true knowing early if you failed. This is my second time writing and I received my fail mark at the same time as students in my class received their pass mark. The mailing of the marks just depends on when you nursing association mails them out and how fast the postal system is. I am nervously waiting my mark and I constantly am stressing about it. Hopefully in a few weeks this will all be over. I wish everyone good luck!

I can understand wanting to know your options if you failed the CRNE three times. I just wrote the CRNE for the second time last week and I am very nervous about my mark. There are times in the day that I think I passed and there are other times that I think I failed. When planning for your future it is very important to know what your options are with the education that you currently have. There is nothing wrong with wanting to take the LPN exam if you have a BSN degree. Many schools allow you to challenge the LPN exam after your second year of schooling as you have met the requirements of becoming a practical nurse. I do not understand why anyone would have a problem with this? BSN students have met the requirements through there education to become an LPN if they wish. Many students in my class wrote the LPN exam after the second year of school, so they could work as an LPN to gain experience and pay for BSN school. Just because someone is unable to pass the CRNE it does not make them incompetent as a nurse. Taking an exam is very difficult especially in the field of nursing. THis was often a discussion in my BSN program, since nursing is not a career that you have to have one answer and unfortunately when you take an exam like the CRNE there is only one answer. I do think that the CRNE needs to evaluate the way they ensure protection to the public. Just because you pass the CRNE does not mean that you are a safe, competent nurse you can still make a mistake in your career. These next weeks are very difficult for us as we wait for our exam marks. I would expect that previous CRNE takes would understand this and be supportive. If people are frustrated with CRNE takers who are worried about failing, then maybe they should not be reading these posts. We are looking from support from others not negative options. I hope that everyone who is currently waiting for their mark gets a pass mark and we can move on from this period in our nursing careers.

I Know how you are feeling nervousascanbe. When I was writing the exam I felt fairly okay about it, however after coming home and thinking about and looking up questions I no longer feel confident. I am defiantly rethinking answers and thinking I put the wrong answer. I also keep telling myself I failed to, but at the same time I am just praying that I passed. It is very stressful having to wait for the results.