elliern88

Hi all, I have been off orientation about 8 or so months now. At first I felt like I was doing great, handling my assignments well. I never forget meds, always take good care of the babies, make sure they are clean and comfortable in their beds, etc. But now I am at a point where I have to start taking the sickest of the sick babies on the unit. I get so stressed before my shift wondering if I am going to have a super sick post op, or a cardiac baby. I get nervous when I think of having a really unstable baby with lots of drips, on a oscillator with iNO, etc. Or god forbid...ECMO! I have never made a mistake, and have been fully trained to all of these things, so its not as if my unit is just throwing me to the wolves. Also, I know full well I will have lots of help when the time comes. I am just scared thinking about making a mistake, or appearing so flustered that people think I can't handle the sick kids. Are these normal thoughts?? Has anyone else been there?? How did you deal with the stress and how can i maintain a look of composure when I am really terrified on the inside? How long did it take you to feel a level of comfort with whatever assignment you were given?? Thanks in advance...

Hi there! I am not a NICU preceptor so I can't really tell you for sure, but I am inclined to think that it is not appropriate for your preceptor to leave the floor for that period of time. Even if she feels you are very competent and will be fine to be alone( which is probably why she is leaving you), They should still be close by in case you have questions. I mostly wanted to respond becaue I can completely relate to you because I also had an infiltrate on orientation!!! I know exactly how you feel, I went home and cried, it was all I thought about for days. Believe me, you will be OBSESSED with checking your iv sites from now on, and that is a good thing :). You will get over it, I did. And you will learn from it. I have been on my own in the NICU for a couple months now, and it is tough. But I ask a million questions. We have a few nurses on nights who are very seasoned and know everything but don't like orienting or helping new grads. I get some pretty snippy replies sometimes, but I don't care. I still ask! Rather that than make a mistake. You will be fine. Almost every NICU nurse I know has made a mistake that "haunts" them. I still think about that TERRIBLE feeling the day I saw that infiltrate. Those who say they never made a mistake are either lying or perfect. The important thing is learning from your mistakes. It does make you a better nurse, it made me aware of how sensitive the patient population is. They can't tell you their IV site is hurting, like an adult could. So, don't worry. You aren't the only one to have that happen to you! The important thing is to take care of yourself as much as the babies! I got totally stressed and could barely eat and sleep for a few days. That made it so much worse, get plenty of sleep, go for a run, go shopping, whatever you need to do relax! Good luck! :)

Hi all, thank you again for your kind words. The past week was a little better, my organization is improving, a big part is because of the worksheet I received here, but I just still feel like I am struggling a bit on orientation. I feel so awkward all of the time, and am not quite used to taking care of the micropreemies. Moving a 800 gram baby on a vent scares me. Everyday something comes up that I don't understand or know how to do. I guess that is part of learning, huh? So, all in all there is an improvment but I still feel inadequate and I feel as if everyone has no confidence in my abilities as a nurse. Maybe I am being too hard on myself. I haven't made any major mistakes except for that infiltrate, that my manager assured me was not as bad as I had thought. I look forward to posting here and will keep you all updated on my progress. It makes me feel better to be able to talk with people who truly understand the NICU. I tell my friends and family, and they are very supportive, but have never even been in a NICU so I don't think they understand how stressful it can be. Bortaz, RN, I hope you don't mind but I did give another new grad who is working with me a copy f your workbrain. She is also having organization problems like I am, and I thought it could help her. I did tell her where I got it and gave her the name of this site and your username. I told her she should join, not sure if she actually will. Thanks again.

Thank you everyone, and Thank you very much Bortaz,rn for the workbrain sheet. I printed out a bunch of copies and am going to use that, I feel better about my organization already when I look at the sheet. My Nurse Manager pulled me aside and gave me some nice words. She basically said she can tell I am not as happy lately, and to not get discouraged and that everyone goes through ups and downs. Also, she let me know that the infiltrate I had worried about for days was not as bad as I had imagined. She said the baby's hand looks great now, and it is something that I will be extra cautious about in the future. I just wish the other nurses were as understanding as my manager. I hope everything starts to look up.

I am feeling very terrible right now. I am having such a rough time with orientation, I have forgotten to give several meds, had a bad infiltrate the other day and have been getting a hard time from the nurses I give report to. I always feel like a bumbling idiot, and have a hard time getting organized. I am beginning to wonder if this is not for me. Is this normal for a new nurse in the nicu to be having such problems?? I am already halfway through my training process. :'(

Just wanted to stop by and say congratulations and good luck!! I am also a newbie to the NICU.

Hi everyone. I have been reading here for the past few weeks. I have been orienting in a level III NICU for about 5 weeks now. Some days I feel great, like I am progressing and starting to get it, and other days (like today) I wonder how I will ever be competent to work here! Today, everything that could have gone wrong did, IV infiltrated, took me forever to finally get a new one in, which put me behind. I had another baby on a pump feeding and when I went to go check on them after inserting the iv, they had pulled their NG tube out and the feeding was being delivered to the bed! Among lots of other minor, but annoying glitches throughout the day. Then while I was giving report I had a nurse who does have a reputation to nit pick your report. She questioned me the entire way through, I could barely tell her one bit of information without a barrage of questions of "why" and "do you know the reason behind that" among others. My preceptor is wonderful, I should add. She did help me the whole day. For all of you experienced NICU nurses, is this normal to feel so overwhelmed at times? I sometimes feel like I can't get out of my own way. Other days, are great and I feel so proud of how I handled the patient assignment. I look forward to reading/posting here in the future