aweldon001

Exactly! Rough preceptors/overwhelming days are getting insane! I'm the same way. I've had to go to the doctor over my anxiety and stress. I go through the same "self-pep talk," haha. I don't feel ready AT ALL. You're right though. You get to a point where you have to start trusting yourself. Taking it by the day...I really need to work on that and stop bringing my work home with me. I'm with you though. I know we can do this, we have to! We made it through nursing school, we can make it through this! Good thinking though. Thanks for this. :)

Well, I'm glad to know I'm not alone, Swellz. On my good days, I feel like I get in the groove and that I have it, but a bad/busy day can throw me off like crazy. I have also made a minor med error, even after clarifying with my preceptor (she was distracted on her phone). I got blamed. I definitely understand that feeling, it's terrifying. I think I will end up going to my manager about this. I know there's still a few things (picking up babies from deliveries, admits, etc) that I just don't know how to handle quite yet alone, and I know I still need help with. Thanks though for this advice/encouragement. Much needed! :)

Thanks so much Lev

Thank you so much, txerrn6942. Glad to know I'm normal and not a complete dunce. I hope it does get easier. Thanks again for the reassurance.

I know this subject has probably been run into the ground and has probably been discussed a thousand times, but please just let me be an annoying new nurse. I work on a medsurg/postpartum/nursery floor. I've been on orientation for about 9-10 weeks now and I am panicking. My preceptor has pretty much left me hanging the whole time. She gets easily annoyed/irritated with me. She plays on her phone all day while I take care of 6 patients (while drowning and getting behind). I KNOW that I'm supposed to be getting more independent and able to do this alone, but I'm overwhelmed and I feel like I constantly forget/miss things. I am having to learn how to care for and chart on medsurg patients (sometimes total care), postpartum moms, and babies. All three in different charting systems. I'm supposed to go to nights in a week and then I get five more days of orientation, and then I'm on my own. I'm not ready. The end. I know I will never feel 100% ready to do this, but I'm just NOT ready. I constantly feel like an idiot. I feel so dumb and inadequate 95% of the time, that it's ridiculous. I have blonde moments. Many of them. Sometimes I wonder if I'm cut out for this. I love the job, don't get me wrong. I love taking care of people. I just feel like I don't have the experience or knowledge to DO THIS. I've been told this is normal. I really want to know if it is. Will my supervisor be totally mad if I ask for two more weeks of orientation with a different nurse? I just feel like crap about being on my own. I still don't know how to handle admits or how to handle babies 100%. I just feel overwhelmed and honestly terrified. Do you guys have any solid advice/tough love for me? I just need to know what I can do to alleviate this. I come home crying sometimes from the stress of this. I just want to do a good job and actually know what I'm doing. Do you guys think I should ask for more time on orientation? Or just suck it up and do the best I can? This stress is INSANE. =/

Hey, thanks so much! I needed this little review/reminder. You helped a lot! Much appreciated! :)

Hey everyone! I'm in the need of a little help. I'm currently studying for NCLEX with my nose deep in my HURST review book and I'm a little confused about diuretics. I know that there's the loop diuretics, such as Lasix and Bumex, there's Hydrochlorothiazide, and then there's the potassium-sparing, such as Aldactone. My question is, which is the one that you worry about hyperkalemia? Does potassium-sparing mean that you retain or excessively excrete potassium? What is patient teaching specifically with each type of diuretic? I want to make sure I have this straight for NCLEX and some of the stuff I'm googling is going over my head. In-depth responses would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! -A stressed graduate nurse.

L&D is my dream as well! Though my instructors and everyone else say that there's no way I can know what I want to do with no job experience. Eh, w/e. I think you're definitely right though. There's no way I'm going to pass up a job/interview/etc. And transferring is always a possibility, I never thought of that! Thanks!! :)

This is EXACTLY how I feel about med surg! I hate, hate, HATE it. Why would I force myself to work in an area that I despise? That's what my instructors have said, it's basically "ground zero" for learning basic nursing skills, time management, etc. Haha, and yeah I've seen that mentality A LOT from other nurses!! They had to do it, so they think everyone else should have to suffer through it. Yikes. Thanks so much for this. Helps me out a lot!

Yeah, that does make sense. I'm a little worried about this learning curve, but hopefully I will be okay if I get the job. Thank you!

This was my train of thought as well, but when I have five different instructors beating into my head that I must have med surg experience before doing anything else, it gets a little discouraging! I'm definitely not going to pass up a job if they offer it to me, because like I said, jobs are slim pickings in my area. A lot of people are having to relocate, and I was trying to do the same. It's crazy! Oh, okay, well I can understand that, it makes sense. These comments are definitely making me feel better about my situation. Thank you so much for the info!

Thanks for your personal input, seriously. I've also been very interested in the OR. And I didn't think of medsurge as a specialty, so thanks for setting that straight! Very good to know. Thanks you so much!

Thank you so much for this. You definitely made me feel better! :)

Hey everyone, I hope I'm posting in the right area. I'm used to posting in the Student Nurse area, but I need experienced nurses input, I think. I just got my first interview, yay! I'm excited and nervous all at the same time. I have one huge issue though that I need guidance on. I am a new grad and even though I applied for a medsurge job (like all my instructors told me would be most beneficial), I am getting interviewed for an OB/GYN job. Of course, I'm not going to turn down an interview after applying, but I'm curious to know. Will starting out in a specialty hurt my new nursing skills? I've been told by many people that I HAVE to do medsurge first (which is the floor I'm working on now for my 5th level preceptorship). Should I give up on the idea of going straight into L&D? Do I need a year of medsurge experience to be able to function as a good nurse? I really don't want to mess this up. Jobs in my area are slim pickings, so I don't even know if I could get a medsurge job if I tried (even though it's what I've been applying for). Any suggestions/tips/hints/ideas would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!

Well, that's a relief for sure!! Haha. I actually struggled programming a pump a few weeks ago and I got so flustered and felt so dumb! After doing it a few times though, I did start to catch on and that felt immensely better! Seeing you say I don't have to know it ALL right NOW is a relief too. I don't know how you guys store all of that information in your head, but I hope I can get there one day too! I definitely feign confidence, though I don't know how good I am at it! I'll keep this tactic in mind when I'm interacting with my patients. I have also caught myself worrying about telling my patient something wrong, but telling them I will find out for them works best and like you said, it helps me learn it too! I really hate being put on the spot, it gives me the nervous sweats! BUT, if it's what I have to do in order to be that confident nurse, then I'll be ready for it. Getting familiar with things is the perfect explanation for what I've done in clinical. Oh wow, I'm glad to know that I'll be precepted at my first job too! Wow, that's great. I was thinking it was just 5th level and them BAM, bye, you're thrown out there to be a nurse. Phew! That's relieving! I hope I have that awesome unit culture as well. I hear it's hard to get integrated into a unit when you're new. I just hope that I can make it through. I am stressed about the new job craziness. I hear that "nurses eat their young." I'm hoping to avoid that experience. I will definitely try to do that. I'll give myself time to figure things out so that I can better understand what's going on. Stay calm. Good motto to live by when being a nurse, I'm sure. Oh wow! Hearing that has made me feel even better! I guess we won't always get the opportunity to do EVERYTHING, but I like what you said. When you do get that chance, ask for help and take it! I will for sure be doing that! :) I hope my preceptor doesn't do that. I guess I'll find out more on Thursday and Friday. I WILL do that though, I had to do the same in clinical with my instructors. If I didn't know, I would just tell them that I didn't know, but that I would find out and let THEM know. It always worked and impressed my instructors. Good strategy! Hopefully I don't have any problems, but if I do, I will definitely let my clinical instructors know! I'm glad to know that my personality will help. I've also been known to be a pushover though and my instructor tried to beat it into my head that some CNA's will eat me alive. Hopefully I can grow out of this. I just figure that if I'm there to help and be open to everyone, that everyone will like me. I guess I'll see how that works out for me.... I love learning, so I think this will work out for me. I hope to be an L&D nurse, so hopefully I can find a job in that after I graduate. I will look into taking continuing education courses before I find a job too because I hear it helps you get hired. I fear being alone as a new nurse, haha. That's an awesome story though. Perfect example of patient advocate, right? I love that. So I guess I'll never know EVERYTHING at any given time. There's always something new to learn. Awesome. Thanks for the offer for me to PM you. I may just take you up on that, especially after meeting my preceptor and seeing how it goes. I hope my preceptor is just like you! Thanks again for everything, SoldierNurse22!!!