jellybean16

Thank you everyone so much for the kind words and support. I think what makes it more difficult working alone in the community is the absence of feedback, which I was so used to getting in school. Belief and confidence in myself is something I'll have to strive for, but I think I'm slowly getting there.

I do want to add that I have a few colleagues that I can call or text with questions. My biggest fear is walking in on someone with severe problems and not being sure of what to do. I'll try to be confident that I'll be an excellent nurse with time.

Thanks for the advice and thoughts. I realize I have strong perfectionist tendencies which end up stressing me out when I don't know everything an experienced nurse would know about a patient. That and my constant comparison to others and thoughts like,"will I ever be as competent and knowledgeable as her?" have gotten me down. I think I'm going to seriously practice shutting my mind up from time to time and just pat myself on the back for all that I've learned thus far. I'm thinking in a year from now I will try to make the switch to public health and get into the more creative/educative side of things (if I could just curb my stage fright). Maybe write some health articles on the side to curb my creative appetite. Sigh...

The difference with my position is that I don't have a colleague nearby to "come look at this wound," or what have you. I don't have the experienced eyes of a senior nurse, so I feel overwhelmed. Yes, I have considered working at the hospital. I hate it though. I have a medical condition that does not bode well with 12 hour shifts, chaotic environments, and night shifts. Of course, I didn't have his problem before going into nursing school so didn't think of this issue. Deciding what to do is overwhelming. I'm seriously considering throwing in the towel to become a struggling writer, artist, entrepreneur, etc. Whatever will leave me feeling content with my life in general. Such is life though.

Hi all,I'm a fairly newly graduated nurse working in the community (I could never do the hospital shift work thing). I like the community a lot more than the hospital, but as a new grad, I feel like I've done both my patients and myself an injustice. I graduated with excellent grades, and am willing to learn and ask questions, but I'm all by myself for the most part with the type of work that I do. Almost every day I am googling something medical because I am not familiar with a patient's condition. This leaves me so stressed out that I am actually feeling depressed. I feel like the company I work for doesn't care about educating me; they just want to fill their quota for patients seen. I sort of regret my career path and choices, and am embarrassed to admit that I am thinking of changing my career already just short of being a nurse for 1 year. I went for my degree looking for a challenge,wanting to help people, but I feel like this isn't me (I'm more the creative type and partially went into nursing due to family influence). Anyways, a lot of my patients like me, and most of the time I feel some sense of reward helping them, but I'm scared for them and my license (working on my own). I'm thinking about using my background of medical knowledge to get into technical or medical writing. Any suggestions or insight? It would be much appreciated...

Hi all, I'm fairly new to home health nursing. I enjoy the work much more than the Hospital environment, but dislike a few key aspects. There is a lot of paperwork to learn.I'm sure that will come with time. Also, having palliative patients is difficult I find withThe amount of setup that needs to be done for them (paperwork wise). Another thing I dislike is the pressure that coordinators put on me to pick up extra visits during my day. It seems as though I get a guilt trip laid on me, or an unhappy coordinator if I say "I'm sorry, I can't see anyone else today other than who is on my schedule." this job is elect to work and I'm seeing a decent amount of clients each week for intermittent visits. I'm experiencing health problems that leave me feeling very fatigued as well, so I work as much as I can. It just seems that when I say "no," I am hated for it. Does anyone else experience this at all? I guess I just don't want to feel alone in this when I'm honestly trying my best to help out...