sprintin2012

I know exactly how you feel! I felt that way right when I got off orientation. I've been on my own for about 2 months now, and I'm just now starting to feel SLIGHTLY comfortable. I would say definitely ask questions, if you're not 100% sure on something, don't do it or move forward without a second opinion. If you have the slightest feeling that you need to call the dr about something, definitely call them. I felt like my preceptor caught so many things with patients, and I know there's no way I catch everything now simply because I don't have the experience. In terms of knowledge, just remember you went to school for this!! you have so much more knowledge than the majority of patients, so any teaching you give them, no matter how small it may seem to you, will help! Just try to do your best, and if possible, try to take on some of the easier patients on your floor for your first few shifts on your own! you can do it!! :)

I am always worried about the same thing! I've been off orientation for about a couple months now, and the patients are so unstable on my floor I'm having situations like this come up nearly every time at work! Definitely get another nurse in the room (or several nurses) to help. Have them stay with the patient while you call the doctor. I feel like I always have pts de-satting nearly every night I'm there! I've just been getting co-workers into help, either increasing their O2 or putting pt on a non-rebreather mask, getting vitals, elevating HOB, and calling the doctor, respiratory therapist, and a couple times a critical assessment team. I've realized once you call for help about a patient's condition quickly deteriorating, you will have more people in the room than you even need most of the time!

thanks everyone! I am VERY happy to say I've been on my own for a little over a month now and its going better! I have some good nights, and some bad nights, but it will probably always be that way :) A couple nights ago, I had a very difficult night with two new admissions in a row, two other patients who should have been in the unit, and it was very crazy and stressful with a lot going on. I survived the night though and I felt great about it and it seemed like I accomplished a lot! Also had my first patient code a couple weeks ago, and that was stressful as well. My patient survived, was intubated and sent to the unit, so I was happy I was able to help save him! There's still a lot I don't know, but for now I feel somewhat comfortable. I am learning my floor is a very difficult one to start out on. My co-workers are SO supportive though and I always feel comfortable asking questions. They're always there to help out, so I feel very lucky to have them! I can't believe how much better it's gotten in one month so I can't wait for a few more months from now when I've gained even more experience!

Oh I feel the SAME way. I've never had a phone call with a doctor where I actually knew all the answers to their questions. It definitely is helpful to have info in front of you though I've found.

wow thanks for the comments everyone! it's been getting more stressful because I only have two more shifts of my orientation before I'm on my own. I'm freaking out, but I know after I work a few shifts on my own I'll hopefully start to get the hang of it and gain some confidence. It's really great to know I'm not alone. I'm the only new grad on my floor so it's hard to find support. I hate telling people how stressful this is, everyone who asks how my new job is going I just tell them "great" because it's hard to admit I'm struggling with something I've worked so hard for and wanted to do nearly my whole life. I just feel alone but I'm thankful for this forum!!!

I need to vent I started my first job a little over a month ago and I am a nervous wreck. I only have 2 more weeks of orienting and I do NOT feel ready to be on my own I knew my first job would be a challenge, but this is just so much more stressful than I was expecting. I'm generally not even a stressed out person, things come easy to me, and I guess I thought this would to. I breezed through nursing school with nearly all A's, breezed through clinicals, and loved my job as a nurse aide and did it well. I did not realize all the responsibility that goes into being an RN and I think it's freaking me out. I work on a telemetry floor and all the patients are pretty much train wrecks with SO many medical problems. I have 5 patients, I'm always behind, I never know when to call the doctor...or even what doctor to call for that matter as the hospital I work at has so many different groups of doctors and I'm just totally confused. I feel like I learn so many new things everyday I'm there from my preceptor, so I'm worried when I'm not with her anymore I'm not going to be able to figure out/catch things on my own. I don't totally hate the job...I'm enjoying some aspects of it but I'm just worried for the patients that I'm not going to know what I'm doing and potentially harm someone. The nurses I work with are generally nice, but I dont want to have to bother them with questions when they're already SO busy. I think my biggest fear is going to be calling doctors that ask me questions that are easy questions, but I won't know the answer and nobody will be there to tell me....nearly every phone call I've had with a doctor I've had to interrupt the call to ask my preceptor the answer to their question. ugh. when will it get easier???????

I didn't go into nursing for money in any means, but do I find my income to be way more than enough money for me, as a single, debt-free woman: absolutely. Would I want to raise a family on my income alone: absolutely not. Whether 'nurses make a lot of money' is true or not depends on your lifestyle.

can someone please explain the difference between a CCA and a CCO in simple terminology? I feel so stupid...I just started my first job and these terms are prevalent on the floor I work on. I've asked several times but I STILL don't understand :( so with CCA you do everything until they're in cardiac arrest - does this mean that you do cpr until they're in asystole?? So if you find the pt in v-fib you would do everything possible to save them? And then a CCO if you find them unresponsive you don't do cpr because they're on hospice/comfort care only?

I know how you feel, I've been on orientation on a med surg floor for several weeks now and I'm so inimidated. I feel sick every morning on the drive to work. I'm a new grad and feel like I know NOTHING compared to the other nurses on my floor. Everyone keeps telling me it will get better, so I just have to keep that in mind even though it feels like I will never be at their level. Just ask questions if you dont understand something, and dont do anything that you are confused about. Its better to ask questions, even if it makes you look dumb, than to do something wrong. And I've found the nurses I work with seem to enjoy teaching me, so I try to take advantage of every learning opportunity I'm given. Hang in there and don't give up!!!

I used Saunders too.. VERY helpful!

I also had about 20-25 SATA's in 75 questions. About half of them I felt confident I knew, but the other half I felt like I was just blindly guessing. What helped me most was I practiced ONLY SATA's the two days before the test. I was terrible at SATA's as well and freaked whenever I saw one. After all the practice, I was definitely more calm answering them and felt so much more confident. Whenever I got a SATA on nclex I was actually happy because I was thinking it meant I was doing well. Thinking of each one as true or false is helpful too! And I think it's safe that in the majority of questions, if you have 5 choices, 3 of them will probably be correct answers!

Hi everyone! I'm new to the site...I passed the nclex-rn last week and am starting my new job this week! I got a job on a floor I had clinical on my last semester of nursing school. I loved everything about the floor and the patients I will be taking care of. I'm very excited but very nervous! I was wondering if anyone had any advice or what was the hardest thing when you first started?? thanks :)