panda025

I'm in the same boat as you -- I just reached my three month marker working in my first acute care position, and i'm so miserable. Makes me wonder weather i'm in the right field. But can't expand into different nursing fields unless you have that 'experience.' What i'm telling myself is to just give it three more months. If I feel the same way after six months of working here, then I will start looking for new employment. It takes a lot of mental fortitude to go into work -- just take one day at a time.

I graduated nursing school in spring 2013 and moved out to Nevada to get acute care experience and I am currently working on a surgical orthopedics unit. I've been working for three months now, just finished my orientation period, and am frustrated beyond belief with my job, my co-workers, everything. Nothing in nursing school prepared me for what it would be like to be a 'real' nurse. The surgeons are rude to the nurses, the nurses gossip about each other and are all 20 + years older than I and aren't friendly or answer my questions when I ask. The patients are all demanding a hilton like experience - I feel more like a drug dealer/waitress than a nurse who is helping people in need. All this in addition to moving to a new location where I don't know anyone is making me having what feels like endless bouts of panic attacks. I dread going to work, I found myself wishing that truck would hit me so I wouldn't have to go in to work. I get nauseous and light-headed and I'm exhausted 24/7 and just hate the direction my life is at right now. I don't want to hate my job, I don't know how to make it better. I absolutely loved my nursing preceptorship in the ER -- enjoyed going each day. Everyone worked well together, the docs, nurses, techs, all to help the patients achieve the best outcomes and then send them on their way (either upstairs to a unit or home). I don't know if nursing just isn't for me or if it's just the environment i'm in. If it's the environment, how do I survive getting my 'experience' so I can go on to other jobs?

I graduated nursing school May 2013 in California and moved to Nevada to get an acute care job. I am currently working on a surgical unit, and as a new grad among much more seasoned nurses, am having a very difficult time. I feel like it's back to high school again, and i'm the new kid on the block, who the older nurses feel threatened by and will do anything but help me when I ask questions. I don't know what to do. I'm getting really frustrated with my job and don't know if nursing just isn't for me or if it's just the circumstances of this job. I absolutely loved my preceptorship in the ER -- everyone worked together as a team to get the job done --doctors, nurses, techs all worked well together. On my current unit though, the surgeons are rude to the nurses, the nurses gossip about each other behind each others backs, and the patient's are here expecting a hilton like stay after their surgery. I feel more like a drug dealer/waitress for the these patients than actually helping someone who is in need. I need this 'experience' to be able to get a job in the ER or other specialities, but I don't know how to make it through this first year. I want to be able to love being a nurse and love my job! Is first year of nursing difficult for everyone? Any communication techniques with fellow nurses and doctors?