MomInMotion

Wonderful article! I'm a new grad who has been on my own a little over 2 months now. I often feel overwhelmed and inadequate as I learn and grow in my new role. Loved reading your tips and it made me feel better to know I've been doing these things.

That's one of the great aspects of nursing, something for everyone! I am a new grad and work on a busy med-surg floor and I love it! I felt it was a great place to work on my skills, assessments, documentation, and of course the difficult to grasp prioritization and time management skills! I have been on my own now for just 2 months and am learning so much. It is challenging, stressful, and very demanding. I'm trying to remind myself to embrace the discomfort as it means I am growing. I wish you luck in landing your dream ICU position. Everyone should be happy and enjoy their job. Please try and keep an open mind though when thinking med-surg nursing is settling, it's just different. Best wishes!

Thank you Kindly Joy! I loved reading your article and it gave me a new goal to work on as a new grad. I will work on "get a life". I was also an older nursing student and now that I'm done with school, I'm trying to balance my new career along with being a wife & mom. Now I need to find some balance and find ways to just be me. I'm not sure what that is just yet but perhaps I can start to rediscover what I like and get my life back (haha). Blessings!

I am a new grad who has been on my own now for one month. I work on a busy med-surg floor. There are two things I've learned and strive to practice/remember at work. 1) One patient, one task at a time. It can be easy to become overwhelmed and lost in the endless to do list. I practice mindfulness by telling myself to be fully present in what I am doing at that very moment. Each patient and each task deserves my full attention and effort. Even so I am constantly interrupted. I jot down a quick note about the phone call or notification I was interrupted with and put it out of my mind temporarily while I go back to focusing on what I was doing. I find my day goes smoother when I'm able to fully focus on each individual patient and task at a time versus when I allow my mind to wander and panic over the overwhelming volume of things I need to accomplish. 2) Nursing is a 24 hr. Opperarion. I am one person with 12 .5 hours to accomplish as much as I can to keep my patients safe and hopefully leave them better than I found them. All I can do is my best and I can't beat myself up if I don't accomplish everything I set out to do. My friends who work at night and I are a team. If we work together remembering it's a 24-hour job, I need not feel bad if something gets left undone despite my best efforts. I always remember the same when I start my shift with things that were not accomplished at night. It's a 24-hour job and we need to work together.

Thank You both so much! I really appreciate the insight. I absolutely love the idea of being able to have all my books on a Kindle so that anytime I have a spare moment I can do some reading and always have my books with me. I like the idea of being able to try them out. I believe amazon would let me try the Kindle versions and then return if it's not something I find usable. One of the "required" items on my list was called skyscape constellation package that is just over $100 and seems to be an app for iPhone or Android. Only reason I can think they'd require this is to use in clinics. But I'm wondering if I can just use one of the many freebies out there. So Many Expenses!

Hello all: For any current or past Maricopa Nursing Program students I would love some insight into the following: 1) Standard books or ebooks? I currently have a Kindle fire HD and am curious about ebooks. Are they convenient, easy to use? Pros and Cons? 2) Smart Phones: What do you use your smart phone for? Which platform do you recommend and why? I currently have a windows phone, which I absolutely love, however the apps are very limited and I'm not confident I will be able to do what I need to with it. Any insight is most appreciated, Thanks!