nikki91

I worked as a float-pool CNA during nursing school and it helped me tremendously with my nursing career. I learned tips from nurses that I never learned in school. I learned which specialties I would never work in unless I was absolutely required to. I worked everything from ER, ICUs, OB, Tele, oncology, and everything in between. After school, I started on ortho because I was so familiar with the unit. I ended up hating work and seriously reconsidering my career as a nurse. Then L&D opened up, I got offered a job, and I haven't looked back. I love what I do now! I love teaching and being such a huge part of people's lives. I feel like I make a difference now. I would recommend shadowing various types of specialties. There is one for everyone!

I could have copied the OP from my own journal! I'm also a new grad (almost 4 months)! I've found that blogging or journaling about my anxiety/feelings/experiences is kind of like debriefing myself. Acknowledging how you feel is a huge step. Looking back on my orientation journal logs, I've already grown leaps and bounds as a person and as a nurse. I'm not afraid to call doctors anymore, which is a tremendous growth for me. I work night shift and when I was in nursing school, I couldn't barely say hi to a passing Doctor. Doctors are humans too. It's their job and when I express that I'm concerned about a patient, they usually listen and are thankful. Fill your life outside of work with things and people you love. It has helped with my anxiety. I don't think it'll ever go away until the day I retire from nursing. Keep your head up and keep going back for more. You're much tougher than you realize.

Hey fellow new grad! I am in your shoes right now! I've been an ortho nurse for over three months now and I'm fresh off orientation. I'm gonna be honest. Some shifts suck. Some nurses are rude and will be rude no matter how well you do your job. But it gets a little easier with every shift. I still get anxiety and I still have moments where I don't know what to do. Always ask. I ask everyone from nurse friends to doctors to house supervisors until I get an answer I'm satisfied with. Don't let it get the best of you, fellow new grad. We'll get through the daunting first year. :)

I just wanted to thank all of you at allnurses for posting such supportive and helpful threads in this forum. As a new grad, I read through old coping strategies and tips for new grads after a rough shift. These posts always make me feel so much better about my first year as a new RN (I'm still in orientation on ortho)! Thank you, nurse buddies, for helping us "Baby RNs" out! It really is appreciated.

Thank you everyone for all of your wonderful advice! After careful consideration, I declined the PP offer. I truly believe Job A will provide more growth and development in addition to better pay/benefits.

First of all, congratulations on getting accepted to nursing school! I just finished the ADN program at my school. I would definitely recommend forming a study group. I cannot express how much having my nursing school buddies helped me out at school/clinical/life. After all, your nursing school classmates will basically become your family! Good luck!

That's what I've been thinking too. I absolutely love PP. The only downside is retracting my offer acceptance for Job A. I have always tried to be extremely professional, so I didn't know how I would be viewed in the future if I needed to reapply for Job A.

That's a very good point, CrunchRN. I know many nurses advocate for med-surg experience before specializing.

I hope they would be understanding. In the interview process, I told them postpartum was my passion. But, I knew that Job A would have good med-surg experience, good pay/benefits, and I know some of the staff personally. Mother-baby has always been my nursing dream job. If something changed and Job B wasn't what I thought it would be, then I would definitely want to be able to reapply to Job A.

Hey everyone! I just graduated nursing school and scheduled for NCLEX. I've have already verbally accepted a job offer with the company I worked as a CNA at. The dilemma is that my dream job (postpartum) has now called. Job A: I'm familiar with the staff, floor has a good rep, and I've already verbally accepted the offer. Job B: dream job in postpartum I would hate to retract a job offer I've accepted because I know it can burn bridges and I don't want to tarnish my professional image. However, Job B is the job I've wanted throughout nursing school. Postpartum is my passion and I think I would truly regret not working at Job B. I'm probably getting ahead of myself since I haven't taken NCLEX yet, but I always like to have a plan for the future. Is there a professional way to retract an accepted offer without tarnishing my professional reputation?