"Just Don't Kill Anyone"

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Specializes in medsurg, progressive care.

So, I did it! Tomorrow evening will be my last shift on orientation before venturing off into the big, bad world of nursing on my own this Sunday. My preceptor and I have been talking about our tearful goodbye all week (which we both realized sounds ridiculous, considering we'll still be colleagues, albeit no longer attached at the hip). I've gotten to the point where 5 patients is no longer an impossible task. I may not be as quick or efficient as the more experienced nurses, but I have adapted some great time management skills, and I have yet to receive a complaint from any staff or patients.

I'm nervous as all hell, but I'm also excited. I LOVE my preceptor, she is an amazing teacher, but there are some minor things that I would do differently. And it will be nice not having to listen to report on speaker phone and barely being able to understand half of it. I also get stage fright and I swear, when she comes into the room, sometimes I must sound like a moron. I have GREAT communication skills (8+ years of customer service) but around other nurses I turn into a bumbling idiot.

On my floor all the older nurses have been giving me some words of encouragement and wisdom. The best so far has been "don't kill anyone", but it was said in such a way that you had to be there to appreciate and had us all in hysterics one night.

Any such words of wisdom from you awesome RNs on allnurses?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

Hooray for YOU!!!

A supportive and empathetic preceptor can make all the difference, right? You confidence will continue to grow as you gain more experience. Before you know it, you'll also be precepting newbies.

I am so glad that your colleagues have helped you realize that this (transition from student to practicing nurse) doesn't have to be so deadly serious all the time. Laughter is a wonderful stress reliever & a shared 'funny' is one of the most common characteristics of a highly functioning work team.

I had a similar experience back in the dark ages... as a new grad on a busy trauma ICU. Two codes were going on sumultaneously, so the charge nurse plunked me down in front of the central monitor bank and told me to 'holler' if I saw anything 'hinky'. She was most likely just trying to make sure I wasn't in anyone's way. I hadn't yet completed my EKG course, so I was petrified. She noticed my reaction and said "Honey, if it bothers you that much, just turn 'em off. We'll make sure no one dies" Maybe not the most appropriate way to handle it, but I can still remember how comforting this was. My expert colleagues always would be there for me. They had my back and weren't going to let me fail; I wasn't alone.

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My first day off orientation my dad called me (my step-mom is a nurse) and asked if I killed anyone yet, LOL

I'm NOT an experienced nurse, actually coming up on my 90 day review but what I've found is you're gonna have days from hell and you're gonna have days that aren't. Embrace those days that aren't and when you have the day from hell realize that they won't all be like that. I ask questions like crazy, I ask for help when I need it, I'm not afraid to say "I don't know but let me find out" and I keep my sense of humor because without it I'd probably be in a corner sucking my thumb, LOL

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Specializes in Critical Care, Postpartum.

Awe, the training wills are off and you are ready to soar! You will have bumps and bruises along the way but it's expected in any profession.

No, you don't want to kill anyone, but maybe one day you will experience a death of a patient, even early on in your career. That has happened to me - once. Many times I've been assigned DNR patients on my critical care floor who were at death's door, yet none has ever passed while on my shift. Until I was assigned a patient who was NOT a DNR and scheduled to be discharge later that afternoon. I go into her room around 1000, sitting on the her bed, talking with her about family and then the next moment she passes out. After not getting a response from her, I call a code and after 45 minutes of resuscitation efforts, the MD pronounced her. I had been a nurse for only 9 months during that experience.

I was in shock and sobbed in the arms of my nurse manager. My NM was proud to hear that during the patient's final moments I was discussing happier times in her life. She didn't go alone, I was there with her. On any unit, you'll have wonderful patients and not so wonderful ones, but all are affected by the care you provide them. You may never hear a word of gratitude from the patients, but you do the job at the best of your ability. You can't do more than your best.

That patient was my "difficult" patient, however, not knowing it was going to be her last day on earth, I showed her compassion. I had to move on and continued to take care of the rest of my patients that day albeit in a daze. But, my patients including my new admission were all taken care of. Different experiences shape you as a nurse, that is one experience that has shaped me moving forward.

Good luck to you in your journey.

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