Re-Entry Anxiety?

[raptorfem, BSN, RN]

Hi everyone! First of all: long-time reader, first-time poster. I am a new grad, and I've been working for about six months as a nurse on a colorectal surgery floor.

The question I wanted to submit it this: does anybody else get nervous when they are going back to work after several days off? I find that I always get butterflies in my stomach when I'm going back to work after having, say, more than three days off! Absurdly, I feel like I...may have forgotten how to do my job? Gotten too used to the wonderful quiet and peace of home :-D? I am never too worked up when I'm going in for a shift if I've been in in the past few days, and going in for a second/third shift in a row feels like business as usual. Anyone else get a little wave of anxiety when going in after being gone for a while?

[NevadaFighter, BSN, RN]

I think this is common, but what do I know? I have anxiety, so I get butterflies, re-entry or no re-entry. I don't really get it because I think that I have forgotten everything. It's more of a fear of the unknown...like you don't know what lies ahead of you in the day.

[Farawyn]

Yes. Less so now that I'm doing SN and HH. When I worked the clinic my only happy day was Friday night. I would wake up Saturday morning dreading Monday. Sunday was a joke, I was so tightly wound. Once I got to work Monday I was fine.

Also, when I was a float nurse at the hospital, I had anxiety walking down the looooooooong hall to get my assignment. Once I got to the floor I was fine.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

When I went PRN in the ICU and was only working once a week or so, I began to get this feeling. In fact, I ultimately realized I needed to either work more or quit.