1st day of my 1st placement

[Butter_fingers]

Hello, I'm new here and I've just turned 19. Today was my first day of my first placement as a nurse. Basically it's the first time I've ever been on a ward as a student nurse and performed my skills on actual patients in a health care setting.

My first day wasn't that bad but it wasn't that great either. All my friends were saying that they feel it has been great, but I've discovered that I'm really clumsy when it comes to certain skills, hence the username:).

And another thing is that whilst performing blood glucose monitoring on patients, at times I didn't manage to puncture the finger well and as a result, I didn't succeed in acquiring a good drop of blood for testing. I think that my failure to puncture the finger well, was due to my fear of hurting the patient.

I really want to be a nurse but what has happened today makes me wonder if I will ever be good enough. Did any one of you experience such difficulties on his/her first placement and have you managed to overcome them by time? I'm a bit worried. I will appreciate any replies. Thanks.

[CC Wisconsin]

I worked as a CNA for a while before I started nursing school, and on my first day of clinicals I was even nervous about transferring a patient to the bathroom even though I've done it thousands of times before.

The feeling is normal. Your nerves will settle and you will be awesome!

[Butter_fingers]

Thanks for your reply!

[Jayblade0]

Dont worry about it too much. You will eventually master those skills. I too believe it was fear of causing pain/harm to the pt. The more you perform the skill, the better you will be at it. My blood drawing skills suc* when I first started working. Now, I am the one everybody looks for when they encounter a hard stick patient.\

You will be finee!!!!!!!!!!