Struggling New Graduate 😥

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Hello!!!

Let me begin to tell you a little bit of myself. I recently graduated from the nursing program (RN-BSN), passed my boards, and was hired for a level III NICU position. The director on the floor starts off all of the new graduates in the acute nursery for 3 weeks before starting the level III babies.

Well let me be the first to say I am struggling, and struggling badly. I feel extremely slow in all my assessments, and feel as if I don't know anything. It's so hard starting off in a new hospital, as a new nurse, not knowing the charting system, policies and procedures, etc. I can tell my preceptor does not have a lot of patience and I definitely feel a lot more pressure, feelings judged, and looked down upon. I am so frustrated and I am so scared that I won't even be competent to advance to the level III NICU if I could barely manage the nursery. I want to cry every time I get in my car :( I'm questioning if nursing is even for me at this point. The reason I wanted to work in the NICU is because I love love the pediatric population particularly neonates. I'm questioning if I chose the right profession.

Has anyone ever had these feelings? Or have been struggling to adjust more than others?

Sorry for the rant, I don't mean to complain, but I need other fellow nursing opinions. None of my family is in healthcare so they are not sure as to what advice to give me.

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Specializes in Cardiac, Home Health, Primary Care.

Your skills take time. I know in my program I had a few days in NICU (really mostly observation) and a couple of days in a nursery. That was the extend of my baby skills for clinicals. It takes time to get your assessment down. Each nurse does his/her assessment a little differently. If you can watch some other nurses and ask how they keep track of charting and such. I loved my "brain" sheet (search this site for ideas) as a nurse on the floor. Also assess all the babies if you have time! Practice makes perfect.

It may just be your preceptor too. I always try to seem patient with students and nurses I orient.

Don't give up yet. Try to take advantage of your orientation time to figure out your assessment technique as well as the charting, computer system, etc. Might keep a small notebook to keep notes in.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PCVICU and peds oncology.

Every. Single. One. Of. Us. Has. Been. There.

Nursing school only scratches the surface of what we need to know to be a good nurse. We all start out feeling like we're the dumbest thing on two legs, and that we're never going to make the grade. We all question our choices and cry in our cars. We all lose sleep before going to work. We all make mistakes and hide in the linen room. We ALL have been where you are. All of us. But you know, when we put our heads down and just put one foot in front of the other, it starts to get better. We don't even notice it's happening but one day, we get into the car at the end of a shift and just drive home. No recriminations, no woulda-shoulda-coulda second guesses, no what-the-heck-was-I-thinking moments. And then one day, we wake up to the alarm, get up, shower, dress and go to work without even once thinking we just aren't good for anything. It sneaks right up on us and suddenly, we're the nurses we all were so sure were thinking we couldn't find our own butts with a flashlight and a big mirror. RedRubberCatheter has a nice little pep talk about learning how to nurse being a lot like learning how to drive a car.

I always tell students, when they are struggling with "feeling new" or feeling like they will never get to the point where any of this comes naturally to them:

When you were first learning to drive, you probably felt overwhelmed. You had to look at the task of driving as a series of steps, none of which came naturally to you. It was a big deal, just getting behind that wheel and even thinking about starting the engine.

Now, when you have to go somewhere, you just hop in and drive, right? All those little steps have now streamlined into the task of "driving".

I then relate this analogy to nursing. While it isn't a perfect comparison, it seems to make sense to a lot of students. Learning to be a nurse is hard, just like learning to drive is hard, but eventually as you finish school and start working (even though you will continue to learn something new every day of your career), the "I can't do this" feeling will fade and you'll realize that you can do it. You have knowledge and skills and will gain more along the way.

If you can keep that advice in front of you, you'll make it.

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Specializes in Medical/Oncology.

OP, you are definitely not the only feeling that way. I'm a new grad too and definitely have few moments where I feel inadequate and downright stupid. I'm still in my orientation so I'm trying to cut myself some slack and not be so hard on myself. I'm telling myself that it'll get better and that all new nurses have moments of self-doubt and feeling if inadequacy. A lot of nurses keep telling me things will get better and I will improve, just like they did. So I'm definitely keeping the positive attitude.

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My first job and I was told I need to work on my time management skills. I was taking care of 15 patients in REHAB with no med. Aid. My DON moved me to a different hall where I only have 6 so I can work on my time management skills but this hall has no cna so its all me! They seemed nice about it but I feel like a failure! The worst part is that I still didnt feel like I had free time to catch up on charting during my shift. Any suggestions on how I can improve on my time management?

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